Worst President

[tater03]

So who do you think was the worst President? Not including the one we have now. The first one that comes to my mind would have to be Nixon. I just feel that he didn't have our best interests at heart as a country. Just my opionion.

 

[FourBear]

Nixon, maybe. I didn't think Jimmy Carter was great, but he wasn't the worst. I know plenty of people who wouldn't hesitate to say that Reagan was one of the worst presidents as well.

 

[Andy D]

I think in my lifetime, Carter was without fail the worst President. I am amazed how people today even put President Bush in that conversation. You may disagree with his politics, or how he handles some of the issues, but there have been Presidents who were far, far worse at the job than Bush.

 

[mtatum4496]

Warren G. Harding comes to mind from years past. I am old enough to remember the disillusionment of my older family members when Nixon resigned and what I saw there prompts me to also put him on the list of the worst presidents.

 

[tater03]

I just put Bush in there because it seems like alot of people right now would give that answer. Mainly because of the way the war has been handled I thing than anything else.

 

[Andy D]

I believe if you polled a random sampling of people on the street, some of them would say “Bush”. But what would the people who follow politics say?

 

[mtatum4496]

Depends on how they are following politics, probably. Not being particularly tied to any one party, I have observed that people of my acquaintance who are diehard Dems or Pubs tend to exclude their fellow party members when discussing who represents a negative in politics.

 

[FourBear]

I think many people say "Bush" nowadays because he is in today's news and rhetoric. Almost everyone knows who he is, but most average people don't know a thing of what Warren G. Harding did. Heck, I wasn't even alive until Reagan was president.

 

[dong]

I believe if you polled a random sampling of people on the street, some of them would say “Bush”. But what would the people who follow politics say?

I dunno. Given this is a loaded question, you might as well pull the trigger.

 

[Andy D]

Sorry Dong, I didn’t mean for it to be a loaded question. Simply put, most of the readers on this forum know a little about history and politics. Therefore, who do must of the readers here believe is the worst President of all time?

 

[dong]

Alright...wonder how people are deciding this. Anybody who tries to be a judge of history will realise just how horribly difficult a job this is. Nowadays it's all about context- yours and that of the people you are judging. I'd like for people, if they were to cite somebody, to explain what criterion they used as I bet it would vary slightly.

 

[mamab]

Personally, I think Bill Clinton was just as bad as Jimmy Carter. However, my opinions aside, I wouldn't want that job for all the money in the world. You're in the situation where you're going to tick someone off. Either the dems are going to hate you because you're too conservatives, or the repubs are going to hate you because you're too liberal. It's a no-win situation. I would hate to have the stresses that come with that job. I think, under the circumstances, Bush has done a good job. I'm not at all saying that all of his decisions were ones I would have made, but considering we don't know ALL of the facts or what all he's been told that we'll never see (all the top secret documents he reads on a daily basis), that he's done what he thought was right. That's all ANY president can do.

 

[mtatum4496]

You are quite correct, Dong. I think each of us would vary slightly on our criteria, based on our own context and to what degree we could understand the culture and time era for any given president. Not really much way around it, I would think.

 

[Iwannagofast11]

Richard
Nixon

 

[mtatum4496]

I'll bite. I think there have been several that just did not do a thing while in office, but I will exclude them from the running. My vote is for Andew Johnson and the way he conducted the reconstructionist efforts in the south after the Civil War. His approach on the surface appeared to enhance educational opportunities for the newly freed slaves, but on the back end concessions took away basic human rights that would not be restored for almost a hundred years.