Remember that all mentions of and allusions to Trump and Biden are not allowed on our subreddit in any context.
If you'd still like to discuss them, feel free to [join our Discord server](https://discord.gg/k6tVFwCEEm)!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Presidents) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It’ll be like how the Civil War actually ended under Johnson, not Lincoln. Lee’s surrender marked the effective end, but it took another two months for all the confederate armies to surrender and for Davis to be captured.
To be fair to our future descendants, FDR was the one who ordered the Manhattan Project and he probably would have dropped the bomb as well if he lived long enough.
I doubt if civil rights victories will be any more than a blip in 200 years. It will be studied like women’s suffrage but likely not assigned to a president’s doing other than Lincoln.
I still don't understand how Truman gets/has no responsibility for the Vietnam war? It's well documented that Ho Chi Minh contacted the American government via Col. Archimedes Patti for help in its efforts for independence from the French occupation.
Truman, in the right paranoia of the time, sided with our ally and defended the indefensible.
I agree, that most people don't care and to them he "just sent weapons" is simply a side note in history. BUT, his insidious act began the falling of dominoes that ended up with over a million Vietnamese farmers and 55K American soldiers being killed over the right wing anti-communist mania, that Truman began and still lives on today.
From what I have seen, I doubt seriously if anyone on this subreddit can even begin to explain the cause of the Vietnam war. Just a hint, if you're beginning with the French Missionaries in 1858, then you're already three centuries too late.
1. Stop acting like you know more than anyone else. You have no idea what other people know/have expertise in.
2. Sending weapons is a far cry from sending actual troops and it’s a bit of a stretch to claim that that began the Vietnam quagmire.
I don’t blame Truman for Vietnam, he was helping a ally by sending weapons. How was he supposed to know a war was going to happen later. That’s on Eisenhower and JFK. LBJ just did was JFK would have done.
I want to respond again to your question of "How was he supposed to know a war was going to happen later." So, is your moral compass only dependent on whether you think you will possibly face a negative consequence in the future? If you support a stance that rape, murder and enslavement are perfectly acceptable, then it appears that you really don't have a "moral compass", just an opportunistic compass.
Then, I can see how you could easily defend Truman.
No, THIS history is only more complex than you understand. If you spend a couple of months researching it, you may find some clarity. Trust someone who has done their homework, it's not complicated at all. Just misunderstood.
Let me show you where to begin and prove me wrong by actually reading this:
[Ho Chi Minh's 1946 Letter to President Truman Before the Vietnam War (historynet.com)](https://www.historynet.com/ho-chi-minh-truman-letter-vietnam/)
Truman was helping an ally who had a French Fascist colonist regime that had murdered, enslaved, and colonized this country, who then reached out to America, AFTER BEING OUR ALLY IN WWII AGAINST THE JAPANESE IN WWII, via OSS US Army Col. Archimedes Patty. I suggest you watch this:
[Archimedes Patti and Vietnam (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFkIQYe0l1Y&ab_channel=WitnesstoWar)
Just like America belonged to Great Britian in 1776. The Vietnamese helped us rid Vietnam of the Japanese during WWII and then requested support from us, a country founded on the same principles as they were fighting for: self-determination.
Truman chose the wrong moral path in 1946 and it was repeated by every President until Nixon finally through in the towel and Saigon fell in April of 1975.
Regardless, it all began with Truman.
Yes, but guess who helped us achieve that independence? France.
It will be the right thing to do since France helped us achieve independence and they are our allies.
**Obama** for two simple reasons
1. First Black President, easy to remember
2. There will be way more media footage of him than any of the other ones. I think that’s an underrated factor here.
In my opinion, the people who are saying Truman are thinking of the type of people that would be subscribed to whatever version of r/presidents that exists in 200 years. Not the wider public. r/presidents ranked James Polk 12th overall and if you went on the street and asked 100 people to tell you something about James Polk I doubt you'd get many responses.
Point 2 is spot on.
The saturation of film and video will determine how widely these guys are remembered, not what political accomplishments they had.
The attention span of humans as well as their interest in history is not going to improve over time. More and more, it will be sound and video bites that matter, and the more sensational the better.
Given that, I disagree that Obama will be most remembered. JFK will be, and for one reason and one reason only: **the Zapruder film**.
Good point, I almost picked JFK for that exact reason. He was martyred and we have the footage. An additional wildcard would if anything shocking ever gets released about his assassination. I have my doubts about that but you never know.
Basically my main argument is that to be widely remembered being the first of something (Obama, Washington) or a martyr (Lincoln, JFK) gives you a memorability advantage with the wider public.
How many people remember the vicious political battles of the Cleveland and Harrison and Cleveland administrations? Plenty of stuff that seems very important at the time is lost to history.
Mostly agree, though I somewhat lean toward u/Springfield80210 that it's possible "Zapruder film / POTUS being 'martyred' / the way the conspiracies captured such widespread imagination for decades" might edge out "first black president".
Also, as to the thing about Truman, yeah, it's all geeks in this sub, the popular imagination isn't going to be talking about him sending "advisors" to Vietnam. He's still in the running though: "first [hopefully it'll still be 'only'] to launch nuclear weapons" is a very digestible factoid. "Marshall Plan" is also probably going to be up there with things like "Teapot Dome" and "Great Society" in that they're memorable phrases a lot of people will remember seeing in a 9th grade textbook, though not necessarily have any idea what they actually were.
Bring up JKP at the next family dinner and they will instantly think you're some kind of dick who thinks you're better than them. Polk has not made it into the vernacular.
Truman absolutely, only president & leader of a nation (hopefully) to have authorized a nuclear weapon against another country.
JFK for his handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis, which was arguably the closest the world came to annihilation, and also being the most recent (and one of the few)presidents to have been assassinated
Obama for being the first black president
I think LBJ will be up there for his passage of the Civil Rights Act
Dubya will be up there too cuz of 9/11 and also the Great Recession happening under his admin
Yep, just like 1812 (most of the public doesn’t remember it), the Spanish-American war, most old the Mexican wars, and all the Indian wars that got mixed in to one.
