Who are the three greatest /worst presidents?

[mikedevilsfan]

My picks:
1. FDR
2. Thomas Jefferson
3. JFK

Worst:
1. Reagan hands down.
2. GWB
3. Nixon/Lincoln tie.

Michael

[rndmprsn]

1. nice picks...mine...

best IMO
1 FDR
2 Abe Lincoln
3 George Washington

worst IMO
1 GWB
2 Nixon
3 Reagan

the best are saint-like, the worst are all about a tie...

[Warpy]

8. Mine are a bit different

Best:

1.Washington (much better than we deserved)
2. Teddy Roosevelt (broke the trusts, started national parks)
3. Franklin D. Roosevelt (a giant who gave working people the best deal they ever had)
A fourth might be Lyndon Johnson, who got lied into a war by a cadre of nutcases in the Pentagon. Without Vietnam, he'd be right up there with FDR.

Worst:

1. GWB (destroyed the country's reputation, alienated allies, bankrupted the government, destroyed all hope working people had for a better life)

2. Ronald Reagan (handed the party to the rich and the religiously insane, started the broad based attack on all New Deal programs, put the country into serious debt)

3. Harry Truman (Signed the NSA and CIA into existence in 1947, thus creating a shadow government accountable to no one, allowed the HUAC to run amok, started the policy of favoring the French and their puppet government in Indochina, a blunder that led directly to the Vietnam War)

Nixon was a mixed bag, signing the EPA into existence along with trying to dirty trick the vote. He had many really good policies, especially foreign policy. He just gave into his basic personality flaw, and that got him into trouble.

Lincoln was an autocrat who jailed opposing journalists, suspended much of the Bill of Rights, and probably would have done better to let Dixie GO.

[DivinBreuvage]

14. Re: Lincoln, you're aware there was an armed insurrection going on, right?

If you read your nation's history, rather than Confederate polemics, you'll find he handled those folks with a pretty gentle hand, all things considered. You also need to remember that a secessionist Maryland would have posed immense problems for the national capital. I think some folks forget that the Civil War wasn't exactly business as usual.

[mikedevilsfan]

17. Sounds like W "were' at war"

I have never read Confederate polemics. Why would I?
I'm speaking of his State of the union "If I can free some, none, or all of the slaves" speech. I have read some abolitionist writings and we were 100 years behind England. Lincoln was a part of that.
Michael

[DivinBreuvage]

21. Well, you nailed it! Congratulations!

Tell me, how do you think Republicans like Thaddeus Stevens and Benjamin Wade would be received by the GOP today?

[mikedevilsfan]

33. Probably

about the same as I recieved your question-- with confusion ; )
Michael

[DivinBreuvage]

35. You don't know who Benjamin Wade and Thaddeus Stevens are?

Trent Lott would love them, and you would too. Yes indeed.

On edit, this is sarcasm. Modern Republicans would excoriate the Republicans of the Civil War years. How many Republicans today would throw rich white boys out of Congress so black folks could sit there? Not too many, I reckon. Of course, God-fearing conservatives called men like Wade and Stevens Black Republicans in those days, when they weren't calling them something nastier. Wade and Stevens weren't black, but they were, you know, n****r-lovers.

[AuntiBush]

28. Agreed!

Should have read your post before making my own decisions.

Excellent call. Especially about letting "dixie GO!"

[Name removed]

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[MrModerate]

2. Interesting list . I don't entirely agree, however . . .

Best:

1. Washington (he set the standard)
2. Lincoln (despite his violation of civil liberties, he DID save the country)
3. FDR (he invented the modern presidency)

Worst:

1. Buchanan (through ineptitude, let the Civil War happen)
2. GWB (oversaw the wreck of the nation and the world economy)
3. Reagan (set the stage for the transfer of wealth to an increasingly tiny segment of the population)

Other major losers: Harding, Hoover, Grant

[TheFarseer]

3. my take in no particular order

best: FDR, TR, Washington

worst: GBW, Hoover, Grant

Lincoln for worst is odd. He'd be about #5 for me.

[mikedevilsfan]

5. Lincoln

Well Lincoln started the Republican party. He also had no interest in freeing the slaves. I read that he was pretty much forced to do it.
There were pastors and abolitionists who came to him and said "The judgment of God will be on our nation if you don't do this" and all he cared about was the Union.
Michael

[DivinBreuvage]

6. Crap post, read some history. n/t

[rndmprsn]

7. agreed NT

[Journeyman]

12. Thank you, DivinBreuvage. . .

I'd suggest mikedevilsfan simply read -- and understand -- Mr. Lincoln's comments at Gettysburg and his Second Inaugural before he spreads such silly slanders about the man who remade this nation in its original image.

