[W:40] who is best president ever?

[Hamish Howl]

FDR in most ways, but I gotta go with Jimmy Carter. If you look at the actual job numbers under him, things were not as advertised.

Also, his one military adventure was the massive **** up rescuing the hostages, but that was an organic problem with getting the services to work together (this didn't get fixed until Desert Storm).

And he was serious about arms limitation treaties. There's still more than enough nukes to do the species in, so why bankrupt yourself building more nukes?

He was screwed by the OPEC embargo, but that would have ended any president...And OPEC hosed themselves far more than they did us, as he pointed out at the time.

 

[TurtleDude]

oh great... the one who made government HUGE

although Johnson made it even bigger. Notice Johnson is not on list.

I tend to think Trump is the best yet.. lowest unemployment for minorities EvER

economy taking off.. wages rise probably more than ever

ISIS all but gone

head of ISIS DEAD

Right to Try

USMCA (which our low-approval-rate Congress has yet to pass bc it would be another win for Trump.. )

I wouldn't rate Trump at all since its too soon to do so. FDR was a very effective president but what he did to this country was a disaster to anyone who believed in the rule of law and the constitution

 

[TurtleDude]

FDR

Greatest President of the 20th Century

I think when you rate FDR, I would do it as follows

1) was he effective in getting his agenda passed? very much so-one of the very best

2) was he good for the USA both in terms of short term or long term-no he was awful

He destroyed the boundaries that were placed on the federal government by the constitution and started the massive growth of a federal government that was supposed to be limited to its delegated powers. For fans of big government-he was thus very positive. For those of us who are not fans of big government he was a disaster.


Now there were presidents who sucked both in terms of getting things done and their impact on the USA. Harding sucked because his inner circle oozed corruption. Same with Grant but most historians believe Grant was an honest man with good intentions. Carter was awful. He was a failure domestically, he was a failure internationally, and his attempt to destroy the Olympic movement is a low point in presidential meddling

 

[yankintx]

I think when you rate FDR, I would do it as follows

1) was he effective in getting his agenda passed? very much so-one of the very best

2) was he good for the USA both in terms of short term or long term-no he was awful

He destroyed the boundaries that were placed on the federal government by the constitution and started the massive growth of a federal government that was supposed to be limited to its delegated powers. For fans of big government-he was thus very positive. For those of us who are not fans of big government he was a disaster.


Now there were presidents who sucked both in terms of getting things done and their impact on the USA. Harding sucked because his inner circle oozed corruption. Same with Grant but most historians believe Grant was an honest man with good intentions. Carter was awful. He was a failure domestically, he was a failure internationally, and his attempt to destroy the Olympic movement is a low point in presidential meddling

Hoovers non interventionist approach to the Great Depression was not working, nor where many Americans. Weather you politically lean left or right, the man gave the country hope. If not for the power of the feds during depression the far left, or far right extremist could have succeeded in toppling our democracy. And that is not an exaggeration.

 

[Phys251]

who is best president ever?



1 George Washington

2 Abraham Lincoln

3 Donald Trump

4 JF Kennedy

5 FDR

6 can't decide between 2 and 3

7 other

A three-way race between Lincoln, Washington, and FDR, with Eisenhower right behind them.

 

[Lucky 1]

Trump did none of that. That's just a fact.

Fact?????? Your facts??? Alternative facts???? Facts pulled from other dimension.....or from a donkeys ass????

The "Fact" is that President Trump has accomplished all of that and more!!!!

 

[swing_voter]

Obama.

Race is always our biggest problem. We fought the Civil War over it.

Not only was Obama black, he was a good president.

It's the events that happen during the presidency that a lot of people judge, and how the guy who is president at the time rises up and meets those events. WWII was an event for example.

Obama didn't have a lot of events happen during his presidency. I'm sure he would've met those challenges well if he did.

 

[TurtleDude]

Hoovers non interventionist approach to the Great Depression was not working, nor where many Americans. Weather you politically lean left or right, the man gave the country hope. If not for the power of the feds during depression the far left, or far right extremist could have succeeded in toppling our democracy. And that is not an exaggeration.

true America was wounded but FDR saw the opportunity to perform amputations on much of the body when far less radical treatment would have been just as effective

 

[Vadinho]

Historians usually agree that the list is pretty different then the one presented here. As far as historical significance, it really has to be Washington because he was the first and could have steered us in any number of disastrous directions. He did not and here we are today. Number two is a toss up between FDR and Lincoln with Lincoln usually getting the nod from real historians. I prefer FDR but Lincoln was pretty indispensable so let him take 2nd. FDR is clearly 3. After that, it gets hard to compare them because some of the more significant ones had serious flaws. LBJ for instance, magnificent President but for one thing, Vietnam. Truman but for dropping the H Bomb twice. Teddy R is probably number 4 in my book. Then you have Jefferson, Jackson, Reagan, Obama....depending upon what issue you think is the most important, any of them could be number 5. As for Trump, he will end up at the very bottom, historians will not treat him kindly.

 

[redrover]

who is best president ever?



1 George Washington

2 Abraham Lincoln

3 Donald Trump

4 JF Kennedy

5 FDR

6 can't decide between 2 and 3

7 other

Conventional wisdom has Lincoln at 1 and Washington #2 Trump comes in at 45. James Buchanan can finally rest easy now that he is no longer rated as the worst.

