Poll: Who has been the WORST President in United States History?

[JWT]

Carter, hands down. Intelligent but inept. (Obama has the potential to duplicate his accomplishments if elected.)

 

[R W]

The worst is getting closer.

 

[Socrates]

Worst for the NATION... Franklin Roosevelt
It was he that, IMO, started the whole socialist crap. With that we got the beginning of the removal of responsibility of one's self by one's self.
Brent

Fixed that for you. Plus 100.

I nominate President Taft. He proposed the 16th amendment, without which FDR's "New Deal" would not have been possible, nor would the bloated FedGov we have today. He was a member of the Republican Party, back when they admitted to being the progressive "tax and spend" party.

Maybe a tie with FDR.

Join Date: 2008-02-09
Location: New England.
Posts: 258

Hard to say.
The easy answer is GW, but it is hard to judge him fairly without any preconceived bias.

George Washington???? Alright. He did fight a war without help, or money. His major sin being taking help from the French, but, he certainly wasn't one of our worst...

Clinton, since this is a gun forum, and, we are just now getting over the stuff he forced on the gun companies with
his Mafia. Also, besides the impeaching, what about all the people that have mysteriously died around him???

After all is said and done, it's been congress that's really
been the cause of most of our 'presidential' problem. Without a cooperating congress, FDR, Taft, and Clinton or GB's horrible acts would never have happened.

Just to update you:
In Kali the AVERAGE percentage for Mexican children in our public schools is 48%. Who let this invasion happen???

 

[FEG]

I'll vote FDR and the Creeping Federalization he spawned.

The Warren Court may have damaged the U.S. more than any president, however.

 

[Shane Tuttle]

Clinton.

If I have to really explain myself why, then I don't think it would do any good. First, read my sig line. Second, all you Harley owners out there would understand my response: "If you have to ask, you wouldn't understand".

Carter is a close second.

FDR has to be in the mix. I honestly don't mean to stomp on the man's grave and I DO NOT mean to disrespect disabled folks, but I think he was sensationalized. I think, IMHO, that people sympathized with the disabled president and gave quite a long leash during his tenure. I mean, look at his time in office. No president in modern history will ever spend that much time in the White House. FDR could have really set the tone for our future the way the Founding Fathers intended. I honestly don't think he would have been the president people "think" he really was if WWII didn't happen. Hate to say it, but I believe one of the major reasons why America flourished was because of winning WWII. FDR was just along for the ride. The generals, soldiers, and citizens back home sacrificing for a greater good is what established our country firmly as the world leader, not FDR.

Divemedic,
As often as I disagree with you in past posts, you have a valid point about Taft.

I think Carter is a inspirational man, a motivational teacher, an amazing diplomat, compassionate, rational, and intelligent...but he was just not much of a leader. He is the kind of man all men should strive to be but he was lacking the desire to be followed that is needed to be President. He was always more interested in finding the good in everyone than he was in doing the dificult things a leader has to do.

PBP, I do see your point. Props to Carter for being a humanitarian. Habitat for Humanity has to be one of his biggest contributions to our nation.

However, I see nothing in the means of being rational, intelligent, and diplomatic about the Iran hostage situation. This is one of many blunders concerning him that I think contradicts the attributes you posted.

Just to stir things up, I'll say Ronald Reagan. He dismantled the alternative energy initiatives that Carter started (one of the few things Carter did right) and kept us on the path of dependence on foreign oil -- and that's how we got in the mess we are in now.

This makes him the worst president ever? I personally glad he did it. I don't want the fed govt deeply involved in alternative energy, only refereeing it.

 

[madmag]

Finally, something easy I can answer.

Jimmy Carter of course. Of all the failings a President can have, the worst is weakness, and Carter was an expert on weakness.

 

[IZinterrogator]

Woodrow Wilson, by far. The League of Nations (and by extension the UN), the 16th and 17th Amendments to the Constitution, and the Federal Reserve Act all rank highly up there on the list of bad ideas that have befallen the United States.

 

[madmag]

The reason that Carter is winning (losing) this poll is that most feel that the most important job the POTUS can do is to project strength. Carter projected about as much strength as a new born kitten (I cleaned this up) still nursing.

 

[zxcvbob]

Carter projected about as much strength as a new born kitten (I cleaned this up) still nursing.