[DivinBreuvage]

15. "Remade this nation in its original image".... great line! n/t

[mikedevilsfan]

16. Forget that

Read his state of the Union Address. In particular, his remarks about freeing the slaves. Typical Republican. Cared nothing about human rights.
Michael
Thanks for the disparaging remarks though.

[Journeyman]

18. For those of us with a knowledge of history. . .

you've disparaged yourself far beyond our poor power to add or to detract.


Edit: typo

[DivinBreuvage]

19. Ah, got it, you're putting us on

if you were more subtle you might have carried me past this second post.

[mikedevilsfan]

22. LOL

What is so hard to believe about this?
Is is me? Didn't Lincoln say " If I could free non of the slaves and save the Union I would do it" and "My concern is not for the slaves but for the Union"
Am I missing something here? Sounds like typical Republican BS to me. And that "he was a war time pres." Where did that come from Karl Rove's desk?
Michael

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[Zenlitened]

40. About as subtle as a slab o' granite

:D

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=user_profiles&u_id=168906

[Name removed]

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[LTR]

20. Better brush up on your history

The Republican Party in the mid-19th century was fairly liberal compared to today. The Democrats were the conservatives then, and dominated a pretty racist south. Teddy Roosevelt was a very progressive Republican, especially by today's standards.

Over time, the roles reversed.

[mikedevilsfan]

23. Your right

I know the roles have reversed a couple of times.

But I wouldn't say compared to today because we are about as Right as we have ever been.
Michael

[AuntiBush]

31. You're absolutely right, but....

The roles have switched "again," in the the right are so far right-extremists, creating this rage we're all suffering through, whereas the Democrats, since FDR have more then proven themselves to be "for the people."

In the Constitution it's fairly simple, in it's definition of what a Democrat party means in contrast to a Republican:

(paraphrasing)
Democrats: Voted in by the people and do as the people say
Republicans: You vote them in and they do as Bush said, they mandate on whatever they wish because the majority voted (gave) them the power to do so.

[lenidog]

4. Here are mine

Best

FDR
Lincoln
Polk/Washington

Worst

Buchanan/GW Bush
Grant
Reagan

[leftofthedial]

9. well . . .

BEST
1. FDR
2. Jefferson
3. Washington


WORST
1. G W Bush
2. Reagan
3. Nixon

[oldtime dfl_er]

10. here's mine

1. Jefferson
2. FDR
3. Kennedy -- for those who were alive during his administration, the way he inspired and led the country -- the Peace Corps, space travel (moon landing), etc -- really changed the direction of the nation.

worst
1. GWB (Im with Helen Thomas here)
2. Nixon (destroyed whatever remaining innocence we had)
3. Reagan (Im sick to death of the history re-writers who pretend he was a great leader)

www.cafepress.com/showtheworld

[timtom]

39. I've read this thread this far...

And I have to say that those are precisely my picks, as well.

[TwentyFive]

11. If I couldn't name any that were already named, I'd name these. Here's why

Best:

TRUMAN: (desegregated the military, buck stops here, plain speaking, dropped the A-bomb)
CLINTON: (First president to hire open gays, turned economy around, tried to do something about health care, fended off affirmative action attacks, balanced budget)
CARTER: (Foresaw energy crisis, honesty in government, middle east peace)

Worst:
BUSH41: (Worst economy in 50 years, gave OK for Iraq to invade Kuwait, let Buchanan speak at '92 GOP convention)
BUSH43: (He's sucks so bad, he broke into the list again!)
HOOVER: (1929 stock market crash, did nothing about depression)

[dsc]

13. Here's mine

Best

1) FDR
2) Truman
3) Washington/Lincoln tie

Worst

1) GWB
2) Buchanan
3) Harding

Since Truman makes a worst list I will defend him a bit here. He had to make a huge number of decisions early in his Presidency after having been kept in the dark. Despite that he made nearly all of them well. His desegregation of the Armed Forces gave Civil Rights a momentum that assured it of carrying the day. He also passed the first Civil Rights bill since the 1800's. Truman was hardly perfect, but he was very, very good. He also was the first President to fight for national health care, though sadly he lost that fight.

