Who Was Smarter --- Nixon or Clinton?

[THUNDER HANDS]

Just from a purely political/intelligence standpoint.

I think most presidential historians would rank Nixon and Clinton as the two most intelligent men to ever become president.

But which one do you think had the best political skills to match his political intelligence?

Clinton, who used his mighty brain to escape many a right-wing trap that would have doomed ANY other man.

or Nixon, who used sneaky, dirty, underhanded (yet sometimes genius) tactics to achieve his ends.

I say Clinton was a hair smarter, just because he managed to avoid being ousted from office. All of Nixon's mammoth brainpower couldn't save him from that fate.

[SiobhanClancy]

1. Jefferson was plenty smart,too

But of those two,I'd say Clinton.

[bryant69]

2. This is a fruitful conversation

Nixon was the last centrist Republican elected; Bush 1 might have been one, but after 8 years of Reagan he had changed. Clinton was one of the most centrist Democrats we've had. We haven't had a liberal President since FDR.

So my answer can only be Spiro Agnew.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[THUNDER HANDS]

4. huh?

What about who's smarter?

[bryant69]

6. Spiro Agnew

He was Dan Quayle before there was Dan Quayle. The guy was a disaster--he let slip all the time the depth of the mean spiritedness in parts of the Conservative movement.

"We can afford to separate from our society with no more regret than we should feel over discarding rotten apples from a barrel." -- October 30, 1973.


"I find it hard to believe that the way to run the world has been revealed to a minority of pushy youngsters and middle-aged malcontents." -- October 9, 1973.

[THUNDER HANDS]

7. I know who Spiro Agnew is

I'm asking who is smarter, Nixon or Clinton.

LOL.

:)

[bryant69]

8. Hmmm

Who had a vice president named Spiro Agnew? Whoever picked that braintrust, well, he might not be the smarter of the two.

Or to put it simply; Clinton was smarter. But not sure what that gets him.

[wyldwolf]

3. Definitely Clinton....

I'm not calling Nixon dumb, but Clinton was the most gifted politician of our generation - and ranks in the top tier for the last century.

And being a Rhodes Scholar is one hell of an accomplishment. I struggled to get a dual journalism and Marketing degree. I would have slit my wrists if I'd gone after 3 degrees.

I don't agree, as one on this thread implied, that being a "centrist" or a "liberal" has anything to do with intelligence.

[punpirate]

5. Which of them resigned? n/t

[im4edwards]

9. Tricky Dick for foreign, Bill for domestic

Finding a way to reconnect with China was thought to be impossible but it became possible. But domestically Nixon was less successful.

Clinton was a whiz on domestic political actions but did not do well in international matters.

Sorry to avoid the question but things are not always so clear.

[chaumont58]

16. China? Clinton 'did not do well in international matters?'

Nixon's going to China was not really such a hard task. Since he was perceived as a reactionary, he could pull it off. It would have been impossible for a Democrat to do so, but not a repuke. I also think it was a way for Nixon to get out of the quagmire that was VietNam. He made peace(of sorts) with China and did detente with the Soviets.
The two nations(China and the USSR) were more interested in continued good relations with the US than with North VietNam.
As for Clinton 'did not do well in internation matters," I beg to differ. Outside of Rwanda, where did the Clinton team not perform well? He damn near got a Palestinian state, which might have brought peace to that region. He definitely had a hand in getting peace in Northern Ireland. At least the Irish think he did. He must have done something right in Kosovo, because he is revered in that nation. I think the world was in better shape when Clinton left office than when he entered, and he certainly left it in better shape than the Bushies have kept it.

[im4edwards]

23. yeah Rwanda was a mess

Palestinian state ? I don't see no Palestinian state.

Peace in N.Ireland ? I don't see no peace in N.Ireland.

Kosovo ? Still have soldiers in Kosovo. Are they too beloved for the people to say goodbye to ?

Relations after decades without and with a bona fide anti-commie at the helm.

This isn't horseshoes, a miss is as good as a mile.

To be fair, Arafat will never allow peace in that issue and the Loyalist leadership will never allow peace in N.Ireland. I have not kept up with Kosovo but the long term issues between the factions that caused it to become an issue likely still remain. That makes them largely hopeless while USSR and PRC were starting to look for a change.

Thats my story and I'm sticking with it.