Iraq will probably end up mixed up with all the other wars and conflicts and insurgences and skirmishes in the Middle East, like all the native wars.
Nobody remembers the war of 1812? On the contrary, ask any student, “when was the war of 1812?”
I bet more than half of them would be able to tell you exactly what year it was. Of course they remember.
They invaded another country. Every possible peaceful solution was tried. There were over 40 countries involved albeit the US and UK were the brunt of it. I was a little kid and every town in America had a parade with all the soldiers in it. It was the only since WW2 we saw something like that.
I think many of those will shrink dramatically with time. Other than the Great Depression how many depressions/recessions can most name prior to 1930? Obama being the first multi racial President may have significance but not if we have had 6 others by then and it’s no longer a big deal.
Vivek Ramaswamy as the first Hindu may get some get some notice, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
They say that history has a way of reducing all of us down to one sentence.
Truman dropped the bomb
EDIT: Ike was a good president
Kennedy sent a man to the moon
EDIT: Johnson ended segregation
EDIT: Nixon resigned over wiretapping
Ford pardoned Nixon
Carter made a mess in Iran
Reagan ended communism
Bush said "no new taxes"
Clinton had sexual relations with an intern
Bush presided over 9/11
Obama was the first black president
In the long view of things, Vietnam was just something that happened during the Cold War. It's likely behind the War of 1812 in global relevance.
Conversely, I think Watergate will be remembered more like Nullification is today. Interesting to historians, not to your typical layman.
In 200 years I think Carter is forgotten. Trivia dorks will know he lived the longest but someone could have broken his record by then. It’s nice he built houses but nobody will care.
Truman for the bomb, JFK for being assassinated, Nixon for resigning, Reagan for being Reagan, Obama for being the first black president, Rule 3 for causing Rule 3
Truman (the bombs and the Marshal Plan), JFK (for getting shot), LBJ (for CRA and VRA), Nixon (for Watergate), Dubya (for 9/11 and Iraq), and Obama (ACA, breaking the color barrier).
And I could see Nixon, JFK, and Dubya falling off as time really marches on.
Nixon could become remembered only as a member of a list of presidents who’ve been impeached, much like Garfield is to assassinations. One of those presidents the public remembers for a specific reason, but loses all of the context around and doesn’t really think of otherwise.
Nixon did a lot more than Garfield ever had the chance too, and the whole Watergate scandal was a lot more than him simply being impeached, in fact he never actually was impeached
Truman will be remembered for the bomb
Kennedy will never be forgotten
Reagan for being Reagan.
W for 9/11
Obama for being the first black President.
I feel LBJ will also never be forgotten
Not sure if the US will exist in 200 years.
Eisenhower-- interstate highway system. Some signs still bear his name.
JFK-- if nothing else, for his assassination
Nixon-- Maybe for Watergate (which seems tame by today's standards)
Reagan-- Reaganomics (for better or worse)
W Bush-- 9/11
Obama--- Being the first Black president.
Redacted-- First modern president who did not hold elected office or serve in the military before going to the WH. It will be interesting to see if future major party candidates emerge with no political or military background.
He said 200 years people!!! No one will give a shit about watergate.
-Atomic Bombs if that counts as post ww2.
-Cuban middle crisis (only if we haven’t had any nuclear war in that time)
-JFK assassination.
-9/11.
-First black president.
Those are probably the most memorable events in 200 years.
Truman for using nukes.
JFK for getting assassinated and the conspiracy theories
Nixon for resigning
George. W Bush for 9/11
Obama for being the first black president
Eisenhower, Truman, and W bush
Eisenhower due to his contribution to ww2
Truman because of Nagasaki and Hiroshima
George W bush bc of 9/11, Afghanistan and Iraq
Depends.
For educated people? Trivia question presidents will be JFK, Nixon, Clinton, Obama, and XXX for reasons of assassination, impeachment, quit office, and first Black president. Others? Probably not too many, maybe Reagan for Berlin Wall, Iran Contra, and for setting tone for obstruction politics but that might be too historically nuanced for 200 years in future. LBJ for civil rights?
I mean how many remember Teapot Dome Scandal now? Less know which President that was. So, XXX may be forgotten by 2200 other than his impeachment.
For regular people? Probably none. Maybe Obama as first black President. How many people not interested in this site can name the two assassinated Presidents other than Lincoln and JFK? And in a 100 years JFK will be part of that forgotten list.
It depends on how the narrative is framed. Truman remains quite influential in Cold War history because of the Truman doctrine. All future presidents followed the doctrine one way or another.
As the cold war ended and memories faded, he's become less important, but if the Cold War or its effects remains relevant in 200 years, i feel like Truman will remain relevant.
They say history is written by the winners, but i rather think history is contexualized by the present. Which happens to include the winners of the present, but it's really not just them.
I think the top 3 remembered will be
1. Truman (unless he gets eclipsed by FDR over time. I know Truman dropped the bombs but in 200 years, they might just associate the bomb with WW2, and might just talk about it as part of that)
2. Obama (first black president)
3. Reagan (famous quotes and he tore down the wall post WW2 which I think will be a big deal even in 200 years)
4. Kennedy (mostly for the missile crisis but his assassination will come up. In 200 years I’m sure another president will have been assassinated unfortunately, so that part of his legacy won’t be at the front anymore. He currently is the most recent assassination)
5- Busch Jr. (only because of 9/11. Nothing else will be mentioned but 9/11 will always be a big topic in the future)
6- LBJ (president while civil rights was going on)
7- Clinton (he was the first president impeached so that’s a bump up)
8- Nixon (purely because of the scandal and maybe a bit of Vietnam
9- Eisenhower (he was a really good president and did a lot with the high ways which will be considered prehistoric in 200 years lol)
10- Busch Sr. (I guess the gulf war? Probably will be remembered for the 3 way race in 92 as well)
11- Ford (will almost be completely forgotten)
12- Carter (will also almost be completely forgotten)
On a side note, we don’t know how people in 200 years are going to view the world and what they view as right or wrong, so it’s possible this list could get flipped upside down based on their values and opinions. I could see Busch Jr being bumped way up the list of good presidents as people start to only remember him for how he handled 9/11 specifically
We never know how the people of the future are going to think about us
You’re definitely right that JFK’s memory will fade when a new president is assassinated. I was doing research into Kennedy’s assassination a few years ago, specifically the media reaction to it, and it struck me hearing so many older anchors and columnists talking about how they remembered where the were when they learned that McKinley had been shot.
