JustDreadful
New member
Harding was the worst ever, Carter easily the worst in living memory. This thread really brought out the loonies...
Poll: Who has been the WORST President in United States History?
- Thread starter LanceOregon
- Start date
- Status
See, this is where the criteria for worst President is important.
Lincoln was bad for liberty, but good for the country in that he kept it from fracturing into several countries.
From a historical standpoint, Bush and Reagan damaged the economy, but did not do nearly the damage to liberty that FDR was. I know many of you think that Bush has been some despotic tyrant, and while it is true that he has some policies that are the antithesis of liberty, none of them come close to doing the damage that FDR did with executive order 9066.
Still, Taft made it all possible by giving the government to do all of those nasty things in the first place: He gave the FedGov money, and money is power. FDR could not have made the New Deal a reality without money. The 16th Amendment made it all possible.
I would lean towards Taft, FDR, or Lincoln, each for different reasons.
Lincoln for his tyranny, FDR for his destruction of Liberty, and Taft for the income tax.
Lincoln was bad for liberty, but good for the country in that he kept it from fracturing into several countries.
From a historical standpoint, Bush and Reagan damaged the economy, but did not do nearly the damage to liberty that FDR was. I know many of you think that Bush has been some despotic tyrant, and while it is true that he has some policies that are the antithesis of liberty, none of them come close to doing the damage that FDR did with executive order 9066.
Still, Taft made it all possible by giving the government to do all of those nasty things in the first place: He gave the FedGov money, and money is power. FDR could not have made the New Deal a reality without money. The 16th Amendment made it all possible.
I would lean towards Taft, FDR, or Lincoln, each for different reasons.
Lincoln for his tyranny, FDR for his destruction of Liberty, and Taft for the income tax.
?Citizen Carrier
New member
I doubt the Iranians thought Reagan was a sap on April 18, 1988 when the U.S. Navy destroyed two Iranian oil platforms and sunk or damaged 6 Iranian ships.
I imagine that got their attention.
I imagine that got their attention.
Silver Bullet
New member
Reagan ?
Reduced federal income taxes substantially, from 70% (!) to 28%.
Fixed Carter’s hyper-inflation.
Created sixteen million new jobs.
Appointed Antonin Scalia to the Supreme Court.
Threw the communists out of Grenada.
Reversed decades of appeasement and crushed the Soviet Union via military build-up that bankrupted the Soviets.
His average approval rating: 57%.
He was probably the best president of the 20th Century.
Reduced federal income taxes substantially, from 70% (!) to 28%.
Fixed Carter’s hyper-inflation.
Created sixteen million new jobs.
Appointed Antonin Scalia to the Supreme Court.
Threw the communists out of Grenada.
Reversed decades of appeasement and crushed the Soviet Union via military build-up that bankrupted the Soviets.
His average approval rating: 57%.
He was probably the best president of the 20th Century.
Ruthless4christ
New member
We cut of Japans lifeline. we are talking about blockading oil and trade. this was not permited in any treaty it was just the US bullying them into a bad spot.
I am not saying that we should not have let fuel into germany, what we DID do was allow them to build a large war machine(built with our factories and investments.) we are talking about thousands of internationally illegel tanks, planes, U2 rockets...you get the point. if you cant see the differance in those two things(blockading living essentials from japan on one hand and helping germany build an illegal army on the other), well...
Ruthless4christ
New member
Alot of worse betrayels have taken place in history.
Don't forget that he also increased the national debt from less than 1 trillion to over 3 trillion. Sure, he reduced the marginal rate of taxes from 70% to 28%, but in so doing he increased government borrowing, and spent money like a drunken sailor on shore leave.
57% approval? Easy to do when handing out money.
He called the Dems "tax and spend" which is an apt description. The Reps are "borrow and spend" which is just as accurate, and since borrowing is just a delayed (more expensive) tax, I see no real difference between the two.
It's hard for me to choose any one worst, but here's my short list.
