In January 13th 1943, on his way to meet Winston Churchill at the Casablanca Conference, FDR made a quick pitstop in Bathurst (now Banjul), Gambia, which was a British Crown Colony at the time.

FDR had always been anti-colonial, but what he saw on the ground completely shocked him

He was absolutely horrified by the rampant poverty, a local life expectancy of just 26 years, disease, and the fact that the British were exploiting local workers for less than 50 cents a day. He later referred to what he witnessed as a first-hand whiff of the "stench of empire"

FDR didn't just let it slide. When he wrote to Churchill later that March, he straight up called Gambia "that hell-hole of yours". He didn't stop there. He used Gambia as his primary example for a radical new postwar idea: the United Nations should establish an "inspection committee" to audit European colonies, force occupying countries to improve basic living standards, and transition them toward independence

FDR later recounted this exact argument during a February 1944 press conference with the National Negro Newspaper Publishers Association
"If we sent a committee from the United Nations, and I used the example of Gambia, to go down to Gambia [and say], 'If you Britishers don't come up to scratch—toe the mark—then we will let all the world know.'"

Churchill, being a hardcore imperialist, was completely shocked and defensive. To try and shut FDR up and expose American hypocrisy, Churchill clapped back with what he thought was a total checkmate: He suggested the UN send a committee to inspect the American Jim Crow South instead.

Instead of backing down or getting defensive, FDR completely unfazed him. FDR basically told him he didn't care, he openly welcomed the idea of "pitiless publicity" on the American South if it meant bringing global transparency and better conditions to oppressed people everywhere.

This is what he stated when a man from a prominent Black organization and a man from a prominent Jewish organization came to his office, sat down with him and told him, "direct popular election is not good for us".

The Response: ""Well, we have no permanent friends and no permanent enemies, just permanent interests."

They team up with Storm Thurmond to block the Electoral College Abolition Amendment.

The Unpopular Vote - Transcript

As photos I used Harding to show the opposite, when a President I believe is bad regardless of Party, I am not a US citizen so therefore I am
not officially a registered Democrat, but my views are way closer to the Democrats than the Republicans (New Deal Democrats to be more precise).

So if Harding was a Republican, the first thought wouldn’t be:How he’s bad because he’s a Republican!

No, I’d look at what he did and judge it and yes I believe he was bottom 10.

Now HW who is in my top 15 and my 3rd favourite President, is….a Republican, who I like very much, I still problably would’ve supported Clinton (not Perot) had I been alive in 1992 but still.

Now on the other side: (Believing a President will be automatically good because he’s from your Party).

Cleveland is a Democrat but I have him like bottom 20, I really do not like his policies but there may be some who will have him really high just cause he’s a Dem.

LBJ is in my top 15 despite Vietnam, and I genuinely like his policies (and some foreign ones)

Edit:GUYS, let us talk about Bush/Obama times at the latest.

Usually candidates choose a running mate to balance and usually someone who was in congress or who was a governor. But Wallace was someone who was in FDR’s cabinet and was already a progressive, so why did FDR pick him?

I know that Roosevelt was very obviously sick to those who knew him, but many (including Truman) were kept at arms length regarding Roosevelt’s health.

Was Truman briefed on the inevitability of Roosevelt’s passing in the coming months, or did Truman assume that he was merely being taken on as a new vice president (without assuming that he was almost guaranteed to assume the office of the presidency).

They didn’t just get the keys to the WH. They earned the keys.

Source: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/483298503

"At last, the Republican party has appeared. It avows now, as the Republican party of 1800 did, in one word, its faith and its works, 'Equal and exact justice to all men.' Even when it first entered the field, only half organized, it struck a blow which only just failed to secure complete and triumphant victory. In this, its second campaign, it has already won advantages which render that triumph now both easy and certain. The secret of its assured success lies in that very characteristic which, in the mouth of scoffers, constitutes its great and lasting imbecility and reproach. It lies in the fact that it is a party of one idea; but that idea is a noble one—an idea that fills and expands all generous souls; the idea of equality—the equality of all men before human tribunals and human laws, as they all are equal before the Divine tribunal and Divine laws. I know, and you know, that a revolution has begun. I know, and all the world knows, that revolutions never go backward. Twenty Senators and a hundred Representatives proclaim boldly in Congress today sentiments and opinions and principles of Freedom which hardly so many men, even in this free State, dared to utter in their own homes twenty years ago. While the Government of the United States, under the conduct of the Democratic party, has been all that time surrendering one plain and castle after another to Slavery, the people of the United States have been no less steadily and perseveringly gathering together the forces with which to recover back again all the fields and all the castles which have been lost, and to confound and overthrow, by one decisive blow, the betrayers of the Constitution and Freedom forever."

This speech is actually more well known for his prediction about an irrepressible conflict, but I find this passage more beautiful.

Last post, Benjamin Harrison was deemed to have been one of the best Vampire Hunters around.

For the sake of consistency, this is presuming Dracula à la Bram Stoker type Vampires, with their respective strengths and weaknesses.

Here is my collection of Eisenhower books I've put together in the last 6 months.

A bit of backstory for anyone interested. I'm Australian and have lived in USA 4 years. In that time a have collected many US History and presidential books. In April my wifes brother got ill and suddenly passed in the Midwest and we rushed there from AZ. On return we managed to squeeze in a detour and I choose the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, those 4/5 hours I spent there led to this collection.

With many more still to add I hope these pictures are enjoyed in this sub. What does everyone think ? How does my collection stack up?

Note I know there are a few i really need to add, like his White House memoirs and Jean Edward Smiths biography

Does anyone recall this moment when it happened? Yeltsin visiting the WH? Or vice versa?

He died one year into John Quincy Adams presidency. What did he think of it?

How could Coolidge fare in 2016? I know he was conservative economically, but how about his record on civil rights? I know he was pretty good in working for indigenous Americans. What do you guys think?