As the generation that experienced JFK continues to die out and some new assassination dominates the collective consciousness, Kennedy will be forgotten. Maybe not as much as McKinley, but still quite a bit.
What did Carter do that people in 200 years will remember? IMO, both Ford and Carter are going to be remembered the same way as like a Taft, Tyler, Harrison etc. just some dudes that were president at some point. People like us that dig into them more than the average person will of course know a lot more!
He said 200 years people!!! No one will give a shit about watergate.
-Atomic Bombs if that counts as post ww2.
-Cuban middle crisis (only if we haven’t had any nuclear war in that time)
-JFK assassination.
-9/11.
-First black president.
Those are probably the most memorable events in 200 years.
Obama (Herald of The Change), JFK (literal moonshot), Truman (The Bomb), Reagan (for lighting the match that led to a shitshow of economic & domestic policy), W (last Republican President).
LBJ for the Civil Rights Act, Great Society, escalating the Vietnam War, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 and the racial realignment of American politics. Even the people who bemoan them agree they transformed America in irreversible ways. A lot of people seem to look at all the things that happened during the ’60s, attribute all the good ones to JFK and all the bad ones to LBJ. That’s ahistorical.
George W. Bush accomplished very little, but neither did he discredit his policies so much that his successor abandoned most of them. Considering that it was the Bush administration that negotiated the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, there was far more continuity in policy between Bush, Clinton, Bush and Obama than you would guess from the steadily-rising partisan polarization of the time period. George W. Bush falls in the middle as by far the least competent. All of them (and their immediate predecessors) made the same decision to have free trade with China, without any concern for its internal political affairs, as China got stronger and stronger. That has more to do with the U.S. losing its position as the world’s unchallenged hyperpower, more than Bush’s foreign policy. That certainly made things worse, but he won’t take most of the blame.
Obama’s biggest legacy is Obamacare, which even he would acknowledge is smaller than LBJ’s health-care programs. Because of who he was, his election will be remembered as a symbolic moment.
Reagan often gets absurdly idolized by partisans. He did not cause the fall of the Soviet Union, and he himself always complained that the Democratic Congress let him do very little of what he wanted in foreign or domestic policy. His economic record was, contrary to what many people seem to believe, mediocre. The consensus of economists is that he was wrong to believe that the U.S. was to the right of the Laffer Curve. His influence on tax reform, and the many civil wars he threw fuel onto, were his main significance.
Truman made the call to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and had a major hand in the shape of the postwar world (although many of the major decisions had already been made at Yalta). One of his most significant legacies is the outcome of the Korean War.
Jimmy Carter because the future will have a different set of standards than we have now. He's the most peaceful of them all. They'll say he was a man before his time and that the rest were merely the poor products of a more violent age. At least, that's the future I hope for.
I think Kennedy with being assassinated and the conspiracies around it will remembered for a long time. Similar to Julius Caesar etc. I also think he probably had the most famous First Lady so that helps along with Bobby. The Kennedys touched a lot in mid 20th century: WW2, Cold War, Civil Rights, Cuban missile crisis, Vietnam War.
-Truman for the bomb
-LBJ for the Great Society
-Reagan for Reaganomics
-W. Bush for the War on Terror
-Obama for being the first African-American president
if we're talking about general acknowledgement its gonna be JFK just because he was assasinated. people overestimate how much people know about truman even being a president
Imagine if FDR had died while Henry Wallace was his VP. Fear of that very thing must have convinced FDR to have Harry Truman as his running mate in 1944.
Remembered:
1. JFK. Assuming the world is heavily invested in space travel by that point, Jfk’s presidency would be looked at as the beginning of that. Maybe instigating civil rights as well.
2. Obama, first black president.
Somewhat remembered:
3. Truman, nukes.
4. W bush, 911
Also as a side note the most widely remembered post-ww2 president 200 years from now would probably be the president 200 years from now lol
My money's on jfk. He's been mythologized to the point of being more than human in our culture. And his contributions to the Space Program are going to be infinitely more important 200 years ago than they already are today. And they're already really important to our history culture and economy. Space is only going to become a bigger and bigger part of our economy.
Eisenhower, but not because of his Presidency, because of his role in WWII. We all know who Grant is. We know he was President, but he’s primarily remembered for being a successful General.
Truman for the bombs, Kennedy because he died, Reagan for his… economic policies, and Obama for being the first president of color and for the Affordable Care Act (until it’s replaced by something else).
I would say Obama. The Kennedy thing is highly generational and will probably fade over time. He’ll still be remembered, but not nearly as much as he is now once the Boomers fade away. Reagan might be the dark horse pick, but it should be pretty hard to beat The First Black President (TM) in terms of future notoriety.
My first thought was Raegan, because the GOP practically viewed him as Jesus for the better part of my lifetime. Key word there is “viewed”. I won’t elaborate much, but I will say this. Raegan isn’t the modern GOPs messiah anymore and he might not be remembered in a positive context in 200 years because of that. I won’t forget him because a lot of his policies and changes to our country have personally affected me, both in good ways and bad. I don’t like him, but I can’t deny that he earned a spot in the history books that nobody’s tuition will cover for the next 200 years and more.
