Who's the worst President (excluding GWB!!)?

[CubsFan1982]

This ties in with my previous poll on the forgotten Presidents. I can't decide which was worse or more useless to the country, so I leave it to you. The cookies deal of the previous thread still applies! :D

PS: * is not an option!


John Tyler, 10th President, 1841-5


Millard Fillmore, 13th President, 1850-3


Franklin Pierce, 14th President, 1853-7


James Buchanan, 15th President, 1857-61


Andrew Johnson, 17th President, 1865-9


Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President, 1869-77


Warren G. Harding, 29th President, 1921-3


Calvin Coolidge, 30th President, 1923-9


Herbert C. Hoover, 31st President, 1929-33


Richard M. Nixon, 37th President, 1969-74

[autorank]

1. In honor of Ohio 2004, HARDING

[hfojvt]

10. is that why he is "winning" because his home state people

do not like him? What makes him so bad? Teapot Dome? I know very little about that, but at least Harding pardoned one of his opponents - Convict #9652, Eugene V. Debs.

[autorank]

31. Well, you know, I love EVDebs. I have to switch to Arthur

Wasn't he the "Know Nothings" guy.

[Hugin]

2. Had a hard time choosing between U.S. Grant and Hoover.

[4_Legs_Good]

3. I might like to say Reagan...

simply because I totally and completely disagree with what he did to help end the Cold War (trying to outspend the USSR to death on the war machine). Also he helped usher in this neo-con state which has put our nation and the world in jeopardy.

Still for the Depression I'll go with Hoover.

david

[Liberalynn]

26. I Agree about Reagan

even though he is not on the list. I blame him for this whole conservative revolution and the me, me, me attitude in this country. He never met a "nuke" he didn't like, a kid he didn't want to starve, or someone he didn't think deserved to die from Aids. I think he was pure evil. 666 (Ronald Wilson Reagan) it may be silly superstion but it fits none the less.

Next I'd pick Andrew Johnson.

[UdoKier]

4. Other. Harry Truman.

For the completely unnecessary terrorist mass murder of 300,000 Japanese at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

[CubsFan1982]

5. There is no "Other" option. nt

[hfojvt]

7. worse than Reagan?

Nagasaki I can see as unnecessary, but how else was the war to be ended without massive casualties on both sides. Also, previous runs of conventional bombing of Tokyo produced casualties in excess of 90,000.

I might suggest Andrew Jackson for closing the 2nd National Bank, or Grover Cleveland for using federal troops to end the Pullman strike. Still, the perfidity of Reagan is better known to me. What were the number of casualties in Nicaragua and what about the Iraq-Iran war which he encouraged and abetted?

[UdoKier]

9. If he had murdered 300K Americans rathere than "some foreigners"

You might feel differently about that.

Had it not been for that one atrocity, Truman might have been a pretty decent president, but I can't forgive that.

But the OP says he wants to limit this to ten choices, and I don't want to hijack the thread, so if you want to further discuss Ray-gun or Truman, feel free to start a thread...

[hfojvt]

18. well, hijacking a thread does keep it kicked

and flames tend to draw crowds. My threads tend to drop like stones. I started two yesterday and got a grand total of two responses.
I said there would be casualties on both sides without the use of nukes. I mentioned that Reagan's foreign policies lead to the deaths of many foreigners. During TR's presidency or later, many Filipinos were slaughtered, and the unjust war in Vietnam caused something like 2 million Vietnamese deaths.
So I do not see how Truman is the world record holder in this regard, except that you have an emotional attachment to Japan, which I can respect, although it taints your objectivity.
Still, if the Japanese had not surrendered unconditionally, they might have re-armed for a WWIII leading to many more Japanese deaths. An American invasion of Japan was likely to cause as many Japanese casualties as the nukes, and probably more than 300K American casualties.
I do not believe it is as clear cut as you make it, nor do I believe that I am discount death and destruction merely because they happen to another country.

[Eugene]

6. Harding. John Adams also deserves a mention.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

13. John Adams? How's that?

[CubsFan1982]

15. Probably the Alien and Sedition Acts.

Which I can understand, but he did keep us out of a almost certainly disastrous war with France when that would've been the popular thing to do at the time.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

17. Ok thanks. I'm going to re-read about that.

[CubsFan1982]

22. Read David McCullough's book.

It gives a pretty fair portrayal of Adams as diplomat, President, and statesman. I've said consistently that he's one of the most underrated Presidents we've had.

[AntiCoup2K4]

8. Since you left Reagan and Poppy off the list, I had to go with Tricky Dick

Though the reality is that all three (and the current Fraudministration)are pretty much the same gang of criminals.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

11. I went along with the opinions I've read from historians and voted

for Harding. For me it was a tie between he and Grant. But it's the corruption.

[derby378]

12. You forgot Andrew Jackson

He openly defied the Supreme Court and forced the Seminoles of Florida onto the infamous "Trail of Tears." When the SCOTUS ruled that his seizure of Seminole land violated a US treaty with the Seminoles, Jackson responded with something like this: "The Supreme Court has ruled against me. Now let them enforce their ruling." Then he sent the military to apprehend every last Seminole they could find and send them packing to Indian Territory.

Remind you of a certain "Fortunate Son" drugstore cowboy turned accidental President?

[NewJeffCT]

14. Since Reagan wasn't on the list...

I voted for Grant.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

16. It's funny. Historians don't seem to rank Hoover that low. Some

of then say that "it was the times". But the issue is that he didn't do anything at all, which in some cases considering the person, is not so bad.

[Lori Price CLG]

19. OMG, where is Iran-Contra, Savings & Loan terrorist Ron Raygun? n/t

[Blue_In_AK]

20. Quite a rogues' gallery

I can't choose.

[mvd]

21. Reagan, because..

he started this who neo-con mess! He was GWB* with less arrogance and a little less religious emphasis.

[CubsFan1982]

23. Harding and Nixon are the leaders thus far.

Vote! It's your civic duty! :D

[CubsFan1982]

24. kick

:kick:

[CubsFan1982]

25. kick again

:kick: :kick:

[hyphenate]

27. Nevertheless........and this is hysterical

I decided to run a google on the term "worst American president" and see who other people (not at DU) placed in that category. Funny search. I hereby attach a glimpse of the top result from that search:





Try running your own google on it. The results are enlightening!

[Dukkha]

28. Here's a graph made by Historians

http://hnn.us/articles/5019.html

[hyphenate]

29. New story on the subject at Alternet

http://www.alternet.org/story/22057/

[Catbird]

30. A surprisingly reassuring poll

It's a reminder that if the country survived all of these presidents, we might yet survive the current one.

:patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: