Potus Geeks 2021: The Year in Review
2020 has been a challenging year for all of us. It has been a year that has called for tolerance, understanding and kindness as we see our fellow citizens struggle to meet the challenges that come with a pandemic, challenges that can be physical, mental, economic or spiritual. I hope you have found some sort of interesting diversion to help you through these times. Whether you label yourself a liberal, conservative, moderate, independent, or if you just think that labels are for soup cans, we will endeavor to make this community a welcoming place in 2021 for everyone.
That was how
potus_geeks ended off 2020, hopeful that a year of pandemic sacrifice would be a springboard for a year full of tolerance and understanding and an end to polarized politics. But 2021 must not have got the memo because six days into the new year, a riot broke out at the capital, more frightening than any in US history. Even after the controversial elections of 1876 and 2000, nothing like this had ever occurred, and hopefully never will again. The year continued on its acrimonious path with a string of unsuccessful court challenges alleging a stolen election, an anti-vaccination movement, increased inflation and record deficit spending.
In spite of all of this, this community strove to live up to its perennial goal of makingpotus_geeks a welcoming place for all presidential history geeks, regardless or whether liberal or conservative, Republican or Democrat, independent, libertarian or Whig. All who are respectful and tolerant and geeky are welcome here. We are not a place for disparagement of those who differ from us, and we shun echo chamber mentality. Our focus is not on politics, but on history and how the lessons of history can help us to understand potential implications of present decisions and how they may affect our future.
So amidst all the turmoil of the second year of the pandemic, and the first in the administration of the oldest President to take the oath of office, what waspotus_geeks up to in 2021? Here's a look back on how we spent the past 12 months in this community.
January: As the inauguration of a new President loomed on the horizon, we spent the first 21 days of the new year looking at some of the most memorable inaugural addresses of the past, including Abraham Lincoln's call for us to follow the "better angels" of our nature, FDR's reminder that "all we have to fear is fear itself", JFK cautioning us to "ask now what your country can do for you" but to "ask what you can do for your country", and Ronald Reagan calling on us to remember that government is not the solution to all of our problems. We spent the last part of the month looking at some of the more memorable farewell addresses of outgoing presidents, including two dire warnings: George Washington expressing concern about the damage that can be caused by political parties and by foreign entanglements, and Dwight Eisenhower's looming fear of the power of the "military industrial complex."
February: As a new President began to issue a spate of Executive Orders, we looked at the history of this instrument and at some of the more famous (and infamous) ones in history, including FDR's order for the interment of Japanese-Americans, Harry Truman's desegregation of the military, LBJ's creation of the Warren Commission, and perhaps the most famous, Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. We also celebrated Valentines Day with a look at the most romantic first couples.
March: As new federal legislation proposed record deficit spending, we looked at how past Presidents handled the daunting economic issues that they faced, from depression to prosperity, tax cuts, stock market crashes, tariffs and free trade, and the creation and destruction of a national bank. On March 26,potus_geeks celebrated its eleventh birthday too!
April: After several months of serious news, political bickering and pandemic fatigue, we thought we would lighten the mood with a look at the weird and mysterious, our ownpotus_geeks version of the X-Files. We looked at presidential encounters (real or imagined) with aliens, UFOs, conspiracies, ghosts and things that go bump in the night. Did Dwight Eisenhower really meet with aliens? Did Richard Nixon show Jackie Gleason the recovered body of a grey alien? Is the White House really haunted by ghosts? Did Zachary Taylor and Warren Harding die from natural causes, or were they murdered? Our April entries looked at all of these events and more.
May: As President Biden reached the milestone of his first 100 days in office, we looked at past Presidents and what they were able to accomplish in their first few months in office, as they confronted wartime, peacetime, depression, prosperity and other challenges. Sadly, there was no entry in this series for William Henry Harrison.
June: As the pandemic continued to restrict travel options for most people, we traveled vicariously as we took a look at some of the famous trips made by globetrotting presidents and past presidents. These included Richard Nixon's iconic trip to China, President-elect Dwight Eisenhower's fulfillment of his election promise to visit Korea in the midst of a war, Ulysses Grant's round-the-world junket that rehabilitated his reputation and almost led to a third term in office, and how former President Millard Fillmore was said to have charmed Queen Victoria.
July: July didn't have a theme per se, but instead looked at various anniversaries of past presidential doings from that month, including when a President served hot dogs to the King of England, another received a horribly destructive new weapon, and another spoke to the first men to land on the moon.
August: August is always a vacation month in which we post "Summer Reruns", reprints of posts from previous years. This year we included the story of how President James Monroe had to defend himself from an attack by his treasury secretary using fireplace tongs, how Millard Fillmore joined a volunteer fire brigade as president to fight a fire at the Library of Congress, and how the first female candidate for President sought the office at a time before women had the right to vote.
