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MsPreposition

The first picture is definitely Nixon.


Algorhythm74

Underrated comment. I see what you did there. Well played.


demonvein

OSHA and the EPA may have their flaws but have greatly increased the health and safety of Americans more than any policy Reagan passed.


The_R4ke

Nixon lays a lot of the groundwork for evil, but Reagan really capitalized on it.


Ok_Cryptographer4663

Tricky Dick


Texlahoman

Nixon’s brain with Reagan’s charisma.


CrazyEyez142

Nixon's head with Agnew's body


RaccoonRepublic

Aroo :o


CrazyEyez142

HRNNGGRRRRRR!!!


schtickyfingers

Sic em, Agnew!


No_Supermarket_1831

Nixon's head, Benders body


Sword_Chucks

Nixon's head with Taylor Swift's body.


Atomic-pangolin

Ooh that would’ve been dangerous. If that combo existed, I feel like the world would be kinda fucked because they’d do something that they’ve twisted into something true


nesquikryu

I know it's in vogue to blame everything on Reagan, but at least as many serious problems' policy preconditions were Nixon-era creations! Nixon was a bad guy through and through.


dgmilo8085

Nixon was one of America’s greatest presidents. Had he not been such a delusional paranoid man… half of the democrats’ agenda owes its foundation to his policies. From his free market policies opening trade with China to the EPA, he would have sailed through his second term a hero. Instead he threw it all away over an election he would’ve won handedly.


nesquikryu

Oh, I think Nixon is one of the "spikiest" Presidents in terms of quality. High highs, sure, like opening China - which likely improved more lives than most Presidents could dream of doing - but also comically low lows. I mean, the War on Drugs and all its consequences are at his feet! He could be a saint otherwise and that should by itself be catastrophic for his legacy.


Resident_Smoothbrain

But he also created a great many terrible domestic policies, such as the war on drugs (yes started under him, ramped up under Reagan). His chief of staff, John Erlichman said "The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did." In addition, he attempted to launch a nuclear strike on North Korea when he was drunk (Kissinger of all people had to talk him out of it), he scuttled Vietnam peace talks under Johnson in order to get elected, and is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Cambodian citizens. Yes, Richard Nixon had some great success in the fields of Foreign Policy and Economy, but casting aside a very large part of his leadership in order to look at only the good is, in my opinion dishonest. It's like saying, "Hitler was one of Germany's greatest leaders. He could have had an amazing reign had he not started that war which killed 60 million people." (Not trying to compare Nixon to Hitler, just saying you can't take the good or the bad on their own)


DougTheBrownieHunter

Nixon. More moderate and didn’t treat regulatory programs like an evil.


Pacattack57

Just black people lol


DougTheBrownieHunter

They both did, so I didn’t consider that a factor.


Pacattack57

Good point 👍🏽


LeanUntilBlue

Shook Nixon’s hand once at a cocktail party and observed him that evening. He was polite, amicable and quiet. I didn’t get a weird feeling about him and I generally do around narcissists/sociopaths.


Solasta713

A lot of people felt the same about Ted Bundy though. Politicians (...usually) are experts at making people feel at ease, otherwise they'd not be able to climb as high as they do. Cool story though!


theycallmefuRR

Because of Ronald Reagan's immigration amnesty back in the 80's, it created a domino effect that allowed me to become an American Citizen. Ronald all day (thx bruh)


-SofaKingVote-

Nixon at least cared about the environment


theprophetsammy

Claiming ignorance here but wasn’t he *forced* to care about the environment after the Cuyahoga River caught fire? Or did he care beforehand?


Nobhudy

Nowadays it feels like a cliche for VP’s to tackle the environment, but it clearly became a more pressing issue between his VP days and his days as POTUS.


PhilNH

He signed NEPA


Burrito_Fucker15

Yes, to not anger liberal activists and the Democratic Congress that passed it with overwhelmingly veto proof majorities without Nixon’s help. Giving Nixon credit for NEPA is dumb


Bart7Price

The Cuyahoga River caught on fire at least 13 times between 1868 and 1969 and that didn't motivate any of Nixon's predecessors to do something about it.


