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Thomas Craughwell
Thomas Craughwell, author of Failures of the Presidents and Stealing Lincoln’s Body, has written more than a dozen books on history, religion, and popular culture. His articles have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, U.S. News and World Report, The American Spectator, Emmy magazine, and Inside the Vatican. He has been a guest on CNN, the BBC, The Discovery Channel, and the international Catholic cable network, EWTN. The History Channel is producing a program based on Stealing Lincoln’s Body, which airs the week of February 8, 2009. Tom writes out of his home in Bethel, Connecticut.
Posts by Thomas Craughwell:
#1: The Alien and Sedition Acts (Top 10 Mistakes by U.S. Presidents)
Lesson for President Obama: Respect the Constitution.
After John Adams, the Federalists virtually disappeared from the American political scene. Tragically, the Alien and Sedition Acts became their legacy.
They could have gone down in history as the party of the noble George Washington, instead they became notorious for passing legislation that ran roughshod over the First Amendment.
» Read more of #1: The Alien and Sedition Acts (Top 10 Mistakes by U.S. Presidents)
#2: The Vietnam War (Top 10 Mistakes by U.S. Presidents)
Lesson for President Obama: Ask the tough questions before you go to war.
As President Johnson and his White House advisors—which included many members of the Kennedy administration—discussed what to do, they failed to ask two hard questions:
First, if the worst happened and South Vietnam fell to the communists, was it likely that all of South Asia would fall too? And, second, if the United States did commit its troops to fight alongside the South Vietnamese army, would this combined force be able to win the war?
According to Robert McNamara, who was LBJ’s Secretary of Defense, neither he, nor President Johnson, nor anyone in the White House asked those questions.
» Read more of #2: The Vietnam War (Top 10 Mistakes by U.S. Presidents)
#3: The Watergate Scandal (Top 10 Mistakes by U.S. Presidents)
Lesson for President Obama: A cover-up makes a bad situation worse.
Early in the morning of June 17, 1972, with their weapons drawn, police officers began a careful office-by-office search of the sixth floor of the Watergate Building in Washington, D.C. As they entered the office of Deputy Democratic Party Chairman Stanley Griegg, a man jumped up from behind the desk, raised his hands, and cried, “Don’t shoot, please!” The police arrested five men in the Democratic Party’s National Committee offices, all of them wearing business suits and surgical gloves.
The Watergate Scandal had begun, and when President Nixon attempted to obstruct justice and cover-up the break-in (as heard in the “smoking gun tape” from the White House replayed here) it became the beginning of the end of his presidency.
» Read more of #3: The Watergate Scandal (Top 10 Mistakes by U.S. Presidents)
#4: Kennedy’s Failure at the Bay of Pigs (Top 10 Mistakes by U.S. Presidents)
Lesson for President Obama: There is no such thing as bargain-basement regime change.
The failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion made Kennedy appear weak, inexperienced, indecisive, and the Soviet Premier, Nikita Khruschev, tried to capitalize on the youthful American president’s failings.
Four months after the invasion Khruschev began building the Wall to divide Communist East Berlin from West Berlin. Less than a year later Khruschev and Castro planned to install nuclear missiles on the island of Cuba—only ninety miles from the United States—a decision that precipitated the Cuban Missile Crisis and brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.
» Read more of #4: Kennedy’s Failure at the Bay of Pigs (Top 10 Mistakes by U.S. Presidents)
#5: The Internment of the Japanese (Top 10 Mistakes by U.S. Presidents)
Lesson for President Obama: Beware of hysteria.
In the wake of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, a fit of paranoia overtook the United States, especially on the West Coast. California’s state government and ordinary citizens alike suddenly suspected that their Japanese American neighbors were spies and saboteurs for the Empire of Japan.
This led to the internment of the Japanese, a chapter in American history recounted in this video.
» Read more of #5: The Internment of the Japanese (Top 10 Mistakes by U.S. Presidents)
#6: Hoover’s Attack on the Bonus Army (Top 10 Mistakes by U.S. Presidents)
Lesson for President Obama: Don’t beat up on the unemployed.
It was 1932, and the Great Depression was three year old. President Herbert Hoover was not insensitive to the crisis, but he rejected the idea that direct financial assistance from the federal government would be helpful.
And when he sent infantry, cavalry, and even tanks against ragged, hungry WWI veterans, and their wives and children, who were seeking the bonus money promised the veterans, he confirmed a suspicion among ordinary Americans that he was heartless. He became a political pariah and paved the way for the election of Franklin Roosevelt.
Watch this video for a history and actual footage of the attack.
» Read more of #6: Hoover’s Attack on the Bonus Army (Top 10 Mistakes by U.S. Presidents)
#7: Thomas Jefferson’s Embargo (Top 10 Mistakes by U.S. Presidents)
Lesson for President Obama: When it comes to the economy, do no harm.
During the 15 months the embargo was in effect Britain and France experienced no economic hardship and consequently made none of the concessions Jefferson expected the embargo would pry out of them.
In the United States, however, the embargo strangled the economy, ruined family fortunes and private businesses, created a new class of criminals, and cost Thomas Jefferson his reputation as the enemy of centralized government and the champion of the common people.
» Read more of #7: Thomas Jefferson’s Embargo (Top 10 Mistakes by U.S. Presidents)
#8: How Carter Lectured, Not Led (Top 10 Mistakes by U.S. Presidents)
Lesson for President Obama: Encourage. Inspire. Don’t lecture.
On April 18, 1977, President Jimmy Carter made a televised speech to the nation on the subject of the energy crisis. Hoping to appear informal and recall Franklin D. Roosevelt’s radio addresses that became known as “fireside chats,” the president sat in an armchair beside a fireplace where a small fire burned. Mr. Carter wore a cardigan sweater, suggesting that to conserve fuel he had turned down the thermostat in the White House.
Two years after his “Cardigan Sweater Speech” he tried again to rally the nation, this time with his “Malaise Speech.”
Both speeches fell flat …
» Read more of #8: How Carter Lectured, Not Led (Top 10 Mistakes by U.S. Presidents)
#9: Deport Blacks to Santo Domingo (Top 10 Mistakes by U.S. Presidents)
Lesson for President Obama: Get solid commitments from Congress.
The evening after New Year’s Day, 1870, President Ulysses S. Grant wrapped himself in his winter cloak, strode out of the White House, and walked across Lafayette Square, alone, to call on Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts. Sumner had first come to Congress in 1851; now, 19 years later, he was not only one of the most powerful, most influential men in the Senate, but he was revered among Abolitionists and African American freedmen as a living martyr.
Could Grant trust him? Should he trust him?
» Read more of #9: Deport Blacks to Santo Domingo (Top 10 Mistakes by U.S. Presidents)
#10: The Whiskey Rebellion (Top 10 Mistakes by U.S. Presidents)
Lesson for President Obama: Watch who will bear the burden of new taxes.
In 1790 the federal government was saddled with an $80 million debt, the cost of America’s war for independence from Great Britain. It was a staggering sum; President George Washington’s secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, insisted that the only way to pay off the liability was to raise taxes. Thomas Jefferson opposed virtually every idea Hamilton ever had, but this time he sided with his greatest political rival — the debt was crippling the government, introducing a new tax was the only solution.
Or so they thought …
» Read more of #10: The Whiskey Rebellion (Top 10 Mistakes by U.S. Presidents)
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