Isn't Carter the one who coined the phrase "Moral Equivalent of War" (m.e.o.w.)

 

[thallub]

FDR. Aside from the creation of the socialist nanny state in the US, didn't he also pad the Supreme Court by adding two justices to the count?

Short answer: No, he did not.

Long answer: He talked about adding about five members to the Court because old fossils on the Court were shooting down his New Deal projects. Net result: A couple of old fossils quit and FDR appointed replacements.

 

[SilentHitz]

Jimmy Carter of course. Of all the failings a President can have, the worst is weakness, and Carter was an expert on weakness.

Exactly why he got my vote as worst!

 

[LanceOregon]

Woodrow Wilson, by far. The League of Nations (and by extension the UN), the 16th and 17th Amendments to the Constitution, and the Federal Reserve Act all rank highly up there on the list of bad ideas that have befallen the United States.

OK, I admit that I screwed up not including Wilson. He was also a very avowed segregationist. His parents had lived in the south and had owned slaves. He thus wanted the races to be kept separate as much as possible.

.

 

[LanceOregon]

Jimmy Carter of course. Of all the failings a President can have, the worst is weakness, and Carter was an expert on weakness.

To his credit, however, Carter has always been a man of incredible religious faith.

About the only President that one could say was more religious than Carter was Garfield, who had even briefly been a pastor earlier in his life. However, Garfield was assassinated shortly after he was elected.


.

 

[LanceOregon]

I am rather surprised that so far at least, not one single person has voted for Nixon, the only President to ever be forced out of office.

Do Nixon's accomplishments as President outweigh Watergate by that much???

.

 

[spctim11]

I took Clinton

Why weren't they all listed?
I know a bunch of folks hate Lincoln.

 

[STAGE 2]

To his credit, however, Carter has always been a man of incredible religious faith.

So is Osama. However neither rate very high in my book.

 

[bclark1]

I voted Clinton as worst of my lifetime and certainly up there with anyone on the poll. However, I likely would have gone with FDR had it been available. I agree that his well-intentioned initiatives were a contributing catalyst to the erosion of our economic foundations (and tangentially personal responsibility).

As to Nixon, I've always felt he was one of the first victims of a biased media. As they say, "he just got caught" - I certainly don't regard the scandal as anything (then or now) unprecedented. Unfortunately Watergate is the first thing to everyone's mind when they hear his name. But he served our country, did some groundwork for the defeat of communism and was debatably moderate on domestic policies. The war obviously presented its own issues, but prior to the scandal, he was winning elections for 25 years, so he had to be pleasing voters somehow - seems incongruent to consider him a "worst ever" unless one has a personal bone to pick.

 

[CGSteve8718]

I'm not sure I can chastise FDR's New Deal as being 100% negative. The people then could not have foreseen the ill effects we are suffering today.

Quite a few positive things we take for granted today came out of the New Deal. It was a way for you to get off your feet, to work, and then pay it back by being a benefit to society. I don't believe it was ever any intention of the New Deal policy to have similarities to the "cradle to the grave" mentality we have in very large segments of our society today.

For example, one positive thing among many is the GI Bill. Returning vets from WWII were assisted and then started the small businesses and families that helped build our nation further. Without it, I'm sure only the wealthy and priveleged would have been able to be college educated ie. the folks that did not, and would not have gone to serve in WWII.

Another example is the creation of the infrastructure and jobs in areas that were hardest hit by the Great Depression.

Another examples are the unions. They did not start as the corrupt mob affiliated institutions we stereotype them as being today. Back in the old days, many employers were unscrupulous. They didn't have to pay you. If you complained, they hired organized crime any other gangs to physically intimidate you and your family. You basically had zero rights. Americans back then engaged in open gun battles with employers, govt. agencies, and their hired goons to get simple expected things such as wages, and fair treatment.

Of course overall, after so much time has passed, I agree 100% that it had a very negative impact on making the govt. supersized with too much control.

 

[Tim Burke]

Lincoln

 

[Silver Bullet]

Carter. Amazingly, he managed to even further tarnish his image after leaving office.

He also presided over an astonishingly high rate of inflation. Does anybody remember paying 20% for an auto loan ?

Luckily, Reagan won in 1980 and cleaned up Carter's mess.