The First President You Remember?

[Zomby Woof]

For me, it was no less than Tricky Dick himself... Richard Milhous Nixon.

If you ever wondered why Gen Xers are cynics, look no further than our early childhoods, lol. :D

[CatholicEdHead]

1. Reagan

:(

[Oeditpus Rex]

2. JFK

Eisenhower was president when I was born, but I didn't get politically active until I was 4.

[Joe Fields]

3. John Kennedy. I actually saw him before he became pres.

I was 4 yr's old, when my folks took me to see him give a campaign speech in a parking lot of a strip shopping mall in Kansas City.

[Richard Steele]

4. Ford.

I was born in '68, and remember lots from the "Nixon Era",
but not Nixon himself.

I guess my folks didn't watch that much Evening News?

[SPKrazy]

5. Johnson

was alive for JFK but too young.

Johnson was in my memory though

:D

[liberalitch]

47. Yup!

war on poverty.... what a silly idea ;-)

[SPKrazy]

86. In a sense, why do we wage "war" against every problem we have

I mean, maybe giving people some money to get on their feet would be better than waging war! :shrug:

Yes, the war on poverty has been such a great success.

Johnson did have big ideas, Medicare and Medicaid, some would argue have become the albatross that saddles our health care system

In reality, physicians made money, but Medicaid helped them make even more money.

Now we are strapped with a healthcare crisis beyond recall, unless we adapt universalized care.

JMO

;)

[lizziegrace]

48. Same here

:)

[SPKrazy]

87. Well of course...

remember, we're (practically) the same age!

:D

[Lex]

6. Yep. Nixon for me. Resigning in fact.

That's what I remember of Nixon. The grownups watching TV and saying, "The President's resigning. About damn time."

[enigmatic]

7. LBJ

I watched his "I will not seek..." speech on TV w/ my Mother and brothers when I was 5..

[momophile]

8. sweet sweet Carter

even led the re-elect Carter campaign in my elementary school.

[AwakeAtLast]

56. Same for me

I remember watching the coverage after the election. I think I was 5 or 6 at the time.

[nuxvomica]

9. JFK

I was alive during Ike's term but I don't remember it. The Kennedys just seemed the perfect family and it seemed like life was just going to keep getting better and better for everyone with JFK running things. What a stupid thing his assasination was, I remember thinking. How stupid that Oswald was. He ruined such a good thing. I was eight years old at the time and now I'm reading "Brothers" and it turns out that I was probably correct in that simple analysis.

[Left Is Write]

10. Nixon.

[Zomby Woof]

14. We had this little black & white TV

I remember him glowering... it was pre-Watergate, probably Vietnam related.

My parents were faithful Walter Cronkite viewers, and by the time I started 1st grade, Watergate was rapidly becoming a nightly watchword. I had no idea what it was about, but I remember the general vibe being bad.

[Left Is Write]

17. I remember hearing that word "Watergate" often.

Like you, I had no idea what it was about, but even that word seemed ominous to me.

If I remember correctly, they even discussed it on an episode of To Tell The Truth one afternoon.

[liberaltrucker]

11. Eisenhower

In retrospect, not a bad Repuke.

[struggle4progress]

13. Ike. And ex-prez Harry was on the tube from time to time

[Hand]

26. Yep, Eisenhower.

I was alive when Truman was still prez, but had no idea at the time. :hi:

[charlie and algernon]

12. GHW Bush

[Hippo_Tron]

35. Dupe

n/t

[Strawman]

15. Ford

I was always pro-incumbent as a kid for some reason. Wanted Ford to win over Carter (I think because he was from MI), then I wanted Carter over Reagan (I was scared Reagan would start a nuclear war). Then I was for Reagan over Mondale during my lil' Republican phase. By 1988, I was a Democrat.

[ChoralScholar]

16. I remember Jimmy Carter

along with the 1980 Presidential Campaigns - My father voted for Carter, while my mother voted for Reagan.

My dad told me that Carter liked peanuts, while Reagan liked jellybeans.

Even back then, I said I like peanuts better, so I guess I've been a Democrat for a long time :>

[Lethe]

18. Reagan was the first i remember, but Carter was in office when i was reincarnated

i remember Reagan getting shot and not caring. I was more interested in GIJOE and Transformers at the time. I mean, who the fuck is Reagan anyway, its not like he was Snake Eyes taking on Stormshadow in a ninja fight, pfffft. Get a life Reagan u boring stiff grownup guy.

[pagerbear]

19. I was in kindergarten in Nov. 1968

The school principal called all the kids out of class, one by one, to ask who we wanted to vote for for President. I don't know why, but I was a good little Democrat and voted for Hubert Humphrey. It could because we were living in Minnesota at the time, so I'd picked up Humphrey fever, if there was such a thing, by osmosis. I remember having a very Abraham Lincoln-like picture of him in my mind. I think log cabins were involved.

[sakabatou]

20. Clinton

[otherlander]

21. GHW

And everyone who remembers JFK... Damn you to hell for remembering things I don't. :grr: No fair. Stop hogging the Camelot, meanies. :P

[Decruiter]

22. Born during Johnson

...but I Like Ike
http://movies.aol.com/movie/why-we-fight/21086/trailer#

[KitchenWitch]

23. Tricky Dick here too.

I drove by his birthplace yesterday, while I was out running errands.

edited to add: I am a late boomer, not a Gen X'er.

