[Historiana]

(Original post by soempty)
John F Kennedy. Been president for relative short time, was involved in a big crisis solution of which wasn't his own victory at all. Failed at Cuba invasion which is forgotten. However he is one of the most known modern American presidents.

To date, he still has one of the highest consecutive approval ratings of any US president since such ratings began. Whilst his assassination guaranteed him a place in history, as far as successful presidents go - his poll ratings from citizens whilst in office, mark him out as one of the most popular and most successful. He would have been guaranteed a second term if he survived, in my opinion.

[Kosmos]

Mother Theresa - Paraded as a saint.

Was a disgusting individual who believed that being poor was good, the hospitals that housed the poor and ill children were in despicable conditions and in one account, Theresa didn't allow a doctor to enter the hospital. She elongated suffering in children by isolating children to their beds.

[Clessus]

Mother Theresa - Paraded as a saint.

Was a disgusting individual who believed that being poor was good, the hospitals that housed the poor and ill children were in despicable conditions and in one account, Theresa didn't allow a doctor to enter the hospital. She elongated suffering in children by isolating children to their beds.

Finally someone said it. This is not to mention her unsavoury relationships with dictators and charlatans, as well as campaigning against family planning in India, of all countries.

JFK I agree is another overrated person, although he deserves credit for his handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis, his foreign policy was on the whole, a disaster. His election was also very shady, and it is possible that had Nixon contested it, he would have lost.

A few others;

Christopher Columbus: Didn't discover America, didn't discover the Earth was round (already known since Antiquity), was not the first European in the Americas, continued to insist that he had reached India as planned.

Ronald Reagan: The conservative JFK. Like JFK, people like to forget the unsavioury aspects of his presidency, and focus on "tear down this wall". Largely forgotten are the Iran-Contra scandal, the huge budget deficits, his environment ignorance, his do-nothing reaction to the looming AIDS epidemic, his courting of Saddam Hussein, and numerous other blunders.

Churchill: While Churchill certainly deserves credit for giving Britain the strength to defy Hitler, when it would have been easy to capitualate, many forget his many failures, and the fact that he was not very popular during WW2. He was the anchitect of a disasterous campaign in WW1 that cost thousands of lives. Returning to the Gold Standard demonstrated little economic scholarship. Hs oppositon to Indian independence did no service to the peple of the subcontinent. In 1951, he was too ill to fulfil his obligations as Prime Minister. He was not big enough to say so. He was viewed as an unprincipled man who had changed parties for personal gain, and trusted by almost no one.

[Issy123]

(Original post by mariachi)
wishful thinking

Did you read the "Rasulallah" ?

LOL nope. but i can tell you you've been obviously misinformed.

[mariachi]

(Original post by mariachi)
Did you read the "Rasulallah" ?

(Original post by Issy123)
LOL nope. but i can tell you you've been obviously misinformed.

then, my advice is to read (at least in part) the Rasulallah. I posted a link to the English translation.

It is the earliest surviving biography of Muhammad (written around 750 CE, but known to us by later recensions) : most later biographies actually re-elaborate his material (and edulcorate it at the same time)

the image of Muhammad in the Rasulallah is one of a successful warlord : sometimes generous, sometimes cruel. Basically, very self-centered and despotic.

Read !

[Rhadamanthus]

(Original post by Historiana)
Calvin Coolidge was supposedly a former member of the KKK as well...

I highly doubt that; there isn't much evidence to suggest so and he was notably more tolerant in this respect than people like Woodrow Wilson.

[unclej]

JFK

FDR

T.Roosevelt

Lincoln

Jefferson

columbus

[Historiana]

(Original post by Rhadamanthus)
I highly doubt that; there isn't much evidence to suggest so and he was notably more tolerant in this respect than people like Woodrow Wilson.

It sounds surprising, but has been confirmed to the extent that it was cited in a textbook I used whilst studying the Boom & Bust years at A Level.

Warren Harding, Woodrow Wilson, William McKinley and Harry Truman were also members.

He may have preached toleration in public for the purpose of election - as others did - but in private there's quite a bit of evidence to say his personal views were different. KKK membership details were obviously kept secret (still are now) so there's little wonder that people dispute it, when most of the evidence comes from personal testimonials of former Klansmen.

Just because all of these men were President, and acted in ways contrary to KKK values, it doesn't mean they could not have held personal views in line with the KKK. You couldn't exactly advertise your membership, or go around preaching values in public office. It's entirely possible that were all KKK members and simply acted against their own views in order to get elected/re-elected.

[Dux_Helvetica]

(Original post by Historiana)
Just because all of these men were President, and acted in ways contrary to KKK values, it doesn't mean they could not have held personal views in line with the KKK. You couldn't exactly advertise your membership, or go around preaching values in public office. It's entirely possible that were all KKK members and simply acted against their own views in order to get elected/re-elected.

