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Hoover was a poor President, but that stems largely from his drift toward the erroneous belief that further government influence would "stabilize" the economy and guarantee "permnent prosperity". In the early fall of 1929, a group of "experts" convened outside Detroit under Henry Ford's sponsorship with that objective in mind; a few weeks later, the stock market imploded.
Hoover personally identified far more closely with the traditionalist and agrarian wings of the Republican Party. Contrary to Lefty rumor-mongering, Hoover's work Freedom Betrayed, published only about two years ago, displays nothing anywhere close to even subtle anti-Semitism, but it is structured to identify with the rural and small-community, often Fundamentalistic views of a group Hoover apparently viewed as more central to the future of his party, while economic matters were left to men such as Andrew Mellon who were similarly infatuated with the misguided concept of economic "fine-tuning".
Had Hoover invalidated, rather than reinforced such misguided interference, the economy might have quickly rebounded with as much gusto as that set off when the Supreme Court invalidated Roosevelt's National Recovery Act fiasco in 1935.The partisans who start to slobber at the mention of the phrase "Hundred Days" conveniently ignore the point that two more dismal years were to pass before a laissez-faire-oriented action finally got things moving, and that Leftist saber-rattling killed that rally until a return to split-government in the 1938 Congressional elections stabilized prospects for the future.
In short, Hoover was no libertarian -- with capital or small 'l' -- and his distaste for the developing secular consensus retarded any further advance along those lines until the emergence of men like Eisenhower, Goldwater, and Reagan.
The Bonus Army incident was just one of many easily spun by the divisive and deceptive, but more street-wise Democratic leadership to demonize all Republicans as the pawns of the idle wealthy; so what else is new?
#1 President Woodrow Wilson promoting/signing the 16th Amendment of the Constitution, which overthrew the Constitution's critical prohibition of a federal income tax on the American people.
My goodness, it looks like President Andrew Johnson is getting off lightly! I would certinaly place him in contention for the Worst President prize. Worst mistake? Opposition to the 14th amendment.
Why was that a mistake?
Johnson believed, correctly, that the ex-Confederates were reconciled to the Union and ready to be loyal US citizens again - hence there was no need to bar them from office as the 14A (Sec 3) did.
Also, he believed that the South would never accept race equality, and that attempts to enfranchise the Blacks would fail. This was wrong in the long run, but it was a very long run indeed - almost a century. By the time of his death Reconstruction was on its last legs, and he probably thought himself completely vindicated.
Between 1877 and the mid-1960s, America, particularly down south, was pretty much the America Andrew Johnson wanted. You don't have to like him (I don't especially) but he wasn't a failure in the usual sense.
I'm not completely sure of the Pierce action; I'll have to review what I learned once and catch up with you on that.
He didn't originate the KNA, but iirc he actively lobbied for it in Congress, and as it only passed the House by 13 votes, we can probably assume that his backing got it through. Also the narrow passage shows that a veto would have been easily sustained. That's why I hold him responsible.
Quote:
Wilson: Actually, my take on Wilson is even worse that that. It was his handling of Germany after WW I that led the Germans to print up oodles of Marks that led to hyper inflation that led to Hitler's rise that led to Jewish persecution (Had to be someone's fault!) that led to WW II. What's your take on that statement?
Quite possibly true, but there's no reason to think that the reparations clauses would have been any better had he not been involved - assuming, of course, that the Allies still managed to win the war, which is highly questionable.
Maybe someone has already suggested this, but here goes.
I assume this isn't really looking like Bush's decision to invade Iraq, which was an intentional decision based on lies, but not a mistake.
Number One: Johnson knew that Vietnam was both unwinnable and not worth American lives, but he continued to expand our role anyway. If you've ever listened to the tapes of him saying how he knows it's not worth it, it's just heartbreaking. He would have been a great president without Vietnam.
Number Two: Nixon not destroying the tapes. He probably would have survived the presidency if the tapes hadn't gotten out. Setting aside that he was evil to the core, he still could have held onto the office.
#1 President Woodrow Wilson promoting/signing the 16th Amendment of the Constitution, which overthrew the Constitution's critical prohibition of a federal income tax on the American people.
#2 President Franklin D. Roosevelt who approved the "Current Tax Payment Act of 1943"--the withholding of income tax from paychecks, which allowed income taxes to confiscate huge portions of the worker's income with virtually no public awareness.
Without these two actions, the federal government could not have utterly ruined our nation and our economy, and destroyed the future of our children and grandchildren. There could be no greater "mistakes"--or in this case, acts of criminal treason.
Spot on!
Of course there is Lincoln, who started a war that this country has really never recovered from just because some states wanted to exercise their right under the Constitution for the United States of America to leave the agreement.
A better question would who was the worst. They all were criminals who had inflated ego's and left their mark on history.
"They sure do love you in in Dallas Mr President" apparently said by Texas Gov. John Connelly as the Limo began to turn into Dealy Plaza and go past the Texas Schoolbook Depository.
Of course most people forget that the communist who shot him was from Louisiana.
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