Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Best: William Henry Harrison Anyone care to guess why?
Worst: Franklin D. Roosevelt
Sure, he was a great war-time leader, but he gave us Japanese Internment, confiscation of gold, and massive government social programs that have haunted us since their inception.
Did it have anything to do with the spoils system?
Best: William Henry Harrison
Anyone care to guess why?
Worst: Franklin D. Roosevelt
Sure, he was a great war-time leader, but he gave us Japanese Internment, confiscation of gold, and massive government social programs that have haunted us since their inception.
Helped to enact the 25th Amendment, because of his death?
best-Clinton,William McKinley, Theodore_Roosevelt(PROGRESSIVE REPUBLICAN)Franklin Delano Roosevelt
worst-Reagan, bush part 1,2), Sarah pALIN(if she does get elected),Rutherford B. Hayes,Herbert Clark Hoover, NIXON
Best: Clinton. If the worse thing he has done is have sex with some intern, I think he did something good. While one could argue he was graced with a techonological economic boom, Clinton has to be credited for keeping a budget balanced. On the internation scene, the US had much more respect than it has now.
Worst: Bush II. As much as I try to play devil's advocate with this guy, he was clearly incompetent. He managed to go from surplus to record deficits in no time. He wasted unprecedented sympathy from the world after 9/11 by stubbornly going into Iraq. America looked like a bully and lost a lot of credibility for entering Iraq almost on its own. It could've been forgiveable had the Iraq War not been an utmost failure, costing countless civilian lives, thousands of american lives and billions and billions of treasure. I don't give that much credit to presidents for economic performances. They don't control everything. But they are commander in chief and in that regard, Bush failed on every level. Then came the subpar crisis management of hurricanes, which he is partly to blame for, among other levels of government. Add to that, that one of the worse economic recession came under his watch, though like I said, I don't attribute these to presidents all that much. You could argue that his support of Patriot Acts, Guantano Bay, torture...etc...really makes this guy impossible to defend, unless you're a partisan hack. I don't think Bush is the devil, I think he was well-meaning, but was clearly not fit for the job and it's still a mistery why he wasn't booted out of office after his first term.
Is he the president who had the decency to die a few days after his innaugural speech?
Ding ding ding! You got it. He didn't live long enough to do any damage.
After that though, I'd say George Washington. He was a man of integrity and a man of conviction, a true statesman. Something that is sorely lacking in modern times.
Some days I feel so old I feel like I was around then.
[quote=nmnita;14142221Worst, actually I would disagree with that as well, he may have been the most disliked and the most paranoid, plus we all lost respect for him, but he wasn't really a bad President at all. He had great foreign policty skills. We could say Clinton because of what he did as well, but I certainly don't think his behavior had much to do with his being a good or bad President.
Nita[/QUOTE]
First I have to apologize that this didn't come out in the correct quote form. It's the computer I tell ya. Not me.
I did go back and reread about Nixon's administration. And good things happened under his watch, something that is easy to forget I guess. Therefore I would have to include him in my statement that most of the presidents have had their good and bad moments. Or whatever the heck I originally said. Still, with some of his policies regarding Viet Nam, he further fractured a country already torn apart. Especially his incursions into Cambodia and Laos. And while he got us out of Viet Nam, it never really sat well with me how we got out. We left so many people, our own and our allies, there to face the wrath of the communist regime.
Watergate is certainly not a legacy one would want to have. He broke the law. While Clinton, Kennedy and FDR were amoral jerks and by virtue of that, liars, they still didn't break the law. Or did Clinton? Jeez. Another unpleasand moment in this country I'd like to block out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BentBow
George Washington was the best President we ever have had.
He had the chance to be King. He saw power as the root of all evil. He thought about a nation of individuals where their destiny was in their hands and not himself & his buddies..
I was actually surprised at some of the things Washington accomplished as Presdent. Guess I didn't remember it all.
I would still have to stand by my original statement that he was the "best" because it could have gone down so many different paths if he didn't see the importance this new "office" represented to this country.
AND PLEASE somebody rep me as I am not fond of the whole 666 thing in my rep points!!!!!!!
SUPREME honarable mention for worse
william Howard Taft, Republican President between 1909 and 1913, who sought to expand Republican... appeal in the South by eliminating black involvement
Herbert Hoover, Republican President between 1929 and 1933, who made campaign promises and alliances with black leaders, and subsequently broke those promises leading to a large-scale exodus of blacks from the party.
Thomas Jefferson would be the greatest in my opinion. He was for small government and also believed in the right to overthrow the government, by force if necessary, if it became too oppresive. Although one must credit James K Polk, regardless of whether you agree with his policies or not, as he was the only president who had a set of goals that he wanted to accomplish during his presidency (lower Tarriffs, implement National Treasury, and acquire California, Texas and New Mexico from Mexico and the Oregon Territory from Great Britain) and actually accomplished each and every one in one term. He then, as promised, refused to run for re-election. Too bad there aren't more Polk's in politics. Of course all this is moot to me as an individual secessionist; but hey you don't have to participate in something to have an opinion about it.
The worst president? Well I'd have say W, because I can't imagine a worse one, although there have been plenty who are not far behind him with that dubious distinction: John Adams,( Alien and Sedition Act) Lincoln, ( he forced the states that seceded back into the union. No, I'm not for slavery, I am for secession) Wilson (Federal Reserve), FDR, ( New Deal), Johnson, (Great Society)Nixon, (HMO's) just to name a few.
If withdrawing from our stolen colonial possessions in the Philippines and Hawaii and Samoa, etc. would've saved 400,000 American lives and billions in American wealth, then THAT is what he should've done.
Nixon did eventually withdraw from Vietnam, on approximately the same terms he sabotaged in 1968 in order to win the presidency. In the meantime thousands more Americans and hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese, Laotians and Cambodians perished. Yes, he deserves the "warmonger" designation.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
