Presidents of the 20th Century

[liberalcapitalist]

My personal rankings:

THE GOOD
1. Franklin Roosevelt
2. Theodore Roosevelt
3. Harry Truman
4. Woodrow Wilson
5. Bill Clinton
6. Lyndon Johnson
7. John Kennedy

THE BAD
8. William Taft
9. Dwight Eisenhower
10. Calvin Coolage
11. Jimmy Carter (sorry)
12. George H.W. Bush
13. Gerald Ford

THE UGLY
14. Richard Nixon
15. Ronald Reagan
16. Warren Harding
17. Herbert Hoover
18. George W. Bush

[Manix]

1. W should be in a category called "THE IDIOT"

nt

[elperromagico]

2. I am in general agreement. n/t

[Josh]

3. My answers, with slightly different categories

Good, Bad, and the "Half-n-Half" category:

GOOD
Clinton
Carter
Kennedy
Eisenhower
Truman
Franklin Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Wilson

BAD
Bush (include Bush Jr. too even though he's 21st century)
Reagan
Ford
Hoover
Coolidge
Harding
Taft

Half-n-Half
Nixon
Johnson

[elperromagico]

4. One thing's for sure:

Bush has got the "Worst President of the 21st Century" title locked up.

[Orrin_73]

5. FDR was the only president

who sided with the poor and the needy, because of his new deal millions of people got jobs and were brought out of the poverty.

[liberalcapitalist]

9. TR and LBJ

did too... Not to the same extent, perhaps.

[Zynx]

6. Eisenhower was NOT a bad president.

I challenge you on that point. A recent poll of presidential historians ranked him as #9 in history which is pretty good.

[liberalcapitalist]

10. cite something other than a poll to change my mind

I ranked him in the middle, anyway. Not good = bad.

[LTR]

7. My personal list

Best

1. F.D. Roosevelt
2. Truman
3. T. Roosevelt
4. Wilson
5. Kennedy
6. Clinton

Worst

1. Nixon
2. Bush II
3. Harding
4. Hoover (a decent man who was a poor president)
5. Bush I

Note: The list is similar, save for a few differences. Eisenhower and Ford were decent presidents. Ike precided over a time of strong growth, and was fair and honest. Ford was the right man at the right time. The Nixon pardon was not well-received, but it was the right thing to do. The country needed to move forward and government needed to stop devouring itself. He was also effective on progressive issues, such as women's equality and abortion rights. Not to mention fair and intelligent. The last semi-decent Republican president we ever had.

LBJ didn't make my list of the best. Sure, he was one of the most progressive on civil rights and health and welfare issues. But his escalation of the Vietnam war was appalling.

Carter was a great man who was a weak president. But he did accomplish some great things, such as the Israel/Egypt peace treaty.

Reagan was a toss-up. Not heinous enough to make the worst list, but far from a great president.

[liberalcapitalist]

11. a few comments/ questions

I. I rank Eisenhower in the "decent" area. Not good enough to be considered good, but #9 out of 18 is "average."

II. I rank Ford fairly high, highest among Republicans other than GHW Bush.. Maybe I should flip the two? I ranked Ford as low as I did because of the Nixon pardon, his lack of accomplishment, and the fact that he was unelected. But I REALLY disagree with GHW Bush being ranked dead last, especially below the current Bush(!!!) and Reagan. Reagan WAS most definitely "heinous."

III. Vietnam is huge. But if you can take that away, I think LBJ may rank as highly as #2. That's obviously far from a minor issue, but not enough to knock him from the top 6, imo. I can't justify putting Kennedy above LBJ.

IV. No one, not even freepers, deny that Carter is and was a great man. However, he was a weak president that SEVERELY damaged the Democratic Party. And in case you haven't noticed, there isn't peace in the middle east! :)

[LTR]

12. #1 on worst list IS worst

Nixon takes the cake!

[Jester_11218]

8. PNAC is our president, not Bush

PNAC runs the nation. Bush was used because he was the only guy the coould get that would receive any votes. It is PNAC policy that is being implemented. Bush was not sitting around coming up with international policy for the past 10 years, his administration was.

Bush is a face. That's it.

Meet your president here:
http://tvnewslies.org/html/pnac_neo-con_artists.html

[Aidoneus]

13. I seem to differ

roughly--

THE GOOD:
FDR (perhaps)

THE BAD: (in no particular order; duplication not by mistake)
Harding, Hoover, FDR, Truman, Clinton, Kennedy, Taft, Eisenhower, Teddy Roosevelt, Coolage, Carter, Bush, Ford, Johnson

THE UGLY: (also in no particular order; duplications not by accident)
Nixon, Reagan, GWBush, Wilson, Johnson, Teddy Roosevelt