Presidents during my lifetime - Ranked worst to best - Comments and disagreements welcomed

[GoneOffShore]

Donald Trump
Ronald Reagan
George W Bush
Gerald Ford
Richard M. Nixon
George Bush
John F Kennedy
Bill Clinton
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Lyndon B. Johnson
Jimmy Carter
Harry S. Truman
Barack Obama
Joseph Biden


Sorry, left out Jimmy Carter. Fixed
I shall now go and hide in the cellar.

[unc70]

1. Jimmy Carter?

[GoneOffShore]

12. Was typing too quickly

[GaYellowDawg]

2. Where is Jimmy Carter?

Nm

[GoneOffShore]

13. Fixed it.

[iwillalwayswonderwhy]

3. You left out Jimmy Carter

He’s one of my favorites and the first presidential election I voted in.

[GoneOffShore]

10. My apolgogies - I should have had a nap before writing the post

[ArkansasDemocrat1]

40. He's second on my BPOMLT list

Joe is first.

[Joinfortmill]

4. Reagan was worse than most people realize

[iwillalwayswonderwhy]

5. Or whoever was actually running the country

When Reagan read the scripts.

[newdeal2]

8. Same applies today

Trump is just the ugly face of an entire movement.

[BluenFLA]

32. Reagan was overrated

Did so much to decimate the middle class, ignored AIDS, and ramped up the culture wars that are still with us.

[demosincebirth]

57. Reagan was a union buster. Air Traffic Controllers?

[Oopsie Daisy]

6. You forgot Jimmy Carter. How could ANYONE forget Jimmy Carter?

[GoneOffShore]

9. That was not intentional. I was typing quickly and from memory. Blame it on after lunch drowsiness

[Oopsie Daisy]

22. Got it!

💤😴🛌

Enjoy your nap.

[Hugin]

7. This would best be visualized in a heat map.

I do have some differences in my perceptions. It is a highly subjective ranking, though. A few of the worst are still around to keep digging.

[GoneOffShore]

14. The whole post was done quickly post luncheon. And, as you say, highly subjective.

[Hugin]

18. Typically, by the time I get something like this...

Set up in a spreadsheet. I’ve forgotten what I was trying to visualize.

The meta of our perceptions is very close. I will say that.

[lees1975]

11. I'd put Carter in there with Clinton, Eisenhower and Johnson.

His signature achievement was the Camp David Accords, a peace deal still holding.

I have no use whatsoever for either of the Bushes, Reagan, Gerald Ford or Nixon. As far as I am concerned, they are tied for second to last place.

[Takket]

15. i'm younger than you but here's my list.......

drumpf
Reagan
Bush Jr.
Bush Sr.
Carter
Clinton
Biden
Obama

[sinkingfeeling]

16. I'd swap Nixon and Ford.

[haele]

33. Nixon did accomplish a few decent things on his own while being a crook.

Ford was essentially a placeholder.
The primary weakness most Republican Presidents had was that after Nixon, they really didn't make policy, they had people making policy for them and they just signed off as a figurehead.
For all the power Republican Leaders thought they had, they had a bad tendency not being able to.say no to the unelected Cabinet heads, Department Directors, and Lobbyists, and a Party Leadership dedicated to soliciting business leaders and lobbyists for campaign funds when it came to determining actual policy. With Republican "leadership", there was never any coherent "moon shot" or legacy plan, it was all pretty much a strategy to keep a status quo going.

Haele

[displacedvermoter]

17. I always move Kennedy up despite his brief presidency

Last edited Sun Aug 25, 2024, 11:55 AM - Edit history (1)

because of his handling of Cuban Missile Crisis. Don't think I am exaggerating when I say he prevented WWIII. Also set in motion some of the legislation LBJ saw to passage. In top five.

Shrub and Reagan swap places cause of 911 and Afghanistan/Iraq war. Had Shrub as my next to last all time till
Trump, now second to last. Least serious President we even had, again till Trump.

I would put both Johnson and Truman ahead of Obama, though I know Vietnam diminishes LBJ and his legislative achievements. Truman helped end WWII and dealt with Korean War, kept MacArthur from starting his own war with China, and implemented NATO and Marshall Plan. Integrated the military, a critical civil rights achievement.

