Roads named after Jimmy Carter or Michael Dukakis

[bandit957]

Are there any roads named after Jimmy Carter or Michael Dukakis outside of their respective home states (Georgia and Massachusetts)?

The reason I ask is that there's a zillion roads named after Ronald Reagan in states that aren't otherwise associated with ol' Ronnie.

[bandit957]

Also, I saw a map not too long ago of a town somewhere (I think in upstate New York) that had streets named after most of the recent Presidents - Clinton Street, Bush Street, etc. - but for some reason they skipped Carter. Why would that be?

[corco]

If I owned a private tank range, I'd name it the Michael Dukakis Tank Park and require everyone to wear a helmet.

[Desert Man]

A few local elementary and a middle/Jr high school in my hometown (Indio CA) are named after presidents. I attended Andrew Jackson and Dwight Eisenhower elementary, nearby Woodrow Wilson middle school (now closed) and Indio middle school, which was originally intended to be Ronald Reagan, until the superintendent derided the decision by saying "What good did he do to public education? NOTHING". His name went to an elementary school in Palm Desert, where there is a Gerald Ford (famous resident) and Jimmy Carter elementary school each.

[GaryV]

Also, I saw a map not too long ago of a town somewhere (I think in upstate New York) that had streets named after most of the recent Presidents - Clinton Street, Bush Street, etc. - but for some reason they skipped Carter. Why would that be?

Were there other presidents in the neighborhood too?

Cause Clinton could have been named after their famous governor who pushed for the Erie Canal, and Bush is, well a generic bush.

[jwolfer]

Dukakis was not President, just ran and lost.. i doubt there is any where other than his home town.. or named for Olympia Dukakis

[bandit957]

Also, I saw a map not too long ago of a town somewhere (I think in upstate New York) that had streets named after most of the recent Presidents - Clinton Street, Bush Street, etc. - but for some reason they skipped Carter. Why would that be?

Were there other presidents in the neighborhood too?

There is a street named for Reagan and I think for Eisenhower and Truman too.

[bandit957]

Dukakis was not President, just ran and lost.. i doubt there is any where other than his home town.. or named for Olympia Dukakis

Technically, he wasn't President, but he should still count. I think he should get a presidential museum just like all other recent Presidents.

[1995hoo]

Dukakis was not President, just ran and lost.. i doubt there is any where other than his home town.. or named for Olympia Dukakis

Technically, he wasn't President, but he should still count. I think he should get a presidential museum just like all other recent Presidents.

Why would the same not apply to all other losing candidates (or maybe all major-party losing candidates, to place a practical limit on things)? I can certainly see why something might be named after a former governor in his own state, and perhaps if he had a significant connection somewhere else there might be a reason for naming something there. (Without commenting on the merits of naming something, Mitt Romney comes to mind as an example–he was governor of Massachusetts, but he's widely associated with Utah due to his involvement with the Salt Lake City Olympics.)

But why would you count losing presidential candidates generally? Look at Walter Mondale or George McGovern, both of whom suffered crushing defeats–Mondale lost every state except Minnesota. I guess Mondale at least served as vice president (setting aside John Nance Garner's famous comment about the vice presidency not being worth a bucket of warm piss).

[FightingIrish]

I believe there's an elementary school here in Milwaukee named after Barack and Michelle Obama. Waiting for a Chicago area freeway to put his name on it (like Eisenhower, Kennedy and even presidential candidate and former Illinois governor Adlai Stevenson. Keep in mind, many of these roads were named in the 50s-60s, when theses guys were around or died.

Eisenhower has his name on a number of interstates and interstate-related objects (like the tunnel in Colorado) due to his influence on the whole interstate system.

I-88 in Illinois is the Ronald Reagan Tollway due to it going past his birthplace. In other states, besides California, it was usually named after him as a result of overzealous Republican state legislators wasting time on symbolic posturing.

[FightingIrish]

Also, I saw a map not too long ago of a town somewhere (I think in upstate New York) that had streets named after most of the recent Presidents - Clinton Street, Bush Street, etc. - but for some reason they skipped Carter. Why would that be?

Were there other presidents in the neighborhood too?

