Journal naoursla's Journal: Which American President Am I? 2
I was President of the United States of America. I was a people person and liked by most people. However, I had a mediocre mind and quickly found myself beyond my depth in the presidency. "God! What a job!" was my anguished cry on one occasion.
I was "one of the boys", but had trouble detecting moral halitosis and saying "no". While I attempted to gather the best minds of my party to server in my cabinet, designing political leeches capitalized on my weaknesses to secure positions of power. Some of these crooks were able to defraud the government out of $200 million building government projects and allowing businesses to develop government owned mineral resources in exchange for bribes. The aquittal of these crooks did not improve the American public's confidence in their legal system.
I was a strong proponent of business and a laissez-faire economy. I acheived my ends by filling the courts and administrative bureaus with fellow standpatters. I was especially effective in stacking the Supreme Court in this regard. My appointees killed federal child labor law, stripped away many of labor's hard won gains, minimum wage laws, and rigidly restricted governmental intervention in the economy. Anti-trust laws were ingored, circumvented, or feebly upheld by friendly prosecutors in the attorney general's office. In response, large industries set up trade associations to limit competition. The agreed upon standards made by these associations greatly reduced waste and sped up engineering progress. I privatived industries under government managment and ended government subsidies to other industries. When unions striked under the hardships the withdrawl of government support created, I placed clamped sweeping injunctions on the stikers. Unions wilted under my policies with membership dropping 30%.
Under pressure from business to protect the prosperous home market from cheap foreign goods, I raised high, virtually unclimbable, tariff walls around the United States. Foreign companies felt this squeeze and raised their own tariffs against US goods. While I was able to keep foreign goods out, I also prevented American businesses from exporting their own goods. This led to a viscous circle that worsened the current international economic distress.
While I took care of business, I also took care of US veterans. I formed a veteran organization to administer benefits that became a powerful lobbying force.
I was able to secure rights to drill for oil in middle eastern countries. I also negotiated an armament treaty to keep America safe. Unfortunately, the new parchment peace was delusory in the extreme. Lacking both muscles and teeth, the pact was a diplomatic derelict -- and virtually useless in a showdown. Yet it accurately -- and dangerously -- reflected the American mind of the time which was all too ready to be lulled into a false sense of security.
Which American President Am I? (1)
(1) facts paraphrased from Bailey and Kennedy. The American Pagent. D. C. Heath and Company. 1987. ISBN 0-669-10810-3
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