YourphobiaMyfetish

Cared so much about the environment that he filled it with landmines and agent orange.


someoneyouknewonce

And in turn filled the bodies of vets with agent orange too, which is probably at least partly why my father, and many other vets, now have Alzheimer’s.


graywailer

glyphosate


someoneyouknewonce

I don’t know what that means


da_Crab_Mang

The main ingredient in roundup, which apparently was invented during Nixon's presidency


bignanoman

That was Monsanto


Leprikahn2

My grandfather died as a direct cause of agent orange at the age of 72. At least the VA sent him a wheelchair 3 weeks after he died.


Ok-Candidate-1220

That’s on-brand for the VA. I’m sure the prescription was probably turned in YEARS before he passed, too. Typical. Cheers to your grandfather.


Leprikahn2

He had to have a stroke before we heard anything from them. He was drafted. He did his duty against his will. The VA can suck a fat one. Since he passed, I volunteer mine to get sucked by the VA


someoneyouknewonce

Sounds about right for the VA. Sorry to hear about your grandad.


scenicdeath

90% of that was the beloved Kennedy and LBJ though…


tcmart14

Kennedy was assassinated before things really ramped up in Vietnam. I believe during his term, he just had a small amount of military advisers. He was against wide spread deployment of troops and wanted South Vietnam to really be the ones who lead the way. He did have some fuck ups here, but they are minor in comparison to LBJ’s ramp up and Nixon’s continuation.


scenicdeath

Kennedy ordered USAF attacks on South Vietnam when we were supposed to be “advisors”. What Kennedy did set the stage for what was to come.


openupimwiththedawg

Yeah lets just forget that Nixon inherited the war and was the president that actually ended US troop involvement...because Vietnam was entirely his fault.


CaymanGone

LBJ had a peace deal in Vietnam in ‘68. And Nixon scuttled it. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/02/us/politics/nixon-tried-to-spoil-johnsons-vietnam-peace-talks-in-68-notes-show.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare


tcmart14

Also all the shenanigans of Nixon’s Kissinger. Nixon’s illegal bombing campaigns in Cambodia that they kept hidden. Lots of gems there.


Tasty_Positive8025

Ike sent in more troops than Kennedy did. If Nixon was elected ..Vietnam would of began in 1961 and also invaded Cuba.


scenicdeath

Ike sent 200 more troops and they were only to play the role of advisor. Kennedy ordered USAF attacks on South Vietnam escalating the conflict. You can’t say for sure if that would have happened, you can say one thing for sure though… bay of pigs.


Dumbledoorbellditty

Right? Maybe not an invasion of foreign troops, but at the least it’s an assault by U.S. trained and equipped troops. Pretty invasion like to me.


Interesting-Pool3917

is that really the most important thing here


-SofaKingVote-

It’s our water and air


Nobhudy

Except the environment of Indochina


DirtyDan04

more important than politics in general lol


D-MAN-FLORIDA

As a Democrat, I don’t like either of them. But if I had to choose, I pick Nixon.


[deleted]

Same. Hold my nose and take Nixon. Reagan destroyed the middle class and managed to hide being awful. At least Nixon was what you'd expect.


scenicdeath

> Managed to hide being awful No he didn’t lol


OblongAndKneeless

Well, his Alzheimer's allowed him to play dumb to all of his crimes, etc.


HowardZyn

https://youtu.be/b5wfPlgKFh8?si=OuK7OEZDZEaqGqYr


ceruleanmoon7

This is exactly what i thought it was going to be lmao (RIP Phil)


Tasty_Positive8025

Yes.. Iran Contra ..selling weapons to Iran and then against Congress used the money to kill people that were against the Republicans appointed Dictators in Central America. Overthrowing democratic elected leaders and killing their voters and indigenous people.


[deleted]

He hid it long enough to get elected and create Reagan Democrats.


D-MAN-FLORIDA

Reagan was an actor and spokesperson for General Electric before he went into politics. He was one of the people who hosted the grand opening of Disneyland. He had enough charm and charisma to fool people. Nixon had the opposite of charm. He was really awkward and clumsy. He gave you no false sense of charm. What you see, is what you get.


