Who was the worst U.S. president?

[rambone]

Who was the worst? I did my best to pick the top 9 that I think would be the most popular answers here. If you choose "Other" then you should really do a job convincing me that your choice is worse than all of these SOBs.

Feel free to point out other grievances that I have overlooked. I'll try to add them to my list. This is by no means complete. It goes without saying that every single one of them grew the Federal government and broke the constitution.




Abraham Lincoln

• Arrested/executed tens of thousands of his political opponents in the North
• Arrested congressmen, mayors, journalists
• Had a warrant to arrest the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
• Waged war on his political opponents in the South
• Did not obtain congressional approval for war
• Confiscated citizens guns
• Declared Martial Law
• Shut down newspapers, censored the telegraph
• Quartered soldiers in private homes
• His war killed more Americans than both World Wars
• Created the nation's first income tax and the precursor to the IRS

Woodrow Wilson

• Created the Federal Reserve
• Created the IRS
• Exacerbated the Great Depression
• Entered the U.S. into World War I
• Arrested an estimated 175,000 Americans for "seditious" speech
• Instituted rationing and price fixing
• Created the War Industries Board which took over the U.S. Economy in service of the State
• Created the Committee on Public Information used to lie to the American public and spread propaganda
• Supported joining the League of Nations

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

• Instituted the Social Security Act
• Created the "New Deal", at least 100 new bureaucratic agencies
• Created the FBI
• Created the FCC
• Created the SEC
• Signed the National Firearms Act of 1934
• Confiscated Americans' gold
• Locked up American citizens in concentration camps
• Created wage and price controls
• Created Selective Service Act
• World War II
• Sent battle tanks into Washington DC to crush the 1932 Bonus March

Lyndon B. Johnson

• War on Poverty
• Created the "Great Society" welfare program
• Vietnam War
• Used military draft
• Signed the Gun Control Act of 1968

Richard M. Nixon

• Watergate Scandal
• Created the EPA
• Created the DEA
• Started the Federal War on Drugs
• Created the ATF

Jimmy Carter

• Iranian Hostage Crisis
• High inflation and economic recession
• Military involvement in Latin America
• Created the Dept. of Energy
• Created the Dept. of Education
• Created FEMA

Bill Clinton

• Signed the Assault Weapons Ban
• Stepped up the War on Drugs
• Signed NAFTA, GATT
• Military involvement in Bosnia
• Waco TX ATF debacle
• Scandalous president

George W. Bush

• Signed the USA PATRIOT Act used to spy on citizens without a warrant
• War on Iraq, started under sketchy pretenses
• Created the TSA
• Created the DHS
• Clampdown of the internet
• Secret watch lists
• Torture in secret prisons, Indefinite detainment of suspects
• No Child Left Behind
• Expansion of Medicare
• Bailed out failing private businesses

Barack Obama

• Expanded all of Bush's programs
• Spent more money than Bush
• Created Obamacare
• War on Libya
• Record spending

Other

 

[jsgolfman]

Dishonest Abe, hands down.

 

[rambone]

In my opinion, its a close race between Lincoln and FDR.

I think Abe was a bigger tyrant, more heavy handed, killed more Americans.

FDR wasn't too far behind... but... his policies will have a longer lasting affect. The entitlement disease that plagues the country, may very well lead to America's real demise.

For that reason I vote FDR.

 

[ViperJock]

Kind of surprised to see Lincoln tied with Obama and noone voting for Clinton or Carter? Of course with an n=3 that will probably change

Lincoln did some crazy stuff, but let us not forget that he was in a civil war where political opponents and "fellow americans" were also spies and soldiers for the enemy. All I'm saying is Monday Morning QB syndrome? He was also faced with a pretty big disaster and though we all "think" the war was based mainly on economic issues, let us not forget that he was the first if not the only man to fight a war to free men of a different race from slavery in his own country. No kudos for that?

Also, Didn't Kennedy rate an appearance? After all, Wasn't it his Admin that got us into Vietnam and established some of the really F'd up policies regarding that? Just asking since I see that Johnson gets some -1 for similar stuff.