My top five would be Truman, Biden, Kennedy, Johnson and Obama

[Grumpy Old Guy]

19. Clinton better than Kennedy?

I don't think so.

[Ocelot II]

20. I would beg to differ somewhat:

Donald Trump
Richard M. Nixon
Ronald Reagan
George W Bush
Gerald Ford
George Bush
Harry S. Truman
Dwight D. Eisenhower
John F Kennedy
Jimmy Carter
Bill Clinton
Lyndon B. Johnson
Barack Obama
Joseph Biden

I think we might have forgotten what an evil bastard Nixon really was. It wasn't just Watergate (which was a complicated scheme for election interference before we knew the term); he sabotaged the Paris peace talks to end the Vietnam war just before the 1968 election. He and Reagan are tied for second-to-worst. I'd rank Kennedy higher because of the Cuban missile crisis, and I'd give Johnson way more credit for the Civil Rights Act. YMMV.

[yardwork]

24. It's hard to say who was worst.

Actually, it's difficult to rank among the worst four. They were all horrible in different ways. I could argue that Reagan was the worst because his wolf in sheep's clothing demeanor opened the door to a fundamental reshaping of America, handing wealth to the powerful and taking it from everybody else. Reagan's administration was corrupt top to bottom, but he fooled millions with his act.

W was horrible, too. You have to go back to the 19th century to find presidents starting wars for no reason other than personal enrichment. Maybe not even then. That might have been a first.

I'd rank Nixon fourth worst among a really bad bunch.

[Ocelot II]

31. True, there are different kinds of bad.

But as I still remember Watergate, I'd list Nixon as second to worst next to Trump. He made Trump possible, even before Reagan. And James Buchanan is probably going to have to cede his Worst President Ever award to Trump.

[Arne]

28. Good listing

[ArkansasDemocrat1]

41. I downgrade LBJ for Vietnam

If he'd not gotten us involved so heavily, he'd definitely rank higher. He could have been Prez til '72, then handed off to McGovern. He might have gotten us into a hot war in the M.E. with the embargo tho. "Don't Touch My Oil" is something I bet he'd have said.

Should have gone for the 'supervising honest elections' option, Lyndon. (Breaking) My Devils Advocate has just informed me that they wouldn't have been any more honest than our elections of the time so YAHMMV (your alternative history mileage may vary).

[J_William_Ryan]

21. Donald Trump - the worst in US history.

Richard M. Nixon
Ronald Reagan
George W Bush – gave us Alito.
George Bush – gave us Thomas.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Gerald Ford
John F Kennedy
Lyndon B. Johnson
Jimmy Carter
Bill Clinton
Joseph Biden
Barack Obama

[arkielib]

23. This is the way I would list them too.

Only possible change would be Biden over Obama, but as Biden himself noted, the ACA was a BIG deal.

[yardwork]

25. And Biden and Pelosi got the ACA passed!

I give Biden as much credit for Obamacare as I give Obama, which is a lot. A lot of credit all around.

[arkielib]

29. Good point!

[if..fish..had..wings]

26. I have a very different take

Donald Trump
George W Bush
Ronald Reagan
Richard M. Nixon
George Bush
Gerald Ford
John F Kennedy
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Bill Clinton
Barack Obama
Joseph Biden
Jimmy Carter (okay, mostly for post-prez stuff)
Lyndon B. Johnson

[Stinky The Clown]

36. I'd swap Biden and Carter. Keep LBJ first.

[GoneOffShore]

56. You left out Truman

[if..fish..had..wings]

60. Eisenhower inaugurated before my birth so

no Truman presidency during my lifetime...

[Voltaire2]

27. Ike was a placeholder. He goes next to Ford.

[usaf-vet]

30. Jimmy Carter should be third from the bottom. Before Truman in my opinion. I have no memory of Truman.

What do the historians say?

One final point: hopefully, by the end of the Harris' tenure she will be in the top four.

[Poiuyt]

34. According to the 2024 version of the Presidential Greatness Project from the APSA:

Last edited Mon Aug 26, 2024, 04:06 AM - Edit history (1)

Trump
Nixon
W. Bush
Ford
Carter
H.W. Bush
Reagan
Biden
Clinton
Kennedy
Johnson
Eisenhower
Obama
Truman

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_rankings_of_presidents_of_the_United_States

[madamesilverspurs]

53. Biden twice?

After Reagan, after Johnson


.

[Poiuyt]

59. Oops!

Corrected

[BluenFLA]

35. Wasn't around for some of the presidents in your list, but here's mine

Trump - the worst president in American history. It sucks that we had to live through it

Bush Jr - incompetent frat boy who dropped the ball with 9/11, Katrina, the 2008 economic crisis, and let's not forget the Iraq War debacle

Reagan - one of the most overrated presidents, behind his marketing of morning in America he amped up the culture wars on us, ruined unions and the middle class, and turned liberal into a dirty word

Nixon - Watergate, escalated the Vietnam War, started demonization of the left and people of color, although he began to tamp down the Cold War, and began the EPA

Ford - a hapless placeholder who did little for the economy and pardoned Nixon which created the dangerous precedent that presidents are above the law

Bush 1 - completely out of touch with average Americans during a poor economy, but was a key figure in ending the Cold War and was successful with the Gulf War however he dropped the ball afterwards

Carter - a decent human being who did the best he could this resulted in peace between Israel and Egypt, and created the Dept of Education, but was hampered by a horrible inflation and the Iranian hostage crisis

Obama - gave us ACA, economic stimulus which rescued our country and the car industry, ended the Iraq War and had Bin Laden killed

Clinton - ushered in a great economy during the 90s, ended the conflict in Europe with Bosnia, helped make the internet mainstream

Biden - his contributions will make him the most successful one term president since Polkand JFK by getting us out of the pandemic, bringing manufacturing jobs back to the country, improving infrastructure and skillfully handling the economy and overseas wars

[ArkansasDemocrat1]

42. My sentimentality for Carter ranks him higher, but that's a great list. Realistic

I downgrade Obama for trying to make nice-nice with the other aisle for too long. Should have crushed them with our majority. If we get one this time WE MUST CLEAN HOUSE. FBI, DOJ, USSC, federal judiciary. NO EXCUSES. THEY'RE GOING TO DO THE SAME WITH PROJECT 2025.

We'd still have gotten He Who Will Always Be Last as the reaction of the racists anyway - but a D majority means he's been found guilty of the impeachment charges and he's gone politically in 2021.

[BannonsLiver]

37. People are sleeping on W Bush.

- 9/11 failure

- Iraq war (hundreds of thousand of Iraqis civilians killed, countless U.S. troops killed or maimed for life and many more doomed to a life of PTSD).

- 2007/8 crashed the economy

- Katrina response

Worst president of my lifetime. Had Trump not been so manifestly incompetent he would probably be my No. 1.

[jacksonian]

38. Kennedy is underated

Last edited Sun Aug 25, 2024, 03:33 PM - Edit history (1)

My take:

Trump - is there any doubt about this? The man makes Nixon look human.
Nixon - did a lot of evil things, history seems to shrug about him, but he made the war into a massacre and bombed Cambodia. And that great wage/price freeze thing...
Reagan - a figurehead for that wonderful trickle-down theory of economics
Bush, pappy - a truly evil man but sneakier about it. Was the one who brought the religious right into the party after Regan opened the door.
Bush, junior - Irag, recession, Roberts. At the Buchanon level of incompetence, he only ranks this high because Republicans...
Ford - a nothing Pres, at least we've now gotten to only slightly evil

Here's where this gets hard:

Eisenhower - there's a chasm of quality between Ford and Ike. Ike was fine, but wishy-washy toward McCarthy and left us with semi-useful Cold War foreign policy that others had to work out. Basically, status-quo-ville.
LBJ - i know, the great society and all, but the damn stupid war ruined it all. See above re: Eisenhower foreign policy.
Truman - everybody likes him now, and he does get points for standing up to McArthur. Dropped bombs on people, whatever you make of that.
Carter - a great man, accomplished little, but mostly for reasons out of his control. The story of him getting the hostages out after the election is inspiring.
Obama - now we're getting into GOOD presidents. I was never too big on Obama, i thought he spent way too much time "reaching across the aisle" and his FBI pick was one of the worst ever. But you gotta hand it him, he accomplished a lot.
Clinton - eight years of competent government, totally modernized the Oval Office. I liked him, but putting him before Obama wouldn't bother me, Bill did have some missteps, but he turned Repugs on their ear in a way Obama never mastered.
JFK - Cuban missle crisis and began the Democratic party movement away from dixiecrats to Martin Luther King's legacy. This is still who we are today.
Biden - takes off his shirt and there's a big "S" underneath.

[BannonsLiver]

39. "I was never too big on Obama."

No surprise. That’s a (bizarre) DU thing. In the real world he is admired and respected.

[aka-chmeee]

43. While I admire, respect and supported him,

I did not view him as favorably as some others. I have friends who gushed over his speaking prowess while his odd cadence and pacing drove me nuts.

[BannonsLiver]

45. Clearly.

[aka-chmeee]

50. Well, yes

I suppose I don't pass the purity test for unconditional approval of Mr. Obama. That's just the way it is. And "cough", my sincere best wishes, because Bannon's Liver cannot be in very good health.

[dem4decades]

51. He was rated 8th all time by historians.

[jacksonian]

44. Wait, don't get me wrong

I admire and respect Obama just fine - i said he was a good pres. And he is a very fine person. But he should of been smart enough to let Hilary run in 2008 and recognize that his path to greatness was in 2016 when he would have beaten Trump soundly. Or if he was going for 2008, that was a once in a lifetime chance to corral the Republicans and not let them off the floor. But the whole tea party thing caught him flat-footed and he was inexperienced for dealing with that, and that's why things suck today.

[BannonsLiver]

46. Yeah, sorry, it's not the black guys fault Hillary lost.

And Obama isn’t the reason “things suck today.” 🙄

He won 2 elections by wide margins. There’s been 2 Dems since 1944 who have done that. And he did it in the face of savage, unprecedented racism and rat fuckery from the other side which, typically, is left out of most assessments of his 8 years on this forum.

[jacksonian]

49. Nope, it was Hillary's fault Hillary didn't win

but i wish he had kept his magic until 2016.

[MoseShrute]

48. I would...

swap shrub with reagan, but it’s a close call. Other than that, I agree with the list.

[keithbvadu2]

52. Dubya thanks God every day for Trump putting him lower on the list.

[iemanja]

54. Bush is worse than Reagan

[madamesilverspurs]

55. Reagan made Trump possible.

MAGAts are Reagan's vile descendants.


.

[Deep13]

58. Okay, since the 1960s:

Worst:
Orange Jesus
Dubya, invaded wrong country, twice, nepo baby
Nixon, deffo a crook, Vietnam war expansion, detente
Reagan, illegal war, scapegoating marginalized people, arms race, Soviet arms treaty
Ford, excused executive criminality, ended Vietnam War
GHW Bush, Reagan Lite, Clearance Thomas
Jimmy Carter, great ideas but limited management skill,
Obama, good manager, reasonable, fixed Dubya's mess, ACA, failed to end Afghan War, kind of R. Lite
Clinton, good manager, strong economy, no wars, distracting personal life, Republican Lite
Johnson, Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, Great Society, Apollo, buuut secret escalation in Vietnam, mismanagement of war
Uncle Joe, stopped major depression, saved democracy from Shitler, retired to save America, restored international relations, lacked the naïvite of Clinton and Obama when dealing with Rs, helped stopped Russian aggression in Ukraine, Chinese aggression in Taiwan, ended Afghan war, but (and this is bad) enabled genocide in Gaza

[Vinca]

61. No FDR?

[GoneOffShore]

62. Not my lifetime - I was born in 1948

[jmowreader]

63. I think I'd switch Ford and Nixon

Ford was pretty much a nonentity as president, but that's what he was there for - to try to help the nation recover from the reign of terror that was the Dick Nixon administration. Also, Ford signed the law that created special education in this country and put John Paul Stevens on the Supreme Court, so he wasn't really all that bad...just...there.