Who's the worst U.S. president ever?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by GePap
Well, for the moralist crusaders, Cleveland had an illegitimate child, leading to one of the best chants by a challenger (Tilden I believe)

"Ma, Ma, where's my Pa?"

To which Cleveland fans retorted:

"Gone to the White House, ha ha ha"

James G. Blaine; Tilden was, like Cleveland, a Democrat and governor of NY (and was whom Hayes stole the election from).

[Berzerker]

Well, for the moralist crusaders, Cleveland had an illegitimate child, leading to one of the best chants by a challenger (Tilden I believe)

"Ma, Ma, where's my Pa?"

To which Cleveland fans retorted:

"Gone to the White House, ha ha ha"

[Berzerker]

How can anyone say that FDR is the worst? He's the best president the US ever had, as Churchill is the best Prime Minister the UK ever had.

Lincoln, FDR, and LBJ are the three Presidents most guilty of trashing the Constitution.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by Elok
Yes, I'm ignorant. I feel ashamed to admit that I have no idea what Millard Fillmore, Chester A. Arthur, James Garfield, or any of the other late-1800s filler presidents did at all. I sorta started this thread to gain some historical perspective on what stinkers have occupied the WH in years past.

None of those 3 even served a full term, and so could do little harm. Chester Arthur, however, was one of the most surprising presidents in history. He was a machine politician, protege of powerful NY boss Roscoe Conkling, and was muscled on the ticket as veep to make sure goody-goody Midwestern "reform" impulses didn't go too far. Upon becoming president after Garfield's assassination, though, he had a Road-to-Damascus-like conversion and actually presided over the end of the "spoils system" that had dominated federal appointments since Jackson, replacing it with an (in theory, anyway) apolitical, meritocratic civil service system. His old friends and sponsors in NY were furious, but he stuck to his guns and probably struck the biggest blow for Clean Government of any president.

[Jaguar]

Originally posted by Agathon
How can anyone say that FDR is the worst? He's the best president the US ever had, as Churchill is the best Prime Minister the UK ever had.

Were you talking about me? When I said Roosevelt was a 9, I meant out of 10.

[GePap]

Originally posted by Agathon
How can anyone say that FDR is the worst? He's the best president the US ever had, as Churchill is the best Prime Minister the UK ever had.

As Berz shows, Libs feel FDR is a bad guy for creating the modern US state.

Basically, if libs thing they were bad presidents, they did something long lasting and powerful.

[GePap]

Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly


James G. Blaine; Tilden was, like Cleveland, a Democrat and governor of NY (and was whom Hayes stole the election from).

BUt, of course, Blaine, the Continental loser from the state of Maine.

Was it "continental"? I forget that piece of the rhyme.

That was a dirty election.

[Berzerker]

a clarifier, most meaning in comparison to their predeccesor

[Kidlicious]

Reagan. He was the vangard of the new conservatives.

[Berzerker]

Basically, if libs thing they were bad presidents, they did something long lasting and powerful.

Strange, we had several Presidents early on who did lasting and powerful things and they're at the top of my list of best Presidents.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by GePap


BUt, of course, Blaine, the Continental loser from the state of Maine.

Was it "continental"? I forget that piece of the rhyme.

That was a dirty election.

I believe it was "continental liar"; my presidential trivia geekery seems to know no bounds.

My favority bit from that election though, was when some public figure -- a newspaper editor, probably, but maybe a Democrat politician -- opined that (I'm paraphrasing), "since Mr. Blaine has led an exemplary private life but a questionable public one, while Mr. Cleveland's record shows exemplary public service but a questionable private life, it behooves the electorate to return each man to the sphere to which he is best suited."

[Ben Kenobi]

Rutherford B. Hayes

Good choice.

Single-handedly undid all the efforts to emancipate the blacks of the south.

[Winston]

Jimmy Carter, in my lifetime at least.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by Winston
Jimmy Carter, in my lifetime at least.

Carter inherited a domestic mess, which he stewarded very badly; but the mess was not of his making.

He had a great foreign policy failure (Iran) and a great foreign policy success (The peace accords between Egypt and Israel).

He was a mediocrity, but hardly one of the worst presidents ever.

[Winston]

He very nearly took away any hope for the future for the people of the strongest power on the planet, and people, at least here, laughed at him just about everywhere he went.

All this on the backdrop of a scandalized Republican party, which should have given him an easy time pursuing his agenda, if he'd only had one...

And that's leaving aside for the moment his catastrophic foreign policy appearance.

Even four years after he left, his VP got thoroughly trashed in the elections just from having had association with the man. For the good of the USA, if it hadn't been for Reagan, I shudder to think what would've happened.