Also, kind of surprised to see such a short list attributed to Obama. Of course, I suppose if you delineate "expanded all of Bush's programs" that would increase his own shortcoming significantly.

 

[Benny]

Damn, do I have to just pick one?

Fine, Lincoln.

 

[gunman41mag]

obama, then carter

 

[rambone]

Lincoln did some crazy stuff, but let us not forget that he was in a civil war where political opponents and "fellow americans" were also spies and soldiers for the enemy. All I'm saying is Monday Morning QB syndrome? He was also faced with a pretty big disaster and though we all "think" the war was based mainly on economic issues, let us not forget that he was the first if not the only man to fight a war to free men of a different race from slavery in his own country. No kudos for that?

Lincoln made those men his enemy. The South freely wished to peacefully leave the Union. If states could vote to join the USA, they should be free to leave as well. Lincoln attacked states that had declared sovereignty from the U.S. and wished to govern themselves. Their matters were no longer his business. He declared that they will surrender to the might of the Federal government or die.

Slavery should have remained a state issue. He's a big reason that the Feds dominate the states so strongly today.

Also, Didn't Kennedy rate an appearance? After all, Wasn't it his Admin that got us into Vietnam and established some of the really F'd up policies regarding that? Just asking since I see that Johnson gets some -1 for similar stuff.

I didn't imagine him getting more votes than those already mentioned. I wish I could have a poll with enough options to fit all the presidents on it.

Also, kind of surprised to see such a short list attributed to Obama. Of course, I suppose if you delineate "expanded all of Bush's programs" that would increase his own shortcoming significantly.

Feel free to point out more things. I tend to stick with points that will be remembered in 50 years and not just crap like "he went on an apology tour" or something.

 

[Stschil]

Need one more choice

Should have listed an All Of The Above choice.
All have done their part to chip away at our freedoms. Some more than others, every one for their own political power, legacy building, private profit etc.
If truly forced to chose one over the others, I chose Lincoln.
He did his best to and did quash the rebellion of the Confederate States over money and power, plain and simple.
The Civil War started it all, the beginning of the over powering Federal Branch, the weakening States, the move away from self governence . We were taught lies in school, it really had nothing to do with slavery. Had the southern states not raised a stink, for all we know, slavery could still be in force. Not saying that it's right and not wishing it was, just telling a truth that most were never taught.

Lincoln poisoned the koolaid and the Country has been drinking it ever since.

 

[rambone]

obama, then carter

Carter is only on the poll because I've heard people on this forum say that he is the worst so many times. In reality I don't think he deserves to be in the top 9... I might replace him with Andrew "Trail of Tears" Jackson if I was actually ranking my opinion of the worst presidents.

 

[Bond 281]

Kind of surprised to see Lincoln tied with Obama and noone voting for Clinton or Carter? Of course with an n=3 that will probably change

Lincoln did some crazy stuff, but let us not forget that he was in a civil war where political opponents and "fellow americans" were also spies and soldiers for the enemy. All I'm saying is Monday Morning QB syndrome? He was also faced with a pretty big disaster and though we all "think" the war was based mainly on economic issues, let us not forget that he was the first if not the only man to fight a war to free men of a different race from slavery in his own country. No kudos for that?

Also, Didn't Kennedy rate an appearance? After all, Wasn't it his Admin that got us into Vietnam and established some of the really F'd up policies regarding that? Just asking since I see that Johnson gets some -1 for similar stuff.

Also, kind of surprised to see such a short list attributed to Obama. Of course, I suppose if you delineate "expanded all of Bush's programs" that would increase his own shortcoming significantly.

Lincoln started the Civil War. The southern states would've peacefully left if allowed to. Also, the war had nothing to do with slavery really. The war was in no way motivated with freeing the slaves. In fact, the Emancipation Proclamation didn't even free all the slaves, just the ones in the South. There were I believe 4 states in the Union that still practiced slavery, albeit not for terribly long thereafter.

