2ukenkerl wrote:
agmoie wrote:
Eamon de Valera an American born President of Ireland is thought to have been an Aspie.
ell, something tells me eamon IS an irish name, but they let foreigners be president in ireland?
Prior to 1929, Ireland did not exist as an independent country, so maybe they waived the requirement.
As for the Presidents of the US who might be Aspies, most probably are not, but it is not impossible that some were. Thomas Jefferson had an obsessive personality and a tenacious intelligence, but I am not sure. He was Secretary of State for a time, which is a very important diplomatic role and hence not for the socially faint of heart. I recently watched a biography on Andrew Jackson, which dispells any notion for me that he was an aspie. He was a darned successful trader of horses (even though he abhorred political horse trading) and was a popular fellow in Nashville, with the ladies and just the town in general. Jackson's dislike for backroom politics was just a result of his personality and upbringing, not a social disability. Calvin Coolidge was known to say very little, so I would place my bets on him as being an Aspie. Nixon can be considered one of the more cerebral presidents, along with Clinton and Carter. However, he was also quite paranoid and that was his downfall--as it is the downfall of other politicians elsewhere in history. But I am not very inclined to think Nixon could have been an Aspie. His testy exchange with Nikita Kruschev proved he could handle a social situation of that kind. And work with China was indicative of social finesse.