Worst 20th Century American President

paulbaxter · Post by **paulbaxter** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 3:37 pm

I had a little trouble with candidate selection here. Those I just didn't imagine anyone voting for were:
William McKinley
Theodore Roosevelt
William H Taft
Calvin Coolidge
Harry Truman
Dwight Eisenhower, and
Gerald Ford
(Edit: took Wilson off the poll for lack of space. If your worst guy isn't on the list we'll keep an informal tally of other presidents)

"Worst" here is completely subjective, so use whatever definition you find most fitting.

Dirt · Post by **Dirt** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 3:39 pm

Coolidge wasn't all that great.

IkeVandergraaf · Post by **IkeVandergraaf** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 3:40 pm

Any particular reason W isn't on there? Or is that like when you have a discussion about "most disappointing PC game" and agree not to mention MOO3 because otherwise the conversation doesn't go any further?

Edit: Or is it because I misread the question and you're limiting it to presidents of the 20th century?

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 3:41 pm

Wilson's track record wasn't that great and he was a supporter of the KKK.

paulbaxter · Post by **paulbaxter** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 3:46 pm

dbt1949 wrote:Wilson's track record wasn't that great and he was a supporter of the KKK.

Believe me, I wanted to include him in the poll. Had to take someone off due to forum limits though. I would have taken Harding off, but Harding has the distinction of being the most incompetant president of the last 100 years, so that's gotta be worth something. Maybe I should have taken GHWB off?

tjg_marantz · Post by **tjg_marantz** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 3:48 pm

Kennedy failed at nuking Havana.
Bush failed at nuking Baghdad.

Who to pick, who to pick

paulbaxter · Post by **paulbaxter** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 3:48 pm

paulbaxter wrote:
dbt1949 wrote:Wilson's track record wasn't that great and he was a supporter of the KKK.
Believe me, I wanted to include him in the poll. Had to take someone off due to forum limits though. I would have taken Harding off, but Harding has the distinction of being the most incompetant president of the last 100 years, so that's gotta be worth something. Maybe I should have taken GHWB off?

On second though, he's already gotten 1 vote, so maybe my instinct was right. As I said, feel free to write in if you like.

Mr. Fed · Post by **Mr. Fed** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 3:48 pm

R&P, just possibly?

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 3:49 pm

I had to go with Harding, although Carter would be a close second. At least Carter has been a good ex-president, though.

paulbaxter · Post by **paulbaxter** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 3:50 pm

Mr. Fed wrote:R&P, just possibly?

You really are Captain Killjoy, aren't ya?

Dirt · Post by **Dirt** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 3:51 pm

Jeff V wrote:I had to go with Harding, although Carter would be a close second. At least Carter has been a good ex-president, though.

Well, Harding did die in office.

qp · Post by qp » Tue Oct 31, 2006 3:53 pm

Jimmy Carter, he's history's greatest monster!

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 4:01 pm

Who voted for FDR?

RunningMn9 · Post by **RunningMn9** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 4:01 pm

The fallout from the New Deal will haunt us long after we forget the name George W. Bush (who was the first President of the 21st century, and thus excluded from the poll - or that's my guess why he isn't there).

Cesare · Post by **Cesare** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 4:07 pm

paulbaxter wrote:I had a little trouble with candidate selection here. Those I just didn't imagine anyone voting for were:
William McKinley

...that was my vote last time we had this poll.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 4:10 pm

RunningMn9 wrote:The fallout from the New Deal will haunt us long after we forget the name George W. Bush (who was the first President of the 21st century, and thus excluded from the poll - or that's my guess why he isn't there).

I'm caught. He did so much to save a few generations, who at the same time had a work ethic to build a moden America that we are still sponging off of today. But as you say his policies continue to haunt us. I just made mention of his ghost today.

Debris · Post by **Debris** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 4:11 pm

Nixon because he's the worst of all worlds. Kind of an amalgamization of Carter/Clinton/GWB all in one shifty-eyed, tape recording package.

msduncan · Post by **msduncan** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 5:12 pm

Jimmy Carter. Easy decision.

The Meal · Post by **The Meal** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 5:15 pm

Teapot Dome FTL.

[edit:]Crap. The Wiki agrees with me.

~Neal

Mr Random · Post by **Mr Random** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 6:40 pm

Deja vu

Dirt · Post by **Dirt** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 6:43 pm

Q: What's worse? A corrupt President or an ineffectual President?

A: Depends on your party affiliation.

CSL · Post by **CSL** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 6:58 pm

Wilson, no contest.

paulbaxter · Post by **paulbaxter** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 8:07 pm

Debris wrote:Nixon because he's the worst of all worlds. Kind of an amalgamization of Carter/Clinton/GWB all in one shifty-eyed, tape recording package.

One could make a similar case for LBJ as well. He combined the "who cares how many we need to kill" of the Bushes with the personal morality/no trick is beneath me of William Jefferson Clinton.

Yankeeman84 · Post by **Yankeeman84** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 11:23 pm

About 80% of the people on that list are just terrible.

The Preacher · Post by **The Preacher** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 11:40 pm

I'm struck by the number of people voting for GHWB. He was no great President but he was perfectly mediocre. I'm curious what those who voted for him consider to be the reasons he was worse than the rest of the list. Perhaps we need a better historic perspective in these here parts.

Yankeeman84 · Post by **Yankeeman84** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 11:42 pm

Only 2 votes for Lyndon Johnson?!?

You all are nuts!

Gwar21 · Post by **Gwar21** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 12:10 am

The Preacher wrote:I'm struck by the number of people voting for GHWB. He was no great President but he was perfectly mediocre. I'm curious what those who voted for him consider to be the reasons he was worse than the rest of the list. Perhaps we need a better historic perspective in these here parts.

