Best and worst president?

[Mattigus]

For all the Americans (or non-Americans who know American history) reading in this forum, I have a question.

I've been kinda bored recently, and have been just thinking about the presidents. Who do you think is the best and/or worst president in this nation's history? My picks would have to be Lincoln for the best, and Harding for the worst.

 

[Sgt_Shellback]

Washington & Ford

Edit: It's hard to argue that our founding father wasn't the best... My choice on Ford is debateable.. McKinley really screwed up in Cuba so he might be considered the worst.

 

[Deadline]

Lincoln was one of the best, if not THE best, not sure about the worst... didnt really research them on that fact.

 

[Letters]

Best... Washington...

Worst... bigman Taft...

 

[Sgt_Shellback]

Lincoln was one of the best, if not THE best, not sure about the worst... didnt really research them on that fact.

Lincoln accomplished some great things but since he couldn't hold the Union together I don't see how you could say he was the best. I mean the United States came very close to collapsing while he was President.

 

[DarkStar]

Lincoln accomplished some great things but since he couldn't hold the Union together I don't see how you could say he was the best. I mean the United States came very close to collapsing while he was President.

Umm.....last time I checked Lincoln did hold the union together.

I'd say that the best would either be either Abe Lincoln or Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Worst would definitely be Richard Nixon. He was a criminal for godsake, and the only president to leave the Whitehouse in total and utter disgrace. He irrepairably damaged the office.

 

[Tr0n]

Washington and Nixon.

 

[Sgt_Shellback]

Umm.....last time I checked Lincoln did hold the union together.

I'd say that the best would either be either Abe Lincoln or Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Worst would definitely be Richard Nixon. He was a criminal for godsake, and the only president to leave the Whitehouse in total and utter disgrace. He irrepairably damaged the office.

The South left the Union while Abe was Pres... They elected their own President, and formed their won Congress... Yes Lincoln reformed the Union after that happened. But it happened. I'm just saying it's hard to call him best in light of this and when you stack him up against the man (Washington) who formed the US.

Georgey could have made himself King if he had wanted to but instead he set term limits.

Nixon is a good bet for worse but history has been kind to him considering. He gets Kudos for normalizing relations with China.

 

[h00dlum]

Cltinon was cool...Bush must be the worst (that i know of)

 

[Razor]

Clinton, to me, was very good. Washington would have to be the worst. The guy thought that America would be better off without being run by England, and look at you all now, everyone hates you. :dozey:

But then, America has always been and will always be an English colony at heart. :cheers:

 

[The Mullinator]

Worst = Nixon
Best = either Clinton, or Lincoln

 

[DarkStar]

The South left the Union while Abe was Pres... They elected their own President, and formed their won Congress... Yes Lincoln reformed the Union after that happened. But it happened. I'm just saying it's hard to call him best in light of this and when you stack him up against the man (Washington) who formed the US.

Abe Lincoln inhereted a mortally wounded union and subsequently restored it. The conditions that led the South to secede from the Northern States were already in place by the time Abe Lincoln became president. Issues of State's rights and slavery had been broiling for a very long time, the kettle just boiled over on Lincoln's watch. He had nothing to do with the fact that the South left, therefore you cannot use that as a strike against his presidency.

 

[Sgt_Shellback]

Abe Lincoln inhereted a mortally wounded union and subsequently restored it. The conditions that led the South to secede from the Northern States were already in place by the time Abe Lincoln became president. Issues of State's rights and slavery had been broiling for a very long time, the kettle just boiled over on Lincoln's watch. He had nothing to do with the fact that the South left, therefore you cannot use that as a strike against his presidency.

I agree with you... But still it's hard to say he was the best US President. If I remember correctly more US died during the civil war than in WW!, WW2, Korea, and Vietnam combined.

BTW - I'm not at all saying he was a bad Pres.

 

[Deemo]

Best: FDR
Worst: W. Bush

 

[blahblahblah]

Worst = Nixon
Best = either Clinton, or Lincoln

Clinton was only considered good because he inherited the US while it was undergoing its largest economic expansion ever. He got all the benefits with it (low unemployment, lower defecit because of more taxes collected, etc).

My vote for best goes to Washington. I think Nixon was the worst.

 

[Farrowlesparrow]

Didn't Nixon however get America out of vietnam? My history is a little foggy, perahps its wasn't under his administration that America finaly pulled out, rather than escalated.


(Edit: I'm not saying this makes him good, but perhaps he had his purpose to serve)

 

[The Mullinator]

Clinton was only considered good because he inherited the US while it was undergoing its largest economic expansion ever. He got all the benefits with it (low unemployment, lower defecit because of more taxes collected, etc).

My vote for best goes to Washington. I think Nixon was the worst.

I guess he is more one of my favorites, he was never really put to the test like some presidents in the past were so your right, I don't think anyone can really say he was the best.

 

[Sgt_Shellback]

Didn't Nixon however get America out of vietnam? My history is a little foggy, perahsp its wasn't under his administration that America final pulled out, rather than escalated.

Yes... Like I said... As time goes on History is showing that he was a pretty good guy for the US.

 

[Tr0n]

Clinton, to me, was very good. Washington would have to be the worst. The guy thought that America would be better off without being run by England, and look at you all now, everyone hates you. :dozey:

But then, America has always been and will always be an English colony at heart. :cheers:

Mad he beat the Brits and formed this nation.

 

[Farrowlesparrow]

Pfff....America didn't win, but we lost

Oh, as for best president. I think thats really hard to say. There are the typical FDR, Washington and Lincon, but I'm not sure really. I think each president has brought something to the country, while themselves being far from perfect.

