The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

"Which President would you like to sit down with over lunch and have a conversation?" This article is about the first eight presidents mentioned in celebration of Presidents Day. The presidents mentioned here are: President Lincoln, President George Washington, President Theodore Roosevelt, President Jimmy Carter, President Bill Clinton, President George HW Bush, President George Bush, and President Barack Obama.

The largest response was for President Lincoln the 16th president of the United States. When I asked why? "He started from nothing and lead the entire country." "He was a farmer first and a hard worker." According to the Constitution Daily, "Abraham Lincoln preserved the Union during the U.S. Civil War and brought about the emancipation of slaves." Lincoln although he practiced law he did not a have a degree. He wanted women to have the vote in 1836. The future president was a suffragette before it became fashionable. He was a big animal lover, but he wouldn't hunt or fish. He really was a wrestler. Lincoln was documented as taking part in wrestling bout. He lost in his first bid for a presidential ticket. The unknown Lincoln was an unsuccessful vice-presidential candidate in 1856 at the Republican convention. He never belonged to an organized church. Lincoln read the Bible daily. He hated being called Abe and wanted to be called Lincoln. Lincoln established Thanksgiving as a national holiday. Lincoln failed in his first business."

George Washington, our first president, was also mentioned, because he was our first. According to Constitution daily, "Washington could have been a king. Instead, he chose to be a citizen. He set many precedents for the national government and the presidency: The two-term limit in office, only broken once by Franklin D. Roosevelt, was later ensconced in the Constitution's 22nd Amendment. He crystallized the power of the presidency as a part of the government's three branches, able to exercise authority when necessary, but also accept the balance of power inherent in the system"

Theodore Roosevelt was our 32nd president. A local wanted to visit with him about his "Speak softly and carry a big stick; and you will go far" motto. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, "Roosevelt's first noted public use of the phrase occurred when he advocated before Congress increasing naval preparation to support the nation's diplomatic objectives. The Big Stick policy, in American history, policy popularized and named by Theodore Roosevelt that asserted U.S. domination when such dominance was considered the moral imperative."

The next president was Jimmy Carter our 39th president. He said it wasn't that he was a really good president, but of all our presidents he cares more about humanity than anyone. He also lives his faith. President Carter was a peanut farmer and gave up his military career to save the family farm. His first political position was on the school board. He was the first person on his father's side of his family to graduate from high school. When he became president, he sold his family farm. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, "He supported civil rights, which hurt his early political career in Georgia. In 1982, he founded the Carter Center, which has played an active role in human rights and disease prevention issues globally. The Carters helped publicize Habitat for Humanity, also. Carter received his Nobel Prize in 2002. He received the award "for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development."

President Bill Clinton was mentioned once, because he was the only one who had a positive budget. They wanted to visit with him about that. Encyclopedia Britannica said he, "oversaw the country's longest peacetime economic expansion.

An older Big Sandy resident said she wanted to visit with Obama, but she liked both of the Bush Presidents too.

George Herbert Walker Bush the 41st President of the United States was an American politician who served as the 41st president of the United States. "Bush postponed his university studies after the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, enlisted in the Navy on his 18th

birthday, and became one of its youngest aviators. He served until September 1945, and then attended Yale University, graduating in 1948. He moved his family to West Texas where he entered the oil business and became a millionaire by the age of 40 in 1964. President Richard Nixon appointed Bush as Ambassador to the United Nations. Bush also signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)."

The second Bush, George Walker Bush served as the 43rd president of the United States. He had previously served as the 46th governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000. "The September 11 terrorist attacks occurred eight months into Bush's first term." We all know how Bush responded launching a "War on Terror an international military campaign that included the war in Afghanistan in 2001 and the Iraq War in 2003. He signed into law broad tax cuts, the Patriot Act, the No Child Left Behind Act, the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, Medicare prescription drug benefits for seniors. Nationally, Bush was both one of the most popular and unpopular U.S. presidents in history, having received the highest recorded presidential approval ratings in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, as well as one of the lowest approval ratings during the 2008 financial crisis."

And the last President mentioned wanting a lunch date with was President Barack Obama our 44th President. He wanted to visit with him about how he dealt with being hated by so many people. According to Wikipedia during his first two years in office, Obama signed many landmark bills into law. The main reforms were the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act(often referred to as "Obamacare", shortened as the "Affordable Care Act"), Budget Control and the American Taxpayer Relief Acts. A December 2018 Gallup poll found Obama to be the most admired man in America for an unprecedented 11th consecutive year."

I have visited some President libraries and have found them to be inspirational. President George Washington's Library is located at Fairfax County Virginia; President Abe Lincoln-Springfield Illinois; President Roosevelt's will be at Dickinson State and Medora North Dakota in 2019; President Carter's- Atlanta Georgia;' President George HW Bush--College Station Texas, President Clinton--Little Rock Arkansas; President George Bush--University Park Texas; and President Obama is in Jackson Park, Chicago.