Worst Former American President?

[Zecora]

Worst one? Reagan. Although Bush JR did his best to top him.

[Deleted]

Besides I have this feeling this "worst president" title will go to the next president in a few years. And it'll be an endless cycle.

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I heard that up until his impeachment nixon wasn't doing TOO bad. Not 100% on that though

Obama will be listed a lot higher on the hate table purely due social media.

[Annoying]

Harding or Pierce.

[Deleted]

Nixon was the devil.

[satimy]

Reagan traded short term prosperity for future uncertainty and debt, he is one of the worst deficit spenders, war hawks and one of the best uniters and speakers. If Nixon had just burned those damn watergate tapes he probably would be considered in the top tier.

[Cybran]

There are too many to chose from. Washington killed POWs. Reagan supported Genocide in South America. Clinton bombed without a UN mandate Serbia to shift attention from his dick sucking scandal.


http://www.slate.com/articles/news_a..._genocide.html

Of course, contemporary Native American communities have much bigger problems than whose face is on a bill. The Pima Indians in Arizona have the highest rate of diabetes in the world. A Native American woman has a 1-in-3 chance of being raped during her lifetime—more than twice the national average. There’s an epidemic of suicide among Native American teenagers and youth. Rates of unemployment in Native American communities are disproportionately high—not surprising, since inferior reservation lands are often unsuitable for farming and a lack of infrastructure makes it difficult for other businesses to succeed. Dropout rates at reservation schools are among the highest in the country. There’s a housing shortage on tribal lands. Native American areas have been disproportionately used as radioactive waste dumps.

The worst however has to be Andrew "Sharp Knife" or "Indian Killer" Jackson. Thanks to his policies Native Americans still suffer.

[Twotonsteak]

Nixon for his use (and abuse) of the IRS, as well as other Governmental tools, to spy on and attack his political enemies. (Sound familiar.)

I'm also going to go out on a limb and say Lincoln. Yes he lead us through the Civil War. But there are stories about him granting state-hood to territories that didn't met the legal requirements, in exchange for their electoral votes.

Over-all, though, Nixon.

[Frumious Bandersnatch]

As far as recent history (~100 years), George W. Bush. No question about it.

He was an absolute embarrassment to the United States. He embodied every horrible stereotype you could think of; a rampant drug abuser, horribly illiterate, horrifically warmongering, a controversial military record (which makes the warmongering even worse!), and a grade A puppet on top of it all. The mess he left behind was so incredibly epic that even someone as competent, charismatic, and intelligent as Barack Obama couldn't fix it, and of course now he's getting all the hatred for what his predecessors actually caused. Nevermind Congress being douchebags for the sake of being douchebags.

Compare that ot someone like, say, Nixon. All things considered, he was a very noteworthy president. His only real mistake was being shady about dealing with questionable organizations, which honestly had little to do with him acting as President. As President, he did a number of truly remarkable things, such as helping to open up China, ending the Vietnam War, and the large scale integration of public schools just to name a few off the top of my head.

The fact that George W. Bush got re-elected after not even winning his first election, however, says incredibly horrible things about Americans in general. At least they almost redeemed themselves with Obama, but with the general hatred he's getting now, whatever good will they earned by electing him has been flushed down the toliet.

[Chinese Bootlickers]

Reagan.I could go on and on about how bad he was, but I think arming what would eventually become Al-Qaeda stands out among is shenanigans.

[Gwiez]

Jackson. I'm not a big fan of ethnic cleansing.

And I expect that many sitting presidents are considered "the worst president ever" by the opposite political party.

[ScrappyMuffy]

He cleared the land of the savage tribes and gave way to development into the western united states with the Louisiana purchase. Im sorry that its tragic for the natives, but if no one done it then north america would be still french and spanish territory.

Racism is a hell of a drug.


On topic though, even with a degree in History (or perhaps because of it), it's really hard for me to say. I would want to determine it by looking at the ramifications of a Presidency, rather than how popular / unpopular he was.

With that in mind, recent presidents are pretty much out of the question, as we just don't know yet. Even as far back as Clinton or Reagan is hard to determine, as they're still very politically charged topics of conversation today.

For example, Reagan did make a lot of the initial steps which lead to today's insane wealth gap, but we have yet to determine whether this is ultimately good or bad for America as a whole (as we're still living in it).

I don't think I'd say Nixon, because despite his over-reaching (for which he was rightly ousted), his opening up trade to China has been great for both our economies, and can probably be thanked for us not having a lot more issues with them today.

Andrew Jackson's treatment of the natives is pretty appalling, as was his disregard for the other branches of his own government. However, his "success" is pretty ambiguous (which is scary) because we almost certainly wouldn't be the superpower we are today if this hadn't taken place. A good example would be the Russians' relationship with Stalin, as he murdered millions of people while bringing his country into the modern age.

If you're not a fan of big government, than FDR is probably your least favorite, as he did more than almost any other to expand its power. But to be fair, it means you'd be giving up Social Security (you'll be taking care of Grandma), Federal Relief (Hurricane? Deal with it), housing standards (ever heard of Kowloon walled city?), and several other programs that did more good than bad. Also, FDR accomplished a lot of what he set out to do over his three-and-a-half terms, which would entail that he was actually very good at being President.


So if I'm looking for the "worst" president, I would look at the men that people (rightly) don't remember. Somebody like James Buchanan, who went along with and even supported policies which were completely against his and his party's ideals (like slavery). He essentially sat in office and said "I don't like the way things are, but I'm not going to do anything about them".

Hoover is also tagged quite often as the "do-nothing" president, as he presided over the start of the Great Depression, and didn't do a whole lot to stop it. While I don't think you can begin to tag him for being responsible for the collapse, his handling of it is either good or bad depending on your political beliefs. Still, it made him extremely unpopular at the time.

[Gheld]

I think Ronald Dixon was pretty bad. That scandal with that young lady where he broke into that office and started some war over golf. It's no wonder he got assassinated on the moon.

[Xargoth6634]

Andrew Jackson. /thread. No seriously though, Andrew Jackson was literally crazy and rationalized both genocide and economic sabotage. He's on the $20 as a snarky remark on his war against the bank.

I'm tempted to agree with this.

[Foosha]

I'm always surprised in these types of topics no one mentions LBJ. Was he just so terrible people purge him from their minds? Got into presidency by JFK's assasination, and then just left a trail of destuction. And dont give me the "he played a big part in civil rights". It was imminent with or without him

[Jetstream]

... Okay I only skimmed the first page but why is nobody saying Warren G. Harding?

[NYC17]

... Okay I only skimmed the first page but why is nobody saying Warren G. Harding?

Someone threw his name in there earlier I believe. I'm starting to wonder if this is because of Boardwalk Empire though.

[Masark]

... Okay I only skimmed the first page but why is nobody saying Warren G. Harding?

He's been mentioned 8 times so far.

[Raamm]

Zachary Taylor he wasn't able to prevent the United States Civil War. Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover presided over the catalyst for the Great Depression.

[Mahourai]

Jackson and it isn't close. Reagan is the worst of the last 100 years though.