誰是美國(guó)歷史上最好的總統(tǒng)?（二）

Elijah Daneel
I’m going to tweak this question a bit (or a lot, to some extent and say: most important) Washington by a GIGANTIC margin. I respect those who disagree. I’m well aware even that respected historians disagree with me, and I’m not going to edit my credentials to claim I’m a history professor. I will claim I’m somewhat of an “arm chair historian”, and I wrote my master’s thesis at Columbia on the founding fathers’, so while I’m not a professor I know more than someone who got all their info on Wikipedia or even a few excellent biographies of other presidents. Washington was first among equals of a group of unbelievably brilliant men; men responsible for drafting a document that has lasted hundreds of years with significant but relatively few amendments.
To paraphrase Ron Chernow (who I would never dare call a colleague or close friend, but he was an acquaintance for years in NYC and I learned a great deal from him beyond what I read in his books, all of which I HIGHLY recommend) Washington basically created the executive branch by himself. 90% of how the president is supposed to act were invented, or at the very least led by example by him. Without help? Of course not, and there are a million great books explaining why. Better yet if you have a great history professor speak to them about it, a truly brilliant professor can explain the complexities to you much better than even the best biographies can, much less an idiot on on quora like me :).

我要稍微調(diào)整一下這個(gè)問題(或者在某種程度上，調(diào)整一下)：(最重要的是)華盛頓以巨大的優(yōu)勢(shì)獲勝。我尊重持不同意見的人。我很清楚，即使是受人尊敬的歷史學(xué)家也不同意我的觀點(diǎn)，我不會(huì)編輯我的證書來聲稱我是一名歷史教授。我可以說我是一個(gè)“坐在扶手椅上的歷史學(xué)家”，我在哥倫比亞大學(xué)寫的碩士論文是關(guān)于開國(guó)元?jiǎng)讉兊?，所以，雖然我不是教授，但我知道的比那些從維基百科或其他幾位總統(tǒng)的優(yōu)秀傳記上獲得所有信息的人要多。華盛頓是一群才華橫溢的人中的佼佼者;負(fù)責(zé)起草一份歷經(jīng)數(shù)百年的重要但相對(duì)較少修改的文件的人。
套用羅恩·切爾諾(Ron Chernow，我從來不敢稱他為同事或親密朋友，但他是我在紐約多年的熟人，我從他那里學(xué)到了很多東西，超出了我在他的書中讀到的東西，我強(qiáng)烈推薦所有這些書)的話來說，華盛頓基本上是自己創(chuàng)建了行政部門?？偨y(tǒng)應(yīng)該如何行事中的90%的內(nèi)容都是由他編寫的，或者至少是由他以身作則。沒有獲得其他人的幫助？那當(dāng)然不是，有無數(shù)本好書解釋了其中的原因。如果你能與一位偉大的歷史教授談?wù)撨@件事，那再好不過了；一位真正才華橫溢的教授可以比最佳的傳記更好地向你解釋其復(fù)雜性，像我這樣的白癡了更少無法與之相比了）。

The same applies to his presidency. It was a role he never wanted. He wanted to go back to his wife and planation and live out a peaceful life there. He became president because the country WOULD have fallen apart without him, and he was too honorable to let that happen. Just as in war he was the only man alive who commanded universal respect. Without his leadership USA probably wouldn’t even exist today in its current form because of the warring factions at the time. He’s THE founding father, period. His contemporaries almost universally agreed.
As for the greatest let me just point out the most important part of his legacy, one which (putting aside another great president, has never been broken). He not just had the power to stay on indefinitely and form a quasi monarchy. Rather he was BEGGED to stay on…and he walked away. He still provided a great deal of important help and advice to the still fragile government, but he refused to be a new king. He gave his farewell address (the vast majority of which is still relevant and predicted the current state of America and applies today) and relinquished his power because he believed in a republican government.
That, my friends, is the definition of greatness.