September: As illegal immigration continued to be a problem at the US-Mexican border, we looked at how past Presidents dealt with the immigration and refugee challenges that confronted them, from George Washington's views on the issue, to President Joe Biden's handling of the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and the refugee problems that followed that decision.
October: As the historical legacy of past leaders who supported or enabled the institution of slavery continued to result in the removal of statues and the renaming of buildings, we looked at the relationship of past presidents with what was once called "the peculiar institution" in order to better understand the question of how these presidents should be remembered today, seeking to look at the issue from those with differing perspectives.
November: What makes a president want "four more years"? We looked at the past history of those who sought a second and even a third or fourth term in office, and used this review of past history as a tool to read the tea leaves and make our own prediction as to whether or not the current and immediate past president will seek four more years in 2024.
December: We concluded the year with a look at how past presidents had celebrated the Christmas holiday, culminating in our annual Christmas eve effort at fracturing the classic Christmas poem by Clement Clark Moore, imagining what it would be like if all of the Presidents got together for one gigantic Christmas party. We also looked back on the books we had reviewed, and conclude with this look back on how we spent the year.
What will 2022 hold forpotus_geeks? What topics and themes will we explore? Suggestions are always welcome. It will be a year of mid-term elections, and many predict a change in control of Congress, followed by a hamstrung presidency. Whether those predictions are accurate or not remains to be seen. Will polarization increase, or will the pendulum swing back with voters calling for a return to more centrist leadership? Will record government spending lead to a return to the runaway inflation experienced in the latter part of the 20th century, or are Modern Monetary Theory economists correct in their assertion that (for the most part) federal deficits don't matter?
In 2022potus_geeks plans to continue to look back on past presidential history and its relationship to modern political issues and themes. More importantly, we intend to continue our optimism in hoping for an uptake in civility, tolerance and understanding, for a decrease in polarization. It is our hope that everyone will welcome diversity of thought, and not dismiss out of hand the ideas of those whose ideology does not match our own, without giving them fair consideration.
So let's end the year and begin the new one where we left off last year. Like its predecessor, 2021 has been a challenging year for all of us. It has been a year that has called for tolerance, understanding and kindness as we see our fellow citizens struggle to meet the challenges that come with a pandemic, challenges that can be physical, mental, economic or spiritual. I hope you have found some sort of interesting diversion to help you through these times. Whether you label yourself a liberal, conservative, moderate, independent, or if you just think that labels are for soup cans, we will endeavor to make this community a welcoming place in 2022 for everyone.
That was how
potus_geeks ended off 2020, hopeful that a year of pandemic sacrifice would be a springboard for a year full of tolerance and understanding and an end to polarized politics. But 2021 must not have got the memo because six days into the new year, a riot broke out at the capital, more frightening than any in US history. Even after the controversial elections of 1876 and 2000, nothing like this had ever occurred, and hopefully never will again. The year continued on its acrimonious path with a string of unsuccessful court challenges alleging a stolen election, an anti-vaccination movement, increased inflation and record deficit spending. In spite of all of this, this community strove to live up to its perennial goal of making
potus_geeks a welcoming place for all presidential history geeks, regardless or whether liberal or conservative, Republican or Democrat, independent, libertarian or Whig. All who are respectful and tolerant and geeky are welcome here. We are not a place for disparagement of those who differ from us, and we shun echo chamber mentality. Our focus is not on politics, but on history and how the lessons of history can help us to understand potential implications of present decisions and how they may affect our future.So amidst all the turmoil of the second year of the pandemic, and the first in the administration of the oldest President to take the oath of office, what was
potus_geeks up to in 2021? Here's a look back on how we spent the past 12 months in this community.January: As the inauguration of a new President loomed on the horizon, we spent the first 21 days of the new year looking at some of the most memorable inaugural addresses of the past, including Abraham Lincoln's call for us to follow the "better angels" of our nature, FDR's reminder that "all we have to fear is fear itself", JFK cautioning us to "ask now what your country can do for you" but to "ask what you can do for your country", and Ronald Reagan calling on us to remember that government is not the solution to all of our problems. We spent the last part of the month looking at some of the more memorable farewell addresses of outgoing presidents, including two dire warnings: George Washington expressing concern about the damage that can be caused by political parties and by foreign entanglements, and Dwight Eisenhower's looming fear of the power of the "military industrial complex."
February: As a new President began to issue a spate of Executive Orders, we looked at the history of this instrument and at some of the more famous (and infamous) ones in history, including FDR's order for the interment of Japanese-Americans, Harry Truman's desegregation of the military, LBJ's creation of the Warren Commission, and perhaps the most famous, Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. We also celebrated Valentines Day with a look at the most romantic first couples.