[diplomats]

21. I know Nixon went to China

but I don't see how you can leave out Vietnam when discussing Nixon's foreign policy. And other than Somalia, when came very early in his presidency, I'm not sure what you mean when you say Clinton didn't do well in foreign policy. He was respected worldwide and didn't get us into any quagmires. I count Bosnia, Kosovo and Northern Ireland as among his sucesses.

[Vikingking66]

10. Clinton

I'd say Nixon and Clinton together don't match up against Teddy Roosevelt. The man wrote 38 books, singlehandedly created the
Imperial Presidency, made America a world power in fact as well
as in potential, and won the Nobel Peace Prize for actually settling
a war by negotiation.

[chaumont58]

19. I read a couple of TR's books

Both were short. One was on the early US history. TR did not think much of Jefferson. The other was on his life in the West during the 1880s. They seems to me to be easy reads, but not great on intelecual conent. One thing that caught my attention. TR used the word hung to describe the past tense of a person's capital punishment. Now, the word is hanged. I don't know if it a modern use only, but it caught my attention.

[Yupster]

11. My first thoughts

Jefferson was a true Renaissance Man who studied things like science, philosophy and agriculture on his own, and even einvented things from his personal studies. I wouldn'r put Clinton or Nixon near his level of intelligence.

For a sharp brain combined with incredible mind discipline, I'd vote for Herbert Hoover. He went from basically an orphan to working his way through Stanford. He wrote his own speeches, reasoned them out logically like the engineer he was, and worked incredible hours.

I'd say Jefferson had the most alive and active intellect, Hoover the most disciplined intellect.

I guess my examples show a great intellect doesn't make a great president.

Jefferson will be remembered for the Louisiana Purchase and the Declaration of Independance.

Hoover will be remembered for the Great Depression.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

12. you're joking right?

[AverageJoe]

13. Clinton, by definition

is smarter than Nixon was, because Clinton is a Democrat and Nixon was a Republican. :-)

[Perky]

14. Actually..

I think Nixon was an incredibly smart guy...flawed as he was,

I think he had terribly poor political instincts, but had great vision and book smarts.

Clinton on the other had had tremendoius instincts about politic, and had what could be called street smarts...but often could not see beyond the end of his ....well you know. He lacked the vision thing.


This would make an interesting book.

[Yupster]

15. Political Intelligence? Hmmm

I guess FDR comes first to mind because he was able to change the whole philosophy of government. That was maybe the greatest political intelligence shown to me.

Reagan got an awful lot of what he wanted through a Democrtic House. That showed quite a bit of political intelligence IMO.

Truman and Clinton were both able to use the other party in congress as a foil to run against and regain their popularity. That showed political skill.

I don't see the skill so much in Nixon other than maybe concentrating his best accomplishments in foreign policy where he could largely avoid the hostile congress he had.

I rank Lincoln among the lowest as he came into office needing great political intelligence to avoid a looming Civil War and failed miserably at it.

[chaumont58]

17. Lincoln should not be left off any smart president list

He was a genius, period.

[CMT]

18. if you read trascripts of the Nixon tapes

Nixon sounds like an idiot even though I know he was much more on the ball than that. I think Clinton is without a doubt a hugely intelligent man. Many say Carter was one of the most intelligent men to be president as well, but intelligence doesn't always equal political savvy.

[Raenelle]

20. Clinton, by school standards; Nixon, by Machiavellian standards.

While Clinton had a much better education than Nixon (better schools anyway, plus he never wrestled with anti-intellectualism), Nixon was cunning.

[PAMod]

22. I think we have a winner.

Bingo, Raenelle.

Nixon was cunning and clever. The way he reinvented himself between 1962 & 1968 is nothing short of astounding.

Bill Clinton is undoubtedly smart as a whip, bolstered by his impressive education. Also, he's made a comeback or two himself, you know.

BTW, pure intellegence is overrated when it comes to leaders. Carter was certainly brilliant (nuclear physicist, etc.), but had trouble working with Congress & managing the bureaucracy. Hoover was pretty intellegent (engineering degree from Stanford), as well, but you all know how that turned out.

JFK was gifted in a special way, as was Theodore Roosevelt & Thomas Jefferson; they were curious.

Seekers of truth and knowledge have what it takes, in my book, to be strong leaders.

[Spider Jerusalem]

24. On the basis of intelligence test scores...

and estimated IQ from SAT scores...Nixon. (Nixon's IQ: 143. Clinton's: 137.)

(Info found through a quick Google search...and JFK's intelligence quotient was 117.)