Tuesday, June 22, 2004
Periodic Presidents 3: Golden Age Presidents
And so the Periodic Presidents series continues with the third column: Golden Age Presidents. The Presidents in this category are James Madison, James Monroe, Rutherford B. Hayes, and John F Kennedy. These are the characteristic Presidents of the First Turning of Strauss and Howe. These Presidents presided over an America that for the most part was at peace, where the outlook is optimistic, and which seem to be a utopia or golden age for this country as a whole. Sometimes this age comes with a name: The Era of Good Feelings or Camelot. Here the Periodic Presidents classification system gets a little distorted. Camelot lasted less than three years, but the Era of Good Feelings lasted two whole Presidential terms of two different Presidents: Madison and Monroe, a total of 16 years. One reason for this is that while most Crisis periods last up to 20 years, the Civil War was only four years long. There is some question as to whether Madison was a National Hero president instead, but he does not fit the mold as easily as Jefferson. These are the Presidents:
James Madison was President from 1809-1817. During his term, opposition to the prevalent Democrat-Republicans faded away, and the age, although feeling good with a good deal of societal structure in a new democracy, seemed stale and not moving anywhere. There was the War of 1812, which was a pointless war that resembled the Revolution to some extent. It was not popular with all groups in the society at that time.
James Monroe followed him from 1817-1825. He is most noted for the Monroe Doctrine, America's way of asserting independence for itself and in fact for the entire hemisphere. It stated that there shall be no interference from the Eastern Hemisphere with any country in the Western Hemisphere. The Era of Good Feelings continued during his term, and by his second term, he had only token opposition to being re-elected.
Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1881) presided over a Golden Age, but a rather sterile one dominated by the acquisition of the buck. He was a man of high integrity, as was his opponent Samuel Tilden, but although Tilden had both popular and electoral majorities, the Republicans found a way through manipulating the Southern states to get Hayes elected. In return, Hayes pulled the troops out of the South, which must have been a relief from these states. It may have been a Golden Age in that peace returned, but along with peace came Jim Crow, something another period of time would have to correct.
John F. Kennedy (1961-1963) was one of the most charismatic presidents in history. He presided over an Age of great hope: for human conquest of space, for racial equality, and for numerous other things. He also presided over a crisis that could have resulted in nuclear war, in 1962 over Cuba. He was popular with people and with women, and there are stories about his extramarital doings. His presidency was labeled Camelot, an image which may have been enhanced by his assassination in 1963.
The next Presidents, in column 4, are the Gap Presidents. These Presidents stand at the border of the Second Turnings of American history, and seem to fill the gap between the high of the First Turning and the social tumult of the Second.
I now have the complete Periodic Table available by clicking on this link. It is not a finished work by any means. I am not certain of the placing of some of these Presidents, especially those that presided during Second Turnings, but I feel this comes close to what the Table should look like.
James Madison was President from 1809-1817. During his term, opposition to the prevalent Democrat-Republicans faded away, and the age, although feeling good with a good deal of societal structure in a new democracy, seemed stale and not moving anywhere. There was the War of 1812, which was a pointless war that resembled the Revolution to some extent. It was not popular with all groups in the society at that time.
James Monroe followed him from 1817-1825. He is most noted for the Monroe Doctrine, America's way of asserting independence for itself and in fact for the entire hemisphere. It stated that there shall be no interference from the Eastern Hemisphere with any country in the Western Hemisphere. The Era of Good Feelings continued during his term, and by his second term, he had only token opposition to being re-elected.
Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1881) presided over a Golden Age, but a rather sterile one dominated by the acquisition of the buck. He was a man of high integrity, as was his opponent Samuel Tilden, but although Tilden had both popular and electoral majorities, the Republicans found a way through manipulating the Southern states to get Hayes elected. In return, Hayes pulled the troops out of the South, which must have been a relief from these states. It may have been a Golden Age in that peace returned, but along with peace came Jim Crow, something another period of time would have to correct.
John F. Kennedy (1961-1963) was one of the most charismatic presidents in history. He presided over an Age of great hope: for human conquest of space, for racial equality, and for numerous other things. He also presided over a crisis that could have resulted in nuclear war, in 1962 over Cuba. He was popular with people and with women, and there are stories about his extramarital doings. His presidency was labeled Camelot, an image which may have been enhanced by his assassination in 1963.
The next Presidents, in column 4, are the Gap Presidents. These Presidents stand at the border of the Second Turnings of American history, and seem to fill the gap between the high of the First Turning and the social tumult of the Second.
I now have the complete Periodic Table available by clicking on this link. It is not a finished work by any means. I am not certain of the placing of some of these Presidents, especially those that presided during Second Turnings, but I feel this comes close to what the Table should look like.