[wildhorses]

24. jfk

:patriot:

[Starbucks Anarchist]

25. Reagan.

[UrbScotty]

27. Clinton (nt)

[Mojambo]

28. Reagan

I've known pretty much nothing but shit presidents in my time.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

29. Kennedy.

I went off to the first grade wearing my Kennedy campaign button.
It was the kind with two different images on it, depending on how you turned it.
It had his picture on it, alternating with "He Will Win", in black and white.

[NMDemDist2]

30. JFK n/t

[Lindsey]

31. JFK (although I was born during Eisenhower) but i was too young to

remember him. One of my first childhood memories is when JFK was killed.

[City Lights]

103. Ditto that.

:hi:

[Bzzzz]

115. Yep...

same here.

[Hangingon]

32. HST

[Inchworm]

33. Shook Ford's hand

in Ohio..

:hi:

[Adsos Letter]

34. Eisenhower...barely...

Man these answers make me feel old...

:D

[Hippo_Tron]

36. Poppy, around the time of the 1992 election

Dad took me in the voting booth with him when he pulled the lever for Clinton. I remember my parents and teachers being very excited about the outcome of that election

[Blue_In_AK]

37. Harry Truman.

[Guava Jelly]

38. Jimmy Carter

:)

[SKKY]

39. Ford and then Carter.

[SeattleGirl]

40. JFK.

Born during Ike's presidency, but I don't remember him. I do remember JFK, and, unfortunately, remember his assassination. :cry:

[terrya]

41. John F. Kennedy

[Eurobabe]

42. LBJ, I was about 6

[murielm99]

43. The first one I remember is Eisenhower.

I don't remember Truman at all, but he was President when I was small.

Maybe I remember Eisenhower better because we got our first TV when he was President.

[chknltl]

44. Eisenhour...

I barely remember that he was concerned about something called "Sputnik". I spent a whole lot of time looking up at the sky hoping to catch sight of it spying on me. I was likely 3 or 4 at the time.

[LeftyFingerPop]

45. JFK. n/t

[ikojo]

46. Nixon...I remember watching the Watergate hearings

on TV

[cmf]

49. I remember crying when Carter lost to Reagan

I was alive during Ford's administration, but the first president I remember was Carter. My parents must have talked a lot about how they didn't want Reagan as prez around me, because I just remember Reagan=bad.

[Orsino]

50. Bare recollection of Johnson.

I was a Camelot baby...at least one telegram congratulated my parents on "Little Jack's" arrival.

[cloudbase]

51. Ike n/t

[SoCalDem]

52. I shook hands with Ike

I was about 7 or 8, I think :)

[bullwinkle428]

53. Nixon - first major political memory for me was

my parents enthusiastically casting their votes against him in 1972..."RIGHT FUCKING NOW"! :rofl:

[calico1]

54. LBJ.

I was born in '58 when Ike was president but I only remember him as a retired old ex president. I also have no recollection of JFK even though I was 5 when he was killed.

[leftofthedial]

55. Ike

[Connonym]

57. Nixon eom

[NoPasaran]

58. Ike

[RebelOne]

59. FDR

[Zoigal]

78. FDR, although i was born when Hoover was pres.

[volstork]

60. I remember

my father (a turbo-repug) railing on about what a sorry sack of shit Nixon was as Watergate was unfolding.

[Zavulon]

61. LBJ

I really knew nothing about politics until Watergate, though.

[montanto]

62. I can remember Nixon's first election

so I must have had some awareness of LBJ, but don't remember.

[HERVEPA]

63. Ike

[Capn Sunshine]

64. Eisenhower

I remember the campaign of 1960 confused me, because Eisenhower was the president, and had been my entire life and all was right with the world, why change?

I met Nixon at the time and my first political memory is of being creeped out by him. His hand was cold and clammy when he shook mine. I couldn't understand what the big deal was, and as a television kid, I found Jack Kennedy very handsome. Plus my grandfather did something or other for him.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

65. Ike!

I must be old. :) Of course I was young when I first heard of him........... :shrug:

[bertha katzenengel]

66. Truman -- remembering when he died. After that, Nixon. n/t

[CottonBear]

67. Nixon. I was born during the JFK administration. n/t

[nini]

68. JFK

bits and pieces before he was shot and a lot of the funeral etc.

I remember Eisenhower but I'm not sure if it was when he was actually president still.

[Arugula Latte]

69. Also Dickie Nixon for me ...

Funny how in retrospect he's 100 times better than this criminal cabal running the country.

[trackfan]

70. Kennedy

[DFW]

71. First I remember was Ike,

First I ever saw was JFK, and first I ever met was LBJ

[av8rdave]

72. Kennedy

I was only a kindergartner when he was assassinated. I can't remember Ike, though he was the HMIC when I was born.

[Vidar]

73. Ike.

[havocmom]

96. Me too

I looked a lot like him as a tot. Pictures to prove it, but no scanner.