Not really true. The Klan had 4 million members in 1920 and 6 million in 1924 - 15% of the nation's white males. That's a pretty significant number, especially when you consider that many members of the American public were probably sympathetic towards the KKK without being card-carrying members. Add to that too all the wives of these men. That's an even more significant number of voters.

[laura111294]

Kim Kardashian, in fact all of the Kardashians. (Not sure if this has already been said D: )

[richiemayne]

(Original post by Fusion)
Can an excellent orator plan a holocaust? I genuinely ponder whether it was he who was the brains behind it. Many people were antisemetic in those times. My view of politics is that well presentable people get elected but are influenced by other brains e.g. George Bush.

He didn't plan the holocaust. It was largely organised by the SS, specifically Reinhard Heydrich and Heinrich Himmler. Hermann Goering approved the plan and is likely to have sought Hitler's approval (there are no written documents signed by Hitler ordering the holocaust, but Hitler very rarely signed anything - he preferred to deliver his orders verbally. Claims that Hitler can't have known because there is no documentation are entirely unfounded because they ignore the wider context of the way Hitler operated) for such a huge project, as it's unlikely that he wouldn't have been informed.

Yay, now I feel like that A-level in history has come in handy.

[richiemayne]

Princess Diana. She got married to a Prince, had two kids, divorced a prince and died in a car crash. Sad story sure, but she was hardly a second Caesar.

[Benny100]

(Original post by soempty)
John F Kennedy. Been president for relative short time, was involved in a big crisis solution of which wasn't his own victory at all. Failed at Cuba invasion which is forgotten. However he is one of the most known modern American presidents.

First person I thought of when I saw the threads title. Agree 100%.

[Sir Fox]

(Original post by miser)
One that springs to mind is Thomas Edison. The reasons are pretty well summed up by The Oatmeal: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla

Whilst I agree with you that Edison is seriously overhyped for things he has never done this eulogy on Tesla is highly inaccurate and contains scores of myths and exaggerations.

[Fusion]

(Original post by richiemayne)
Princess Diana. She got married to a Prince, had two kids, divorced a prince and died in a car crash. Sad story sure, but she was hardly a second Caesar.

She challenged taboos when she dated Dodi, plus didn't she do lots of courageous charity events with landmines and kissed an aids person....?

[richiemayne]

(Original post by Fusion)
She challenged taboos when she dated Dodi, plus didn't she do lots of courageous charity events with landmines and kissed an aids person....?

She challenged taboos by dating a non-white in the 1990s? Pardon my sarcasm but WOW! I don't see how that is of any historical relevance at all.

And as for the latter two things? Sure she did a fair amount of charity work, but so do thousands and thousands of people every year. In grand scheme of things however, such work is of general insignificance. She certainly was not as deserving of the affection which previous generations gave her at the time.

[RevolutionIsNear!]

Winston Churchill


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[RevolutionIsNear!]

(Original post by Clessus)
Finally someone said it. This is not to mention her unsavoury relationships with dictators and charlatans, as well as campaigning against family planning in India, of all countries.

JFK I agree is another overrated person, although he deserves credit for his handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis, his foreign policy was on the whole, a disaster. His election was also very shady, and it is possible that had Nixon contested it, he would have lost.

A few others;

Christopher Columbus: Didn't discover America, didn't discover the Earth was round (already known since Antiquity), was not the first European in the Americas, continued to insist that he had reached India as planned.

Ronald Reagan: The conservative JFK. Like JFK, people like to forget the unsavioury aspects of his presidency, and focus on "tear down this wall". Largely forgotten are the Iran-Contra scandal, the huge budget deficits, his environment ignorance, his do-nothing reaction to the looming AIDS epidemic, his courting of Saddam Hussein, and numerous other blunders.

Churchill: While Churchill certainly deserves credit for giving Britain the strength to defy Hitler, when it would have been easy to capitualate, many forget his many failures, and the fact that he was not very popular during WW2. He was the anchitect of a disasterous campaign in WW1 that cost thousands of lives. Returning to the Gold Standard demonstrated little economic scholarship. Hs oppositon to Indian independence did no service to the peple of the subcontinent. In 1951, he was too ill to fulfil his obligations as Prime Minister. He was not big enough to say so. He was viewed as an unprincipled man who had changed parties for personal gain, and trusted by almost no one.

Spot on sir



This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[Dee Leigh]

The Queen?

Posted from TSR Mobile

[pol pot noodles]

(Original post by Dee Leigh)
The Queen?

Posted from TSR Mobile

In what way is she over rated?