Which President do you think had it worse, Lincoln in the ACW or Roosevelt in WWII? (WW2, war)

[Newne]

It was certainly awful for both of them, Lincoln having to deal with a civil war that tore apart the nation, then Roosevelt with the worst war in history.

[rjshae]

Well I'd have to say Lincoln had it worse, if only because the ACW was fought on his native land and many of his generals were sub-par at best. Total American (Union and Confederate) casualties in the ACW were higher than in WW2.

[msgsing]

Lincoln for sure. Roosevelt could have lost World War II and still presided over an independent state. Failure for Lincoln would have resulted in the destruction of the United States of America and all the ensuing consequences of that event.

[Dd714]

Originally Posted by msgsing

Lincoln for sure. Roosevelt could have lost World War II and still presided over an independent state. Failure for Lincoln would have resulted in the destruction of the United States of America and all the ensuing consequences of that event.

I agree. Plus, technically, being assassinated by a confederate sympathizer, Lincoln was a fatal casualty of that war.

[maf763]

An interesting parallel would be which successor faced a harder task, Johnson or Truman.

[Grandstander]

FDR never had to concern himself with securing Maryland in order to avoid having the Capitol cut off from the rest of the nation. Nor did FDR have to worry about the enemy laying siege to Washington, nor having enemy armies marching in US territory. FDR had to overcome overseas foes which represented indirect threats to the US. President Lincoln's enemies were just across the Potomac River.

Further, WW II produced a united nation with the enemies clearly identified as evil. Lincoln was constantly having to battle and balance anti war interests in the north, and put up with a lot in order to sustain Democrat support for the war.

Finally, FDR had America's propensity for racism in his corner. It wasn't a hard sell to get Americans juiced for killing inferior foreigners, particularly the Japanese who were always portrayed with rodent or simian like features in the propaganda posters. Lincoln had to get people to overcome their traditional prejudices once he made it a war to free the slaves.

[ClaraC]

Based on Roosevelt's personality, I'd say Lincoln had it much worse.

If you were to compare Churchill with Lincoln, I'd say it's a dead draw for who had it worse.

Fascinating book, "Franklin and Winston". Franklin basically dumped all the worries, and the burdens, of WWII on Winston Churchill although Roosevelt and the US had far, far more resources.

[dozerbear]

Lincoln had it much worse. The civil war was going to destroy the country, while Pearl Harbor united us and the axis never had the power to do any serious damage to the United States.

[Bluefox]

Originally Posted by dozerbear

the axis never had the power to do any serious damage to the United States.

I don’t think that’s true. Had we not intercepted the encrypted messages from the Japanese Empire, the US could have very well lost the battle of Midway. If the Japanese took Midway, there would have been a very real chance of the west coast being attacked, which Isoroku Yamamoto, the Harvard-educated mastermind behind the Pearl Harbor attack himself stated was a possibility - San Francisco to be exact. I think the Japanese had every intention of attacking the mainland, as evidenced by their intent to secure bases both on Midway and the Aleutians, they were just never able to secure a base close enough to do so. Doesn’t mean they couldn’t have, had they not made so many errors along the way.

At any rate, Roosevelt had to make far tougher choices than Lincoln, including his decision to reach out to Vichy military leaders in North Africa despite their known association with the Nazis, death camps, etc. Lincoln walked away with a slighlty less tarnished reputation than Roosevelt, though at the moment, history looks kindly upon both. I have slightly more respect towards Roosevelt than Lincoln, and even more respect for Churchill. But I respect all three.

[NJ Brazen_3133]

FDR and America not in danger of really being invaded, so Lincoln had it tougher.