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

[Elok]

Originally posted by Giancarlo
Who was the US president in 1881 and only served a month or something?

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.

JFK wasn't terribly competent, but from what I know of him he kicked segregation's butt and he really energized the nation. He inherited the Bay of Pigs plot from Eisenhower, and the craziness of the Cuban Missile Crisis eventually paid off. Was he so bad after all?

[mrmitchell]

Are some people still obsessed with Clinton's penis eight years after Monica?

Yes.

I think we should exclude nominations after 1980. History hasn't given us enough time since then, and nominations after 1980 will be almost undeniably politically motivated. 1976 is a shaky number itself; some of the rabid Carter nominations come from rabid conservatives.

for a little additional information on my nominations:
Grant - corrupt drunk
Hoover - ignored the Great Depression
Nixon - greedy ass plus Watergate

[Imran Siddiqui]

You think JFK was worse then Hoover?

Yes. At least I do.

[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.

[Mrs. Tuberski]

Are we all deluding aresleves to believe the president is all the power? the question might have read who was the worst house and senate no?

[Last Conformist]

Feel free to start a new thread on the worst congresses.

[Berzerker]

[Dr Strangelove]

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.

I agree with your analysis. Carter's main flaw was an inability to deal with the inflation crisis.

[DanS]

Are we all deluding aresleves to believe the president is all the power? the question might have read who was the worst house and senate no?

Before the Great Depression, the federal government only had very little impact on Americans' lives. Grant or Harding drinking their lives away (or the congress, in the alternative) had a pretty limited impact.

[GhengisFarb™]

Originally posted by Jaguar

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

But you got the wrong Roosevelt.

[Berzerker]

Their greatest power is getting us into wars even though that power supposedly resides with Congress.

[FredKarno]

Inredible! The bloke who started this thread says we can't vote for Bush-baby for the tag of being the worst US president ever.
As an arch-reactionary, I therfore nominate the childish-christian bushy-boy as the worst. Reasons? Do you need reasons? What fool would take in my reason?
The horrible thing is this - GWBush is a reqonisible human being with all his faults. Spare a thought for us poor folks who are resident in the tiny offshoot known as 'cool brittania', labelled thus by its great leader ALL HAIL blair. This thing is a monster from another dimension of being not of this universe, where thought and reason do not exist. It is therefore impossible to understand it, or have any empathy with it. Words totally fail. You yanks are so lucky!

[Kuciwalker]

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

Andrew Jackson.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by FredKarno
Inredible! The bloke who started this thread says we can't vote for Bush-baby for the tag of being the worst US president ever.

Because it kinda takes the point out of the entire thread, dumbass.

[Evil Knevil]

Okay seriously I don't know, but Nixon's got to rank pretty highly, so corrupt and venal and utterly lacking charm... at least in our media age.

Before that, I'd have to go with Jackson. A moron pure and simple.