 

[Neutrino]

Clinton was only considered good because he inherited the US while it was undergoing its largest economic expansion ever. He got all the benefits with it (low unemployment, lower defecit because of more taxes collected, etc).

My vote for best goes to Washington. I think Nixon was the worst.

I can't agree with that. I'll definitely grant that a lot of good things happened during his time in office that aren't directly attributable to him. However, I think he accomplished a lot of other things himself and was over all a very good president in my opinion.

 

[Bluechair]

I do believe Taft was by far the worst president... Bush all in all isn't that bad of a president...

 

[blahblahblah]

I can't agree with that. I'll definitely grant that a lot of good things happened during his time in office that aren't directly attributable to him. However, I think he accomplished a lot of other things himself and was over all a very good president in my opinion.

I didn't mean it as "Clinton sucked", I mean it as "Clinton was good, but never had to take it to the next level good."

In order for a president to be considered great, the president must be in office and handle a national crisis while making results. Clinton could have reached that status if he would have reformed the health care system in the US or reformed social security.

 

[blahblahblah]

I do believe Taft was by far the worst president... Bush all in all isn't that bad of a president...

Bush tried his best but never took it to the next level. Bush has some policy issues and lacks the charisma needed to become a good president.

Bush on my scale of 1 to 10 rates a 5. Nothing special.

 

[Sgt_Shellback]

Washington - Founded the US

Reagan - Booming economy / Wall falls / Mideast Summit Egypt vs Israel peace exsists to this day

Lincoln - Freed slaves / Won civil war

Nixon - Ended Nam / Normalized Relations with China

Clinton - ?


Note: I realize figures from other Nations contributed to these things.

 

[Razor]

I do believe Taft was by far the worst president... Bush all in all isn't that bad of a president...

Who is Taft and what did he do that was so bad for America?


Anyway, America is a democracy, so you get who you vote for. People may think Nixon was bad, but people voted for him and put him into office. Without the American public, Nixon would be a no bodythat didn't do anything.

 

[Farrowlesparrow]

Though perhaps they weren't entirely aware of what he might get up to in the future...I know I know, any old idiot can predict the future, but I guess they just didn't see it coming.

 

[DarkStar]

Didn't Nixon however get America out of vietnam? My history is a little foggy, perahps its wasn't under his administration that America finaly pulled out, rather than escalated.

Vietcong success abroad and civil unrest at home are what got America out of Vietnam.

By 1972 it was very clear that the war was unwinnable and we had to pull out. It wasn't any kind of moral decision by Nixon, the U.S. withdrawl from Vietnam was a necessary tactical reality. Nixon was as staunchly anti-communist, pro-containment as they came and would have fought that war to it's bitter end had there been any hope of victory. Nixon's support of the Vietnam war is well-documented and goes back to 1953.

That said, Nixon did normalize relations with China which is one success as President. That however did not make up for the national nightmare known as Watergate. Nixon was a criminal, plain and simple. Definitely the worst President in history.

 

[Farrowlesparrow]

I never said it was a moral decision or anything of the sort, but previously presidents would escalate the war as they didn't want to be the first president to "lose" a war, and just keeping it how it was wouldn't do for the ole public rating.

 

[Sgt_Shellback]

Honestly I think it's too early to say how history will show Clinton and Bush... Charisma has no influence in these things only results do.

 

[Farrowlesparrow]

Thats partially true. But, their charisma will have influenced the people recording events one way or another.

 

[alehm]

Honestly I think it's too early to say how history will show Clinton and Bush...

It depends on who's writing history. LOL

 

[DarkStar]

I never said it was a moral decision or anything of the sort, but previously presidents would escalate the war as they didn't want to be the first president to "lose" a war, and just keeping it how it was wouldn't do for the ole public rating.

Yes, but under Kennedy and Johnson there was still some hope that the war could be won. By Nixon's time it didn't make sense militarily to continue fighting an unwinnable war, he HAD to pull out. Also, the war was hugely unpopular here at home, so his decision was also politically necessary. I don't credit people for doing things they HAVE to do.

 

[Farrowlesparrow]

Very true, and I'm not exactly crediting him for it, I'm just saying he did it. I said that he served his purposes, and pulling out of Vietnam was one of them. Another man may have handled it differently.

 

[Letters]

Who is Taft and what did he do that was so bad for America?

Taft was an asshole. He was pretty much chosen by Theodore Rosevelt (one of my favorites) after he chose not to go run again but, instead, to go hike around in Africa for a while instead... only Taft didn't do what Roosevelt had expected... he took the United States *backwards* (Roosevelt had been turning it progressive) and was just a a big, corrupt (liked his bribes) dude.

 

[Foxtrot]

Vietnam was winnable, just not the way it was being fought.

 

[DarkStar]

Vietnam was winnable, just not the way it was being fought.

Would have proposed killing nearly every North Vietnamese man, woman and child? That's an overstatement, but winning would have essentially required nearly that. What McNamara and Kissinger didn't realize was that Vietnam was a civil war. These people were fighting for their very survival.

It's like Apocalypse Now when Martin Sheen is explaining the differences between the two sides, paraphrased:

'The Vietcong didn't have playboys bunnies or USO shows, their idea of R&R was a bowl of cold rice and some rat meat. There were two ways home for them, victory or in a box.'

 

[Xstacy]

Best: Washington of course,

Worst: Not really sure

 

[KidRock]

Best: Washington..with out a doubt.
Worst: Most likely Nixon.

 

[RakuraiTenjin]

Best: Reagan

Worst: Carter