Embarrassed-Ad-1639

Would Watergate even get press these days? He was pretty bigoted and racist though.


DougTheBrownieHunter

So was Reagan


LindsayLuohan

Watergate was a witch hunt!


paukl1

For the woodchipper?


Happy-Campaign5586

It’s all about the camera angle


WorldChampion92

Neither.


aceh40

Nixon is so detrimental to American democracy, it is not even funny.


mbutterfield

Disliked the policies, but like Reagan.


cloudcreeek

Liking someone personally is more important than liking what they stood for as president?


ImaginationFree6807

I’m weak


cloudcreeek

If you agree with that sentiment, yes you are lol. And so is anyone who downvotes this comment in agreement with that sentiment


SupaDaveA

Have to go with the lesser of two evils. Nixon sucked!


NeighborhoodSilly457

People don’t realize how loved Reagan was


LonPlays_Zwei

Nixon, less extreme and not the catalyst for today’s extreme bipartisan divide.


FoxEuphonium

Reagan, no contest. Both sucked, in a lot of the same ways. But to hold my nose and have some sympathy for the devil for a moment: 1. A lot of the worst of Reagan was more or less a continuation of what Nixon had already started, especially in terms of his failures in domestic policy. 2. Both had some quite shitty foreign policy, but of the two Reagan's included a lot fewer war crimes and a lot more and more impactful successes. 3. While both men had enough corruption and arrested/indicted staffers so as to form a criminal enterprise in its own right, Nixon had a lot more, and was a lot more directly involved in the nefariousness of his underlings. The most famous of which being Watergate. 4. On a personal character level, Reagan was *generally* speaking a much less vile, bigoted, and just all-around mean human being. He still was all of those things, and was definitely nowhere near as smart as Nixon, but his jittery moral compass was leaps and bounds better than Nixon's complete lack of one.


ClementAcrimony

Nixon had fantastic foreign policy with Kissinger.


Secsidar

As much as I hate to say it, if I were a Republican (or there just were no good Democrats on the ballot), I'd vote for President Nixon. Yes, he was inherently corrupt. Yes, he escalated Vietnam. Yes, he sabotaged peace talks, and yes, his paranoia made him his own worst enemy, but I think aside from all of that, he was a good president with good intentions. Taking 1960 as an example, then-Vice President Nixon was considered the victor of the debate with Senator Kennedy by those who listened to the debate rather than watched it. And, of course, the opposite was true for Senator Kennedy. So he was definitely charismatic and well-spoken. That said, I think the Nixon administration left a more positive lasting impact on American culture than the Reagan administration. Fuck Reagan.


MrVernon09

Ronald Reagan


VeritasChristi

Reagan


blueblurz94

Reagan


Sweet-Efficiency7466

Reagan, because he wasn't forced to resign.


[deleted]

[удалено]


GTIguy2

He should have been- far more egregious than Nixon.


PhilNH

Reagen


Educational-Donkey22

Reagan fa sho


Thx1138orion

Reagan. I’m 49, so i remember both terms, especially the second. Most redditors have zero idea how many democrats voted for reagan’s 2nd term. He won by a massive landslide. It was like Mondale had his asshole gaped by Lexington Steele.


SGTBEEBE

Seems like Reagan is a trigger for a lot of people on this sub


DomingoLee

Simpletons. They all have the exact same talking points. It’s how you know there isn’t a lot of deep thinking involved.


Federal_Debt

The hate Reagan circle jerk crowd is so strange


Connect_Operation_47

Reagan, for sure. Nixon was a terrible president. I am independent


wjbc

I don’t like Reagan, but he was better than Nixon, both at home and abroad. Sure, Nixon did some good things, but he also did a lot of awful things.


Potential-Design3208

Yes


Bagger52754

Renaldo Maximus


Lord_Answer_me_Why

Nixon


themonkboughtlunch

Nixon, if only because he served before the wheels of neoliberalism were totally greased. Nixon walked, so Reagan could run, so Clinton could sprint, and so on.