I think people are just seeing the name "Bush" and voting for him.

And I voted for LBJ.

Defiant · Post by **Defiant** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 12:50 am

The Preacher wrote:I'm struck by the number of people voting for GHWB. He was no great President but he was perfectly mediocre.

Yeah. He's got more votes than Nixon? WTF?

I'm curious what those who voted for him consider to be the reasons he was worse than the rest of the list.

Maybe they're not thinking of his presidential legacy but his parental legacy?

Grifman · Post by **Grifman** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 12:54 am

I have to go with Nixon. Ignoring Watergate, he was actually pretty good. But I can't ignore Watergate - it was a stain on the office that has taken a long time to erase, an abuse of power that really shattered our nation in many ways.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 7:35 pm

For everyone who didn't vote Nixon - it's time for a refresher, since it is 40 years ago this week that Watergate happened:

To sum up:

Ervin’s answer to his own question hints at the magnitude of Watergate: “To destroy, insofar as the presidential election of 1972 was concerned, the integrity of the process by which the President of the United States is nominated and elected.” Yet Watergate was far more than that. At its most virulent, Watergate was a brazen and daring assault, led by Nixon himself, against the heart of American democracy: the Constitution, our system of free elections, the rule of law.

Such documentation makes it possible to trace the president’s personal dominance over a massive campaign of political espionage, sabotage and other illegal activities against his real or perceived opponents....

...All reflected a mind-set and a pattern of behavior that were uniquely and pervasively Nixon’s: a willingness to disregard the law for political advantage, and a quest for dirt and secrets about his opponents as an organizing principle of his presidency...

...Long before the Watergate break-in, gumshoeing, burglary, wiretapping and political sabotage had become a way of life in the Nixon White House.

Ordering the CIA, FBI and Military Intelligence (including the NSA) to burgle and illegally surveil citizens (including reporters, white house aides, political opponents

Ordering the illegal ransacking of offices in order to blackmail the former President of the United States

To destroy using any means fair or foul, political opponents such as whistleblowers

Used any and all of these resources - illegal wiretaps, burglary and character assassination using the power of the federal government - to attack his political opponents - yes, this is what Watergate was - wiretapping the Democratic National offices to use any information gained to ensure re-election.

On Oct. 10, 1972, we wrote a story in The Post outlining the extensive sabotage and spying operations of the Nixon campaign and White House, particularly against Muskie, and stating that the Watergate burglary was not an isolated event. The story said that at least 50 operatives had been involved in the espionage and sabotage, many of them under the direction of a young California lawyer named Donald Segretti; several days later, we reported that Segretti had been hired by Dwight Chapin, Nixon’s appointments secretary. (The Senate Watergate committee later found more than 50 saboteurs, including 22 who were paid by Segretti.) Herbert Kalmbach, Nixon’s personal attorney, paid Segretti more than $43,000 from leftover campaign funds for these activities.

n a June 23, 1972, tape recording, six days after the arrests at the Watergate, Haldeman warned Nixon that “on the investigation, you know, the Democratic break-in thing, we’re back in the problem area, because the FBI is not under control . . . their investigation is now leading into some productive areas, because they’ve been able to trace the money.”

Haldeman said Mitchell had come up with a plan for the CIA to claim that national security secrets would be compromised if the FBI did not halt its Watergate investigation.

Nixon approved the scheme and ordered Haldeman to call in CIA Director Richard Helms and his deputy Vernon Walters. “Play it tough,” the president directed. “That’s the way they play it, and that’s the way we are going to play it.”

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 9:51 pm

"If the President does it, that means it's not illegal." Good times.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 10:08 pm

The Preacher wrote:I'm struck by the number of people voting for GHWB. He was no great President but he was perfectly mediocre. I'm curious what those who voted for him consider to be the reasons he was worse than the rest of the list. Perhaps we need a better historic perspective in these here parts.

I wonder if some people made a quick scan of the list, saw "George" and "Bush," and jumped on the wrong prez.

Apollo · Post by **Apollo** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 10:44 am

Harding, Hoover, Nixon and LBJ to choose from and everyone jumps on ...Carter and Bush? Am I missing something here?

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 10:45 am

Yeah, that the thread was started almost 6 years ago.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 10:45 am

Apollo wrote:Harding, Hoover, Nixon and LBJ to choose from and everyone jumps on ...Carter and Bush? Am I missing something here?

Yes. "How bad can someone be that I wasn't alive for when they were running the country into the ground?"

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 11:20 am

Holman wrote: I wonder if some people made a quick scan of the list, saw "George" and "Bush," and jumped on the wrong prez.

I think you'd see different results if it were edited to read 'George Bush Sr.'

Jag · Post by **Jag** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 1:05 pm

Needs another candidate added to the voting options.

Defiant · Post by **Defiant** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 1:14 pm

Jag wrote:Needs another candidate added to the voting options.

Needs about five or six added, really.

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 3:29 pm

Not clear on why all the hating on Carter. It's not like he actually kidnapped the hostages or ordered oil tankers to circle around and create artificial shortages.

And unlike Clinton, he only lusted in his heart. Plus he saw a UFO. And Ted Koppel owes his career to him.

G W Bush does not belong on the list since it is limited to 20th Century Presidents. His abominable record transcends any one century.

SpaceLord · Post by **SpaceLord** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 6:29 pm

Jaymann wrote: And unlike Clinton, he only lusted in his heart. Plus he saw a UFO. And Ted Koppel owes his career to him.

He was also attacked by a swamp rabbit. That's gotta count for something.

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