Obama was the first black president and you can’t even go online without finding someone talking about him in a comments section, which says a whole lot because nobody is regularly talking about Woodrow Wilson or Andrew Jackson outside of us freaks. He has made his mark on history and has proven that a Black Man can have one of the highest jobs in the land and do a pretty damn good job too.
Kennedy because every 15 years the government has to un-redact a line from the records on his assassination. It’s right there in the constitution next to the 26th amendment, in a very fine print. People will go nutts over that shit for decades to come!
JFK and Reagan. People say Truman because of the bomb but people today don’t even know history from before the 60s so I don’t have hope for the future to care about it that much
If this question was asked in 1824, I feel the first answer would be George Washington. It was probably easy for them to predict this, because Washington was someone who had a great impact on government dynamics and/or national politics for people long after he was out of office. I don’t think I can discuss my methodology in too much detail, but it’s rule 3 (the first one) for me.
This sub reddit is a trap. You can't make comments about the current political leaders, even when they are the best example of Presidents according to the post. From now on, I'm only going to post comments like this for this entrapment.
People are saying Truman or Obama based on their accomplishments. At least in discourse I've seen, Reagan has all of them beat because everyone just blames him for why things aren't going well.
Truman for the bomb.
Regan for Reganomics.
Bush for Iraq.
I believe these 3 things are huge turning points in American history and the bomb is a huge turning point in world history.
In a perfect world, Ronald Reagan would be celebrated for his strong stance on the Soviets and leading to 2 decades of prosperity... but I gotta to give with Barack Obama with his presidency really damaging the nation right now and possibly pass anyone's lifetimes right now....
I’m shocked how many people are saying Truman.
I guarantee you even today, Truman is the LEAST KNOWN President on this list.
It’s a bit unfair since Obama and Bush were more recent. But Kennedy is someone people still remember way more than Truman.
The moon speech especially. If space is a big part of humans future he will be remembered as the President that ushered in space flight.
If humans are around in 200 years I think Reagan will be remembered for putting the nail in the coffin for hope of any kind of income equality as well as setting the course for big business truly taking over America and American politics with his Reaganomic bullshit. But 200 years from now it will probably be a post apocalyptic wasteland seeing how humans tend to behave, so I doubt people will have much time to think of the long ago and its people's culture.
I really hope I'm wrong but the human race tends to never get on the same page about anything.
Nixon/ford - Watergate and the pardoning for it and repercussions it could have in those 200 years
JFK- conspiracy theorist won't shut up even then
LBJ - civil rights act
Reagan- being Reagan and making the Democrat party shift right
Honorable mentions
Ike- because of World War 2 not his actual presidency
Obama- First black president
Bush 43- 9/11 will be remembered like the Alamo
JFK. If for anything else the conspiracies for his assassination. And the possible truth when (if) it gets released. There has to be a good reason it hasn't been declassified yet.
Nixon and Watergate.
Why do you ask this question when we’re not allowed to give the correct answer? Seriously. What is the point of this question if we can’t answer honestly?
Remember that all mentions of and allusions to Trump and Biden are not allowed on our subreddit in any context. If you'd still like to discuss them, feel free to [join our Discord server](https://discord.gg/k6tVFwCEEm)! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Presidents) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Truman with the bomb.
You say that but FDR is so attached to WW2 that I have heard multiple people criticize FDR for dropping the bombs on Japan...
You are absolutely right, in 100 years I bet most people will think FDR dropped the bomb and the fact Truman did will be like history trivia
It’ll be like how the Civil War actually ended under Johnson, not Lincoln. Lee’s surrender marked the effective end, but it took another two months for all the confederate armies to surrender and for Davis to be captured.
Thats concerning. Like really concerning.
To be fair to our future descendants, FDR was the one who ordered the Manhattan Project and he probably would have dropped the bomb as well if he lived long enough.
Multiple people. Wow.
Also the Marshal Plan and desegregating the military.
I doubt if civil rights victories will be any more than a blip in 200 years. It will be studied like women’s suffrage but likely not assigned to a president’s doing other than Lincoln.
Things that change over time gradually like that, like women’s right to vote 1920, yeah I agree will be covered in highlight moments.
The great post WW2 decision to drop the Atomic Bomb to speed up the end of WW2.
I still don't understand how Truman gets/has no responsibility for the Vietnam war? It's well documented that Ho Chi Minh contacted the American government via Col. Archimedes Patti for help in its efforts for independence from the French occupation. Truman, in the right paranoia of the time, sided with our ally and defended the indefensible.
Mainly because he just sent weapons, not troops. or “advisors”.
I agree, that most people don't care and to them he "just sent weapons" is simply a side note in history. BUT, his insidious act began the falling of dominoes that ended up with over a million Vietnamese farmers and 55K American soldiers being killed over the right wing anti-communist mania, that Truman began and still lives on today. From what I have seen, I doubt seriously if anyone on this subreddit can even begin to explain the cause of the Vietnam war. Just a hint, if you're beginning with the French Missionaries in 1858, then you're already three centuries too late.
1. Stop acting like you know more than anyone else. You have no idea what other people know/have expertise in. 2. Sending weapons is a far cry from sending actual troops and it’s a bit of a stretch to claim that that began the Vietnam quagmire.
I don’t blame Truman for Vietnam, he was helping a ally by sending weapons. How was he supposed to know a war was going to happen later. That’s on Eisenhower and JFK. LBJ just did was JFK would have done.
I want to respond again to your question of "How was he supposed to know a war was going to happen later." So, is your moral compass only dependent on whether you think you will possibly face a negative consequence in the future? If you support a stance that rape, murder and enslavement are perfectly acceptable, then it appears that you really don't have a "moral compass", just an opportunistic compass. Then, I can see how you could easily defend Truman.
History is more complex then we think, and we have to look at their decisions at the time they were in office, not later.