There is a street named for Reagan and I think for Eisenhower and Truman too.

There are many streets all over the country named after 19th century presidents. There's a bunch of consecutive ones in my town that are even named after less consequential ones like Arthur, Hays, Pierce, Harrison, etc. That's because many of these streets date back to that era.

I believe Carter has some Georgia highways named after him, as he is closely identified with that state, but there hasn't been a serious drive by politicians to slap his name on highways in other states. Same goes for Ford (aside from Michigan and Palm Springs, CA), Clinton, and the Bushes (pretty much limited to Texas). I don't think Nixon has anything named after him.

[1995hoo]

There are definitely roads named after Carter in Georgia. There's also a Jimmy Carter Way in Raleigh, and the other streets nearby don't have anything to do with other presidents (one is named for King Arthur!).

[bandit957]

Why would the same not apply to all other losing candidates (or maybe all major-party losing candidates, to place a practical limit on things)? I can certainly see why something might be named after a former governor in his own state, and perhaps if he had a significant connection somewhere else there might be a reason for naming something there. (Without commenting on the merits of naming something, Mitt Romney comes to mind as an example–he was governor of Massachusetts, but he's widely associated with Utah due to his involvement with the Salt Lake City Olympics.)

But why would you count losing presidential candidates generally? Look at Walter Mondale or George McGovern, both of whom suffered crushing defeats–Mondale lost every state except Minnesota. I guess Mondale at least served as vice president (setting aside John Nance Garner's famous comment about the vice presidency not being worth a bucket of warm piss).

Because I think Dukakis should be an exception.

[1995hoo]

Why would the same not apply to all other losing candidates (or maybe all major-party losing candidates, to place a practical limit on things)? I can certainly see why something might be named after a former governor in his own state, and perhaps if he had a significant connection somewhere else there might be a reason for naming something there. (Without commenting on the merits of naming something, Mitt Romney comes to mind as an example–he was governor of Massachusetts, but he's widely associated with Utah due to his involvement with the Salt Lake City Olympics.)

But why would you count losing presidential candidates generally? Look at Walter Mondale or George McGovern, both of whom suffered crushing defeats–Mondale lost every state except Minnesota. I guess Mondale at least served as vice president (setting aside John Nance Garner's famous comment about the vice presidency not being worth a bucket of warm piss).

Because I think Dukakis should be an exception.

Why?

[coatimundi]

Dukakis was not President, just ran and lost.. i doubt there is any where other than his home town.. or named for Olympia Dukakis

Technically, he wasn't President, but he should still count. I think he should get a presidential museum just like all other recent Presidents.

This checks out.

[jwolfer]

Why would the same not apply to all other losing candidates (or maybe all major-party losing candidates, to place a practical limit on things)? I can certainly see why something might be named after a former governor in his own state, and perhaps if he had a significant connection somewhere else there might be a reason for naming something there. (Without commenting on the merits of naming something, Mitt Romney comes to mind as an example–he was governor of Massachusetts, but he's widely associated with Utah due to his involvement with the Salt Lake City Olympics.)

But why would you count losing presidential candidates generally? Look at Walter Mondale or George McGovern, both of whom suffered crushing defeats–Mondale lost every state except Minnesota. I guess Mondale at least served as vice president (setting aside John Nance Garner's famous comment about the vice presidency not being worth a bucket of warm piss).

Because I think Dukakis should be an exception.

Then we can have the Bob Dole library, the John Kerry library et al.   Presidential libraries are ok..  but realistically most Presidents end up being footnites in history

Franklin Pierce
Millard Filmore

[sparker]

If there were ever a Museum of Incompetent Presidential Campaigns, it would most logically be located at the corner of Dukakis Way and Gore Blvd.

[Max Rockatansky]

The full extent of Michael Dukakis's impact during his Presidential campaign was summed up here:

[DandyDan]

If Mason City, Iowa expands far enough west some day, they may eventually have a Carter Ave.   It appears to end at Eisenhower Ave., but for some weird reason, there's no Lincoln Avenue, or Buchanan for that matter, and the Roosevelt honored appears to be Franklin.  They have a Benjamin Avenue (for Benjamin Harrison) and a Quincy Avenue (for John Quincy Adams), but no Theodore Avenue.

