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NATION/WORLD Saturday, April 29, 2017 East Oregonian Page 13A From 0-100: Presidents’ first days come at varying speed WASHINGTON (AP) — A president’s first 100 days can be a tire-squealing hustle from the starting line (Franklin Roosevelt), a triumph of style over substance (Jimmy Carter), a taste of what’s to come (Ronald Reagan) or an ambi- tious plan of action that gets rudely interrupted by world events (pick a president). Here’s a snapshot of the first 100 days for presidents back to the one who set the standard for getting big things done fast: FRANKLIN ROOS- EVELT, 1933 Roosevelt came to office in the Great Depression, with one in four workers idle, more than 80 percent of the stock market’s value gone, farmers destitute, urban dwellers in breadlines, and banks failing at an alarming rate, eliminating the savings of millions. Fellow Demo- crats controlled the House and Senate. FDR immediately declared a temporary national closure of banks to stop panic withdrawals and passed an emergency law to stabilize the banking system. He came forward with a flurry of legislation that set the pillars of the New Deal in place within his first 100 days, “the most concentrated period of U.S. reform in U.S. history,” say Alan Brinkley and Davis Dyer in “The Reader’s Companion to the American Presidency.” More than a dozen sweeping laws were enacted in that time as FDR threw the public purse behind the cause of indus- trial recovery, agricultural renewal and public works, expanding federal powers in the process. Social Security and much more came later. HARRY TRUMAN “I felt as if I had lived five lifetimes in those first days as president,” Truman said of his ascension from vice president upon FDR’s death, April 12, 1945, during World War II. On May 7, Germany surrendered; Japan pressed on. On Truman’s 116th day as president, Aug. 6, the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on AP Photo/Ron Edmonds, File AP Photo In this May 7, 1933, file photo, President Franklin D. Roosevelt is shown at his desk at the White House. Hiroshima, then on Nagasaki three days later. DWIGHT EISEN- HOWER The war hero came to power without plans to overturn the status quo in domestic policy and his 100 days unfolded without much of a mark. The armistice ending the Korean War happened later that year and the domestic achievement for which he has become most known, the interstate highway system, later. JOHN KENNEDY A master orator, JFK was not a high achiever in his first 100 days, a period marked by the bungled Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba by U.S.- trained Cuban exiles and the Soviet Union’s launch of the first human into outer space. Kennedy proved more sure-footed in Cold War brinksmanship that followed, declaring a quarantine on Soviet shipping to Cuba to prevent the establishment of missile bases able to strike the U.S. LYNDON JOHNSON LBJ’s priority when Kennedy’s assassination in November 1963 made him president was stability, unity and security. Those goals, and efforts to pass items on JFK’s agenda, dominated his early days. Johnson fiercely wheeled and dealed behind an agenda of his own as time went on. The Civil Rights Act passed in 1964 and, after he won the presidential election that year, Medicare, Medicaid and other pillars of his Great Society fell into place, even as his escalation of the Vietnam War eroded his standing with the public. RICHARD NIXON On the surface, Nixon’s early months offered few clues to the foreign policy strides that would register in history or to the dark scheming that would destroy his presidency. He visited Europe for eight days in his first full month, three years before his groundbreaking visit to China. In March, he ordered a secret and sustained bombing campaign on Cambodia — its revela- tion further drove opposition to the Vietnam War. GERALD FORD Nixon’s resignation in disgrace made Ford president on Aug. 9, when he declared “our long national nightmare is over.” A burst of relief and popularity followed but his decision a month later to pardon Nixon sank the public’s estimation of him and that never recovered. JIMMY CARTER The Democrat’s first 100 days were largely about tone. Although he sent lawmakers ambitious legislation on economic stimulus, energy conservation, immigration and more, he got little of it despite Democratic control of Congress. Brinkley and Dyer write that Carter set out to In this 1981 file photo, President Ronald Reagan winces and raises his left arm as he was shot by an assailant as he left a Washington hotel after making a speech to a labor group. demystify the presidency by ending the playing of “Hail to Chief” at his events, having his Cabinet members drive their own cars and asking Americans to recognize that “even our great nation has its recognized limits.” RONALD REAGAN Reagan took office with fellow Republicans in control of the Senate, Democrats in control of the House, and big plans brewing to put the government on a conserva- tive path. He got off to a fast start — but not by achieving a mountain of legislation in the first 100 days. Rather, he used his powers of persua- sion with lawmakers and the public to soften the ground for the most consequential tax, spending and govern- ment-overhaul Congress had seen in decades. After more than two months in office, Reagan was shot in an assas- sination attempt that nearly killed him. GEORGE H.W. BUSH His priority was to get out of Reagan’s shadow. Despite only modest achievements in his first 100 days, like a bipartisan budget agreement, Bush capped the period with a six-state tour to talk about his goals and successes. Momentous times were unfolding — the Berlin Wall came down that November and the Soviet Union dissolved in December 1991, a Cold War resolution for which Reagan got the most credit in the U.S. BILL CLINTON, 1993 With Congress under Democratic control, Clinton promised to put legislation in play within 100 days to overhaul health care, guaranteeing coverage for everyone. That became a drawn-out failure, ultimately collapsing in late 1994. The Democrat’s early months were dominated by contro- versies over his appoint- ments; his first two choices for attorney general flopped, as did his first choice to head the Justice Department’s civil rights division. But his 100 days were not without results: He won passage of a law guaran- teeing 12 weeks of unpaid family leave for child care and family illnesses. GEORGE W. BUSH The Republican who eked into office after the closest U.S. presidential election in history dealt with a Repub- lican-controlled House and a Senate that was evenly divided. Republicans held the tie-breaking vote in the Senate until June, when a GOP lawmaker switched to vote with Democrats. Bush did not get much more in his 100 days than a House vote backing central elements of his big tax cuts. A dispute with China intervened over a collision between a U.S. spy plane and a Chinese fighter plane that killed the Chinese pilot and resulted in the detention of the U.S. crew. BARACK OBAMA, 2009 Obama came to office in the worst economic crisis since the Depression and both houses of Congress in the hands of fellow Demo- crats. Financial institutions had been failing, the auto industry was in trouble and unemployment was on the rise, over 8 percent in February 2009 on its way to more than 10 percent before the end of the year. Lawmakers from both parties were inclined to act quickly and did, even as they fought over the details of how to respond to the tanking economy. Obama signed a massive stimulus package into law in his first month. He also achieved laws expanding health care for children and advancing equal pay for women in his first 100 days. DONALD TRUMP, 2017 Of 10 major pieces of legislation Trump promised to put in play in his first 100 days, none was achieved and only one made it formally to Congress — the failed first effort to replace his predecessor’s health law. The contours of another, a big package of tax cuts, were announced this week. 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