The 7 worst presidents of the past 100 years.

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The 7 worst presidents of the past 100 years.

Post by Crossroads Inc. »

At least according toThis Guy.

Ok lets do this. In the last 100 yeas we have had some real stinkers, so lets see just who is the worst of the worst...
Liberal historians have been ranking Presidents for years and of course there's always a heavy leftward skew to their evaluations. Republicans are inevitably ranked lower than they deserve to be while Democrats are sure to be portrayed in the kindest historical light. Here's a different take on the issue: A look at the worst Presidents of the last hundred years from a conservative perspective.
Right... And Republican presidents consistently being ranked among the worst is PURELY because of an evil Liberal bias, naturally. Which means right off the bat i guess hes out to grind his agenda rather then look at things objectivly. Lets do this.
7) Herbert Hoover (R):
Well, starting the list of with a Republican? Maybe this will be 'fair and blanced' ? Well hoover was a bad president, obviouslly he is on the list for his horrible financial policies and making a recession into a Depression..
Hoover didn't make the list because the Depression started on his watch. After all, it's not as if he created that problem. But, his protectionist Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act created a trade war at the worst possible time and helped lock the Depression in place.
Huh... Ok, so hes on the list not for being instrumentqal in ensuring the Depression, but because of a Tarriff Act? And he is in 7th place, so everyone after him, must be even worse!
6) Warren Harding (R):
Another Republican! Well no surpise there, Harding was a bastard, lets see what is said about him..
Harding was only in office for a couple of years before he died of a heart attack. The bright side to that silver lining for Harding was that much of the incredible corruption that was going on during his presidency wasn't revealed until after his death. The worst of these ignominious adventures was the "Teapot Dome scandal," which involved bribery and a new first in American politics -- a cabinet member, Albert Fall, being sent to jail.
NOT getting caught for his corruption, is the bright side? what an, intersting view point...
5) Richard Nixon (R):
Yet another Republican! And Nixon to boot, well obviouslly he is on the list for the crimes commited with Watergate
Not only was "Tricky Dick" Nixon almost impeached over Watergate, he shook the American people's faith in our government. Given the chronic overreach of the federal government, some might say that's a good thing. But, you generally get what you expect and if the American people don't expect competency, honesty, and decency from our government, we're not likely to get it.

Nixon did improve relations with China. He also put America in a position where we could have won in Vietnam had the Democrats in Congress not cut off supplies and air support to our former allies and left them to be slaughtered.

Still, Nixon did a lot of damage domestically. He created the out-of-control EPA and was primarily responsible for creating the federal government's Affirmative Action program, which codified discrimination against white Americans into the law. Additionally, he imposed wage and price controls that hurt the economy. That’s not much of a domestic legacy.
Wha... Wait, let me get this stright. He has Nixon in 5th, which means he must be worse then Hoover and Harding, but he spends half of his dissertation Defending Nixon? "Oh yes, he was a terrible guy, but he helped in China and almost won vietnam if it weren't for those damn liberals" What an, objective, review.. Ok lets keep going.
4) Jimmy Carter (D):
Ah, here it comes! We all knew this was coming, the rights favorite wipping boy!
Not only did Carter stand by and watch our ally, the Shah of Iran, get overthrown by fundamentalist crazies, he botched the Iranian hostage crisis that sprang from the overthrow in almost every way possible. It's also worth noting that the Soviets were inspired by Carter's naiveté to invade Afghanistan on his watch. In other words, both the war on terror and Iran's quest for nuclear weapons can be directly traced back to Jimmy Carter's presidency. To top off all of that incompetence, Carter gave away the Panama Canal.
Well, I knew they hated Carter, but goodness I didn't know he was directly responsable for the Russians invading Afghanistan! More to the point, I didn't know the invasion of Afghanastan was the start of the war on terror! Thats some impressive botching by Carter! And, excuse me if I'm wrong, but didn't we agree to give back the Panama Canal when we first built it? Well, lets keep moving...
3) Woodrow Wilson (D):
Well something we agree on! and in the #3 spot, Wilson is one of the worst of all time. How could anyone not think so?
Adding Wilson to this list was a tough call because he deserves a lot of credit for his leadership during WWI. Of course, the failure of the League of Nations and the Treaty of Versailles, both of which contributed significantly to WWII, also occurred on his watch. Additionally, speaking plainly, Wilson was also a fascist. Here's Jonah Goldberg describing American life under Wilson during WWI,

The first appearance of modern totalitarianism in the Western world wasn't in Italy or Germany but in the United States of America. How else would you describe a country where the world's first modern propaganda ministry was established; political prisoners by the thousands were harassed, beaten, spied upon, and thrown in jail simply for expressing private opinions; the national leader accused foreigners or immigrants of injecting treasonous "poison into the American bloodstream;" newspapers and magazines were shut down for criticizing the government; nearly a hundred thousand government propaganda agents were sent out among the people to whip up support for the regime and its war; college professors imposed loyalty oaths on their colleagues; nearly a quarter-million goons were given legal authority to intimidate and beat "slackers" and dissenters; and leading artists and writers dedicated their crafts to proselytizing for the government?