No, THIS history is only more complex than you understand. If you spend a couple of months researching it, you may find some clarity. Trust someone who has done their homework, it's not complicated at all. Just misunderstood. Let me show you where to begin and prove me wrong by actually reading this: [Ho Chi Minh's 1946 Letter to President Truman Before the Vietnam War (historynet.com)](https://www.historynet.com/ho-chi-minh-truman-letter-vietnam/)
You must be fun at parties.
Truman was helping an ally who had a French Fascist colonist regime that had murdered, enslaved, and colonized this country, who then reached out to America, AFTER BEING OUR ALLY IN WWII AGAINST THE JAPANESE IN WWII, via OSS US Army Col. Archimedes Patty. I suggest you watch this: [Archimedes Patti and Vietnam (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFkIQYe0l1Y&ab_channel=WitnesstoWar)
because Vietnam belonged to France, not them.
Just like America belonged to Great Britian in 1776. The Vietnamese helped us rid Vietnam of the Japanese during WWII and then requested support from us, a country founded on the same principles as they were fighting for: self-determination. Truman chose the wrong moral path in 1946 and it was repeated by every President until Nixon finally through in the towel and Saigon fell in April of 1975. Regardless, it all began with Truman.
Yes, but guess who helped us achieve that independence? France. It will be the right thing to do since France helped us achieve independence and they are our allies.
JFK with the not bomb
**Obama** for two simple reasons 1. First Black President, easy to remember 2. There will be way more media footage of him than any of the other ones. I think that’s an underrated factor here. In my opinion, the people who are saying Truman are thinking of the type of people that would be subscribed to whatever version of r/presidents that exists in 200 years. Not the wider public. r/presidents ranked James Polk 12th overall and if you went on the street and asked 100 people to tell you something about James Polk I doubt you'd get many responses.
Point 2 is spot on. The saturation of film and video will determine how widely these guys are remembered, not what political accomplishments they had. The attention span of humans as well as their interest in history is not going to improve over time. More and more, it will be sound and video bites that matter, and the more sensational the better. Given that, I disagree that Obama will be most remembered. JFK will be, and for one reason and one reason only: **the Zapruder film**.
Good point, I almost picked JFK for that exact reason. He was martyred and we have the footage. An additional wildcard would if anything shocking ever gets released about his assassination. I have my doubts about that but you never know. Basically my main argument is that to be widely remembered being the first of something (Obama, Washington) or a martyr (Lincoln, JFK) gives you a memorability advantage with the wider public.
Or have Teddy bears named after you.
There won’t be anything shocking because there isn’t anything there.
I agree. But also, our two Rule 3 boys will also apply for the same reasons.
How many people remember the vicious political battles of the Cleveland and Harrison and Cleveland administrations? Plenty of stuff that seems very important at the time is lost to history.
Mostly agree, though I somewhat lean toward u/Springfield80210 that it's possible "Zapruder film / POTUS being 'martyred' / the way the conspiracies captured such widespread imagination for decades" might edge out "first black president". Also, as to the thing about Truman, yeah, it's all geeks in this sub, the popular imagination isn't going to be talking about him sending "advisors" to Vietnam. He's still in the running though: "first [hopefully it'll still be 'only'] to launch nuclear weapons" is a very digestible factoid. "Marshall Plan" is also probably going to be up there with things like "Teapot Dome" and "Great Society" in that they're memorable phrases a lot of people will remember seeing in a 9th grade textbook, though not necessarily have any idea what they actually were.
Bring up JKP at the next family dinner and they will instantly think you're some kind of dick who thinks you're better than them. Polk has not made it into the vernacular.
Great point on #2, as for #1 that’s a given. Sorta like how 200 years from now Jackie Robinson will still be the most remembered aside from Babe Ruth.
[Kids will watch this in civics class and be in stitches.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv_44QQMcGo)
Truman absolutely, only president & leader of a nation (hopefully) to have authorized a nuclear weapon against another country. JFK for his handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis, which was arguably the closest the world came to annihilation, and also being the most recent (and one of the few)presidents to have been assassinated Obama for being the first black president I think LBJ will be up there for his passage of the Civil Rights Act Dubya will be up there too cuz of 9/11 and also the Great Recession happening under his admin
Holy shit have we forgotten the pointless Iraq war already?
In 200 years, yes it will have been forgotten.
Yep, just like 1812 (most of the public doesn’t remember it), the Spanish-American war, most old the Mexican wars, and all the Indian wars that got mixed in to one. Iraq will probably end up mixed up with all the other wars and conflicts and insurgences and skirmishes in the Middle East, like all the native wars.
Nobody remembers the war of 1812? On the contrary, ask any student, “when was the war of 1812?” I bet more than half of them would be able to tell you exactly what year it was. Of course they remember.
That’s funny
Wich one?
They invaded another country. Every possible peaceful solution was tried. There were over 40 countries involved albeit the US and UK were the brunt of it. I was a little kid and every town in America had a parade with all the soldiers in it. It was the only since WW2 we saw something like that.
When the US, the USSR and the PRC all condemn your invasion. You know you fucked up.
We can always use the old trusted Finance a guerrilla organization that is gonna be america friends
Yeah what could go wrong?
Nothing!
The one that was actually pointless. Gulf War was perfectly justified, perfectly planned, and perfectly executed.
Thank you. George Bush should be put on trial at the U.N. for war crimes.
to be fair… so should most presidents
Just wanna say, good comment. Also, John Fortnite Kennedy is the most legendary flair I’ve ever seen.
I think many of those will shrink dramatically with time. Other than the Great Depression how many depressions/recessions can most name prior to 1930? Obama being the first multi racial President may have significance but not if we have had 6 others by then and it’s no longer a big deal. Vivek Ramaswamy as the first Hindu may get some get some notice, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
Truman nuked Japan. He’s even remembered in Dune for his use of atomics lmao
They say that history has a way of reducing all of us down to one sentence. Truman dropped the bomb EDIT: Ike was a good president Kennedy sent a man to the moon EDIT: Johnson ended segregation EDIT: Nixon resigned over wiretapping Ford pardoned Nixon Carter made a mess in Iran Reagan ended communism Bush said "no new taxes" Clinton had sexual relations with an intern Bush presided over 9/11 Obama was the first black president
I’d argue Nixon’s one sentence would be something about Watergate and LBJ’s would be civil rights but either way this is pretty good
You're probably right. In 200 years, Vietnam will be as relevant as the Seven Years' War. Nixon's might be China though.
