Worst American President?

[Adso de Fimnu]

Worst Presidents? I'd go for Van Buruen (Did nothing to stop a depresison in the early US

Van Buren couldn't do much when the depression was caused by his predecessor's idiotic financial policies. I believe Andrew Jackson may be the most overrated president in U.S. history. There's no reason he should be on the currency he helped devalue.

 

[bombshoo]

You are calling a guy who received the Presidency due to a death of a great President and the only President to deploy nuclear weapons on actual civilian populations good?

People are always are like the A bomb wasn't needed, but I think it seriously downright was. Maybe not the 2nd one, but the first one guerenteed a surrendur, so we didn't have to occupy, which would have costed tons of American and Japanese lives, I'd say the conventional bombing that would be needed to secure towns and bases would be almost as many casulties, and worst off, it would mean the Soviets would send an occupying force. Can you imagine another N. Korea in Japan? Also using it there, showed us how bad it actually was, and that it probably should not be used again. If we hadn't used it and saw the after effects a few years later, we might have used 10 or 20 in the Korean War, when it definatly wasn't needed. People always forget the fact that between 1945-1950, the atom bomb was our sole bargaining chip, and Stalin would have tried to grab alot more all over the world, and there would be nothing we could do about it. And Anyways, Truman was elected his 2nd term, so its not he was an idiot who got it entirely unfairly.

 

[DAv2003]

Worst President? But there's so many to choose from! Let's see... Coolidge, Harving, Reagan, Nixon, Bush 1st, Bush 2nd are the ones that come off the top of my mind.

 

[Ace]

No question! It has to be Woodrow Wilson, the president who instituted the Income tax!

 

[YNCS]

No question! It has to be Woodrow Wilson, the president who instituted the Income tax!

The first income tax was instituted by the Lincoln administration, but was rescinded after the Civil War. When another income tax was enacted in 1893, the Supreme Court found it unconstitutional. The 16th Amendment, allowing an income tax, was ratified on February 3, 1913. Within a month Congress passed an income tax bill, which was signed into law by Republican William Howard Taft.

 

[Symphony D.]

However I would say that Vietnam would be a turning point and thus a bad president could also be Lyndon Joshnson for he continued a war long past what the American military considered winnable and Nixon for spreading that war into neigbouring nations.

Always nice when people forget about Pol Pot and that whole Cambodian genocide thing. For all the people that complained about Vietnam (not unjustifiably) you didn't hear a single one of them complain while that butcherer was building mountains of skulls.

As for whoever said Nixon earlier: reopening diplomacy with China, initiating SALT II talks, beginning to withdraw from Vietnam - yeah, Nixon was just awful because a bunch of idiots broke into a hotel to steal some files, and he decided to protect them because they were his men. Not condoning what he did, but you could do a lot worse. Nixon's biggest failure wasn't Watergate - it was that Watergate caused a subsequent lack of trust in the government.

I'm not a big fan of Bill Clinton because he got the U.S. where it is today by utterly failing to deal with terrorism despite the numerous times Al Qaeda reared its head during his administration, and for prolonging the disasterous "containment" of Iraq (which was grinding the USAF into the dust with rotations, burnouts and equipment fatigue), but he wasn't the worst by a long shot.

Honestly: William Henry Harrison simply because he barely lasted 30 days. More recently, Jimmy Carter.

 

[sydhe]

But Harrison had a term devoid of scandal and military misadventures!

On the bad side, he gave the longest inaugural address in history, and on a cold, blustery day, so he does have something to answer for (and he did).

 

[Atlas14]

Andrew Jackson is by far the worst President ever. His banks were far from ideal, and drove parts of our country to financial ruin. I would like to thank Andrew Jackson for removing the SOutheastern Native Americans from their lush homeland to the desert southwest. Such a burden those Natives are. Why allow them to stay when many tribes are actually attempting to assimilate? Andrew Jackson, once again I thank you for causing the death of so many Native Americans. Andrew Jackson did a fantastic job of showing total disregard for court decisions, such as with the Georgia case regarding the Indians. Is a President who achieved military importance earlier in his life through ill means so great? When Jackson was still a general, he used to continuously raid Indian encampments and kill all the women and children. Why do people still insist he was one of the greatest American Presidents, and why is he honored on American currency? If any president was to be impeached, it should have been Jackson.

 

[Atlas14]

William Henry Harrison simply because he barely lasted 30 days.

Should a President be at fault for their own death?

 

[Ahasuerus]

Worst US president? Gott in himmel, so many to choose from.

But, I think it boils down to FDR. What a terrible looter.

 

[Neomega]

Worst US president? Gott in himmel, so many to choose from.

But, I think it boils down to FDR. What a terrible looter.

hmm...

Wilson was worse.

But taking people's gold is bad, simply because they own gold is un-American.

 

[Symphony D.]

Should a President be at fault for their own death?

When they stand out in the rain for hours and hours without putting on a jacket or getting an umbrella, yes. That's a mark of idiocy right there.

 

[h4ppy]

He abolished the right of habius corpus in Maryland and New Jersey during the war to quiet down anyone with Southern Sympathies.

New Jersey was not a slave state.

As for my opinion:

Buchanon, Wilson, and FDR.

Buchanon:Thanks for not stopping the Southern succession before it got out of hand, bub.

Wilson: Got us nothing out of WWI, not even a peace treaty.

FDR: Socialism, not getting us anything from WWII, breaking the two term tradition, expanding presidential power, and having the same last name as the other Roosevelt, who I also dislike.

 

[blindside]

New Jersey was not a slave state.

As for my opinion:

Buchanon, Wilson, and FDR.

Buchanon:Thanks for not stopping the Southern succession before it got out of hand, bub.

Wilson: Got us nothing out of WWI, not even a peace treaty.

The US played a part in defeating in the Germans. Whether thats a good or bad thing is another issue.

 

[Lockesdonkey]

Most people ignore the fact that the reason why we got no treaty was that both Democrats and Republicans were intransigent on the issue of Article X: attack on one is an attack on all.

Buchanan. He sat there, did nothing, and was just an out-and-out opportunist. There are two reasons why he was called "Miss Nancy" by half the country: he was probably gay (not bad, just couldn't happen today) and he tried to appease the South (in the end, really devastating).

 

[YNCS]

FDR: Socialism,

Learn what socialism is before claiming that FDR was socialist.

not getting us anything from WWII,

Defeating Hitler and the Japanese was nothing? The U.S. being confirmed as a superpower was nothing? What is it that FDR failed to grab that you think he should have taken?

breaking the two term tradition

Tsk tsk, what a terrible man. Imagine, allowing the American people to elect him four times. How inconsiderate of Roosevelt.

expanding presidential power

This one I'll grant you. Of course, there was a major economic crisis and a war going on during his presidency, but that's no excuse.

and having the same last name as the other Roosevelt, who I also dislike.

So FDR would have been ok if his last name were Jones?

 

[DAv2003]

Wilson: Got us nothing out of WWI, not even a peace treaty.

That was actually because the Republican majority of the Senate rejected the League of Nations. Wilson was all for it.

 

[Smellincoffee]

I'm not sure how people can say Harrison was the worst president just because he died after a month in office.

 

[Neomega]

That was actually because the Republican majority of the Senate rejected the League of Nations. Wilson was all for it.

Good for Wilson. Too bad he BLANTANLY diregarded the message of the voters who voted him into office, they did not want to go to war. They did not care that he had some vision of a one world government, built off the ashes of war. He made the Republicans real popular. Enter Harding, the most popularly elected president, besides George Washington.

 

[YNCS]

Good for Wilson. Too bad he BLANTANLY diregarded the message of the voters who voted him into office, they did not want to go to war. They did not care that he had some vision of a one world government, built off the ashes of war. He made the Republicans real popular. Enter Harding, the most popularly elected president, besides George Washington.

Wilson did not want to go to war. However, after Zimmermann announced that his telegram to the Mexican government was authentic, Wilson had no choice but to go to war. The American people did not look kindly on Germany offering to help Mexico regain Texas, Arizona and New Mexico.