Admirable though Woodrow Wilson's leadership may have been during WWI, it doesn't make up for all of that.
Well, he certainlly didn't like Wilson, but its disturbing that, by default of being a "War President" seems to almost counter act the racist, corrupt and dictatorial acts of Wilson as president...
Well two mroe to go, who could possible be worse the Wilson?
2) Lyndon Johnson (D):
LBG? LBG is worse the Woodrow Wilson? This should be good...
You can thank Lyndon Johnson for dramatically ramping up our forces in Vietnam while simultaneously putting rules of engagement in place that made it nearly impossible for our troops to win the war. Then there was the Immigration Act of 1965, the Gun Control Act of 1968, riots in American cities, and the roots of the modern welfare state in America. While Lyndon Johnson deserves credit for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which was signed on his watch with lots of Republican help, Johnson can also fairly be blamed for instituting an extraordinary number of bad policies during his limited time in office.
So lets see... Evidently enacting Immagration reform, Gun control, and "hampering" the war in Vietnam automaticlly earns him a place above Wilson in terms of bad presidents... I'm starting to see where this is headed, Lets look now, at the WORST Presidnet in the las 100 years!
1) Barack Obama (D):
Surprised? A man who is less then 2 years into his presidancy? Well not really
Lets see why Obama is counted as worse then Wilson, Nixon, Hoover and harding.
It's impossible to fully evaluate Barack Obama's presidency because it's not over, but he has already done a devastating amount of damage in a freakishly short period of time. Happily, there's still some hope that the utter destruction of the American health care system that he's trying to implement can be reversed. The socialistic takeovers of whole segments of American industries that began in the final days of the Bush Administration and expanded under Obama can also still hopefully be reversed in the coming years. Additionally, we can still hope against hope that Iran will be stopped from getting nukes, that Obama won't lose the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that none of his other disastrous policies like Cap and Trade will be passed. (The word “hope” comes up with Obama as often today as it did during his campaign, just in a different context)

However, Obama's massive expansion of spending and government for domestic purposes is not only unique in American history; it came at the worst possible moment. At a time when there were genuine concerns in America and across the world that our country no longer has the intention or even the capability of paying off our debt, Barack Obama massively increased spending under the auspices of fighting a short term recession. In this case, the cure is almost certainly worse than the disease. Could America default on her debts because of what Obama is doing? Absolutely. Could this spending be the reason future generations of Americans aren't as prosperous as their parents? Certainly. Is it possible that we're literally experiencing the turning point that will take America from super power to economic basket case? Yes. This country is now facing its greatest moment of risk since World War II and it’s an entirely self-inflicted wound.
Wow! so there you have it! high spending, socilized healthcare for all, bailling out failing companies which are not financially secure, and investing in social programs earns Obama place as the WORST President of the past 100 years! Amazing! Truely we must be thankful to have this laid out so well before us! I will be happy to know that the America I see is virtually in ruins, coming apart at the seems! Indeed there must be rioting in the streets, society collasping as we speak for Obama to be credited as worst then Hoover, Harding, Nixon, and Woodrow Wilson!

But hold a sec, seems there is one more thing...
PS: Many conservatives will undoubtedly be asking why Franklin D. Roosevelt isn't on this list. Had the list merely dealt with domestic policy, he would have easily been a contender for the top spot. His awful management of the economy alone, which extended the Depression for years, would merit a top 3 spot. However, FDR's leadership during World War II was so meritorious that it simply could not be overlooked. That being said, FDR is often ranked by historians as one of America's great Presidents. A man whose greatness on the foreign policy front is quite nearly matched by the titanic damage he did to America on the domestic side certainly doesn't deserve that sort of honor.
Huh.. So once again we see that someone Precieved as 'extending the Depression' and thouht to do 'titanic damage to America' is obsolved of his actions for being a war president. Surely we know where the priorities of Republicans lay.
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Re: The 7 worst presidents of the past 100 years.

Post by D.Turtle »

Why doesn't Obama get a bonus for being a war president? :P
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Re: The 7 worst presidents of the past 100 years.