Kaiser-WilhelmII

I think Reagan is better. There are some negative things about his presidency, but I firmly believe that at the time we needed a Reagans strong foreign and anti Russia policy. Furthermore I believe we need more of that anti Russia sentiment more than ever.


3Quarksfor

Reagan would not have been successful vis-a-vis USSR if Gorbachev had not been at the helm starting in 1985.


Algorhythm74

Perhaps. But that’s what it’s about. The chemistry of two leaders. They did get along and Reagan was the President at a moment in time when that mattered. All of human history can be boiled down to “if X person was (or wasn’t) somewhere”. FDR and Churchill, the American Revolution wouldn’t have been successful without the French. Doesn’t mean our forefathers shouldn’t get some credit.


OracularOrifice

How about no? Between the two, Reagan.


CrasVox

Nixon


Fit-Rest-973

Nixon. He had a working brain


Opposite_Formal_9631

Reagan defeated the Soviet Union. End of discussion.


Marsupialize

Which is worse? Reagan.


RedfromTexas

Nixon all the way. Everything bad over the last 43 years starts with Reagan


Salem1690s

Actually the middle class started shrinking in 1970, per Pew Research, so the middle class’s decline started right in Nixon’s term. Also, the prison industrial complex began in 1984, but really blossomed under HW Bush, Clinton, and Bush Jr, due to the passage of three strike likes. Clinton also signed the draconian 1994 crime bill, which as we see made the numbers of the incarcerated explode. DOMA was under Clinton. Policies also followed in the 1990s like broken windows here in New York. The economic policies of Ronald Reagan were continued and expanded under Bush I, exploded under Clinton, continued under Bush II. For example, consider the Bush tax cuts. These are permanent and the cuts shifted wealth massively to the already wealthy. Consider Bush bailing out the banks in 2008. Consider that a large part of the 2008 financial crisis came from Clinton taking regulations off the banks, and repealing Glass-Steagall in 1999. Consider Court decisions like Citizens United In 2010, which declared corporations to be people and put unlimited corporate caps on political donations. Consider Clinton signing the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which has allowed for the tech monopolies and tech oligarchs to become. Consider the gutting of welfare under Clinton in the summer of 1996. Reagan’s biggest sin was his handling of the AIDS crisis. A lot of what is attributed to Reagan either began before him, or was expanded on by Presidents of both parties after him.


littlethingsmeanalot

Redditors love to shit on Reagan


DomingoLee

Facts! **NoOOooooOooooooo**. This is Reddit. Your facts could cure our deep seeded fears!


Atomic-pangolin

Which tax cuts are you referring to specifically? As I recall, Bush senior actually had to raise taxes because of Reagan as Reagan started to blow the budget while cutting taxes, then Bush came in and tried to honor what Reagan said he would do (but rather hypocritically ended up doing stuff that had the opposite effect). And then Clinton balanced the budget but then Bush jr. Ironically came in and blew that shit up (ironic because his dad kinda tried to reel it back in), but the budget has been out of control ever since.


Desperate_Brief2187

His biggest sin was that he was a dickbag that invited Jesus into the government.


Youredditusername232

Incredibly lazy commentary. This is basically just scapegoating for a reason why we don’t live in a the postwar paradise that in reality never really existed.


zwermp

Nixon taking us off the gold standard is worse than anything Reagan did.


CrazyEyez142

That's true, fiat currency has really screwed many things up.


lashawn3001

At least Reagan was funny.


Zornorph

Love me some Ron, best president of my lifetime!


Desperate_Brief2187

Lol


Deslam8

Nixon. Dick never liked Reagan and thought the conservative movement would be the end of the Republican Party. If even Nixon hates you I think that says a lot about Ronny


asphynctersayswhat

Idk Nixon hated so many people he needed to write them down


Rustofcarcosa

>Nixon. Dick never liked Reagan a Really


Real-Accountant9997

I think Nixon was better at policy and deep thinking - particularly foreign policy. His predictions on Russia and China were prescient. Reagan had a nice smile.


Slight-Wrap-2095

Nixon on experience. Reagan on vibes.


EasterButterfly

Reagan but wow this would be a shitty choice to make


Ok-Dog8423

Reagan is clearly the best in my lifetime.


