The good and bad (US) Presidents of the last 70 years

[Jaguar]

Post your opinions of the last 12 US presidents. You can use any scale you wish, but make it understandable. Post reasoning if you want. Here they are for those who are European or stupid or Canadian or drunk.

Roosevelt
Truman
Eisenhower
Kennedy
Johnson
Nixon
Ford
Carter
Reagan
Bush I
Clinton
Bush II


My grades are out of 10. If someone wants the reasoning behind one of my ratings, I'll post it, but otherwise I'm too lazy.

Roosevelt - 8
Truman - 7
Eisenhower - 10
Kennedy - 7
Johnson - 7
Nixon - 2
Ford - 3
Carter - 1
Reagan - 8
Bush I - 5
Clinton - 4
Bush II - 5.5

[Jaguar]

someone rated this 1 star. I guess I offended a Jimmy Carter fan.

[Zkribbler]

Re: The good and bad (US) Presidents of the last 70 years

Too bad you didn't go back to the turn of the century. I'd have given Teddy a 10.

Roosevelt - 9
Truman - 8
Eisenhower -7
Kennedy - 5
Johnson - 6
Nixon - 2
Ford - 4
Carter - 4
Reagan - 3
Bush I - 5
Clinton - 7
Bush II - 4

Plus bonus points to Ford & Carter for their honesty.

[orange]

Chronologically
Roosevelt - 3
Truman - 2
Eisenhower - 3
Kennedy - 2
Johnson - 7
Nixon - 6
Ford - 5
Carter - 4
Reagan - 1
Bush I - 2
Clinton - 5
Bush II - 1

Highest-Lowest
Johnson - 7
Nixon - 6
Clinton - 5
Ford - 5
Carter - 4
Roosevelt - 3
Eisenhower - 3
Truman - 2
Kennedy - 2
Bush I - 2
Bush II - 1
Reagan - 1

[David Floyd]

Roosevelt - 1
Truman - 1
Eisenhower - 1
Kennedy - 1
Johnson - 1
Nixon - 1
Ford - 1
Carter - 1
Reagan - 1
Bush I - 1
Clinton - 1
Bush II - 1

[Capt Dizle]

Roosevelt - 9, probably one of the 4 or 5 most important presidencies in American history
Truman - 5, along with Carter one of the most honest to his beliefs and would be rated higher but that he dropped the second bomb
Eisenhower - 6, was an important bridge to civil rights
Kennedy - 5, our Hollywood president made as many mistakes as strong moves
Johnson - 4, just totally blew it in Vietnam, a politician not a statesman
Nixon - 6, other than the fact that he was a crook he understood geopolitics and did some good things
Ford - 4, just average in all respects
Carter - 3, a poor leader who inspired no one but the weepy eyed, a great man but not presidential timber
Reagan - 7, Soviet killer, an America hero
Bush I - 4, its hard to give him a 4, but, worst mistake in our recent history not finishing still another war
Clinton - 6, one of most able politicians in our history who blew it by not being able to tell the truth about a simple indiscretion
Bush II - 5, goes to 6 if he stays the course and restores American prestige in the Middle East, hard to rate him in advance

[orange]

Originally posted by David Floyd
Roosevelt - 1
Truman - 1
Eisenhower - 1
Kennedy - 1
Johnson - 1
Nixon - 1
Ford - 1
Carter - 1
Reagan - 1
Bush I - 1
Clinton - 1
Bush II - 1

c'mon, surely you like some better than others? Even if they're all 'bad'

[orange]

Originally posted by jimmytrick
Eisenhower - 6, was an important bridge to civil rights

I don't think Dwighty loved the black man as much as the actions of his presidency might lead you to believe...

[Capt Dizle]

Originally posted by orange


I don't think Dwighty loved the black man as much as the actions of his presidency might lead you to believe...

and thats why he gets credit

[David Floyd]

OK, here's some justifications:

Roosevelt - 1, started tons of wealth transfer programs, massive income taxes, and got us involved in WW2
Truman - 1, dropped the atomic bomb, involved us in Korea, tried to nationalize industry for war effort
Eisenhower - 1, involved US in various defense agreements around the world, did nothing to prevent Cold War, violated the airspace of the Soviet Union and then lied about it
Kennedy - 1, immoral and inconsistent SOB, JFK's immorality and inconsistency resulted in the Cuban Missile Crisis, lied to the American public about a "missile gap", began involvement in Vietnam
Johnson - 1, accelerated wealth transfer programs, accelerated involvement in Vietnam
Nixon - 1, withdrew recognition of Taiwan in favor of communist China (morally should have recognized both), lied to American public multiple times, insisted on peace with honor instead of just peace
Ford - 1, pardoned Nixon, don't know too much else about the guy except that his presidency had no redeeming qualities
Carter - 1, see above
Reagan - 1, lied multiple times to Congress, started large military buildup, intentionally threatened the Soviets, invaded Grenada, etc.
Bush I - 1, involved the US in Gulf War, lied to the US public about taxes, invaded Panama, etc.
Clinton - 1, wealth transfer programs, frequent liar, bombed innocent civilians/aspirin factory, etc.
Bush II - 1, USA Patriot Act, squandered goodwill after 9/11, ignores will of the people, large defense buildup, intentionally threatening towards Iraq, Iran, North Korea, responsible for John Ashcroft entering the Executive Branch, etc.

[David Floyd]

c'mon, surely you like some better than others? Even if they're all 'bad'

Hmmm. Carter was probably the least offensive of the bunch, but that's only relative.

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

Roosevelt B+
Truman B
Eisenhower C
Kennedy F
Johnson B+
Nixon C
Ford C-
Carter C+
Reagan - B-
Bush I D
Clinton B
Bush II D-


And, as a bonus:

King C
St. Laurent C+
Diefenbaker B-
Pearson B+
Trudeau B+
Turner D
Mulroney D
Campbell F
Chretien C-


Stalin B-
Beria/Malenkov etc F
Khrushchev B
Brezhnev B+
Andropov C
Chernenko D
Gorbachev C+



Thatcher C+
Major D
Blair C

awww tired of it now

[David Floyd]

Stalin B-

Carter C+

Ummmm, I'm curious how you would justify ranking Stalin ABOVE Carter. What are you basing this on? Certainly not inherent goodness, or number of crimes committed, I'm sure.

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

Love him or hate him, Stalin made the USSR into a global power. The USSR was nothing when he took power, when he died they were the world's first or 2nd strongest nation.

Killing all those people in the 30s purges lowers his score... but something similar could be said for most of the people on most countries' lists.

Carter didn't do anything bad, but not much good either. Although someone once told me he created more national parks than any president since T. Roosevelt

[David Floyd]

Oh. My criteria had to do with morality, not effectiveness.