這同樣適用于他的總統(tǒng)任期。這是他從未想要的角色。他想回到他的妻子和他的農(nóng)場(chǎng)，在那里過平靜的生活。他之所以成為總統(tǒng)，是因?yàn)闆]有他這個(gè)國(guó)家就會(huì)分崩離析，而他太可敬了，不會(huì)讓這種情況發(fā)生。就像在戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)中一樣，他是活著的唯一一個(gè)受到普遍尊重的人。如果沒有他的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)，因?yàn)榻粦?zhàn)的派系的緣故，美國(guó)可能甚至不會(huì)以目前的形式存在。他是開國(guó)之父。與他同時(shí)代的人幾乎一致同意此觀點(diǎn)。
至于最偉大的總統(tǒng)，讓我指出他遺產(chǎn)中最重要的部分，這一部分（拋開另一位偉大的總統(tǒng)不談，從未被打破）。他本有權(quán)無限期地執(zhí)政并建立一個(gè)準(zhǔn)君主政體，他在卸任時(shí)被要求留下來。他仍然為仍然脆弱的政府提供了大量重要的幫助和建議，但他拒絕成為新一任“總統(tǒng)”。他發(fā)表了告別演說（其中絕大多數(shù)仍然相關(guān)，預(yù)測(cè)了美國(guó)的現(xiàn)狀，并適用于今天），并放棄了權(quán)力，因?yàn)樗嘈殴埠忘h政府。
朋友們，這就是偉大的定義。

Cay Brown
Who are the top 10 US presidents?
We have had some incredible men serve as our president. They were men of character and intelligence, from different political parties, and from many different backgrounds.
This is obviously a highly subjective question, but I’ve tried to be as obxtive as I possibly can.
1 . Abraham Lincoln
“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.”
It’s no surprise that Lincoln comes first on this list. Without Lincoln, it’s likely the United States would not exist as we know it. He is responsible for the unx remaining together and even though we know the abolition of slavery was not his top priority, he was largely responsible for it. Lincoln was magnanimous. He was a master in dealing with people, and time and time again he made his enemy his friend. He was honest and always tried to do what was best for America.

美國(guó)前十大總統(tǒng)是誰？
有一些了不起的人擔(dān)任過我們的總統(tǒng)。他們都是有品格和智慧的人，來自不同的政黨，來自許多不同的背景。
這顯然是一個(gè)非常主觀的問題，但我盡可能客觀。
亞伯拉罕·林肯
“幾乎所有的人都能忍受逆境，但如果你想測(cè)試一個(gè)人的性格，就給他權(quán)力。”
林肯在這份榜單上排名第一并不奇怪。如果沒有林肯，美國(guó)很可能就不會(huì)像我們所知道的那樣存在。他在團(tuán)結(jié)聯(lián)邦方面起著非常重要的作用，盡管我們知道廢除奴隸制不是他的首要任務(wù)，但他在很大程度上在這方面發(fā)揮了作用。林肯寬宏大量，他與人打交道方面是一位大師，一次又一次地把敵人當(dāng)成朋友。他很誠(chéng)實(shí)，總是努力做對(duì)美國(guó)最有利的事情。
原創(chuàng)翻譯：龍騰網(wǎng) http://www.top-shui.cn 轉(zhuǎn)載請(qǐng)注明出處

2. George Washington
“I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.”
We can all be thankful our first president was this principled man. In elementary school we learned that George Washington, when offered a third term, declined in order to establish a precedent for the future holders of the highest office in the land. The presidency was not to be a throne from which to govern, a Washington monarchy, or a pedestal to sit upon and look down at the citizens of its country, but an office in which a person is elected by the people, to serve the people. Things could be very different today if a less disciplined man than Washington had been our first president.

喬治·華盛頓
“我希望我足夠堅(jiān)定和擁有美德，以保持我認(rèn)為最令人羨慕的頭銜——誠(chéng)實(shí)的品格?！?br /> 我們都應(yīng)該感謝我們的第一任總統(tǒng)，他就是這樣一個(gè)有原則的人。在小學(xué)時(shí)，我們了解到喬治·華盛頓在獲得第三個(gè)任期時(shí)拒絕了，目的是為未來?yè)?dān)任美國(guó)最高職位的人開創(chuàng)先例?？偨y(tǒng)不是用來統(tǒng)治國(guó)家的寶座，不是華盛頓的王座，也不是一個(gè)坐在上面俯視本國(guó)公民的基座，而是一個(gè)由人民選舉產(chǎn)生的為人民服務(wù)的職位。如果我們的第一任總統(tǒng)是一個(gè)比華盛頓更不守紀(jì)律的人，那么今天的情況可能會(huì)大不相同。

3. Franklin D. Roosevelt
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
FDR was a great leader. He brought us out of the Great Depression and through World War II. His fireside chats gave him a relationship with citizens unlike what any of his predecessors had. He spoke directly to the people, and the people trusted him.
4. Thomas Jefferson
“I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”
This author of The Declaration of Independence was a philosopher, statesman, and a very good president. With the Louisiana Purchase, the size of the U.S. doubled under his leadership, and his brilliant mind shaped our nation from its earliest days.

