Which president would have the greatest résumé of accomplishments?

[jpgray]

[Sannum]

1. Clinton

Record peace and prosperity, reducing the deficit and a big ass surplus at the end! Those were the days...

[stackhouse]

2. clinton??

hmmmm??

[JohnLocke]

3. Lincoln, probably, or FDR.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Washington, George

Managed to keep the country together and managed to pay most of the war debt

Did I mention he also helped father a country?

now for the 19th century... hard to choose, and the natural inclination would be Lincoln, but there is this bit about a civil war....

20th century, no, not Clinton, FDR... he took the country through the dark days of the Depresion....and WW II...

Over the last forty years... it is a race betweeen Kenndy, LBJ (in spite of Nam) and Clinton, who was also the best Conservative century of the Fin d Ciecle in the image of Teddy Roosevelt.

[imenja]

14. Of the three you list for late 20th century America, I vote LBJ

but only for his domestic policies. Vietnam was not only disastrous but it impaired Johnson's ability to carry out his great society programs. LBJ, however, doesn't bear sole responsibility for that war. Kennedy and Nixon bear some of the blame, though there is no question LBJ deepened American involvement to the point where it became a quagmire.
I give Kennedy great credit for resolving the Cuban Missile crisis

[nadinbrzezinski]

21. Exactly I was thinking of the great Society

and the Civil Rights Act....

As I said, not because of Nam....

I also wanted to divide things among cneturies, would be an intereting exercise to see who were the worst presidents of US History

18th Century, John Adamns
Alien and Sedition Act of 1797, in some ways the model for the modern treason act (Patriot)

19th... hard to say, Garfield is up there... but so is his fraudelency Rutherford B Hayes....

20th, McKinley and Hoover

21st, well george is not going to be looked at kindly by any historian once this is over...

[imenja]

5. FDR and Abraham Lincoln

Clinton will rank as a fairly average president, in my view.

[RaleighNCDUer]

6. FDR

Admittedly, he had a lot more time than most to work on it.

[librechik]

7. Wilson--

president, college president, won a war, invented the League of Nations...

great resume, sad fate

[imenja]

18. thinking of Wilson reminds me too much of Bush today

I initially thought of including Wilson, but his ideas of universal Democracy and WWI as the war to end all wars seems too familiar today. It bears similarity to Bush's laudatory rhetoric used to dress up a disastrous foreign policy in Iraq, Iran, and elsewhere. World War I was also a bad war, and Europe was much the worse for it.

[Zuni]

23. Wilson was a terrible President and an odious racist

he was not a progressive. He was a hardcore racist who re segreated the Federal Government. The Federal Government had been integrated to an extent. Wilson was very, very racist, he hated blacks.

[ProfessorGAC]

31. I Agree, But. . .

. . .he was not a terrible president. He actually was quite accomplished as a diplomat and was a solid wartime president. He also was progressive, economically. He was strongly in favor of industry regulation and supported TR's idea of continued acquistion of land to preserve it.

You're right that he was a horrible person. But, he was a reasonably solid chief administrative officer of the country.
The Professor

[Zuni]

33. Some of his ideas, the league of nations

and such were very important. In a sense, Wilson created the UN.
I guess that particularly enlightened idea can cancel out terribly unenlightened racial policies

[ProfessorGAC]

34. No, No! Don't Get Me Wrong

I'm not trying to cancel out his racial policies. You're completely correct about him being a terrible person. But, the negative impact of those policies was not so profound as we might think in today's world. Bad policy, certainly.

But the explosion of the size and buying power of the middle class started under his fiscal and monetary policies, so the improvement of the quality of life for millions of americans was significant. Outside of gov't, some of those millions were non-white. So, perhaps by accident, he did some good for black america. It doesn't excuse what he did within the gov't itself. But, some of black america benefitted under his watch.

Not an excuse, merely a source of mitigation.
The Professor

[autorank]

8. *

He ruined the country in four short years.

Nobody, I say, nobody has been able to accomplish such a feat in such a short time. He surpasses the worst of the Roman Emperors!

My God, the man's an animal!

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. interesting twist

and you are right... not since the early 19th century have we had such incompetence in the WH

[Zuni]

11. It truly is unbelievable

that we went from a period of increasing prosperity and stability and respect abroad in 2000, to the sorry state of affairs we are looking at now.

[autorank]

24. Nadin...& Zuni. He is just amazing; and efficient too!

Record time with a collaborating public held in his trailer park trance!

[Elwood P Dowd]

10. George W. Bush

Biggest trade deficit in world history

Biggest budget deficit in world history

Worst job creation record in over 70 years

100,000 innocent Iraqi civilians murdered

Over one trillion dollars diverted to the rich

First US president elected with IQ below 100

Stop..........were you talking about positive accomplishments?