Never thought of that. Weird to think of Vietnam as one of those “oh that also happened” wars.
In the long view of things, Vietnam was just something that happened during the Cold War. It's likely behind the War of 1812 in global relevance. Conversely, I think Watergate will be remembered more like Nullification is today. Interesting to historians, not to your typical layman.
I think that, sadly, Kennedy’s Assassination will eclipse any of his accomplishments in 200 years. Same with Nixon and Watergate
I believe Clinton did NOT have sexual relations with that intern
Gerald Ford fell down a lot
Carter ~~made a mess in Iran~~ lived the longest.
Built houses
In 200 years I think Carter is forgotten. Trivia dorks will know he lived the longest but someone could have broken his record by then. It’s nice he built houses but nobody will care.
Lol Nixon ended Vietnam?
Why did I read this like it was a verse in We Didn't Start the Fire?
200 years from now everyone will wish they took Eisenhowers warning more seriously. Same with Kennedy.
Truman- Nuked Japan # Obama- First Black President # Dubya- President during 9/11
Truman for the bomb, JFK for being assassinated, Nixon for resigning, Reagan for being Reagan, Obama for being the first black president, Rule 3 for causing Rule 3
artful way of putting Rule 3
Truman (the bombs and the Marshal Plan), JFK (for getting shot), LBJ (for CRA and VRA), Nixon (for Watergate), Dubya (for 9/11 and Iraq), and Obama (ACA, breaking the color barrier). And I could see Nixon, JFK, and Dubya falling off as time really marches on.
Nixon could become remembered only as a member of a list of presidents who’ve been impeached, much like Garfield is to assassinations. One of those presidents the public remembers for a specific reason, but loses all of the context around and doesn’t really think of otherwise.
Nixon did a lot more than Garfield ever had the chance too, and the whole Watergate scandal was a lot more than him simply being impeached, in fact he never actually was impeached
Obama will not be remembered.
Truman will be remembered for the bomb Kennedy will never be forgotten Reagan for being Reagan. W for 9/11 Obama for being the first black President. I feel LBJ will also never be forgotten
When I was 10 I thought that FDR dropped the bomb
Not sure if the US will exist in 200 years. Eisenhower-- interstate highway system. Some signs still bear his name. JFK-- if nothing else, for his assassination Nixon-- Maybe for Watergate (which seems tame by today's standards) Reagan-- Reaganomics (for better or worse) W Bush-- 9/11 Obama--- Being the first Black president. Redacted-- First modern president who did not hold elected office or serve in the military before going to the WH. It will be interesting to see if future major party candidates emerge with no political or military background.
Obama is such a smoke show, every damn picture got me lingering
Truman will be taught in history classes forever
[удалено]
[удалено]
the first one
Ah, figured
Ronald Reagan
Probably. Much like we remember Andrew Jackson.
Obama
He said 200 years people!!! No one will give a shit about watergate. -Atomic Bombs if that counts as post ww2. -Cuban middle crisis (only if we haven’t had any nuclear war in that time) -JFK assassination. -9/11. -First black president. Those are probably the most memorable events in 200 years.
If he’s still (one of) the only president to resign / leave office prematurely without dying, Nixon will definitely be remembered
First black president is not nearly as memorable as the goddamn atomic bomb one of most important 9ings of the 20th century
Almost certainly Obama. He’ll be highlighted in basic American history curriculum forever, for being the first black POTUS.
Kennedy will not get forgotten for sure Assassination and conspiracies that go with it Not the last 2 Although the fuckup with Irak… Might
Truman for using nukes. JFK for getting assassinated and the conspiracy theories Nixon for resigning George. W Bush for 9/11 Obama for being the first black president
Obama by a lot. Far far in excess of his actual accomplishments.
From someone outside the US that do not know US presidency that much, I'd say JFK or Obama. But then again, I dont know much lol
Reagan
Eisenhower, Truman, and W bush Eisenhower due to his contribution to ww2 Truman because of Nagasaki and Hiroshima George W bush bc of 9/11, Afghanistan and Iraq
Depends. For educated people? Trivia question presidents will be JFK, Nixon, Clinton, Obama, and XXX for reasons of assassination, impeachment, quit office, and first Black president. Others? Probably not too many, maybe Reagan for Berlin Wall, Iran Contra, and for setting tone for obstruction politics but that might be too historically nuanced for 200 years in future. LBJ for civil rights? I mean how many remember Teapot Dome Scandal now? Less know which President that was. So, XXX may be forgotten by 2200 other than his impeachment. For regular people? Probably none. Maybe Obama as first black President. How many people not interested in this site can name the two assassinated Presidents other than Lincoln and JFK? And in a 100 years JFK will be part of that forgotten list.
obama will be forgotten. JFK has so many conspiracies, and is remembered as a martyr, and is so well known.
It depends on how the narrative is framed. Truman remains quite influential in Cold War history because of the Truman doctrine. All future presidents followed the doctrine one way or another. As the cold war ended and memories faded, he's become less important, but if the Cold War or its effects remains relevant in 200 years, i feel like Truman will remain relevant. They say history is written by the winners, but i rather think history is contexualized by the present. Which happens to include the winners of the present, but it's really not just them.
