Best and Worst U.S. Presidents?

BuddyRey

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This is a favorite subject of historians (both novice and seasoned). Who do you think would best fit under the banners of "Best U.S. Presidents" and "Worst U.S. Presidents", keeping in mind that one's answers are not restricted to the immediate past (i.e. the last century)?

My picks:

Best U.S. President - After some evaluation, I've come to the tragic but inevitable conclusion that we haven't had a "great" or even "good" U.S. President since Calvin Coolidge. Silent Cal's not talked about very often, because he didn't do very much while in office. But this is exactly what made him so great. He believed in non-interventionism, hesitated to sign on to international agreements, and kept his hands off of the economy. The only blemishes on his otherwise exemplary time in office that I can find were the draconian Immigration Act of 1924, and the Radio Act of 1927, which increased government control of the airwaves through a newly created Federal Radio Commission. Tsk tsk tsk, naughty Cal!

Worst U.S. President - It's hard to overemphasize what a disastrously tyrannical despot Woodrow Wilson was. He was a Democrat, but arguably one of the first neoconservatives too. Everything from making "anti-government" speech illegal with the Sedition Act of 1918, to driving a steamroller over the Constitution with the illegal Federal Reserve Act. The only occasion on which he erred on the side of reason and personal responsibility was when he attempted to veto the Volstead Act. Too bad he failed, because Prohibition, and all the evils it unleashed on society in the forms of organized crime, police corruption, and lives destroyed, could have been completely averted.
 
Best US President: Thomas Jefferson

Worst US President: Abe Lincoln (who happens to share a first name with our worst troll)
 
Best US President: Thomas Jefferson

Worst US President: Abe Lincoln (who happens to share a first name with our worst troll)

Wow, was Lincoln really that bad? I'll admit I never really looked into anything about him but wasn't he "honest" and signed the emancipation proclamation?

Maybe those public school history classes still have a hold on my mind to an extent?
 
Wow, was Lincoln really that bad? I'll admit I never really looked into anything about him but wasn't he "honest" and signed the emancipation proclamation?

Maybe those public school history classes still have a hold on my mind to an extent?

He also invaded a sovereign country, and proceeded to murder that country's citizens as well as Native Americans (who supported the South, for the most part).
 
He also invaded a sovereign country, and proceeded to murder that country's citizens as well as Native Americans (who supported the South, for the most part).

Ah yeah, I guess I forgot about that whole ordeal, if by sovereign nation you mean the confederate states of america. If not, then you'll have to enlighten me
 
Ah yeah, I guess I forgot about that whole ordeal, if by sovereign nation you mean the confederate states of america. If not, then you'll have to enlighten me

Well, he invaded multiple ones of you count Indian land.
 
Well, he invaded multiple ones of you count Indian land.

Maybe it's the liberal influence on my brain but didn't the founding fathers do the same thing? I'm not trying to be a troll or downtalk the fathers but I've always been under the impression that US history was built upon the graves of native ways and beaten slaves?
 
Maybe it's the liberal influence on my brain but didn't the founding fathers do the same thing? I'm not trying to be a troll or downtalk the fathers but I've always been under the impression that US history was built upon the graves of native ways and beaten slaves?

The founders, for the most part, let the Indians be, it was people like Jackson who decided to be shit disturbers. The only two just wars we have fought against the Indians I can think of were the Creek Wars and Tecumseh's Rebellion, but other than that unconstitutional policies caused war with the natives, similar to our modern foreign policy.
 
The founders, for the most part, let the Indians be, it was people like Jackson who decided to be shit disturbers. The only two just wars we have fought against the Indians I can think of were the Creek Wars and Tecumseh's Rebellion, but other than that unconstitutional policies caused war with the natives, similar to our modern foreign policy.

I guess that makes sense.
 
Best- Abe Lincoln

Worst- Tie between Thomas Jefferson and Calvin Coolidge

If this is serious, you are not a member of any political ideology that has cast a single vote for Ron Paul.
 
Best - Cool Cal, reversing some gov't regulation. It's unfortunate he's known by our history books as a miserly and frail old man who only entertained big business, and laying the foundation for the Great Depression.

Worst - Ronald Reagan. Yep. He hijacked the GOP, he started the "Family Values" pandering on a grand scale, which all GOP nominees have followed to date. He really pushed the ridiculous "War on Drugs" and failed to give rational rationale for his statist laws.
 
Best - Cool Cal, reversing some gov't regulation. It's unfortunate he's known by our history books as a miserly and frail old man who only entertained big business, and laying the foundation for the Great Depression.

Worst - Ronald Reagan. Yep. He hijacked the GOP, he started the "Family Values" pandering on a grand scale, which all GOP nominees have followed to date. He really pushed the ridiculous "War on Drugs" and failed to give rational rationale for his statist laws.

Ronald Reagan hasn't done as much done as much damage as our first super-statist President who paved the way for the others. That man was Lincoln.
 
Worst - Ronald Reagan. Yep. He hijacked the GOP, he started the "Family Values" pandering on a grand scale, which all GOP nominees have followed to date. He really pushed the ridiculous "War on Drugs" and failed to give rational rationale for his statist laws.

QFT! I'll never understand the undying reverence most conservatives (even those of a very libertarian bent) have for Reagan. He massively inflated the size and scope of government, ramped up the already disastrous War on Drugs, and gave many of today's top neocons their first cabinet-level appointments. All of this alone would have been quite sufficient to amount to a failed Presidency, even without the debacle of Iran-Contra!

Best article on Reagan I think I've ever read, from the late Murray Rothbard:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard60.html
 
Nice thread you guys are def. History Professor level thinkers - I'm learning every day from u guys
 
He also invaded a sovereign country, and proceeded to murder that country's citizens as well as Native Americans (who supported the South, for the most part).

I understand that. But, what about the blacks and their freedom? How would they go about gaining their individual rights?
 
Best: Jefferson & Andrew Jackson...

HELLOO --- they killed the FED.

Worst: Wilson, for Federal Reserve act.
Bush..

They've all played their part. Nixon - watergate. Reagan - Iran Contra etc....
 
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