- Joined
- Oct 12, 2005
- Messages
- 281,619
- Reaction score
- 100,389
- Location
- Ohio
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Libertarian - Right
there are two actual parameters
best/worst-based on what they accomplished in terms of campaign promises and best/worst on how their policies impacted the USA
FDR is a "great president" based on the first measurement and an awful president based on his contempt for the constitutional restrictions placed on the federal government. The same is true with wilson and LBJ
those three did more damage to the country than corrupt ineffective presidents like Harding, Grant, or just plain failures like Carter (not corrupt, just impotent)
NIxon was corrupt and Watergate was a mess but Nixon's long term impact on the USA was far better than many other presidents-his recognition of Red china might have been the single most brilliant FP decision any president has made in the last 60 years.
I think the most underrated president in the last 100 years was Gerald Ford. He knew he was going to lose the election by pardoning Nixon but he saved the country a tremendous amount of pain by doing that and he was personally impeccable when it came to honesty-which was exactly what the country needed after Nixon.
Failures in terms of their accomplishments
Harding
Grant (who was a good man surrounded by crooks)
Buchanan
Carter
Harrison (due to dying so soon)
Andrew Johnson
worst based on their impact to the USA
FDR
Wilson
LBJ
Obama
Best based on achieving their goals
Nixon
FDR
Jefferson
Washington
Ike
LBJ
Best in terms of what they did for the USA
Washington
Jefferson
Madison
Lincoln
Truman
Ike
Reagan
best/worst-based on what they accomplished in terms of campaign promises and best/worst on how their policies impacted the USA
FDR is a "great president" based on the first measurement and an awful president based on his contempt for the constitutional restrictions placed on the federal government. The same is true with wilson and LBJ
those three did more damage to the country than corrupt ineffective presidents like Harding, Grant, or just plain failures like Carter (not corrupt, just impotent)
NIxon was corrupt and Watergate was a mess but Nixon's long term impact on the USA was far better than many other presidents-his recognition of Red china might have been the single most brilliant FP decision any president has made in the last 60 years.
I think the most underrated president in the last 100 years was Gerald Ford. He knew he was going to lose the election by pardoning Nixon but he saved the country a tremendous amount of pain by doing that and he was personally impeccable when it came to honesty-which was exactly what the country needed after Nixon.
Failures in terms of their accomplishments
Harding
Grant (who was a good man surrounded by crooks)
Buchanan
Carter
Harrison (due to dying so soon)
Andrew Johnson
worst based on their impact to the USA
FDR
Wilson
LBJ
Obama
Best based on achieving their goals
Nixon
FDR
Jefferson
Washington
Ike
LBJ
Best in terms of what they did for the USA
Washington
Jefferson
Madison
Lincoln
Truman
Ike
Reagan