Boy, was mom happy when my hair finally grew in.

[agtcovert]

74. Reagan nt

[mwooldri]

75. Woodrow Wilson, Herbet Hoover and Frankin D Roosevelt.

No I'm not that old. Living in Britain I didn't tend to worry too much about US presidents in my day to day life. I guess Reagan was the one I would have had a memory of but when it came down to schoolwork we studied 20th Century history and studied the bits where America was involved in the wider world (WW1, Great Depression (affected the world), Rise of Hitler, WW2). Hence the because I had to study them and would be graded in my work based on my studies.

Mark.

[Beausoleil]

76. Eisenhower n/t

[TommyO]

77. Same here, it was Nixon.

I was too young to remember Kennedy or Johnson, but do remember bits from Nixon, especially his resignation.

[LSK]

79. Reagan

I was 8 when he took office.

[krispos42]

80. reagan

[crim son]

81. Nixon, me too.

I was in Canada at the time and some kid from school told me that Nixon was going to bomb us. :wtf:

[otherlander]

90. Maybe he was confusing Canada with Cambodia?

[crim son]

111. We were about eleven years old at the time, so it's possible!

I remember not believing him.

[Lyric]

82. Reagan n/t

[Crabby Appleton]

83. Ike

[Lisa]

84. another vote for Nixon!

(never thought I'd be saying that ...)

My parents claim that I taught myself to read, at home, using Time and Newsweek issues. Dad still vividly recalls how shocked he was when I looked up from one that was spread out on the floor, and asked, "What does 'a real can of worms' mean?" (I was looking at the Watergate coverage.)

[Madspirit]

85. Well

I was born during Eisenhower but the first I remember is JFK.
Lee

[bigwillq]

88. Ray-gun

I was little though but I do remember him a bit.

[nickinSTL]

89. I only vaguely remember Carter...

though I was born during Nixon's administration, I don't remember him as President at all, or Ford either.

[Penndems]

91. Probably JFK

I definitely remember the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon Debate.

[maveric]

92. Ike

I remember watching a kid's show in Boston with "Big Brother Bob Emery" around 1959 and there was a pic of Ike on the wall. Big Brother Bob would toast the prez with a glass of milk every show.
I was three.

[TK421]

93. Carter....barely at the end of his term.

Ford was president when I was born, but I remember Reagan the most

[Rabrrrrrr]

94. We didn't have presidents then. There was the InterGalactic Council

that had a chairperson, and local systems were managed by a consortium of planetary governors and an unofficial board of advisors.

[Rising Phoenix]

95. Reagan

[femmocrat]

97. Ike. n/t

[mitchum]

98. LBJ...since I'm from the south, i thought everyone talked like THAT...

"mah fellow Amurricans..."
I don't remember Kennedy although I was three when he was murdered. However, unlike Greorge Herbert Walker Bush, I do remember what I was doing that day.

[timtom]

99. Harry Truman

I was alive when FDR was prez, and, while I remember the time, I don't remember him.

[ronnykmarshall]

100. Johnson

I was born in 1961, so I don't remember JFK.

I do remember LBJ as early as 1964. I remember the 1964 election. My parents were for Goldwater.

[Mad_Dem_X]

101. NIxon. n/t

[Bjornsdotter]

102. JFK

......oh please, oh please, let someone, anyone, answer Eisenhower.

Cheers

[SammyWinstonJack]

104. JFK and they killed him!

:cry:

[DS1]

105. Reagan

thought he was a greasy-haired scumbag

[tinfoil tiaras]

106. Clinton

I'm a youngun :D

[Ariana Celeste]

107. Clinton.

I think I was in 2nd grade when he got elected.

[GOPisEvil]

108. Watergate happened on my 4th birthday.

But really, I remember Carter - the only President I have had human contact with. He shook my hand when I was about 9. :)

[GreenPartyVoter]

109. Carter and the Iran hostage issue. I was in 3rd grade.

[treestar]

110. Johnson

Used to come on TV and preempt everything and talk about something or other. Being a kid, I was totally unimpressed and would rather have watched what he was interrupting.

[TZ]

112. Jimmy Carter

I had a relative working for him in the WH as well, so no surprise I remember his administration pretty well..and remember Ford not at all.:)

[NewWaveChick1981]

113. Lyndon Johnson.

:hi:

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

114. Reagan n/t

[Drunken Irishman]

116. Clinton.

I don't remember anything about Bush I, but I do remember my mom crying on election night 1992.

[Norwood]

117. George HW Bush

I was born during the Reagan presidency but I dont remember any of it thank god.

[Radio_Lady]

118. Born in 1939, I remember (just a bit) when FDR died (1946).

[gemdem]

119. Coolidge

Well, he was the first one who came to mind... ;-)

As to whom I remember (not including history lessons about Washington and Lincoln), I guess it would be LBJ. I was a toddler when JFK was shot -- so there might be some shadow memories there -- but with all of the documentaries about JFK I've watched over the years it's hard to say what's an actual memory (presidents not being terribly important when you're a toddler). I have clear memories about every president since LBJ however.

[Left_Winger]

120. Johnson