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D.Turtle wrote:Why doesn't Obama get a bonus for being a war president? :P
The war isn't big enough and the US isn't winning.
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Re: The 7 worst presidents of the past 100 years.

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muse wrote:The war isn't big enough and the US isn't winning.
But, but, but Nixon got his handling of Vietnam as a plus! :D
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Re: The 7 worst presidents of the past 100 years.

Post by General Zod »

No mention of Reagan or Ford? How. . . not shocking at all.
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Re: The 7 worst presidents of the past 100 years.

Post by GrandMasterTerwynn »

muse wrote:
D.Turtle wrote:Why doesn't Obama get a bonus for being a war president? :P
The war isn't big enough and the US isn't winning.
It's also Bush the Lesser's war, so thus, all success in the war will be attributed to him. All the war's failures will be blamed on Obama. Including the inconvenient ones such as "We shouldn't have gone in there to begin with."
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Re: The 7 worst presidents of the past 100 years.

Post by Crossroads Inc. »

The other day, partially spurred by this 'list' I actually got to ask a self addmited "Tea Party-ier" the following.

"During Bush, conservatives said again and again we had to support Buhs no mater what because we were at war. We are still at war so why don't you support Obama?"

The response, without a hint of sarcasim came:

"Because Obama isn't a President, he is out to destroy America, no one should support a tyrant!"

The rigth wing of America, where Logic goes to die.
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Re: The 7 worst presidents of the past 100 years.

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This should be interesting.
Crossroads Inc wrote:NOT getting caught for his corruption, is the bright side? what an, intersting view point...
It was presumably good for Harding, since he likely would have risked impeachment and disgrace if the scandals were revealed while he was still President.
Crossroads Inc wrote:Wha... Wait, let me get this stright. He has Nixon in 5th, which means he must be worse then Hoover and Harding, but he spends half of his dissertation Defending Nixon? "Oh yes, he was a terrible guy, but he helped in China and almost won vietnam if it weren't for those damn liberals" What an, objective, review.. Ok lets keep going.
Presumably it's a kind of "he has good and bad in extremes" type of viewpoint: Very good on foreign policy, very bad on domestic policy. I think Hawkins is mostly wrong on Nixon's domestic policy (although the price controls were a bad idea), but his comments on China and Vietnam are more or less correct - had the US not cut-off aid and weaponry to the South Vietnamese government, they might have fended off the North Vietnamese invasion in 1975.
Crossroads Inc wrote:So lets see... Evidently enacting Immagration reform, Gun control, and "hampering" the war in Vietnam automaticlly earns him a place above Wilson in terms of bad presidents... I'm starting to see where this is headed, Lets look now, at the WORST Presidnet in the las 100 years!
He's probably a bit of a closet(?) racist, since the Immigration Reforms in 1965 were the ones that allowed for far greater legal immigration from Asia and Latin America (before that, there were strict quotas designed to heavily favor immigrants from northern Europe). Not surprisingly, he hates any form of gun control or welfare legislation.

That said, LBJ is a tricky President to place. There's no question that he did a lot of good with his civil rights efforts, and I think his Great Society programs were at least a step in the right direction. On the other hand, much of his foreign policy (particularly on Vietnam) was absolutely abysmal.
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Re: The 7 worst presidents of the past 100 years.

Post by Liberty »

Wait a minute, LBJ passed Civil Rights legislation with "Lots of support from Republicans"? Right...
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Re: The 7 worst presidents of the past 100 years.

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Liberty wrote:Wait a minute, LBJ passed Civil Rights legislation with "Lots of support from Republicans"? Right...
It's actually true - while the Republicans were a minority party in Congress at the time, a far larger percentage of them voted for the 1964 Civil Rights Act than did Democrats.

Of course, the irony is that these are the type of republicans that Hawkins would condemn as RINOs today.
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Re: The 7 worst presidents of the past 100 years.

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Guardsman Bass wrote: It's actually true - while the Republicans were a minority party in Congress at the time, a far larger percentage of them voted for the 1964 Civil Rights Act than did Democrats.

Of course, the irony is that these are the type of republicans that Hawkins would condemn as RINOs today.
That doesn't mean that the Republicans gave him a lot of support; they gave him a lot of votes. Ultimately, Everett Dirksen got the Republican votes that LBJ wanted, but it was a close run thing, and it took a lot of pressure from LBJ (a lot of it psychological; Dirksen adored Lincoln, and Johnson knew exactly how to butter him up) to make it happen. Of course, the Republicans than proceeded to nominate a candidate who voted against the act.