[FreedomAngel82]

12. Clinton and FDR

Clinton is the best and FDR did SS so definietly a huge plus. :) I was so lucky to grow up under Clinton's administration in my public school days. :) I was only in public education two years in W thank God.

[Zuni]

16. FDR did far more than that

FDR transformed government, and created the prosperity that we now know today.

[Zuni]

13. Lincoln or FDR

They held this country together during it's greatest crisies

[Shredr]

15. I'd say TR is up there

Along with traveling the world, writing some 35 books, setting aside more land as National Parks, he was the first Pres. to win the Nobel Peace Prize and the only one to win the Presidential Medal of Honor (posthumously awarded by Clinton for his Lt. Colonel/ Rough Rider days).

[Zuni]

19. TR was the greatest environmental president in many ways

he also used government to fight entrenched wealth and privledge, in the period when entrenched wealth and privledge was at it's most dangerous in American history (it was the era of monopolies and trusts and Rockefeller)

[AuntiBush]

17. Franklin D. Roosevelt

1. As a Democrat, he served 4 consecutive terms - that's 16 years in a row.
2. Served sucessfully while suffering from Polio.
3. Served with great dignity referencing Nu 2.
4. Was a Wall Street Lawyer.
5. References to Nu 4, he created the New Deal, namely Social Security. Note that as a Wall Street lawyer, he "knew" firsthand where Social Security was best invested, by the people and with a surplus.
6. Remarkably, he did so much more but to look at the above first 5 alone, can one imagine he accomplished these aforementioned while our country felt the deep blow of the Great Depression.
7. After the Pearl Harbor attack, he single-handedly reached-out to all Americans instilling dignity when many were in the souplines, bringing them hope with Social Security and jobs; he was a "United," rather than a "Divider."
8. While he came from a well-to-do family, with an astute educational background, he never wavered in reaching out and connecting with all the people, of various multiple cultural backgrounds. In other words, he wasn't arrogant, snobbish, didn't hurl insults or retort with dishonorable remarks against those that retracted him - they were oh so jealous of this man that was so honorable in every way.
9. His wife, the First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was herself a significant, and major leader and advocate for African Americans and those disenfranchised in society. Single-handedly, she fought for the poor and all minorities during her husband's presidency, and long after he died.

I could go on and on... but this is why Prez Bushit likes to refer to FDR, and contrast himself to him.

Can someone tell the Oaf that there is no comparison. It's foolish to even try.

:dem:

[Zuni]

20. Roosevelt was the most popular president in history

was elected by huge margins 4 times.

He

[Zuni]

22. LBJ's domestic policy (not foreign policy)

LBJ's great society programs (which were never fully implemented because of Vietnam and many were taken apart under Nixon and Reagan)
halved the poverty rate in the United States
Before LBJ 23% of Americans lived in poverty. After LBJ 11% lived in poverty.
LBJ also created medicare.

[lumpy]

25. LBJ did a remarkable job in

furthuring and continuing the Kennedy agenda regarding civil rights, poverty concerns, workers rights. FDR introduced banking/business regulations that kept this country on an even keel economically. We have reverted to pre-Great Depression economic times with the added flavor of fascism thanks to radical Conservatism of the Republican party. Sickening to think what radical leadership has done to this country. I don't even like to think about it.

[Zuni]

26. one point

we have not reverted to pre-great depression laissez faire economics yet. We still have a number of FDR, Truman, Kennedy, LBJ and Clinton progressive programs that are still in effect. But these are being eroded as we speak and the government is being weakened in it's regulatory responsibilities and big business is being strengthened.

One other point---fascism actually increased the power of government over big business. I would say that Bush does the opposite---not all right wing politics are fascist. I would say Bush and his cronies are more reactionary than fascist---more like feudal lords or greedy tycoons than Nazis

[CindyDale]

28. Here is fascism from Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism#Definition

Not quite exactly like it, but the nationalism, propaganda and devotion to corporate interests are what people mean.

You are right, though, these people seem to want to destroy Protestantism and the middle class, and take us back to the Middle Ages. I don't know why, because that has economically destroyed every country that ever tried it. Maybe these people just hate America.

[Seabiscuit]

27. Lincoln and FDR. No one else comes close.

[Rush1184]

29. Thomas Jefferson

Though he did most of his important stuff before he was president.

[Bridget Burke]

30. As president, I'd say that Lincoln or FDR accomplished more, but...

As a "man of accomplishment"---I'd go with Thomas Jefferson, too.

[Mizmoon]

32. George Washington, hands down

No doubt.