Horace Greeley is the one losing Presidential candidate with something named for him, Greeley, Colorado, as well as other places named Greeley.

[coatimundi]

Horace Greeley is the one losing Presidential candidate with something named for him, Greeley, Colorado, as well as other places named Greeley.

There are a number of towns, including the one in Colorado, named after John Breckinridge, who lost to Lincoln in 1860. And that's just one example. This current cycle certainly excepted, presidential candidates usually aren't just boobs from off the street. They've typically had significant political and/or military careers prior to running.

[hbelkins]

Most of us who lived through the Carter years wish we could forget him.

[lordsutch]

Using OpenStreetMap's Overpass API, I found the following streets outside of Georgia:

Jimmy Carter Lane in Helper, Utah
Jimmy Carter Street near Weslaco, Texas
Jimmy Carter Road in southwestern Burnett County, Wisconsin
Jimmy Carter Cemetery Road in McCreary County, Kentucky (probably named for a different Jimmy Carter)
Jimmy Carter Way in Raleigh, already mentioned above

No street seems to be named "James Earl Carter." Carter itself is a reasonably common name so I didn't bother looking for it.

I found two roads named "Dukakis," one in Massachusetts and one in Alton, Texas. The former is named "Governor Dukakis Drive," latter is probably named after Mike Dukakis as well since several of the surrounding streets are named after actual presidents.

As for Reagan, the name itself is pretty common (like Carter) so restricting it to Ronald Reagan is more productive. OSM finds 831 streets named "Ronald Reagan" in some form, although lots (as you'd expect) are in California and Illinois.

[bandit957]

Most of us who lived through the Carter years wish we could forget him.

There's a lot of revisionism in the media. Recently I was talking with a family member about why Carter lost in 1980, and they said, "You have to remember how bad things were back then." That was from a family member who told me back in 1980 that they voted for Carter! So obviously things weren't too bad. I remember things being pretty good in 1980, and becoming worse later. But I'm not blaming one party in particular, because the misery lasted for decades.

[FightingIrish]

Most of us who lived through the Carter years wish we could forget him.

There's a lot of revisionism in the media. Recently I was talking with a family member about why Carter lost in 1980, and they said, "You have to remember how bad things were back then." That was from a family member who told me back in 1980 that they voted for Carter! So obviously things weren't too bad. I remember things being pretty good in 1980, and becoming worse later. But I'm not blaming one party in particular, because the misery lasted for decades.

Retrospect becomes clearer with the passage of time. Ford probably wasn't considered a great president during his term, but he did bring some calm to the executive branch after the chaos of the Nixon years, and was in the position of being well-liked and respected by members of both parties, due to his long tenure in the House.

Carter had a tougher go of it during his term. The Democratic Party's influence was shifting away from southern conservatives and toward northern liberals, so Carter, being a southern governor, was not trusted so much. This is why Ted Kennedy ran against him in the 1980 primaries. Carter did have some successes on the international stage, but the economy was still sluggish, and the ongoing Iran hostage crisis was the nail in the coffin. He was able to reinvent himself in later years by becoming a highly respected diplomat, writer, philanthropist and elder statesman. Few could argue that Carter was perhaps the most effective former president we ever had.

[kphoger]

Why would the same not apply to all other losing candidates (or maybe all major-party losing candidates, to place a practical limit on things)? I can certainly see why something might be named after a former governor in his own state, and perhaps if he had a significant connection somewhere else there might be a reason for naming something there. (Without commenting on the merits of naming something, Mitt Romney comes to mind as an example–he was governor of Massachusetts, but he's widely associated with Utah due to his involvement with the Salt Lake City Olympics.)

But why would you count losing presidential candidates generally? Look at Walter Mondale or George McGovern, both of whom suffered crushing defeats–Mondale lost every state except Minnesota. I guess Mondale at least served as vice president (setting aside John Nance Garner's famous comment about the vice presidency not being worth a bucket of warm piss).

Because I think Dukakis should be an exception.

Well, I'm done reading this thread now.  So much for logic.