Lincoln: Assumed dictorial power with the most absurd level of violence ever seen in the western hemisphere. Changed the proper relationship between the States and Federal government into a system of national government and its provinces. He often gets credited with holding the nation together; this would be like me slapping around my wife until she's had enough and decides to leave, so then I really beat the crap out of her so she can't and then people talk about how I held my family together. He's also given credit for ending slavery; read his speeches and see that he never really cared about it until he was loosing his war and had to come up with a new cause. Slavery was about to end anyway for economic and moral reasons; ever notice that it peacefully ended in the rest of the western hemisphere?
Wilson: Got us involved in WWI. It was not our fight and the results of it lead to the rise of Hitler. He signed the Federal Reserve Act which turned over the nations money supply and policy to a group of private banks.
FDR: More dictorial use of presidential power. Strong armed the courts into upholding anything he did no matter how unconstitutional. Planted the ideas of Marxism in America with his New Deal programs. 1933 gold confiscation; theft on an unpresidented level which further strengthened the Federal Reserve. With all the Japanese military was up to in the Pacific, including invasions of China and Philipeans, Hawaii was left open to attack and then it happened. I think he wanted a war.
Why was Coolidge even a choice in the poll? All he ever did was his best to uphold the Constitution.
There are others presidents that have been very bad for the US, but I chose to focus on the ones that had the most long lasting negative affects. We naturally tend to focus on ones that we remember. I remember so badly wanting to get rid of Clinton and then he got replaced with someone who is different but not any better, and now I want to get rid of him.
Lincoln: Assumed dictorial power with the most absurd level of violence ever seen in the western hemisphere. Changed the proper relationship between the States and Federal government into a system of national government and its provinces. He often gets credited with holding the nation together; this would be like me slapping around my wife until she's had enough and decides to leave, so then I really beat the crap out of her so she can't and then people talk about how I held my family together. He's also given credit for ending slavery; read his speeches and see that he never really cared about it until he was loosing his war and had to come up with a new cause. Slavery was about to end anyway for economic and moral reasons; ever notice that it peacefully ended in the rest of the western hemisphere?
Wilson: Got us involved in WWI. It was not our fight and the results of it lead to the rise of Hitler. He signed the Federal Reserve Act which turned over the nations money supply and policy to a group of private banks.
FDR: More dictorial use of presidential power. Strong armed the courts into upholding anything he did no matter how unconstitutional. Planted the ideas of Marxism in America with his New Deal programs. 1933 gold confiscation; theft on an unpresidented level which further strengthened the Federal Reserve. With all the Japanese military was up to in the Pacific, including invasions of China and Philipeans, Hawaii was left open to attack and then it happened. I think he wanted a war.
Why was Coolidge even a choice in the poll? All he ever did was his best to uphold the Constitution.
There are others presidents that have been very bad for the US, but I chose to focus on the ones that had the most long lasting negative affects. We naturally tend to focus on ones that we remember. I remember so badly wanting to get rid of Clinton and then he got replaced with someone who is different but not any better, and now I want to get rid of him.
Citizen Carrier
New member
Lincoln may not have initially fought the Civil War to end slavery, but one thing is apparent.
Secession definitly was about preserving slavery. And if it was about to end anyway, then why secede?
This is usually the point in which a historical revisionist tries to tell us that the main reason for secession was tariffs or similar nonsense and folderol.
The respective states' "declarations of secession" made it quite clear the main reason they were seceding, and "taxes" or other economic reasons are either not mentioned or given decidedly second shrift.
Lincoln may not have been fighting to end it, but the Confederacy was certainly seceding to preserve it.
Secession definitly was about preserving slavery. And if it was about to end anyway, then why secede?
This is usually the point in which a historical revisionist tries to tell us that the main reason for secession was tariffs or similar nonsense and folderol.
The respective states' "declarations of secession" made it quite clear the main reason they were seceding, and "taxes" or other economic reasons are either not mentioned or given decidedly second shrift.
Lincoln may not have been fighting to end it, but the Confederacy was certainly seceding to preserve it.
- Status