Best and Worst - President of the United States

Miscellaneous General
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1

I just want to see everyone’s opinion on this subject. Who do you think is the best and worst U.S. President, and why?

Haha, I figure I better say this: if you’re going to vote, please do not say that they are all the worst. In fact, writing this might make even more people say it. Oh well.

Best and Worst Presidents
2

lol, you’re getting the hang of things around here Brian. :slight_smile:

3

Benjamin Franklin?

4

@ liberty student:

Haha, yeah, I guess I am! I love all of these discussions.

5

I used to like Calvin Coolidge the most until I found out about his foray into mass murder during prohibition by poisoning the alcohol supplies.

6

Too limited.

Why not ask the best incumbent leader of any nation?

How about some non-American names like Lord Salisbury? Lord Salisbury who famously wanted to prevent democracy in Britain, because it would lead to a dissolution of property rights and would allow the debtors who outnumber creditors to outvote them?

Now name one American President of similar values!

7

I have heard Grover Cleveland mentioned before as the most libertarian US President. Not sure whether this is true or not.

Worst was probably FDR, though all Presidents since have basically been a continuation of his regime.

8

I’ve also heard that about Cleveland. I know he was big on the gold standard and everything libertarian-oriented as far as the economy goes.

I definitely agree about FDR too. I hate Wilson, FDR, and Carter. Wilson started everything terrible with the Federal Reserve, IRS, and income tax. FDR’s New Deal is the entire basis of all of our problems. Carter was just an idiot.

9

I’ve heard so many people say he was one of our best presidents even though he wasn’t one at all.

10

I’ve heard so many people say he was one of our best presidents even though he wasn’t one at all.

I was just kidding around because there are like 10 threads on this already. Discussion of things like Glenn Beck, the history of the presidents, or the constitution really bores me, but please continue with your fun. =)

11

I figured you were kidding, but you would be surprised how many people say his name when that conversation starts up every so often.

12

How about some non-American names like Lord Salisbury?

Do you mean the prime minister? - I can’t find any evidence he supported this, though he certainly seems to have opposed democracy for Irish, Indians and Africans…

Now name one American President of similar values!

Most of them? In the early days, debtors couldn’t even vote in many states - there were property qualifications along with all the other ones. Most of the founding fathers were against ‘too much’ democracy, because they were wealthy and wanted a system of government which served their interests.

13

That is an extremely ignorant statement to make. The Founding Fathers were not wealthy at all. The majority of them were very, very, very poor. To say that they wanted a government that served their interests makes it sound like there was some kind of corruption involved to benefit only those individuals. They wanted a republic, not a democracy. Too much democracy breeds an abuse of power. They wanted democracy to be used for few things (i.e. elections) so that people could be free to do what they want without worrying about a majority rule.

14

Best: William Henry Harrison. Died before he could fuck things up.

Worst: Abe Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, and FDR.

15

I like JFK and Jefferson though.

What’s the problem with Jimmy Carter? Anything he did bad pales in comparison to those who came before and after him:

LBJ - killed JFK, killed 3 million in Vietnam

Nixon - killed 3 million in Vietnam

Ford - pardoned Nixon, participated in the Warren Commission coverup

Carter - peanuts

Reagan - trained death squads in Latin America, allowed the CIA to import cocaine into the U.S. to fund the death squads

Bush I - was the one really running the Reagan administration, former head of CIA

Clinton - bombed Kosovo at his wifes urging, slept with moderately attractive women, killed some crazy people in Waco, possibly complicit in above drug trafficking as Governor

Bush II - started two silly wars, devastating two nations, billions of free $ to the banks

Obama - continued two silly wars, devastating two nations, billions of free $ to the banks

16

Best (not counting the ones who died, of course!): Martin Van Buren and Grover Cleveland

Worst: FDR and Lincoln (got to give a shout out to Wilson too, of course. All on the same general level)

17

@Aquila:

Do you say Lincoln because there would have been simpler solutions as opposed to having a Civil War? Just curious.

