Best and Worst US Presidents

Started by Travis Retriever, December 12, 2010, 12:16:00 AM

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December 12, 2010, 03:35:57 PM #15 Last Edit: December 12, 2010, 03:38:57 PM by AHPMB
Picking bad ones is hard just because there's such a massive list of bad presidents.  I would probably choose Grant, although to be fair to him, he has bar-none the best Presidential memoir (his is the only one with a shred of honesty).  Followed behind him may well be Truman.  Truman, despite being lauded by so many politicians was a small man, with a small mind.  Destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki explicitly to blackmail the Russians, unleashing apocalyptic weaponry for the worst possible reasons.  He was a consummate red baiter that bears much of the responsibility for McCarthyism, and he propped up many of the most unnecessary New Deal programs.  I honestly don't know why people think he was any good.  Eisenhower actually made our nuclear policy worse by instituting an automatic first-strike policy against ANY foreign aggression.  Personally I think Presidents that think they have veto power over the existence of the human race don't deserve to be counted among the best.

As for best it's really hard to choose because there have been so few good ones, they all have glaring misdeeds that outweigh the good.  T.R. was great on domestic policy but he also vastly expanded the military out of an imperialism born from a small-man complex.  Kennedy had the incredible guts to stand against his generals, especially that fuck LeMay, who would have surely sent us lurching headlong into World War III during the Cuban Missile Crisis, but in many other respects was a terrible President.  Andrew Jackson was a great President in many ways.  He handled the nullification crisis like a pro, yet he was an Indian killer.  Jefferson made the Louisiana Purchase, and successfully prosecuted the Barbary War but he also signed the Embargo Act.  Wilson for all his idealism was an inveterate racist, vastly restricted the 1st Amendment, and got us into a War that we had no business being in.  Polk is sort of my ideal President because he ran on a set platform, accomplished those in one term and then promptly left office.  I've always sided with Jefferson.  Presidents should be barely trusted, always treated as potential tyrants.  So maybe in the end the best President was William Henry Harrison, because he dropped dead before he could do any damage.

Quote from: Gumba Masta on December 12, 2010, 03:29:31 AM
I did'nt even know america had these many presidents.
But if you ask me I would choose Madison both as best and worst.
He had the gaul to both go to war with canada and loose it.
I bet it's because of video games. I heard he was an avid Fan of the Fallout series.
That's going in fav quotes!
"When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world—'No. You move.'"
-Captain America, Amazing Spider-Man 537

You'll notice how I was the one constantly being accused of derailing the thread, when all I did was post my thoughts on Lincoln (exactly as the OP asked us to do) and after that was just responding to everyone else jumping on me about it.

Aw, geez...I forgot about them jumping all over Sushi because he called the Japanese-American internment camps "concentration camps" even though that's what FDR himself called them.

Really, you can get better skeptical discussions on most gaming forums than you can on the JREF forum.

Quote from: MrBogosity on December 12, 2010, 04:26:50 PM
You'll notice how I was the one constantly being accused of derailing the thread, when all I did was post my thoughts on Lincoln (exactly as the OP asked us to do) and after that was just responding to everyone else jumping on me about it.
Yeah, I saw that.  That was pretty lame.

Quote from: MrBogosity on December 12, 2010, 04:36:57 PM
Aw, geez...I forgot about them jumping all over Sushi because he called the Japanese-American internment camps "concentration camps" even though that's what FDR himself called them.

Really, you can get better skeptical discussions on most gaming forums than you can on the JREF forum.
And note how Sushi was banned...Hmmm.

Then I read your posts on this thread: http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=19190
Wow.  You were taking a quite a bit from crap from them.

The worst part?
That they didn't seem as bad as the LoR forum, where you could only handle about 130 posts, compared to 15,990 on the JREF forum.
"When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world—'No. You move.'"
-Captain America, Amazing Spider-Man 537

Quote from: MrBogosity on December 12, 2010, 04:36:57 PM
Really, you can get better skeptical discussions on most gaming forums than you can on the JREF forum.

I visit a lot of gaming forums and trust me, you are wrong.

Quote from: VectorM on December 12, 2010, 05:28:03 PMI visit a lot of gaming forums and trust me, you are wrong.

One of many reasons I prefer sticking to smaller forums like this one.
"When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world—'No. You move.'"
-Captain America, Amazing Spider-Man 537

Quote from: VectorM on December 12, 2010, 05:28:03 PM
I visit a lot of gaming forums and trust me, you are wrong.

Master Chief is Lord!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_rankings_of_Presidents_of_the_United_States#Scholar_survey_results
See what I mean?
Look how many rate Lincoln as the best or second best president, along with guys like FDR right up close?
Or guys like Warren G. Harding as among, if not the worst?  I mean, he only saved the economy...

*Sighs* This is one of many reasons I have trouble taking state-educated historians and political 'scientists' seriously...

At least they seemed to agree with you on Washington and a bit on Polk.
"When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world—'No. You move.'"
-Captain America, Amazing Spider-Man 537

Don't worry, when our people get into power we tell them how WE want them to remember history!
Muahahahahahaha! Jet propelled Steambot Hitler, here we come!