富蘭克林羅斯福
“我們唯一要害怕的就是恐懼本身?！?br /> 羅斯福是一位偉大的領(lǐng)袖。他帶領(lǐng)我們走出了大蕭條，度過了第二次世界大戰(zhàn)。他的爐邊談話使他與公民建立了一種不同于任何前任的關(guān)系。他直接對(duì)人民講話，人民信任他。
托馬斯·杰斐遜
“我在上帝的祭壇上發(fā)誓，永遠(yuǎn)反對(duì)對(duì)人類思想的任何形式的暴政?！?br /> 他是《獨(dú)立宣言》的作者，他是一位哲學(xué)家、政治家，也是一位非常優(yōu)秀的總統(tǒng)。隨著收購(gòu)路易斯安那州，美國(guó)的國(guó)土面積在他的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)下翻了一番，他的聰明才智從最早的時(shí)候就塑造了我們的國(guó)家。

5) Harry S Truman
“America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.”
Harry Truman became president at one of the most crucial and challenging moments in our nations history. He took over for a hugely popular president who had just passed, and had to make many highly controversial decisions at the end of World War II . Though still controversial today, history tells us he made wise decisions, and we can be glad he was in power at that time.
6) Ronald Reagan
“There are no easy answers, but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right.”
Ronald Reagan was inspiring, optimistic, and charming, but when it came down to it, his presidency was much more than that. His administration created 16 million new jobs, fueled a 2 decade long economic boom, and his diplomatic skills were largely instrumental in bringing an end to a Cold War that had been plaguing Americans for over 40 years. Reagan was the right man at the right time.

哈里·S·杜魯門
“美國(guó)不是建立在恐懼之上的。美國(guó)是建立在勇氣、想象力和完成手頭工作的不可戰(zhàn)勝的決心之上的?！?br /> 哈里·杜魯門在我們國(guó)家歷史上最關(guān)鍵、最具挑戰(zhàn)性的時(shí)刻成為總統(tǒng)。他接替了一位剛剛?cè)ナ赖姆浅Ｊ軞g迎的總統(tǒng)，在第二次世界大戰(zhàn)結(jié)束時(shí)，他不得不做出許多極具爭(zhēng)議的決定。盡管今天仍有爭(zhēng)議，但歷史告訴我們，他做出了明智的決定，我們可以為他當(dāng)時(shí)掌權(quán)感到高興。
羅納德·里根
“沒有簡(jiǎn)單的答案，但有簡(jiǎn)明的答案。我們必須有勇氣去做我們知道在道德上是正確的事情。”
羅納德·里根鼓舞人心，樂觀而迷人，但歸根結(jié)底，他的總統(tǒng)任期遠(yuǎn)不止于此。他的政府創(chuàng)造了1600萬個(gè)新工作崗位，推動(dòng)了長(zhǎng)達(dá)20年的經(jīng)濟(jì)繁榮，他的外交技巧在結(jié)束困擾美國(guó)人40多年的冷戰(zhàn)方面發(fā)揮了很大作用。里根是正確時(shí)間的正確人選。

7) Theodore Roosevelt
The youngest president the United States has ever had didn’t do too poorly, I would say. We can thank Teddy Roosevelt for advocating for child labor laws, women’s suffrage, an 8 hour work day.
8) Dwight D. Eisenhower
“There is nothing wrong with America that faith, love of freedom, intelligence, and energy of her citizens cannot cure.”
Perhaps Eisenhower’s greatest accomplishment as president was keeping America at peace. He was faced all throughout his presidency with things that could have easily escalated into a war should someone without such a level head been in charge. Alongside this, the economic prosperity of the 1950s can be largely attributed to his policies.

西奧多·羅斯福
我想說這位美國(guó)歷史上最年輕的總統(tǒng)做得并不差。我們應(yīng)該感謝泰迪·羅斯福，他倡導(dǎo)了童工法、婦女選舉權(quán)、8小時(shí)工作制。
德懷特·艾森豪威爾
“美國(guó)沒有一個(gè)問題是她的公民的信仰、對(duì)自由的熱愛、智慧和活力所不能治愈的”
也許艾森豪威爾作為總統(tǒng)最大的成就是保持了美國(guó)的和平。他在整個(gè)總統(tǒng)任期內(nèi)都面臨著一些事情，如果沒有這樣一個(gè)頭腦冷靜的人掌權(quán)，這些事情很容易升級(jí)為一場(chǎng)戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)。除此之外，20世紀(jì)50年代的經(jīng)濟(jì)繁榮在很大程度上要?dú)w功于他的政策。
原創(chuàng)翻譯：龍騰網(wǎng) http://www.top-shui.cn 轉(zhuǎn)載請(qǐng)注明出處