As for my vote, it's really a toss up between Lincoln and FDR. I think Lincoln was worse as he was essentially a tyrant, however as Rambone mentioned FDR's policies are plaguing us today. Though, as he also noted, Lincoln is also a large part of why the Feds dominate the states so much. This expansion of federal power and dominance I think has allowed a climate where the Federal government has run amok, and I think that gives him my vote.

 

[ihateiraq]

William henry harrison.

 

[Hoosier8]

Obama is a piker compared to Woodrow Wilson. One item left off of WW is the beginning of the income tax. WW was the first real progressive in office and believed the Constitution had seen it's day.

 

[ocsdor]

Here is my list from Best to Worst:

1 George Washington 1789-1797
2 John Adams 1797-1801 Federalist
3 Thomas Jefferson 1801-1809 Democratic-Republican
4 James Madison 1809-1817 Democratic-Republican
5 James Monroe 1817-1825 Democratic-Republican
6 John Quincy Adams 1825-1829 Democratic-Republican
7 Andrew Jackson 1829-1837 Democrat
8 Martin Van Buren 1837-1841 Democrat
9 William Henry Harrison 1841-1841(died In office) Whig
10 John Tyler 1841-1845 Whig
11 James K. Polk 1845-1849 Democrat
12 Zachary Taylor 1849-1850 Whig
13 Millard Fillmore 1850-1853 Whig
14 Franklin Pierce 1853-1857 Democrat
15 James Buchanan 1857-1861 Democrat
16 Abraham Lincoln 1861-1865 Republican
17 Andrew Johnson 1865-1869 Democrat / National Union
18 Gen. Ulysses S. Grant 1869-1877 Republican
19 Rutherford B. Hayes 1877-1881 Republican
20 James A. Garfield 1881(died in office) Republican
21 Chester A. Arthur 1881-1885 Republican
22 Grover Cleveland 1885-1889 Democrat
23 Benjamin Harrison 1889-1893 Republican
24 Grover Cleveland 1893-1897 Democrat
25 William McKinley 1897-1901 Republican
26 Theodore Roosevelt 1901-1909 Republican
27 William Howard Taft 1909-1913 Republican
28 Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921 Democrat
29 Warren G. Harding 1921-1923 Republican
30 Calvin Coolidge 1923-1929 Republican
31 Herbert Hoover 1929-1933 Republican
32 Franklin D. Roosevelt 1933-1945 Democrat
33 Harry S. Truman 1945-1953 Democrat
34 Dwight D. Eisenhower 1953-1961 Republican
35 John F. Kennedy 1961-1963 Democrat
36 Lyndon B. Johnson 1963-1969 Democrat
37 Richard M. Nixon 1969-1974 Republican
38 Gerald R. Ford 1974-1977 Republican
39 Jimmy Carter 1977-1981 Democrat
40 Ronald Reagan 1981-1989 Republican
41 George Bush 1989-1993 Republican
42 Bill Clinton 1993-2001 Democrat
43 George W. Bush 2001-2009 Republican
44 Barack H. Obama 2009 -Present Democrat

 

[badwolf.usmc]

James Buchanan, his bumbling let to the civil war.

 

[abnk]

FDR without a question.

Here is my list from Best to Worst:

Dude, Silent Cal deserves a much higher place than 30. Definitely top ten if not five.

 

[ocsdor]

All the presidents during and after the passage of the Federal Reserve Act are worse than all the presidents before.

 

[rambone]

Someone tell me how Obama is worse than presidents who put American citizens in concentration camps?

 

[Benny]

Someone tell me how Obama is worse than presidents who put American citizens in concentration camps?

Voting for him must just be the cool thing to do right now.

 

[IndyBeerman]

FDR without a question.



Dude, Silent Cal deserves a much higher place than 30. Definitely top ten if not five.

Dude, you really need to learn your history, that list is the order that they was elected into office.

 

[LPMan59]

Where's Warren G Harding or Herbert Hoover? They sucked too. Andrew Johnson was useless as well.

perhaps instead of deciding which turd smells worse, we should say who was the best president?