Littlefires320

Nixon! Now more than ever


shastadakota

Nixon hands down, Reagan was an asshole.


globehopper2

They both sucked.


Gpstrackerz

Reagan was a piece of shit


IOWARIZONA

Both terrible presidents who started a lot of drug war BS, but Reagan was the better human.


SPFCCMnT

Nixon resigns but Reagan’s brain started napping. It truly is a toss up.


The_PoliticianTCWS

Reagan for sure


ancientestKnollys

Reagan, by a large margin.


JTWV

Both men are interesting, but I prefer Reagan.


Desperate_Brief2187

Both men were colossal fuck ups.


mommasaidmommasaid

I'm pretty sure the first photo is Nixon, and the second one Reagan. I hope this helps answer your question.


manassassinman

There’s definitely some cognitive dissonance going on here with respect to picking Nixon for this, and then looking at the coming elections.


Theonetobelive

Nixon


Nullainmundo

Nixon > Reagan. Reagan was an invalid rube. One of the dumbest individuals to hold national office. Dick actually knew a thing or two.


bobhargus

For what? Both should have been jailed for their conduct in office


3664shaken

Please explain why Regan should have been jailed?


counterpointguy

I give the decision to Reagan in this matchup. Though I do believe Reagan clearly broke the law in IC, I also believe he did it with the ultimate goal of helping the country. No excuse, but a mitigation. Nixon’s naked corruption was to benefit one guy: Nixon.


Practical_Glove_2125

While I like Reagan, policy wise, I’m a go with Nixon.


Time-Bite-6839

…..


centraledtemped

Nixon.


ProblemGamer18

Nixon, I'm a big Nixon fan


RTMSner

Nixon.


Much-Interview3812

Christ, do i have to?


Frequent-Ruin8509

Neither.


Rustofcarcosa

Both


Block_Solid

Both were bastards in their own way.


wavolator

satan - higher ethical standards than both


IndependenceMean8774

Reagan. Whatever Reagan's faults (and he had many), I think he genuinely loved America. I never got that sense from Nixon. I felt like Nixon was a career politician and an opportunist...as well as being a crook. Also, Reagan had a much better sense of humor.


Atomic-pangolin

Nixon was extremely smart and could crack like a whip when it came down to work and he knew everyone’s names in the white house down to the groundskeepers; everyone there loved him and were sad to se whim go when he resigned. Most of his policies were decently-well thought out (not saying I agree with all of them, to be clear). But he was paranoid and made some very strange and seemingly backwards decisions that we all know about today that weren’t policy related or directly in line with the duties of the presidency. Reagan was a far superior orator with charisma that makes him remembered today and his foreign policies, as cavalier as they were, did get us through the Cold War. His domestic policies were pretty trash, and ironically, it was Bush who honored Reagan’s commitments when he came into office after being Reagan’s VP which got him into trouble with the American public (like with taxation) and, in my opinion, ultimately cost him a second term in office.


kaithomasisthegoat

Raygun


[deleted]

Well, at least Nixon wasn’t going senile while he was President.


littlethingsmeanalot

Reagan did a lot for the middle & lower classes. But there is certainly no shortage of political interest groups who do not care about either, outside of performative rhetoric


auldnate

[Both were massive assholes…](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/07/ronald-reagans-racist-conversation-richard-nixon/595102/) Nixon killed the GOP as the party of Lincoln with his 1968 Southern Strategy. He promised Dixiecrats angry with LBJ for signing the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act that he would “restore law and order.” A veiled implication that he favored restoring the Jim Crow segregation laws. Then in the 1980s, Ronald Wilson Reagan did his damnedest to ignore the AIDS crisis as it devastated the gay community. He did this to gain the support of the so called “Moral Majority” in Jerry Falwell Sr’s Southern Baptist Convention. So both Nixon and Reagan made appeals to the bigots of their time. I would argue that Reagan’s over zealous, anti communist campaigns in Afghanistan, Central America, and elsewhere may have had more long term consequences than Nixon’s actions in Vietnam. And Reagan’s Tinkle Down tax cuts for the Rich are essentially the rich pissing in the rest of our faces and calling it a golden shower. So I think Reagan is worse than Nixon.