9) John F. Kennedy
“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”
JFK is oft thought of as the young, charismatic man who’s life was so tragically ended that fateful day in Dallas. Kennedy, though, does indeed deserve a place on this list for reasons other than that. He gets major points here for his handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis, thus avoiding a nuclear war. He also aspired to put an end to racial discrimination, backing civil rights and racial integration. Without the inspiring John F. Kennedy, we may not have been the ones to put a man on the moon.
10) Bill Clinton
“There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.”
Bill Clinton may be most widely known for a certain scandal that occurred during his administration, but the facts show that Bill Clinton was a good president. This is mostly evidenced by looking at the economy during his tenure. He created over 22 million new jobs, unemployment was at the lowest it had been in 30 years, and it was the lowest poverty rate that had been seen in 20 years. He had a very high approval rating when he left office.
That’s my list.

約翰·肯尼迪
“變化是生活的規(guī)律。那些只關(guān)注過去或現(xiàn)在的人肯定會(huì)錯(cuò)過未來?！?br /> 肯尼迪通常被認(rèn)為是一個(gè)年輕、有魅力的人，他的生命在達(dá)拉斯那致命的一天悲慘地結(jié)束了。然而，肯尼迪確實(shí)應(yīng)該在這個(gè)名單上占有一席之地，原因不止于此。他在處理古巴導(dǎo)彈危機(jī)，從而避免了一場(chǎng)核戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)方面值得大肆稱贊。他還渴望結(jié)束種族歧視，支持民權(quán)和種族融合。如果沒有鼓舞人心的 約翰·肯尼迪，我們可能就不會(huì)把人送上月球。
比爾·克林頓
“美國(guó)沒有任何問題不能被正確的東西所治愈。”
比爾·克林頓可能因其執(zhí)政期間發(fā)生的某樁丑聞而廣為人知，但事實(shí)表明，比爾·克林頓是一位優(yōu)秀的總統(tǒng)。這主要可以從他任職期間的經(jīng)濟(jì)狀況中得到證明。他創(chuàng)造了2200多萬個(gè)新工作崗位，失業(yè)率處于30年來的最低水平，貧困率也是20年來最低。他離任時(shí)獲得了很高的支持率。
這是我的清單。

Logan Flowers
The primary author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson.
Why? I will get straight to the point. Here are his major accomplishments while in office, all of which were great for the country:
He banned the importation of slaves, hindering the international slave trade, and giving us the first step to the eventual dissolve of slavery.
He defeated the Barbary pirates, despite shrinking our military.
He nearly double the size of the US with the Louisiana Purchase.
Additionally, he blocked the institution of slavery from spreading into this new land.
He drastically reduced the national debt, cutting it in half before the Louisiana Purchase (which even after that, it was still drastically lower than it was when he took office).
He repealed the unconstitutional Alien and Sedition Acts, and pardoned those wrongfully jailed because of them.

《獨(dú)立宣言》的主要作者，托馬斯·杰斐遜。
為什么？我就開門見山了。以下是他在任期間的主要成就，這些成就對(duì)國(guó)家來說都是偉大的:
他禁止進(jìn)口奴隸，阻礙了國(guó)際奴隸貿(mào)易，為我們最終廢除奴隸制邁出了第一步。
他盡管縮減了我們的軍隊(duì)規(guī)模，但是打敗了巴巴里海盜。
通過收購(gòu)路易斯安那州，他讓美國(guó)國(guó)土面積翻翻。
此外，他還阻止奴隸制制度在這片新土地上蔓延。
他大幅削減了國(guó)債，在購(gòu)買路易斯安那州之前將其削減了一半（即使在那之后，國(guó)債仍大幅低于他上任時(shí)的水平）。
他廢除了違反憲法的《外國(guó)人和煽動(dòng)叛亂法》，并赦免了那些因此而被錯(cuò)誤監(jiān)禁的人。

He abolished all taxes.
He shrank the federal government by getting rid of “unnecessary offices” and “useless establishments”.
Founded West Point (or, as it was called at the time, the United States Military Academy at West Point).
He also encouraged and managed to convince most states to remove the voters restriction on owning land, allowing many more citizens to vote (though, some of these states ended up doing so after his presidency).
And the key to this is that he did all of this in line with the Constitution. He never overstepped his bounds, as many modern presidents do. He was able to protect the Constitution, as all presidents swear (or vow) to do, and still accomplish so much to further our country. Truly an incredible President.

