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First Speaker

(4,858 posts)

5. Reconstruction

Reply to DerekG (Original post)

Sat Jan 17, 2015, 04:33 PM

Jan 2015

...maybe not an individual failure--rather, a national one. But that was the largest failure in US history, taken all in all. And despite all the corruption and human weakness involved in it--as in all human endeavors--it was a noble failure. If we need to name names, then I'd say Grant, the most underestimated President in US history.

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Highlight:

Who's your favorite "Noble Failure" in history? [View all] DerekG Jan 2015 OP

Oh, man shenmue Jan 2015 #1

For a fictional character, Don Quixote... pinboy3niner Jan 2015 #2

Quixote doesn't hold a candle to Yossarian, imo. Speaking of quests, it's a long, lonely KingCharlemagne Jan 2015 #7

Ignaz Semmelweis. He was a doctor who discovered that washing your Nay Jan 2015 #3

John Brown. - nt KingCharlemagne Jan 2015 #4

But did Brown really fancy himself a failure? DerekG Jan 2015 #9

So many what-ifs wrt Brown's raid on the Federal Army at Harper's Ferry. Given his KingCharlemagne Jan 2015 #11

Reconstruction First Speaker Jan 2015 #5

The League of Nations Tierra_y_Libertad Jan 2015 #6

Good answer! H2O Man Jan 2015 #12

This man. linuxman Jan 2015 #8

I'm wary of "Kill Hitler" counterfactuals, especially that late. Donald Ian Rankin Jan 2015 #10

and some here are trying to connect Hitler to atheism... lame54 Jan 2015 #13

Hitler was simply an unfathomably lucky man DerekG Jan 2015 #14

Not really sure he was a failure BainsBane Jan 2015 #15