DBWI: HP Lovecraft's Legacy

Today would be President Lovecraft's 119th birthday. What do you think of his presidency?

He was the proof that social reforms can be best achieved in America by presenting them as utter patriotism. His expansions of regulation, and public works programs, were the sort of action denounced as "Un-American" when proposed by minorities --- even of the sort represented by the First Lady, Sonia Greene Lovecraft. With his grandfatherly mien, his almost antiquated, certainly patrician vocabulary, HPL made the "New Deal" seem like a proposal put forth by Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin.

His bold declaration of all support short of war, but war if needs must, did much to strangle the Nazi tyranny in the bud, when the dreadful Polish War broke out. Some maintain that the radical German tactics demonstrated in that tragic conflict would have brought devastation and even defeat to the Allied armies; others argued that the superior skills and equipment of the Allies would have created only a repetition of the World War, bloodier and more dire. The American support made it brutally clear to the brutal tyrant that his hosts could not triumph.

In the field of the sciences, Lovecraft's interests promoted the image and encouraged the advance of science. Professor Albert Einstein, the great physicist, declared after their first dinner in the White House that here was a president who considered science a benefit to the nation in and of itself, not merely as a means for spreading power.

Some have found HPL's personality strange. His fondness for archaic and sesquipedalian terminology alienated some, but the vast majority of the American people saw him as a revered, kindly old teacher.

Regrettably, the more recent unearthing of some of his writings has not burnished his image. The particular poem of his youth, describing the African-American person in deeply demeaning terms, has led some scholars to criticize him as deeply racist. Whatever his opinions, it should be noted that the Lovecraft administration promoted measures that weakened discrimination against African-Americans.

It is clear, nevertheless, that the Lovecraft administration created a better, richer, more secure, more enlightened USA. As his devoted admirers would cry at his election rallies, "Ia! Ia!"
 
You certainly can't say that his social policies were all bad. His creation of the Negro state of Suanee was a bold move for the time and he didn't forcefully resettle African-Americans into the reservation. He placated Natives Americans by giving them a chance at life outside of their tribal holdings by having them serve as scouts for the Army, as well as in the National Mounted Police Force created under the Forestry and Game Department. Lovecraft's colossal Congress of Religions was truly inspired, there has never been a single conflict between the Christian sects of the country since that, though I would guess some would say that the CoR led to a general watering-down of theology and the rise of agnosticism and atheism. Despite his heavy focus on the sciences, he also greatly funded the arts, especially in classical Anglo-Saxon forms.

On the other hand, he tightened immigration and made naturalization exceedingly difficult. His anti-Semitic views were made clear in the former. And the institution of Government Lethal Chambers was an absolute disaster seeing as how state-sponsored suicide allowed everyone from the most despairing pauper to the most decadent and avant-garde artist to end their sorry life- and their potential as an American taxpayer.
 
The least we can say is he was by far the best writer of any president, with the possible exception of Jefferson. He also wrote great fantasy/sci-fi/horror.
 
The man was batshit, but there was a method to his madness that worked, Although it is important to remember the people that he had surrounding him, the only reason that he declared war on Germany during the Polish was the pressure he got from his Cabinet. He was quite fond of Hitler and his anti smeitic tripe,
 
The man was batshit, but there was a method to his madness that worked, Although it is important to remember the people that he had surrounding him, the only reason that he declared war on Germany during the Polish was the pressure he got from his Cabinet. He was quite fond of Hitler and his anti smeitic tripe,
...though, in his defense he never acted on it.
 
The man was batshit, but there was a method to his madness that worked, Although it is important to remember the people that he had surrounding him, the only reason that he declared war on Germany during the Polish was the pressure he got from his Cabinet. He was quite fond of Hitler and his anti smeitic tripe,

...though, in his defense he never acted on it.

Indeed. You will recall that not only his wife, Sonia, but his brilliant campaign manager, Robert Bloch, the young genius from Milwaukee, were of that persuasion. And many other Jews enlivened and enrichened the Lovecraft Administration.
 
Today would be President Lovecraft's 119th birthday. What do you think of his presidency?
Still, I'm sure his most enduring contribution was the increased enthusiasm for casual, recreational, education that presists to this day. I shudder to think what our culture, our nation, would be like if knowledge for knowledge's sake was held in distain instead of being considered a virtue, as it is today. Despite his personal shortcomings and apart from his political triamphs, President Lovecraft will be most remembered for making life-long learning "cool".
 
Indeed. You will recall that not only his wife, Sonia, but his brilliant campaign manager, Robert Bloch, the young genius from Milwaukee, were of that persuasion. And many other Jews enlivened and enrichened the Lovecraft Administration.

And he's the one who said I decide whose a yid or not, right?

I mean don't get me wrong, I liked the guy an appreciate the effect that had, bu that's no reason to brush his less savory elements under the rug.
 
I think he would of been seen as an insane dictator and his early personal papers discovered sooner if it hadn't been for the Nazis and Britain being on different sides in the war. As much of a racist coot as Lovecraft was, he was even more of an anglophile so he kind of accidentally ended up on the right side, IMHO.

Anyways, Lindbergh might of not had as much crazy under the surface but would of been an isolationist Nazi puppet, so it's a good thing that Lovecraft did get elected.
 
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