他廢除了所有的稅收。
他通過取消“不必要的辦公室”和“無用的機(jī)構(gòu)”來縮減聯(lián)邦政府。
成立西點(diǎn)軍校（當(dāng)時(shí)被稱為美國(guó)西點(diǎn)軍校）。
他還鼓勵(lì)并設(shè)法說服大多數(shù)州取消選民對(duì)擁有土地的限制，允許更多的公民投票（不過，在他擔(dān)任總統(tǒng)后，其中一些州最終這樣做了）。
關(guān)鍵是，他所做的一切都符合憲法。他從未像許多現(xiàn)代總統(tǒng)那樣越界。他能夠像所有總統(tǒng)宣誓（或發(fā)誓）要做的那樣保護(hù)憲法，并且仍然帶領(lǐng)我們的國(guó)家取得了巨大成就，真是一位令人難以置信的總統(tǒng)。

I would say that the biggest blot on his presidency was, of course, the Embargo Act, which ended up being quite a disaster. However, this wasn’t necessarily Jefferson’s fault, nor was it exactly something he could avoid. Despite many seeing him as a Francophile, he refused to take sides in the war between Britain and France, following cues from Washington (though he initially disagreed with this position). Both countries tried to bully the US into joining their side, and Britain was actually capturing American ships. To furthermore declare American neutrality and prevent the further capture of American ships, he declared that America would have no business in trading with either country. Unfortunately, northern traders most likely wouldn’t be able to survive if this were the case, so they largely ignored the Act and turned to smuggling. Because of this, neither Britain or France were harmed by the act, and therefore it did not succeed in its purpose.
HMM, turns out my answer did turn out to be rather long. I tend to start rambling when I get on the subject of Jefferson.

我想說，他總統(tǒng)任期內(nèi)最大的污點(diǎn)當(dāng)然是《禁運(yùn)法案》，它最終成為了一場(chǎng)災(zāi)難。然而，這不一定是杰斐遜的錯(cuò)，也不是他可以避免的。盡管許多人認(rèn)為他是親法派，但他拒絕在英法戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)中偏袒一方，聽從華盛頓的暗示（盡管他最初不同意這一立場(chǎng)）。這兩個(gè)國(guó)家都試圖脅迫美國(guó)加入他們的陣營(yíng)，而英國(guó)實(shí)際上是在俘獲美國(guó)船只。為了進(jìn)一步宣布美國(guó)中立并防止美國(guó)船只被進(jìn)一步捕獲，他宣布美國(guó)將不會(huì)與這兩個(gè)國(guó)家進(jìn)行貿(mào)易。不幸的是，如果是這樣的話，北方貿(mào)易商很可能無法生存，所以他們基本上無視該法案，轉(zhuǎn)而從事走私活動(dòng)。正因?yàn)槿绱?，英?guó)和法國(guó)都沒有受到該法案的傷害，因此該法案沒有達(dá)到其目的。
嗯，我的答案確實(shí)很長(zhǎng)。當(dāng)我談到杰斐遜的話題時(shí)，我就會(huì)開始胡言亂語。
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Don Graham
In your opinion, who was the best president the United States has ever had?
I agree with Mark and John: Lincoln was given the hardest job (that of winning the Civil War), and had to combine infinite wisdom and patience to do it. He was let down by general after general who served under him, then found the man who won the war and backed him
In addition, he was the best writer among Presidents—and possibly the best writer of any American ever. And on top of everything else, bills creating the transcontinental railroad and the land-grant colleges act passed during his tenure.

在你看來，誰是美國(guó)有史以來最好的總統(tǒng)？
我同意馬克和約翰的觀點(diǎn)：林肯被賦予了最艱巨的任務(wù)（贏得內(nèi)戰(zhàn)），他必須結(jié)合無限的智慧和耐心才能做到這一點(diǎn)。他被一位又一位在他手下服役的將軍辜負(fù)了，然后找到了贏得戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)的人，并力挺他
此外，他是總統(tǒng)中最優(yōu)秀的作家，也可能是有史以來美國(guó)人中最好的作家。最重要的是，在他的任期內(nèi)通過了建立橫貫大陸鐵路的法案和贈(zèng)予學(xué)院土地法 Land Grant College Act亦稱《莫里爾法》(Morrill Act)。