From the White House this morning:

“Today, more than ever before, science holds the key to our survival as a planet and our security and prosperity as a nation. It’s time we once again put science at the top of our agenda and worked to restore America’s place as the world leader in science and technology.”

- President Barack Obama

I don't care what your political bent is, that is refreshing after eight
years of the guy who bought into creationism and didn't have a clue
about much else regarding science.

Come to think of it, when did we last have a President who was at
least into science? Not Clinton (he didn't care about it one way or the
other unless it was Earth related). Bush I tried but a $500 billion
manned mission to Mars made me think it was done on purpose to kill
the idea on the spot, plus he had Dan Quayle the Mars "expert" running
things.

Reagan left us Star Wars, which cost billions and I'm still wondering
what good that did? And yes, he did get the Space Station rolling -
and I'm still wondering what good that did. Carl Sagan tried to get him
and Gorbachev to do a joint manned Mars mission - and you can see
how much good came out of that.

Ford, no real idea.

Nixon - along with all his other crimes, he and Agnew should also be
strung up in effigy for what they did to our space program in 1970,
stopping the Apollo missions after 17 and killing any plans for a manned
Mars mission. Instead he left us with the Space Shuttle. Thanks for
nothing, Tricky Dick. We could have had men on Mars in 1981 if it
weren't for you.

Johnson - now that guy was mainly politically motivated, but he did
understand the importance of space and probably gave NASA its best
years ever. His name should be on those Apollo Lunar Module plaques,
not Nixon's.

Kennedy - yeah, yeah, he said let's go to the Moon by the end of the
decade, but he even admitted he would have done something closer to
home if it would have had the same impact. Same attitude as Clinton.

Eisenhower - as we learn more about the man, it appears he was more
savvy on space than his public persona led many to believe. He
probably did a good thing making the US space program non-military.

Truman - said he saw no point in space exploration, so the heck with him.