Hard to define 'dignity' of the Presidency in any impartial way, as the press has made a habit of only selectively keeping the public informed, and even then, many times being highly questionable in their accuracy.
Is it 'Dignified' for FDR to attempt to re-make the Supreme Court so he can ram-rod policy and laws the sitting Court deemed unConstitutional?
Is it 'dignified' for FDR to circumvent both established treaty and his campaign promises in order to back-door the US into an active role in WWII long before Pearl Harbor?
Is JFK 'dignified' for bedding essentially every willing partner from German spies to Marilyn?
Is it 'dignified' for LBJ to be a screaming racist in private and to have left a good number of deat political opponents in his wake?
Nixon, suddenly the press awakens, was 'dignified' as he oversaw various nefarious dirty trick campaigns and outright criminal behaviors both before and after the Watergate break-ins?
I have mixed opinions of Ford having granted pardons, but I believe his plan was similar to the plans of Reconstruction, wherein, by eliminating an entire avenue of conflict, he attempted to force a healing to begin.
Carter : assuredly 'dignified' but utterly incompetent as a leader.
Even the revered Reagan had more than a couple of failures of 'dignified'. I remember clearly the press railing against his 'cowbow' image and his 'blunt' diplomacy style. He was deemed 'undignified' in the press, but was a highly effective, successful President.
Clinton? Move on. Good evidence of involvement in Mena, Arkansas cocaine operation, a string of mistresses, semen stained dresses in the Oval office? Puh-leeze. Dignified?
Both Bush Presidents were crucified in media for either being liars or idiots or 'evil' on a regular basis, but I'd rate their performance more 'dignified' than Obama being interviewed by a YouTube perfomer famous for nearly dying doing the cinnamon challenge and for bathing in Fruit Loops. Certainly more dignified than the infamous mic drop:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJ1YNW8MRLwIn short, 'dignified' skipped town decades ago. We can talk gradation, but no man or woman with the ambition to be President will ever be demure, polite, and 'dignified.'
Hard to define 'dignity' of the Presidency in any ... (