[lwin]

24. Hard to pick just 3

Best - hard to pick just 3

1. Washington - like someone already said, better than we deserved
2. Truman - given a losing hand and turned it into a win
3. Jefferson - I know, a little flawed, but brilliant

would have no problem adding Lincoln, FDR to the list

Worst

1. The Chimp, in a landslide victory
2. Reagan - for setting the stage for all this bullshit (and the revisionist history on him drives me nuts)
3. Nixon - disgraceful

Also in the running would be Hoover

[AuntiBush]

25. My picks

1. FDR <---- Without a doubt! Honorable, Cared for All Americans, did all the right things, snubbed his own rich-status quo for the poor, in our parents/grandparents lifetime.
2. Thomas Jefferson <--- Brilliant! The man brain behind the Constitution.
3. JFK <---- What can one say: Compassionate & Most Intelligent President in our lifetime.

Worst:
1. GWB
2. Nixon
3. Lincoln/Buchanan

It's been written by insiders that Reagan was a mere puppet. Another propoganda machine made us think differently.

[LTR]

29. What's with the Lincoln hating?

:shrug:

[DivinBreuvage]

32. What, in your opinion, makes Jefferson a good president?

There is no question that he was a genius and an unparalleled philosopher of democracy. But it seems to me that he was actually rather mediocre as a president.

[LTR]

26. Mine

Best:

1. FDR: Tackled two of the biggest crises in American history. A bit heavy handed? Sure, but he did what he had to do and he succeeded. A great leader.

2. Lincoln: Helped save our nation, and bring an end to slavery.

3. Washington and Jefferson (tie): Modest, humble men who set the standard for what a president should do. Helped to mold our constitution and bill of rights.

Truman was the last honest, straightforward president we ever had. JFK gave us inspiration. And LBJ is a hardass who would be my first choice to back me up in a fight. More Dems should be as ballsy as LBJ. He was a true hardass who didn't take shit from nobody, though Vietnam bit him in the ass hard.

Worst:

1. GWB: Never thought anyone could be worse than Nixon.

2. Nixon: Corrupt bastard.

3. Buchanan: Did nothing to stop the secession.

There are a few others that I could slot in at #3. Harding is one that many would put in here, but I see him as a fairly decent guy who made the mistake of putting his trust in the wrong people. He was not a scumbag. Same with Grant. Coolidge did see some prosperity during his term, but his predecessor to modern-day conservatism created a house of cards that led to the Great Depression. Hoover was also a decent man in way over his head. He was just incompetent.

[DivinBreuvage]

34. Funny story about Harding:

he knew what a mess he was in. At one point he admitted to an aide "I am not fit for this office and should never have been here." Another time he was traveling on a ship when it suffered some minor incident -- this was shortly after he had come to grips with the fact that some of these scandals couldn't be kept down any longer -- and morosely snarled "I hope the boat sinks." I'd agree with you that he was a fairly decent guy who was ill-served.

[Skittles]

27. OK

three greatest:

1) Abe Lincoln
2) FDR
3) JFK

worst
1) GWB - HANDS DOWN
2) Ronald Reagan
3) George Bush I

[Done]

41. My picks

Best
1. Jimmy Carter
2. Jefferson
3. FDR

Worst
1. Shrub
2. Reagan
3. Andrew Jackson (Brutality against Indians)

[Sugarcoated]

42. I would say . . .

1. FDR/Jefferson - couldn't make up my mind.
2. Lincoln - a true leader. You can nit pick but he absolutly was against slavery. He had the skills to ride the fine line politically for the times he lived in.
3. TR - I love his sense of justice and fairness, he was a pitbull for that. On the environment - he's my hero. But his warmongering, yeesh. But as a leader he was one of a kind.

1. Current president - abuse of power and corruption is astounding - not to mention he's probably the least intelligent, least qualified in every way. His biggest talent is probably picking the right people to get him elected - and a sense of entitlement that just spurs him to new heights of hubris and a justification for doing anything he damnwell pleases to get his way. One of the most evil our nation has had, at least in modern times.
2. The two or three presidents before Lincoln - their mediocrity on the heals of so many great presidents before them is glaring.
3. I suppose Andrew Jackson for his ruthless handling of Native Americans.

As someone else said - there were many presidents who were good people, just didn't choose good people to work for them.

[MsTryska]

43. hmmm.....

Top 3:

1.Thomas Jefferson
2.Teddy Roosevelt
3.Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Bottom 3:

1. Herbert Hoover
2. Ronald Reagan
3. the gee-dub

[newfaceinhell]

44. Unfortunately, I think there's considerably more bad than good

But then, I would apply that to the leaderships of most nations. What I always think is surprising is how many palin incompotent people have reached the top job- some things never change...

My best 3:

1.FDR
2.Lincoln
3.Washington

Worst:

1.GWB
2.Buchanon
3.Reagan/Hoover tie