Words: 70 (17×13)
Average Length: 5.11
I’m jumping the gun on Presidents Day by a week, but so are the mattress sales.
Over the course of a few years pre-Pandemic, I read biographies of every US president. What a mixed bag (the presidents, not the bios): a very few were excellent (Lincoln, FDR, Washington), some seriously underappreciated (Truman, Carter), some overpraised (Jefferson, JFK), some maddeningly flawed (LBJ, TR, Nixon, all of whom accomplished great things but also wreaked harm), some terrible (Pierce, Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Bush 2 , 47), and some (most) mediocre.
This puzzle concerns three presidents who came to the presidency after brilliant careers in public service, only to flounder or flunk during their time in the White House. I hope it’s fun and maybe even educational.
I’m leaving in a few days for three weeks in Chile (including Rapa Nui), Argentina, and Brazil. I’ll be writing about it and sharing pictures on my PuffinlessTravel blog, so please stop by if you’re interested. The first post probably will come late next week.
Jeff's Puzzles 
9 replies on “Great Public Servants, Not-So-Great Presidents”
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Love the presidential angle! For whatever reason, when I was in elementary school, my favorite Christmas and birthday presents were books about the presidents. They – the men – continue to be a source of interest and, currently anyway, disgust. Favorite clues: 61A, 3D and 52D. TIL about 2D. And who knew 17D was a thing…?!?
Wishing you safe and inspiring travels.
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Thanks, Jeanne. I’m at Dulles waiting to board my fight to jfk for my connection to Santiago.
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Speaking of presidents, I started Destiny of the Republic (about Garfield) over the weekend and am loving it. I’m guessing you’ve read it.
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I’m not sure which Garfield book I read. I’ll have to check!
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If you haven’t read it, be sure to add it to what I imagine is your long list! Full title: Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President, by Candice Millard.
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The Great Depression was cause by the Federal reserve Board:
https://www.hoover.org/research/feds-depression-and-birth-new-deal
https://fee.org/articles/the-great-depression-according-to-milton-friedman/
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Hi James, thanks for the solve and the comment. Hoover certainly doesn’t deserve all the blame for the Great Depression, but even most of his biographers agree he bears much of the responsibility. I’m not sure either the Hoover Inst. or Milton Friedman represents a consensus analysis.
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There really is no consensus in econometrics. There is only data:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_the_Great_Depression#/media/File:Money_supply_during_the_great_depression_era.png
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