Who ,in your opinion , was or is the worst American president in history and why ?
Please , Bush-haters , try not to get too vocal on this one and please do try to stay within the parameters of the question ( ie. don't go ranting on about " Imperialist aggression " etc.) as I don't want this descending into a "We Hate Bush " rally.
Just stay concise and pleasant and I'm sure everyone'll be happy.
I don't believe any of the recent Presidents, (Clinton and W.) were that awful, but I can say that there were even worse presidents in the past. I'd probably say Herbert Hoover was pretty bad, as during his term, the US economy actually went into the "Great Depression."
I am sure that some would say the same about the current Bush, but I don't think that would be so.
Apparently, I have been declared banished.
President Reagan; talking about robbing people of their conscience.
Damn Ronald Reagan, damn you all to hell.
Herbert Hoover. The shanytowns were called hoovervilles for a reason. Helloooo earth to president ... nobody has a job ...
George W. Bush is one of the worst that there ever has been for a lot of reasons but I think there are a few others that would beat him. I don't really agree with Hoover being a terrible president because of the party stance at the time. The do nothings from what I understand. To my knowledge they would try to leave things as they are and just let what ever would happen happen as it is the natural flow of things. After that FDR came in and was the exact opposite and did everything for everyone.
I will think about this later and give my answer.
Forgive me if i sound like an ignorant forigner but I think they worst president you Americans have had is Richard "I am not a crook" Nixon. oooo boy Watergate...
I liked Kennady the best.
Nixon wasn't all that bad. He just got caught.
.opt
Hoover (Great Depression), Buchanan (Civil War), Bush Jr. (Complete idiot)
ronald reagan is great he destroyed communism.Originally Posted by Chris
President Reagan; talking about robbing people of their conscience.
Damn Ronald Reagan, damn you all to hell.
Your sig is too hilarious and witty, thus i have removed it to protect the minds of all forum goers
-The allways inspiring leeza
Ronald Reagan was the greatest president America has ever had. Dealt Communism its deathblow, restored confidence in America, and brought us out of a recession so bad (20+% interest rates, double-digit inflation) that it may very well have otherwise slid into another depression.
As far as the worst, there are quite a few:
Andrew Jackson, whose "Tariff of Abominations" nearly started the Civil War 30 years early.
Abraham Lincoln, who invaded and annexed the Confederate States of America, engaged in brutal repression in his own nation, ordered Sherman's March to the Sea, and ushered in the most brutal rape of a nation that the United States--or most other nations, for that matter--have ever engaged in.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, whose actions prolonged and worsened the Great Depression, and added to Stalin's power, causing problems that it would take decades to solve and cause untold repression before then.
Jimmy Carter, whose betrayal of the Shah allowed Khomeini and his goons to take over Iran, whose general wussiness with the Arab nations brought about an oil crises, and whose government policies gave us a thoroughly nasty recession.
But hands-down the worst--Bill Clinton.
Presided over the largest tax increase in American history, bombed a camel and a Sudanese aspirin factory on the day of Monica Lewinsky's testimony, started a bombing campaign in Iraq that just happened to begin the day his impeachment was scheduled, tried to blame the Oklahoma City Bombing on Rush Limbaugh, used the FBI to gather evidence on his political opponents, groped pretty nearly everything that wore a skirt and didn't sing bass, committed felonies to cover up his adolescent sexcapades, has at least one credible accusation of rape standing against him, nearly eviscerated our armed forces, allowed the build-up of Osama bin Laden's power and his many and varied terrorist actions against the US that culminated in 9-11--I could go on for pages without listing it all.
Not being American, I'm merely stating on an outside view so forgive me if some points are mute.
Looking at history there have been a few seriously BAD presidents. One of the worst, so far, is your present one. George W. Bush. He has zero respect world wide. He has alienated the US from the world more than any other President. I don't want to turn this into an Anti-Bush slam either, but if he qualifies, and he does, then you simply can't exclude him on the basis that many people will agree with you.