March: As new federal legislation proposed record deficit spending, we looked at how past Presidents handled the daunting economic issues that they faced, from depression to prosperity, tax cuts, stock market crashes, tariffs and free trade, and the creation and destruction of a national bank. On March 26,
potus_geeks celebrated its eleventh birthday too!April: After several months of serious news, political bickering and pandemic fatigue, we thought we would lighten the mood with a look at the weird and mysterious, our own
potus_geeks version of the X-Files. We looked at presidential encounters (real or imagined) with aliens, UFOs, conspiracies, ghosts and things that go bump in the night. Did Dwight Eisenhower really meet with aliens? Did Richard Nixon show Jackie Gleason the recovered body of a grey alien? Is the White House really haunted by ghosts? Did Zachary Taylor and Warren Harding die from natural causes, or were they murdered? Our April entries looked at all of these events and more.May: As President Biden reached the milestone of his first 100 days in office, we looked at past Presidents and what they were able to accomplish in their first few months in office, as they confronted wartime, peacetime, depression, prosperity and other challenges. Sadly, there was no entry in this series for William Henry Harrison.
June: As the pandemic continued to restrict travel options for most people, we traveled vicariously as we took a look at some of the famous trips made by globetrotting presidents and past presidents. These included Richard Nixon's iconic trip to China, President-elect Dwight Eisenhower's fulfillment of his election promise to visit Korea in the midst of a war, Ulysses Grant's round-the-world junket that rehabilitated his reputation and almost led to a third term in office, and how former President Millard Fillmore was said to have charmed Queen Victoria.
July: July didn't have a theme per se, but instead looked at various anniversaries of past presidential doings from that month, including when a President served hot dogs to the King of England, another received a horribly destructive new weapon, and another spoke to the first men to land on the moon.
August: August is always a vacation month in which we post "Summer Reruns", reprints of posts from previous years. This year we included the story of how President James Monroe had to defend himself from an attack by his treasury secretary using fireplace tongs, how Millard Fillmore joined a volunteer fire brigade as president to fight a fire at the Library of Congress, and how the first female candidate for President sought the office at a time before women had the right to vote.
September: As illegal immigration continued to be a problem at the US-Mexican border, we looked at how past Presidents dealt with the immigration and refugee challenges that confronted them, from George Washington's views on the issue, to President Joe Biden's handling of the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and the refugee problems that followed that decision.
October: As the historical legacy of past leaders who supported or enabled the institution of slavery continued to result in the removal of statues and the renaming of buildings, we looked at the relationship of past presidents with what was once called "the peculiar institution" in order to better understand the question of how these presidents should be remembered today, seeking to look at the issue from those with differing perspectives.
November: What makes a president want "four more years"? We looked at the past history of those who sought a second and even a third or fourth term in office, and used this review of past history as a tool to read the tea leaves and make our own prediction as to whether or not the current and immediate past president will seek four more years in 2024.
December: We concluded the year with a look at how past presidents had celebrated the Christmas holiday, culminating in our annual Christmas eve effort at fracturing the classic Christmas poem by Clement Clark Moore, imagining what it would be like if all of the Presidents got together for one gigantic Christmas party. We also looked back on the books we had reviewed, and conclude with this look back on how we spent the year.
What will 2022 hold for
potus_geeks? What topics and themes will we explore? Suggestions are always welcome. It will be a year of mid-term elections, and many predict a change in control of Congress, followed by a hamstrung presidency. Whether those predictions are accurate or not remains to be seen. Will polarization increase, or will the pendulum swing back with voters calling for a return to more centrist leadership? Will record government spending lead to a return to the runaway inflation experienced in the latter part of the 20th century, or are Modern Monetary Theory economists correct in their assertion that (for the most part) federal deficits don't matter?In 2022
potus_geeks plans to continue to look back on past presidential history and its relationship to modern political issues and themes. More importantly, we intend to continue our optimism in hoping for an uptake in civility, tolerance and understanding, for a decrease in polarization. It is our hope that everyone will welcome diversity of thought, and not dismiss out of hand the ideas of those whose ideology does not match our own, without giving them fair consideration. So let's end the year and begin the new one where we left off last year. Like its predecessor, 2021 has been a challenging year for all of us. It has been a year that has called for tolerance, understanding and kindness as we see our fellow citizens struggle to meet the challenges that come with a pandemic, challenges that can be physical, mental, economic or spiritual. I hope you have found some sort of interesting diversion to help you through these times. Whether you label yourself a liberal, conservative, moderate, independent, or if you just think that labels are for soup cans, we will endeavor to make this community a welcoming place in 2022 for everyone.