Iconic leadership moments in presidential history

The best and the worst leadership moments of recent U.S. presidents.

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President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers his first radio "Fireside Chat" in Washington in March 1933. Eight years later, Roosevelt would deliver his most historic speech to Congress a day after the Pearl Harbor attack, which he then described as "a date which will live in infamy."

/ AP

In April 1961, a U.S.-backed group of anti-Castro fighters landed at the Bay of Pigs on Cuba's southern coast. Within days, the invasion force was defeated. Of the Bay of Pigs invasion, President John F. Kennedy has said "five minutes after it began to fall in, we all looked at each other and asked, 'How could we have been so stupid?'"

President John F. Kennedy delivers his famous speech "I am a Berliner" ("ich bin ein Berliner") in front of the city hall in West Berlin concerning the Berlin Wall, June 26, 1963.

/ AP

Vice President Lyndon Johnson is sworn in aboard Air Force One, Nov. 22, 1963, following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Cecil Stoughton / AP

Lyndon Johnson and Martin Luther King Jr. meet at the White House in March 1966. King referred to Johnson's election as president in 1964 as "one of America's finest hours" and supported Johnson as he worked on civil rights legislation. President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Acts in August 1965.

Yoichi R. Okamoto / LBJ Library

President Johnson and South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu talk in 1968 at Pacific Command Headquarters in Honolulu at the start of two days of meetings on the Vietnam War. His leadership suffered the backlash of widespread antiwar sentiment across the United States.

/ AP

President Nixon welcomes the Apollo 11 astronauts aboard the U.S.S. Hornet in the Pacific Ocean, following America's first moon landing.

NASA / Reuters

In 1972, President Richard Nixon visited China to meet with Mao Zedong — marking the first U.S. presidential visit to the country.

Andy Wong / AP

On Aug. 9, 1974, Richard Nixon waves to members of his staff outside the White House in Washington as he boards a helicopter for Andrews Air Force Base after resigning the presidency.

/ AP

President Gerald Ford grants a pardon to Richard Nixon, stating to Congress, "My conscience tells me that only I, as president, have the constitutional power to firmly shut and seal this book."

/ AP

U.S. President Ronald Reagan speaks in front of the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin, Germany, Friday June 12, 1987, two years before the Berlin Wall would fall.

Roberto Pfeil / AP

U.S. President Bill Clinton with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, left, and Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat after the signing of the Israeli-PLO peace accord at the White House on Sept. 13, 1993.

Gary Hershorn / Reuters

President George W. Bush stands at the site of the World Trade Center in New York on Sept. 14 2001.

Win McNamee / Reuters

President Obama sits with Vice President Biden, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton along with members of the national security team, as they receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in the Situation Room of the White House on May 1, 2011.

Pete Souza / AFP Photo/White House

Featured Photo Galleries

Paula and Clay Gustin become emotional as dozens of balloons float above during a memorial Wednesday, May 23, 2012, for their five-year-old son, Rhett, who died in an accident on May 20. (AP Photo/The Coeur D?Alene Press, Shawn Gust) MANDATORY CREDIT

Fleet Week, solar impulse plane, artificial heart, Air Force academy graduation and more in the day in photos

Fleet Week, solar impulse plane, artificial heart, Air Force academy graduation and more.

Red Panda Bears sleep in the Panda Bear enclosure at the Beijing Zoo on May 22, 2012. The zoo grounds were originally a Ming Dynasty imperial palace and finally opened to the public in 1908. The zoo's history states that during the WWII, most of the zoo's animals died of starvation with only 13 monkeys and one old emu surviving the war. AFP PHOTO/Mark RALSTONMARK RALSTON/AFP/GettyImages

Barn owls, pit bulls, red pandas, cheetah cubs and more in animal views

Barn owls, pit bulls, red pandas, cheetah cubs and more.

CANNES, FRANCE - MAY 24: Actress Macy Gray attend the 'The Paperboy' photocall during the 65th Annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 24, 2012 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

Eye on entertainment

Macy Gray, Zac Efron, Philip Phillips, Fantasia Barrino, Neil Diamond and other celebrities.

‘Dancing with the Stars’

Season 14 of “Dancing With the Stars.”

May 21, 2012: Members of the Naval Academy freshman class (plebes) lock arms and form a human ladder while climbing the Herndon Monument at the United States Naval Academy on May 21, 2012 in Annapolis, Md. Each year members of the Naval Academy's freshman class (plebes) climb the lard covered 21-foot tall Herndon Monument to replace a plebe dixie cup hat with a midshipman's hat at the top of the obelisk.

Teamwork, discipline help plebes get to the top

At the U.S. Naval Academy, the freshman class attempts to climb the Herndon Monument.

The National Zoo has two new additions: the female cheetah cub, left, and her brother on the right.

The National Zoo’s new cheetah cubs

A dramatic rescue saved these two cheetah babies and their distressed mother giving birth.

JOPLIN, MO - MAY 19: Grace Goebel plays outside of the new Habitat for Humanity home of her parents that was built on the spot of a home that had been destroyed after a tornado hit the neighborhood almost one year ago on May 19, 2012 in Joplin, Missouri. Tuesday will mark the one-year anniversary of the EF-5 tornado that devastated the town. The tornado left behind a path of destruction along with 161 deaths and hundreds of injuries, but one year later there are signs that the town is beginning to recover. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Joplin, Missouri, one year after tornadoes devastate town

Reminders of destruction are everywhere in Joplin, Mo., a year after a killer tornado.

COLLEGE PARK, MD - APRIL 4: Pet acupuncturist Greta McVey puts needles in mixed breed 'Cashew' at her home office in College Park, MD on April 4, 2012. Cashew was rescued by his owner this past December and suffers from anxiety and fear of abandonment. McVey first licensed as an acupuncturist on humans then went on to be certified on animals. She hosts a variety of clientele, anything from birds, to guinea pigs but mainly treats dogs and cats. (Photo by Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)

Washington’s ‘pet-u-puncture whisperer’

College Park’s Greta McVey is part of the growing industry focused on veterinary acupuncture.

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