U.S. Presidents – William Clinton

October 24, 2008 > MAUI TODAY, U.S. Presidents No Comments

By the Maui Curmudgeon (42nd in a 43-part series)

How do the U.S. Presidents stack up? I thought I’d find out by reading biographies of all 42 presidents, in the order of their administrations. Here are briefly the pros and cons of my discoveries, the interesting bits, and how I’d rank him. For comparison, I give you the 1982 Murray-Blessing ranking, a survey of hundreds of leading historians who ranked each president by number. This survey is the gold standard of presidential rankings and is most cited when this kind of thing needs bringing up in media.

WILLIAM CLINTON: 1993-2001~ 42nd U.S. President

An administration whose noble intentions went awry. Bill Clinton was our last constitutionally elected president, and it’s difficult to judge his administration without some historical distance, particularly since his wife, Hillary, recently came close to winning the Democratic nomination, and has kept the Clintons in the current spotlight.

Six-time governor of Arkansas, Clinton was initialy given little chance of winning the democratic nomination in 1992. His first problem was overcoming a lack of recognition by voters – they just didn’t know who he was. Then came the allegations of affairs with several women while he was governor. Purient interests are always good for a few PR moments, and Clinton made the most of them, going on “60 minutes” and lying – saying he never had the affair. It was a pattern which he would repeat many times during the campaign and his presidency.

Read the rest…

Gettin’ Sum

October 24, 2008 > MAUI TODAY No Comments
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EVENTS ON THIS DAY — October 24rd
3963 -BC- Origin of Hevelius’ Mundane Era
1648 Peace of Westphalia ends 30 year war and Holy Roman Empire
1836 The match is patented
1851 William Lassell discovers Ariel & Umbriel, satellites of Uranus
1856 Constitution of South Australia adopted
1857 World’s 1st soccer club, Sheffield F.C., founded in England
1861 1st transcontinental telegram sent ending the Pony Express
1871 Mob in LA hangs 18 Chinese
1889 Softball rules adopted by Mid Winter Indoor Baseball League
1901 1st woman to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel (Anna Taylor)
1903 1st trotter to run a mile under 2 minutes (Lou Dillon 1:58.1)
1903 George Sutton becomes billiard champ
1911 Robert Scott’s expedition leaves Cape Evans for South Pole
1929 “Black Thursday,” beginning of stock market crash
1931 George Washington Bridge connecting NY to NJ opens
1935 Italy invades Ethiopia
1939 Benny Goodman records “Let’s Dance”
1939 Nylon stockings go on sale for 1st time (Wilmington Delaware)
1940 40 hour work week goes into effect (Fair Labor Standards of 1938)
1940 Japan eliminates US terms (strike, play ball) from baseball
1943 Anti-nazi Clandestine Radio Soldatsender Calais begins transmitting
1945 United Nations Charter becomes effective
1947 Series of forest fires burn $30 million of timber (New England States)
1951 United Nations publishes its 1st postage stamps
1952 Arab Liberation Movement becomes the only party of Syria
1956 Soviet troops invade Hungary
1960 Disaster on USSR launch pad, kills missile expert Nedelin & team (unconfirmed); USSR claims he was killed in plane crash
1964 Zambia (N Rhodesia) gains independence from Britain (National Day)
1968 Mick Jagger & Marianne Faithful busted for pot, released on œ50 bail
1970 Nancy Walker creates Ida Morgenstein role on Mary Tyler Moore Show
1970 Salvador Allende Gossens elected president of Chile
1971 Harry Drake sets longest arrow flight by a footbow (1 mile 268 yds)
1971 Texas Stadium opens-Cowboys beat Patriots 44-21
1973 Heavy fog causes 65 car collision killing 9 on NJ Turnpike
1973 John Lennon sues US govt to admit the FBI is tapping his phone
1973 Yom Kippur War ends, Israel 65 miles from Cairo, 26 from Damascus
1974 Billy Martin named AL Manager of the Year (Texas Rangers)
1976 1st Jewish film & TV festival
1978 NHL Toronto Maple Leafs set own team record of 28 pts vs NY Islanders
1979 Billy Martin punches a marshmallow salesman, puts job in jeopardy
1979 Guinness Book of Records presents Paul McCartney with a rhodium disc
1980 John Lennon releases “(Just Like) Starting Over” in UK
1980 Polish government legalizes independent labor union Solidarity
1984 11 members of the Colombo crime family arrested
1984 Intelsat 5 re-enters Earth’s atmosphere 5 months after it failed
1984 Steffi Graf plays her 1st pro tennis match
1987 Bork’s supreme court nomination rejected by senate
1987 NBC technicians accept pact, end 118 day strike
1988 NY Islander’s & NHL high scorer, Mike Bossy retires
1988 Traveling Wilburys Volume One is released
1988 Typhoon Ruby sinks Philippine ferry; hundreds drown
1989 After a week’s delay due to earthquake, World Series game 3 is played (World Series #86)
1989 Rev Jim Bakker is sentenced to 50 years for fraud
DEAD ON THIS DAY — October 23rd
1537 Jane Seymour 3rd wife of Henry VIII, dies
1601 Tycho Brahe astronomer, dies in Prague at 54
1655 Pierre Gassendi French philosopher, dies at 63
1957 Christian Dior French designer, dies at 52 in Italy
1961 Dr Milan Stoyadinovich Fascist Yugoslavia PM (1935-9), dies at 73
1963 Beverly Wills actress (Beverly-I Married Joan), dies at 29
1971 Chuck Hughes Detroit Lion collapses during game & later, dies
1972 Jackie Robinson dies at 53
1973 Allan “Rocky” Lane actor (voice of Mr Ed, Red Ryder), dies at 72
1975 Ismail Erez Turkish ambassador killed by car bomb in Paris
1981 Deborah Baltzell actress (Karen-I’m a Big Girl Now), dies at 25
1982 James Philbrook actor (Islanders, Investigators), dies at 58
1984 Edith Massey actress, dies at 66
1984 Walter Woolf King actor/TV host (Lights Cameras Action), dies at 85
1987 Constantin Alajalov Russian artist, dies at 86
1991 Gene Roddenberry Star Trek creator, dies of a heart attack at 70