The election of Harris will almost assure America of another presidency long on promises and short on accomplishments. Pictured: Vice President Kamala Harris. Photo Credit: Kamala Harris/X.
Since undertaking the role as the designated nominee of the Democratic Party in July, the idea of Vice President Kamala Harris winning the presidency has become more accepted and increasingly plausible. Regardless of how poorly she performed as vice president, her ascent has been a welcome relief to Democrats nationwide. President Joe Biden appeared headed for a resounding defeat at the hands of his nemesis and rival, former president Donald Trump. Trump seemed to have all the momentum after his near assassination and a largely successful convention. Then Biden, on a sleepy Sunday afternoon in July blew up the political shindig Trump and his new Republican Party had planned.
Endorsing Harris shortly after announcing his retirement, Biden either followed the lead he knew Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, former speaker Nancy Pelosi, and former president Barack Obama were all going to take, or he set in motion what would be the coronation of the first black woman to lead a major political party into a presidential election in American history.
Harris’s rise to the top of the ticket reignited hope within the party, opened the funding taps, and brought home millions of Democrats who had decided to sit this election out or even considered going over to the dark side. After about 50 days of this, including a truckload of favourable press coverage, the winning edge belongs to Harris. She is competitive in all the swing states, leads where she has to win, and has solidified her hold on the Democratic base. If she wins, what would a Harris-era portend?
Historically speaking, three examples lend themselves to what Harris might achieve as president. The first one hearkens back to another little-known senator, considered a lightweight when selected as the party’s vice-presidential nominee. Franklin Delano Roosevelt had been president for twelve years when he reached out to Missouri Senator Harry S. Truman. A disciple of the Thomas Pendergast machine in the “Show-Me” state, Truman won election to the Senate in 1934 gaining some prominence overseeing a committee looking into the waste and inefficiency of war-time contracts. Roosevelt chose him to replace Henry Wallace in the 1944 election because Wallace was perceived as too soft on communism.
When Roosevelt died in 1945, Truman became president after serving as vice president for six weeks. Making the most of the opportunity and being thrust into the culminating decisions of World War Two, Truman went on to serve two terms as president. He is largely remembered for accepting the reins of power in trying times, acting with grace under pressure, and helping to heal a nation’s racial woes after fighting a war to stop a genocidal regime intent on exterminating the Jewish race. Many remember Truman for his straight talk, folksy mannerisms, and honest approach. When historians rate the greatest presidents, Truman is often in the top 10 and ranked among the best.
A second example that comes to mind respects the one-term Republican president, Herbert Hoover. Having overseen much of the supply lines for World War One and serving in the cabinets of presidents Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge, Hoover came at the end of a Republican era that started in 1896 with the election of William McKinley. If Harris wins, she will become the fourth Democratic president in the last thirty-two years overseeing a long Democratic period initiated with the Clinton era and interrupted only by the Bush years and Trump’s one term. Hoover’s presidency coincided with an economic downturn that resulted in the Republican Party being banished to the wilderness for twenty years.
The excessive spending of the Biden-Harris administration already resulted in a lengthy period of inflation and rising interest rates. If Harris pursues more spending and institutes punishing taxes on capital gains, she could end up capping an era of profligate spending with more wasteful expenditures. The economy could easily end up in recession or experience deflation, something David Bahnsen has warned about for some time. In deflation, the excessive amount of money pumped into the economy eventually leads to low economic growth, a collapse in wages, an inability to meet demand and what Bahnsen calls the Japanification of the American economy. That is a sustained period of slow economic growth that does not befit the economic engine of America. Should that happen, Harris and the Democrats could be blamed as Hoover and the Republicans were for the Great Depression. A lengthy period of opposition could follow as people look wearily at a Democratic Party they associate with economic hardship.
The final comparison finds root in the nineteenth century when a series of administrations lasted for one term. Five of the first seven presidencies lasted two full terms or eight years. But beginning with the election of Martin Van Buren in 1836 as the eighth president, there were no two-term presidents until the eighteenth president, Ulysses S. Grant from 1869-77. In 32 years, America had ten presidents, most of whom are forgettable. There were Harrison, Tyler, Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce, Buchanan, and Johnson with Polk and Lincoln being the only two consequential presidents in the group. Beginning with Trump in 2016 we could be looking at a run of mediocre chief executives who are unremarkable and uninspiring. Certainly, Biden fits the bill and Harris may follow suit. David Brinkley, the famed NBC broadcaster who later founded ABC’s long-running Sunday news show, This Week, once said that America has many mediocre citizens who deserve to be represented in their government. That presumably includes the presidency.
The election of Harris will almost assure America of another presidency long on promises and short on accomplishments. Harris could be a Truman or a Hoover, but more likely she will become part of a list of forgettable one-term presidents who rose during an age of divisiveness; a period when the political parties were realigning from within and struggled to produce the kind of leaders who had a bold vision. Leaders who could unite strong coalitions, and could appeal across the aisle. America has had these eras before and out of this will arise a Lincoln, a Roosevelt, a Reagan. There will be no need to shed tears if Harris wins. The surprise will be if she governs successfully. Otherwise, America will carry on and await the arrival of its next great champion, the president who will guide the nation into a new epoch.
Dave Redekop is a retired elementary resource teacher who now works part-time at the St. Catharines Courthouse as a Registrar. He has worked on political campaigns since high school and attended university in South Carolina for five years, where he earned a Master’s in American History with a specialization in Civil Rights. Dave loves reading biographies.
