Mount Rushmore II

Yesterday, The Babaganoosh at  Mitsurugi's Baba Gannouj took on the Mount Rushmore meme. I made a comment about not passing it to anyone, and doggone it, it gets passed to me. I should have kept my mouth shut. Anyway, here's the question:

If you had your choice, which four presidents (excluding the four already engraved) would you place on a Second Mount Rushmore?

That's not easy. Not easy at all. But let's give it a shot.

First, the first five presidents were all instrumental in the founding of this nation. That, in and of itself, is enough to warrant recognition of this type. Since Washington and Jefferson are already on Mount Rushmore I, I'll take John Adams, James Madison, and James Monroe as three of the four slots.

Is that the easy way out? What if it is? Our Founding Fathers deserve the recognition. And, if I could add a non-president, it would be Benjamin Franklin. But I can't. So, who will be the fourth president on Mount Rushmore II?

Two ways I could go here. Keeping in mind that Doane Robinson chose a contemporary in Theodore Roosevelt, my choosing a president from my lifetime might be in order. That would mean from Eisenhower forward. I'd choose Ronald Reagan from that group.

If we go back in time, I have a soft spot for William Howard Taft, of all people. He wasn't a politician, getting elected on Theodore Roosevelt's coattails. And he had all kinds of troubles related to his lack of political prowess. One of his big trade bills with Canada passed Congress, but was rejected by the Canadian Parliament.

Taft had a background that I like. He played baseball and I like baseball. Taft's family was in politics. Ohioans can tell you about the Tafts. His father was Attorney General, Secretary of War (now Defense), and ambassador to Russia.

When Taft got into politics, he became governor of the Philippines. Later, while Secretary of War himself, he oversaw the construction of the Panama Canal.

As president, he broke up more trusts than Roosevelt. What it comes down to is Taft did what he thought was right, damn the political consequences. And I like that. Plus, he had a huge respect for the law. How many other presidents could serve as Chief Justice of the United States? Taft did.

Since Robinson chose a contemporary, I'll use my fourth pick on Reagan. But I think William Howard Taft is one of the most overlooked characters of the first half of the 20th century.

Now, who to pass this to? Of course, to my BlogSon moehawk of oystersnout. And to lance of Red State Rant. To Right Wing Duck who will be way too busy than to fool with this silliness, but gets it anyway because he has to pay penance for being an influence to me getting a blog. I'm not going to pass it to four. I like passing a meme to one person, but I was one of four, so I was going to do four, but decided to cut it in half to two, but did three in case one drops it, but only one will probably do anything with it. See? Makes perfect sense.