So yes, a far greater percentage of Republicans voted for the bill than Democrats, but that doesn't mean that they were anywhere close to providing the impetus for the bill, which came from Johnson and the Northern Democrats (well, and the Civil Rights marchers, obviously, but they couldn't push a bill through Congress). While it is true that the Republicans did support the bill, the way its presented there is misleading at best, dishonest at worst (to try and pretend that Dirksen was pushing the bill is silly; he only got behind after LBJ led him to it).

EDIT:

For reference, Northern Democrats in the House voted for the Bill 141-4, an overwhelming margin of support.
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Re: The 7 worst presidents of the past 100 years.

Post by hunter5 »

Most Republicans criticize Johnson for his War on Poverty, which some feel helped destroy the African-American family and create an entire class of welfare recipients.

As for Obama being the worst president in the last one hundred years way to dam early to tell one way or the other. Right now he may be floundering but he still has plenty of time to get his approval ratings back up. If I remember correctly Regan's approval rating took a similar dip during his first term and many in this country consider him one of the best Presidents this country has ever had.
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Re: The 7 worst presidents of the past 100 years.

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hunter5 wrote:Most Republicans criticize Johnson for his War on Poverty, which some feel helped destroy the African-American family and create an entire class of welfare recipients.

As for Obama being the worst president in the last one hundred years way to dam early to tell one way or the other. Right now he may be floundering but he still has plenty of time to get his approval ratings back up. If I remember correctly Regan's approval rating took a similar dip during his first term and many in this country consider him one of the best Presidents this country has ever had.
That's because most of the people in this country don't seem to realize that most of Reagan's policies are responsible for shaping the current economic crisis. Massive lending deregulation and ineffectual "lol tax breaks for everyone" tactics can be traced back to him.
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Re: The 7 worst presidents of the past 100 years.

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Crossroads wrote: Ok, so hes on the list not for being instrumentqal in ensuring the Depression, but because of a Tarriff Act?
Do bear in mind that the tariff act was instrumental in ensuring the Depression.
Evidently enacting Immagration reform, Gun control, and "hampering" the war in Vietnam automaticlly earns him a place above Wilson in terms of bad presidents... I'm starting to see where this is headed, Lets look now, at the WORST Presidnet in the las 100 years!
I'm surprised you didn't see this coming. LBJ was more successful with his domestic agenda than FDR, and essentially extended the New Deal. There are complex reasons he didn't cement the New Deal coalition, but suffice it to say that in the modern conservative climate, he is as bad as, or worse than, FDR, without a mitigating war.
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Re: The 7 worst presidents of the past 100 years.

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I'd have to say the Eisenhower/Kennedy/Johnson/Nixon axis was probably our longest sustained run of mediocre to suck presidents.

EISENHOWER started out okay; all NEW LOOK, etc; but by the end of his term, he had become all "evil MIC" and cut back significantly on Aerospace funding -- it's worth noting that the F-108 and B-70 died under his watch -- Kennedy originally ran under a campaign promise to BRING THE B-70 BACK.

Ike also instituted/signed into law "reforms" to strengthen the power of the Secretary of Defense and weaken those of the Service Secretaries. These would take full rein under his next successor.

KENNEDY. OH GOD WHERE DO WE START. He gave us McNamara as SecDef; broke his promise to bring back the B-70, and set up the US space program for failure by focusing it laserlike on the moon in a decade. What people don't mention is that we already were planning to go to the Moon before JFK; just not until the 1970s era. First, we'd build SPACE STATIONS IN ORBIT. It's also worth noting that JFK was never that big a supporter of MANNED SPACE -- sure, he gave us the goal to go to the moon, but was not enthuastic that much about it.

JOHNSON. Gave us the brutal slog in Vietnam, by continuously turning down the advice of his Service leadership to bomb the fuck out of NORTH VIETNAMSKI with MINES AND BOMBS to cut off supplies. Created the GREAT SOCIETY of suck. But unlike KENNADY; he was a huge supporter of MANNED SPACE FLIGHT. He helped give NASA a lot of the funding boost in it's early years; though he did institute later cutbacks in 1967/68 that killed off the first chance of SATURN V BLOCK II.

NIXON: While Nixon managed to extricate us from our long national nightmare in Vietnam by BOMBING THE HELL OUT OF THE VIETSHROOMS; he also basically cut NASA's budget in half after Apollo's landing, effectively ended any chance of SATURN V BLOCK II; and told NASA to have the SPACE SHUTTLE do 200% of it's design goals on 50% of the funding. Also instituted wage and price controls.
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Re: The 7 worst presidents of the past 100 years.

Post by Jeremy »

Shep, what are your thoughts on Ford and Truman?
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