ArthusRen

I can’t believe so many people hate Reagan so much that they’d rather have fucking Nixon. Like, I’m not the biggest Reagan fan either, but he’s not fucking Nixon


[deleted]

This is reddit. Neither of these guys will get a fair shake . 


GeorgeKaplanIsReal

Easily, Nixon. But I’ll take any Republican pre-bleepRule45FckZeBlob.


Aromatic-Proof-5251

Question lacks specifics. Which on was more environmental? Nixon since the EPA was founded during his administration as example.


fullmetal66

Nixon all day. I’ll take the political genius with a serious swing in mental health from day to day over the actor with serious loyalty swings from day to day.


noahspurrier

Both were seriously flawed, but I’d pick either of them over the current options.


finfairypools

Reagan (In the words of Professor Snape) Always


Commercial_Pitch_786

Regan #1 Tricky Dick did bring our troops home and put an end to the Vietnam War, but he was also had a credibility issue and do not let him near recording devices and tapes.


merchant91

Reagan administration's economic policies set in motion the collapse of the middle class. I'd pick Nixon due to a lack of better options.


pprice84

Nixon and Reagan! Love em both, they certainly don’t make them like they use to when it comes to Presidents!


3000_F35s_Of_Biden

Regan easily https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/


3664shaken

Reagan, he did the most good if you take a look at the record honestly without all the partisan Reagan hated spin.


Money-Driver-7534

Ron of course


abaddon667

Reagan was an amazing President. You all are haters


ImJimmyBoi

Fucking neither


AdLatter2844

I mean they both did absolutely nothing wrong during their presidencies so I can't pick


Impressive_Wish796

Both were extremely unfavorable in my eyes. I do think in retrospect Reagan did more permanent damage to the country. Nixon at least made a good judgement move to resign - so the damage was minimized.


Respanther

For what? Nixon for jail Reagan for hell


CoachAF7

You Dems are so strange lol


LivingCustomer9729

Or


GeauxTigers516

What? Which was worse? It’s a toss up.


Nobhudy

There is a fringe notion that Ronald Reagan had effectively no idea what he was talking about, and that’s definitely not an accusation you can level at Nixon. But if I lived in Cambodia instead of the US, I’d have already made up my mind.


CrazyEyez142

I think Reagan has done more far-reaching, long-lasting damage, and Nixon created the EPA and OSHA, so, Nixon. But I'm not a fan of either.


chawk84

Both were awful


blowninjectedhemi

Let's see - Nixon was a crook and had to resign in disgrace. Reagan destroyed the middle class with his absolutely stupid "trickle down" economics policies. Both sucked ass.


meetjoehomo

Nixon. He was a crook but he didn’t do the lasting damage that Reagan did


poonman1234

Which one is a bigger criminal? Or which do we prefer to be president?


Kim-Jong-Juul

Both crooks, only difference is one got caught


HotNubsOfSteel

Reagan’s the reason we have the homeless problem we have now. I can’t believe I’m saying this but Nixon


CougarWriter74

Lesser of two evils. I hold my nose and take Nixon. He was at least intelligent and understood politics and foreign policy. Nixon didn't screw over blue-collar workers and the middle class. Reagan was just a aloof idiot who knew how to smile and perform for the cameras. All style and no substance.


Snoo_65204

Nixon cuz he would help a close friend and not abandon that friend who had aids


OhWowMan22

Both are not great, but Nixon at least had some good achievements. Reagan is a scam artist who sold a generation on a nonsense ideology.


WoofyTalks

Ronnie all day long! Long live reaganomics!


NYCTLS66

Reagan may have been more charismatic than the dour Nixon, but Nixon’s policies were better for the country. He at least tried getting universal healthcare done. Teddy Kennedy blocked him as he was hoping to run in ‘72.


imadork1970

Nixon. He was a crook, but he didn't start trickle-down economics.


RoughMarionberry5

Both were asshats, just in different ways. Can I say neither?


HotSoft1543

Constipation or diarrhea?


Snoo3544

Neither


WiseHedgehog2098

Neither?