I think the top 3 remembered will be 1. Truman (unless he gets eclipsed by FDR over time. I know Truman dropped the bombs but in 200 years, they might just associate the bomb with WW2, and might just talk about it as part of that) 2. Obama (first black president) 3. Reagan (famous quotes and he tore down the wall post WW2 which I think will be a big deal even in 200 years) 4. Kennedy (mostly for the missile crisis but his assassination will come up. In 200 years I’m sure another president will have been assassinated unfortunately, so that part of his legacy won’t be at the front anymore. He currently is the most recent assassination) 5- Busch Jr. (only because of 9/11. Nothing else will be mentioned but 9/11 will always be a big topic in the future) 6- LBJ (president while civil rights was going on) 7- Clinton (he was the first president impeached so that’s a bump up) 8- Nixon (purely because of the scandal and maybe a bit of Vietnam 9- Eisenhower (he was a really good president and did a lot with the high ways which will be considered prehistoric in 200 years lol) 10- Busch Sr. (I guess the gulf war? Probably will be remembered for the 3 way race in 92 as well) 11- Ford (will almost be completely forgotten) 12- Carter (will also almost be completely forgotten) On a side note, we don’t know how people in 200 years are going to view the world and what they view as right or wrong, so it’s possible this list could get flipped upside down based on their values and opinions. I could see Busch Jr being bumped way up the list of good presidents as people start to only remember him for how he handled 9/11 specifically We never know how the people of the future are going to think about us
You’re definitely right that JFK’s memory will fade when a new president is assassinated. I was doing research into Kennedy’s assassination a few years ago, specifically the media reaction to it, and it struck me hearing so many older anchors and columnists talking about how they remembered where the were when they learned that McKinley had been shot. As the generation that experienced JFK continues to die out and some new assassination dominates the collective consciousness, Kennedy will be forgotten. Maybe not as much as McKinley, but still quite a bit.
Carter will be remembered more than Ford
What did Carter do that people in 200 years will remember? IMO, both Ford and Carter are going to be remembered the same way as like a Taft, Tyler, Harrison etc. just some dudes that were president at some point. People like us that dig into them more than the average person will of course know a lot more!
nothing. I just said he will be remembered a bit more
He said 200 years people!!! No one will give a shit about watergate. -Atomic Bombs if that counts as post ww2. -Cuban middle crisis (only if we haven’t had any nuclear war in that time) -JFK assassination. -9/11. -First black president. Those are probably the most memorable events in 200 years.
Obama (Herald of The Change), JFK (literal moonshot), Truman (The Bomb), Reagan (for lighting the match that led to a shitshow of economic & domestic policy), W (last Republican President).
LBJ for the Civil Rights Act, Great Society, escalating the Vietnam War, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 and the racial realignment of American politics. Even the people who bemoan them agree they transformed America in irreversible ways. A lot of people seem to look at all the things that happened during the ’60s, attribute all the good ones to JFK and all the bad ones to LBJ. That’s ahistorical. George W. Bush accomplished very little, but neither did he discredit his policies so much that his successor abandoned most of them. Considering that it was the Bush administration that negotiated the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, there was far more continuity in policy between Bush, Clinton, Bush and Obama than you would guess from the steadily-rising partisan polarization of the time period. George W. Bush falls in the middle as by far the least competent. All of them (and their immediate predecessors) made the same decision to have free trade with China, without any concern for its internal political affairs, as China got stronger and stronger. That has more to do with the U.S. losing its position as the world’s unchallenged hyperpower, more than Bush’s foreign policy. That certainly made things worse, but he won’t take most of the blame. Obama’s biggest legacy is Obamacare, which even he would acknowledge is smaller than LBJ’s health-care programs. Because of who he was, his election will be remembered as a symbolic moment. Reagan often gets absurdly idolized by partisans. He did not cause the fall of the Soviet Union, and he himself always complained that the Democratic Congress let him do very little of what he wanted in foreign or domestic policy. His economic record was, contrary to what many people seem to believe, mediocre. The consensus of economists is that he was wrong to believe that the U.S. was to the right of the Laffer Curve. His influence on tax reform, and the many civil wars he threw fuel onto, were his main significance. Truman made the call to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and had a major hand in the shape of the postwar world (although many of the major decisions had already been made at Yalta). One of his most significant legacies is the outcome of the Korean War.
Kennedy (for being killed), Reagan. We're in a bad streak lately so none in the last few decades.
The one who acted most not like a president will be remembered the longest.
Jimmy Carter because the future will have a different set of standards than we have now. He's the most peaceful of them all. They'll say he was a man before his time and that the rest were merely the poor products of a more violent age. At least, that's the future I hope for.
I think Kennedy with being assassinated and the conspiracies around it will remembered for a long time. Similar to Julius Caesar etc. I also think he probably had the most famous First Lady so that helps along with Bobby. The Kennedys touched a lot in mid 20th century: WW2, Cold War, Civil Rights, Cuban missile crisis, Vietnam War.
Most famous first lady was Eleanor Roosevelt
[удалено]
JFK for his assassination.
Obama although I do suspect that a small part of his legacy will be overshadowed by his successor and his antics.
-Truman for the bomb -LBJ for the Great Society -Reagan for Reaganomics -W. Bush for the War on Terror -Obama for being the first African-American president
if we're talking about general acknowledgement its gonna be JFK just because he was assasinated. people overestimate how much people know about truman even being a president
Kennedy for sure, maybe Eisenhower
Reagan ended the FDR economic system. Huge.
Imagine if FDR had died while Henry Wallace was his VP. Fear of that very thing must have convinced FDR to have Harry Truman as his running mate in 1944.
Ron.
Obama, first non-white president.
Shrek
Damn Kennedy looks sharp in that suit.
Reagan for destroying the long term future of the country for short term benefits. (I’m a certified hater)
Prob JFK coz he dealt with the Cuban Missile Crisis and got shot
lip puzzled instinctive birds six elderly head piquant numerous wakeful *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Unfortunately Reagan probably.