Bush has time left to change things, and I hope he does. He has positive qualities. He's headstrong, unwaivering and won't be used. His major fall-points are his public speaking and his apparent lack of control over his underlings. An example of this is when you heard Bush talk about nation building in Iraq then suddenly Rumseld in an interview with NY Times states that he doesn't believe it's the US job to rebuild Iraq. I'm sorry, you can't walk away from a situation half-finished. Regarding that war, I'm not entirely against it. An evil dictator has been disposted. His threat was GREATLY exaggerated but he has many innocent peoples blood on his hands, a lot of them were his own people. The fact the US chose to invade Iraq to dispose of a despotic dictator, a country with the biggest oil reserves in the world but chose to leave Zimbabwe, Sudan, Ivory Coast etc alone does give a hint at what really drove them there.
He needs to work on his foreign policy again. This 'If you're not with us, you're against us' attitude resonates a siege type mentality and we all know what happens to a city under siege, the population is isolated and eventually starved. The US Government are not 100% to blame for the rift with Europe. The French & German Government's reasons for not backing the war are not entirely innocent & involve oil too. Their Government's are equally as pig-headed as the US. The Western World cannot afford this in-fighting, there are totalitarian governments in the East rubbing their hands with glee at this.
Despite all this, I'm in two minds as to whether to include Bush at all. He isn't the first president that declared war (even if war wasn't 'officially' declared) on a nation that had not attacked the US or was an 'immediate' threat to the US. FDR did it against Germany, Truman did it in Korea, Kennedy in Vietnam (although mostly unwittingly it has to be said), Johnston escilated that war to an extreme the US had never imagined. Yet all but one of those wars, maybe two, had a noble cause and are looked upon on history as the right thing to do. I'm going to wait until this war is over before I judge what category Iraq falls into.
Lastly, but most importantly, his term is not over yet. Before I throw him into the pit of 'worst' presidents, I want to see if he can save & redeem some of the recent situations he has found himself in. Second Term is usually most productive.
On TRUELY worst I believe the honour is shared by 4.
Richard Nixon - need you ask?
U.S. Grant - corrupt as hell
Warren Harding - used his position to do absolutely NOTHING
James Buchanen - sat back & waved hello to secession.
Naming Clinton as one of your worst presidents is a bad politically-motivated mistake. In recent times he had done more than any other, possibly in 50 years, to build bridges across the world. Ofcourse I talk merely of foreign policy as that, as I've said, is what a non-US national sees most often. He virtually single0handedly, brought Peace here in Northern Ireland. He did a great deal for this little country and for that, I offer him my defence and time, which is all I can do.
Last edited by Cuchulainn; 05-04-2005 at 11:04 PM.
Probably Reagan. Nearly put us into another depression with his damned Reaganomics, turned the Republican party to the party of Christianity, "Star Wars," etc.
Ugh.
We need another Roosevelt.
lol signature
First of all, Reaganomics pulled us out of a recession. Ask someone who was around when Carter was president about the "Misery Index".
Second--please, please, please don't pull that "war for oil" ... line... again. You'd think if we were going to war for oil, we'd have actually taken some? If we wanted oil that badly, we could have just done like France, Germany, and Russia, and sold him a few weapons for a good contract.
And in all three of the wars you mentioned, the United States helped our allies to fend off invasion by a out-and-out horrific regime (except in Vietnam, where we started to and then betrayed our allies)
And Clinton got a spot on the bottom because he earned it--just a few of the reasons are mentioned in my earlier post.
http://maddox.xmission.com/tictacs.html
I love Maddox.
The Shah of Iran was an incredibly brutal regime. To say that Carter was a bad president because he 'betrayed' them is absurd. Judging by that statement, it certainly seems that you would be willing to support a dictator of a foreign country in exchange for a good economy and cheap oil.Jimmy Carter, whose betrayal of the Shah allowed Khomeini and his goons to take over Iran, whose general wussiness with the Arab nations brought about an oil crises, and whose government policies gave us a thoroughly nasty recession.
Posting Permissions
:temigi: 
