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

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by Elok


That was the aforementioned William Henry Harrison, but he was before the Civil War. Silly twit had the longest inauguration speech in history only to die a month later of pneumonia. People blamed the pneumonia on his having worn only a suit during the absolutely frigid weather of his inauguration, for the 2+ hours it took him to finish his speech. That doesn't fit the germ theory, but it probably didn't do his immune system any good to freeze like that.

Actually, the one Fez was asking about was James Garfield, who was inaugurated in March 1881, shot by an assassin that summer, languished, and died in September. Fun fact: While Garfield was languishing, Alexander Graham Bell was called to the White House to see if his new telephonic technology could be use din any way to help locate the bullet still lodged in the president. Bell had created a sort or electric stethescope and, iirc, did succeed in locating the bullet -- but its location made it inoperable. Garfield eventually died of an infection associated with teh wound (again, iirc).

[Ramo]

Then there's William McKinley (another bastard, of course) who was knocked off by an anarchist.

[Shogun Gunner]

Jefferson Davis

[mrmitchell]

Actually, the one Fez was asking about was James Garfield, who was inaugurated in March 1881, shot by an assassin that summer, languished, and died in September. Fun fact: While Garfield was languishing, Alexander Graham Bell was called to the White House to see if his new telephonic technology could be use din any way to help locate the bullet still lodged in the president. Bell had created a sort or electric stethescope and, iirc, did succeed in locating the bullet -- but its location made it inoperable. Garfield eventually died of an infection associated with teh wound (again, iirc).

I always heard the less likely but far more humorous story that the ignert doctors of the time spent their days prodding at him with bare, unwashed fingers and aggrivating his pain. The unsanitary operating gave him the infection that killed him, and while Bell did invent an "electric stethoscope," it didn't detect the bullet but instead it detected the metal springs in Garfield's bed, which caused more unnecessary poking and cutting from the doctors.

Jefferson Davis

Sorry, smartass. Davis was never president of the Union.

However, he was the worst President of the Confederacy...along with the best...and first...and last...and only one

[GhengisFarbâ„¢]

Originally posted by Shogun Gunner
Jefferson Davis

Good point, a President who actually did run his nation into nonexistence.

[JohnT]

Originally posted by GhengisFarb

Good point, a President who actually did run his nation into nonexistence.

Sort of like Gorbachev, who did the same for his nation, but is bizarrely seen as some sort of Great Leader.

[Ted Striker]

Originally posted by Berzerker
I have to disagree about Carter, he inherited the aftermath of Vietnam - a bunch of 3rd world countries "allied" with the US under threat of rebellion from native populations fed up with dictators. The commies would have loved to see us jump right back into the frying pan so soon after Vietnam.

Instead, Carter avoided military invasions resorting to arming the resistance in places like Afghanistan and Nicaragua (morally repugnant, but effective) with the former quickly becoming the "Vietnam" and downfall of the Soviets. Think about that, Carter could have gotten us into 2 or 3 Vietnams but instead turned that huge dis-advantage into a big plus - it was the Russians shedding blood and treasure in Afghanistan, not us in Iran, Nicaragua, etc... I believe Carter should get more credit for ending the Cold War, even more than Reagan. Reagan continued Carter's covert war strategy and kept us out of major wars so he deserves alot of credit, but it was Carter who dodged the minefields created by Vietnam. Had Reagan been President in '77-80 he may very well have stepped on them because of the anti-commie zealots who still believed in that domino theory nonsense.

[Evil Knevil]

Originally posted by JohnT


Sort of like Gorbachev, who did the same for his nation, but is bizarrely seen as some sort of Great Leader.

Not to most Russians, I can assure you!

[Last Conformist]

Originally posted by JohnT


Sort of like Gorbachev, who did the same for his nation, but is bizarrely seen as some sort of Great Leader.

That's what photogenicity can do for you.

[Jaguar]

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

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
Andrew Jackson.

As usual, Kuci is right.

[Sava]

Reagan, Nixon, George W. BUSH

**** your rules... Elok.

[David Floyd]

So many bad ones to choose from, so few good ones.....

The three I hate the most are the ones Berzerker already brought up - FDR, Lincoln, and LBJ, probably in that order, for their efforts in shredding the US Constitution. For example, Lincoln's decision to ignore the Supreme Court in Ex parte Merryman strikes me as one of the worst abuses of power in the history of the Presidency - far, far worse than anything Nixon did.

Franklin Roosevelt violated the Constitution so regularly, the only way his New Deal became Constitution was through his threats to pack the Supreme Court. SCOTUS began to see things his way more often after that Court Packing mess, but the timing of the decisions against FDR vs. those in his favor is sort of telling.

Put another way, without FDR's threat to pack the court (an abuse of power up their with Lincoln's Merryman decision in my book), most of his legislative programs that had not already been found unconstitutional would undoubtedly have been found as such.

FDR also was conducting an illegal undeclared war against Germany, and trying to do anything he could to get the US into the biggest bloodbath in history, otherwise known as WW2.

Lyndon Johnson also pretty horrible - his war on poverty was not only not all that effective, but also mostly unconstitutional. Almost as bad was his decision to get us heavily involved in Vietnam - whereas, if JFK had lived, we quite possibly would have pulled out - and then his insistence upon micromanaging the war once we got into it. Although I can't stand LBJ, he does at least have the dubious virtue of not being as bad as Lincoln and FDR.

Woodrow Wilson is also pretty high up on my list of "worst Presidents" - not only did he get us into WW1, but he also played imperialist games in the Caribbean and Central America, and once we were in the Great War, his administration quelled dissent everywhere they could find it, and created a propaganda of hate against the Germans - in some ways, Wilson stirred up more hatred against the Germany of WW1 in the US than FDR was able to stir up against Nazi Germany, in my opinion. Wilson's administration actively prosecuted ANYONE who disagreed with the war, the draft, or any measures in support of either - people actually went to prison for saying they felt that the war or draft was wrong.

Andrew Jackson also particularly stirs up my ire, not only for his treatment of the Indians, but also the fact that he was perfectly willing to ignore the Supreme Court. See Worcester v. Georgia - essentially, SCOTUS struck down the Indian Removal Act of 1830, and Jackson refused to uphold SCOTUS's verdict.

[Broken_Erika]

Originally posted by JohnT


Sort of like Gorbachev, who did the same for his nation, but is bizarrely seen as some sort of Great Leader.

i think gorbachev works at a fast food resturaunt now

[Ted Striker]

.

[Broken_Erika]

they say how bad clinton was but, his popularity soared even higher after the monica thing, and the economy also soared while he was president, so lets just leave him out.