@ravochol:

How did Johnson kill Kennedy?

18

I keep a copy of this just for the occasions “Who is the best/worst Presidents?” threads.

The disastrous Presidents:

  1. Abraham Lincoln - Classic Authoritarian

  2. Franklin Delano Roosevelt - Engaged in disastrous counter cyclical policy and inflicted numerous disastrous programs on the nation

  3. Woodrow Wilson - Federal Reserve and World War I

The failures:

  1. Theodore Roosevelt - Advocacy and advancement of central banking and his ultra progressive policies.
  2. Herbert Hoover - Turning an ordinary “panic” into a true disaster with his interventionist policies. In fact, Hoover’s policies would very much foreshadow FDR’s later policies. In both cases they failed, badly.
  3. Lyndon Baines Johnson - The disastrous Great Society and Vietnam.
    Obama - I have been charitable to Obama, but his record in a year and a half is almost worse than what G.W. Bush was able to inflict in 8 years.
  4. Tie. William McKinley - advocacy of central banking and centralization of economic planning. Also, imperialist foreign policy.
  5. Tie. George W. Bush - No real need to explain this.
  6. Tie. Harry Truman - Use of an atomic weapon on a civilian city. Abuses of Federal Power.
  7. Tie. U.S. Grant - General ineptitude for office.
  8. Tie. Richard Nixon - Bad economic policy, particularly the ending of the gold exchange standard. He does get a reprieve for his foreign policy, which is why he is not tied for 4th with the others.
  9. Tie. Jimmy Carter - Just general ineptness for the Presidency.

Good Presidents

  1. Grover Cleveland
  2. Martin van Buren
  3. Calvin Coolidge
  4. Warren G. Harding <this President is noted for his excellent handling of the panic of 1921, caused by WWI inflation under Wilson, if Herbert Hoover had only taken heed of this man’s excellent example.>

Adequate Presidents <generally as above, but had serious incidents during their presidency>

  1. Thomas Jefferson - Failed to abolish the Bank of the United States established under the Federalists and failed to undo Federalist tariffs. Also foreign policy blunders.
  2. James Monroe - Handled the Panic of 1819 admirably, little Federal growth. Thinking of bumping him up to the “good” category.
  3. James Madison - Same as Jefferson, plus War of 1812.
  4. Andrew Jackson - Overall an excellent President, however his brutal treatment of Indians gives him a major black eye. <without his treatment of Indians, he would likely have placed #1 or #2.>
  5. Dwight Eisenhower - Foreign policy problems.
  6. George Washington - Washington suffers mainly from being under the influence of Alexander Hamilton. The Bank of the United States is his major failure, followed by suppression of the Whiskey Rebellion. To his credit, however, he kept the Presidency in deferment to the Congress.
  7. Andrew Johnson - Stood up to the Radical Republicans.
  8. John Tyler - Stopped the Whig program dead after Harrisons death.
  9. Franklin Pierce
  10. James Buchanan

Mid range Presidents, in chronological order.

John Adams
John Quincy Adams
William Henry Harrison
James Polk
Zachary Taylor
Milliard Fillmore
Rutherford Hayes
James Garfield
Chester Arthur
Benjamin Harrison
William Taft
John Kennedy
Gerald Ford
Ronald Reagan
George H.W. Bush
Bill Clinton

19

I should also note that had William Henry Harrison not died so quickly, he would likely have ended up in the failure range. He fully supported Henry Clay’s “American System” and would likely have, with the assistance of the Whig Congress, brought it into existance fully twenty years before Lincoln, whom ultimately did bring it to fruition.

His death and Tyler’s ascension killed the Whig’s program as Tyler was actually a closet Democrat.

20

Assuming we didn’t drop the nuclear bombs on Japan, how do you think the war would have proceeded?