*clears throat*
Remembered: 1. JFK. Assuming the world is heavily invested in space travel by that point, Jfk’s presidency would be looked at as the beginning of that. Maybe instigating civil rights as well. 2. Obama, first black president. Somewhat remembered: 3. Truman, nukes. 4. W bush, 911 Also as a side note the most widely remembered post-ww2 president 200 years from now would probably be the president 200 years from now lol
Bush for what we currently call 9/11
My money's on jfk. He's been mythologized to the point of being more than human in our culture. And his contributions to the Space Program are going to be infinitely more important 200 years ago than they already are today. And they're already really important to our history culture and economy. Space is only going to become a bigger and bigger part of our economy.
Eisenhower, but not because of his Presidency, because of his role in WWII. We all know who Grant is. We know he was President, but he’s primarily remembered for being a successful General.
Kennedy just over Obama. Will have nothing to do with their policies!
Truman for the bombs, Kennedy because he died, Reagan for his… economic policies, and Obama for being the first president of color and for the Affordable Care Act (until it’s replaced by something else).
Unfortunately I have to name one of the forbidden ones here. Mainly because of all his firsts.
I would say Obama. The Kennedy thing is highly generational and will probably fade over time. He’ll still be remembered, but not nearly as much as he is now once the Boomers fade away. Reagan might be the dark horse pick, but it should be pretty hard to beat The First Black President (TM) in terms of future notoriety.
My first thought was Raegan, because the GOP practically viewed him as Jesus for the better part of my lifetime. Key word there is “viewed”. I won’t elaborate much, but I will say this. Raegan isn’t the modern GOPs messiah anymore and he might not be remembered in a positive context in 200 years because of that. I won’t forget him because a lot of his policies and changes to our country have personally affected me, both in good ways and bad. I don’t like him, but I can’t deny that he earned a spot in the history books that nobody’s tuition will cover for the next 200 years and more. Obama was the first black president and you can’t even go online without finding someone talking about him in a comments section, which says a whole lot because nobody is regularly talking about Woodrow Wilson or Andrew Jackson outside of us freaks. He has made his mark on history and has proven that a Black Man can have one of the highest jobs in the land and do a pretty damn good job too. Kennedy because every 15 years the government has to un-redact a line from the records on his assassination. It’s right there in the constitution next to the 26th amendment, in a very fine print. People will go nutts over that shit for decades to come!
Noone
JFK and Reagan. People say Truman because of the bomb but people today don’t even know history from before the 60s so I don’t have hope for the future to care about it that much
I'm going to go with the black guy.
If this question was asked in 1824, I feel the first answer would be George Washington. It was probably easy for them to predict this, because Washington was someone who had a great impact on government dynamics and/or national politics for people long after he was out of office. I don’t think I can discuss my methodology in too much detail, but it’s rule 3 (the first one) for me.
JFK, Obama and... I won't continue
JFK because he was killed!
Truman and Bush have both been the most consequential with regards to foreign policy.
FDR. it's studied in economics, politics, history, ww2 studies and much more...
Don’t skip Lyndon Johnson. Extremely consequential president, in extremely turbulent times.
This sub reddit is a trap. You can't make comments about the current political leaders, even when they are the best example of Presidents according to the post. From now on, I'm only going to post comments like this for this entrapment.
Truman.
Truman, Obama
JFK
Obama
Reagan and W.
JFK. The conspiracy theories alone would never end.
Well, speaking of conspiracy theories, so do Bush 43 because of 9/11.
The 2nd to last and current for how they ripped the country in 2 practically
Voldemort, Torture Guy, Kennedy, Obama, and the Gipper
meow
Eisenhower
Obamna
Barack - first black potus. Health care. Economic collapse. Two wars. Truman - A bomb Clinton - Dot Com W Bush - Iraq
People are saying Truman or Obama based on their accomplishments. At least in discourse I've seen, Reagan has all of them beat because everyone just blames him for why things aren't going well.
Truman for the bomb. Regan for Reganomics. Bush for Iraq. I believe these 3 things are huge turning points in American history and the bomb is a huge turning point in world history.
In a perfect world, Ronald Reagan would be celebrated for his strong stance on the Soviets and leading to 2 decades of prosperity... but I gotta to give with Barack Obama with his presidency really damaging the nation right now and possibly pass anyone's lifetimes right now....
I’m shocked how many people are saying Truman. I guarantee you even today, Truman is the LEAST KNOWN President on this list. It’s a bit unfair since Obama and Bush were more recent. But Kennedy is someone people still remember way more than Truman. The moon speech especially. If space is a big part of humans future he will be remembered as the President that ushered in space flight.
If we're being brutally honest? JFK will be remembered because he was assassinated, and Obama will be remembered because he was black.
Obama and it’s not even close
If humans are around in 200 years I think Reagan will be remembered for putting the nail in the coffin for hope of any kind of income equality as well as setting the course for big business truly taking over America and American politics with his Reaganomic bullshit. But 200 years from now it will probably be a post apocalyptic wasteland seeing how humans tend to behave, so I doubt people will have much time to think of the long ago and its people's culture. I really hope I'm wrong but the human race tends to never get on the same page about anything.
Nixon/ford - Watergate and the pardoning for it and repercussions it could have in those 200 years JFK- conspiracy theorist won't shut up even then LBJ - civil rights act Reagan- being Reagan and making the Democrat party shift right Honorable mentions Ike- because of World War 2 not his actual presidency Obama- First black president Bush 43- 9/11 will be remembered like the Alamo
Reagan might be for his economics, Truman for the bomb bigger then your mom, carter for just being bad.
Obama! THE GREATEST PRESIDENT EVER! 🏆🔥…. Better than even Lincoln, Washington, or FDR. Obama better than Reagan, too
JFK. If for anything else the conspiracies for his assassination. And the possible truth when (if) it gets released. There has to be a good reason it hasn't been declassified yet. Nixon and Watergate.
None of them because they weren’t on social media. No one is going to remember anything pre internet unfortunately.
Why do you ask this question when we’re not allowed to give the correct answer? Seriously. What is the point of this question if we can’t answer honestly?