Greatest 20th Century President

From Teddy to Clinton, take your pick. Sorry, if you were going to select McKinley, but let's be honest...

Also, please discuss who you picked and why you chose him!



PS: the max amount of options a poll allows for is 10. If you like someone not on the list, sorry for the inconvenience!

I voted Clinton. dude was a straight-up pimp.

Depends on the fields. When it comes to impact, I have to think of three men, 2 Democrats, one Republican.
1. Woodrow Wilson

2. FDR

3. Teddy Roosevelt

It's tough to choose between Clinton and Teddy... They're both just straight up badass.

Best:
5. Truman
4. Coolidge
3. Kennedy
2. Eisenhower
1. Reagan

Worst:
5. Carter
4. Nixon
3. Wilson
2. FDR
1. LBJ

I chose Reagan as he was a strong President with strong conservative principles and did a great job of assisting to end the Cold War.

FDR. Helped bring us out of the worst scenario possible. Helped defeat Nazi Germany in the West and Japan in the west. Created strong social programs, and great taxation system and a more fair America.

Worst Presidents on that list:
Reagan and Clinton.

FDR, with Teddy coming in a close second. Kennedy and Clinton were both fairly decent as well.

I peobably lack the knowledge base to declare who was the greatest president, but always thought Teddy was an amazingly interesting character, and iconic

FDR hands down. He created the strongest middle class in our history and was immensely popular for 4 terms!

Definitely FDR, no one else comes close in my mind.

I voted for Teddy Roosevelt, not only did he overcome being a sickly child into a colonel in the Army and a professional boxer, NYC police chief, Mayor, believed in gun rights, gave us our national parks, conversationalist, , a father who loved his kids, didn't take crap from anyone not even from his own party or from any other party, I would go on but currently there isn't a man who matches up.

Reagan (Cold War, militant defender of freedom, great speaker) follow by Nixon (clean water/air act, endangered species act, lefties hate him). I could go for Teddy (soldier, national park system, Audubon associate, naturalist...) but that's too easy. I see Clinton as a cool guy at the helm for some VERY easy years, but he got caught lying and I have a thing about that. Carter is a joke, if a legume farmer. Kennedy was an SOB (Bay of Pigs) and deserved it (thanks, Ozzie, hell of a shot). Others... what the hell do I know about them, I graduated HS over 2 decades ago.

Coolidge rates as the man we could learn the most from now. As far as impact is concerned, Reagan had the greatest positive impact. Kennedy was alright (interventionist foreign policy, tax cuts), and Eisenhower was a good - if mixed - bag. Other than those guys.... well, maybe my standards are high, but it seems like we just haven't been blessed with that many great Presidents.

Obviously FDR, more as a result of the times he held office.

Breaking things down by category is a little easier, as they were all better at some things than others.

Second best was LBJ, although he was more effective as a Congressional leader than Prez, but so my vote isn't based entirely on his Presidency years, but his whole career, but his history of social legislation and his decision to escalate the VN police action in the face of fierce opposition. Few pols will do anything unpopular, and he sacrificed his career for making the right decision. Few Presidents outside of FDR could have pushed through the legislation he did, also in the face of unpopularity in his own districts and survived.

Best in foreign policy would be Nixon/Kissinger and George H.W. Bush/Scowcroft, particularly the latter's brilliance in repairing the damage done by the inept criminal traitor Reagan.

FDR wasn't really good at dealing with Stalin, Truman was better but not very visionary, and Woodrow Wilson was a disaster; WW II resulted from his incompetence and arrogance. Eisenhower pretty much did whatever the military/industrial complex told him to do.

Clinton only looked out for himself, and sold out to the NAFTA and Red Chinese fan bois. He was more concerned with appeasing junk bond traders than the country's public interest.

There is a lot more, but there should be enough there to annoy nearly everybody already.

FDR led the nation out of its worst economic crisis and its greatest foreign military threat with resounding victory and success. That gives him top spot with ease.

Teddy Roosevelt broke with conservative pro business Republican politics and became a progressive and brought then nation into the twentieth century. He gets second.

I'm voting Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Nelson Mandela and FDR. In that order.

Your Star said:

Definitely FDR, no one else comes close in my mind.

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In terms of "greatest influence" or impact, FDR would be at the top of my list. That said, he also did some things that would be considered downright despicable today.

In one way , even though he was here such a short time, for one decision that I beleive another would not have made, and that decision saved us from having our country and most likely the world being not what it is today, as bad as it seems at times now, it is a paradise compared to what could have been.

That POTUS was Kennedy. His decision alone on the "Cuban Missle Crises ". His advisors, his Military , all the special former leaders who came in and gave their advice and readings on the issue, all, 100%, wanted a invasion of Cuba. He was 24 hours from starting the bombing and geting the invasion under way but had done the blockade and sent his brother one last time to talk to the Soviets Ambassadore to lay out his deal..giving them, the Soviets 24 hours to come up with a answer.

We know now , they didn't know at the time, that not only did they , Cubans, have the shorter range intermediate muissles in Cuba, but also the longer ranged ones with Nuclear warheads, that could reach almost 90% of the country, but there was also the tacticle nuclear weapons and delivery assets to use against our troops on the ground as they invaded. This too was not known, no idea of not even considered.

90.000 troops were to be in that invasion, plus their use against our fleet that would have been off shore supporting and doing the bombarding, the battle ships and cruisers , that are always done in these kind of actions.

We also have learned that four Soviet Submarines were on the way to the Carrabean, all had one nuclear torpedo that they had been cleard to use as they would have been hunting the Carriers..whether they would actually have had to hit those ships to be effective I don't know enough about those capabilities.

His decision to do what he did to me in a way , this one handling of one incident, I wonder if he wouldn't be the one to be thought of as the greatest President of this time.

I voted for FDR but wonder if I am not making a mistake here.

StillBallin75 said:

In terms of "greatest influence" or impact, FDR would be at the top of my list. That said, he also did some things that would be considered downright despicable today.

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Internment camps what?

StillBallin75 said:

In terms of "greatest influence" or impact, FDR would be at the top of my list. That said, he also did some things that would be considered downright despicable today.

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Thats one of the things I like about FDR, he did things that would hurt him politically but he thought was best for the country. Its reminiscent of Lincoln, Washington and the like. To be fair, though, plenty of other presidents did that, or would have. I'm not sure though about who is the best.

Andalublue said:

I'm voting Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Nelson Mandela and FDR. In that order.

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Ataturk was a cool guy.
Loved how he reformed Turkey.

soccerboy22 said:

Internment camps what?

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The dude ran, what could be considered, a quasi fascist authoritarian government.

Harry Guerrilla said:

The dude ran, what could be considered, a quasi fascist authoritarian government.

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He is a pretty interesting guy to read about for sure, but no where near as cool as Teddy. Teddy was a beast among men.

soccerboy22 said:

He is a pretty interesting guy to read about for sure, but no where near as cool as Teddy. Teddy was a beast among men.

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I don't like Teddy.
He was more about image, than actually doing the right thing.

I think he had some kind of mental disorder, where he had to always seem manly.

Harry Guerrilla said:

I don't like Teddy.
He was more about image, than actually doing the right thing.

I think he had some kind of mental disorder, where he had to always seem manly.

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That wouldn't surprised me in the slightest. But who do you think is the greatest?