 

[TurtleDude]

Conventional wisdom has Lincoln at 1 and Washington #2 Trump comes in at 45. James Buchanan can finally rest easy now that he is no longer rated as the worst.

no one who actually is an expert in rating presidents and who is objective-will rate a president during his actual administration. Those who claimed Obama was one of the worst in say 2011 are just as silly as those who claim Trump is one of the worst now

 

[Fledermaus]

who is best president ever?



1 George Washington

2 Abraham Lincoln

3 Donald Trump

4 JF Kennedy

5 FDR

6 can't decide between 2 and 3

7 other

Teddy.

 

[haymarket]

FDR #1 of all time. He saved the nation in its greatest economic domestic crisis and then in our greatest foreign crisis another the Fascist powers. Nobody ever had to hit two grand slams like that it one game. But FDR did.

 

[Surrealistik]

FDR, Lincoln and Washington basically vie for the top spot in the eyes of most scholars of American history, and all tend to rank top 3 which I would very much agree with: Historical rankings of presidents of the United States - Wikipedia

FDR however, leads for me.

 

[TurtleDude]

FDR, Lincoln and Washington basically vie for the top spot in the eyes of most scholars of American history, and all tend to rank top 3 which I would very much agree with: Historical rankings of presidents of the United States - Wikipedia

FDR however, leads for me.

Lincoln tends to draw people from all political leans. Same with Washington. FDR is greatly admired by those who like the expanded central government and damned by those who detest his unconstitutional nonsense

 

[Surrealistik]

Lincoln tends to draw people from all political leans. Same with Washington. FDR is greatly admired by those who like the expanded central government and damned by those who detest his unconstitutional nonsense

He (FDR) was a man of undeniable strength, force of will and conviction who did what he felt needed to be done, overcame powerful countervailing interests to do it, and led the country through some of its darkest times to lead the world, regardless of what one might think of his politics or his expansion of government.

 

[TurtleDude]

He (FDR) was a man of undeniable strength, force of will and conviction who did what he felt needed to be done, overcame powerful countervailing interests to do it, and led the country through some of its darkest times to lead the world, regardless of what one might think of his politics or his expansion of government.

and left a legacy of overreaching government, and a stained constitution. I find his accomplishments to be far lower than his fans claim and his excesses to be far worse. His internment of American Citizens should've caused him to be impeached and removed. And his failure to prepare for what was clearly an impending attack by Japan was a machiavellian crime

 

[Surrealistik]

and left a legacy of overreaching government, and a stained constitution. I find his accomplishments to be far lower than his fans claim and his excesses to be far worse. His internment of American Citizens should've caused him to be impeached and removed. And his failure to prepare for what was clearly an impending attack by Japan was a machiavellian crime

I don't presently have the time or inclination to debate the merits of FDR in detail, but suffice to say, while he had his missteps, I and history more broadly, have judged his accomplishments to far outweigh his shortcomings, and it is undeniable that when the dust of WW2 settled, the US came out decisively on top in large part thanks to his leadership.

 

[Slartibartfast]

I don't presently have the time or inclination to debate the merits of FDR in detail, but suffice to say, while he had his missteps, I and history more broadly, have judged his accomplishments to far outweigh his shortcomings, and it is undeniable that when the dust of WW2 settled, the US came out decisively on top in large part thanks to his leadership.

Agreed, for example the whole Japanese internment thing.

 

[TurtleDude]

I don't presently have the time or inclination to debate the merits of FDR in detail, but suffice to say, while he had his missteps, I and history more broadly, have judged his accomplishments to far outweigh his shortcomings, and it is undeniable that when the dust of WW2 settled, the US came out decisively on top in large part thanks to his leadership.

I think we would have won no matter who was president. The people who "rank" presidents are almost always academics and that is a guarantee of bias

 

[Surrealistik]

I think we would have won no matter who was president. The people who "rank" presidents are almost always academics and that is a guarantee of bias

To be clear, I don't mean just simple victory, but the overall state and strength of American hegemony after the fact. And yes, even academics are subject to bias, but the lens of scholarship and aggregation both temper said bias.

 

[Grand Mal]

I don't presently have the time or inclination to debate the merits of FDR in detail, but suffice to say, while he had his missteps, I and history more broadly, have judged his accomplishments to far outweigh his shortcomings, and it is undeniable that when the dust of WW2 settled, the US came out decisively on top in large part thanks to his leadership.

Huh. I would have said Russia came out on top in DubyaDubya2, but whatever.
No doubt the US came out of it the strongest and healthiest, having taken the least damage.
'Course, I'm talking about Europe. Clearly WW2 in the Pacific was won by the US Navy. Hands down.

 

[Casca XV]

It's a joke to have trump with those names. An insult to all other presidents.

Objective measure of his policy results easily puts him as the best modern day president, and 2nd or 3rd of all time.

It's FDR who doesn't belong on this list. His policies are why the depression lasted 12 years instead of 3 or 4 years like it did for most of the rest of the world.

 

[slick]

Total Scores/Overall Rankings | C-SPAN Survey on Presidents 2017

Cpan has maybe the best ratings of all, and breaks down all presidents rankings in different categories, for instance Nixon ranks
very high in foreign policy, as I recall in that category he's in the top 10.
IMO Washington stands alone at the top & LBJ rates very close to the bottom & they have LBJ in the top tier.

President's Name 2017 Final Scores Overall Rankings
2017 2009 2000

Abraham Lincoln 907 1 1 1
George Washington 868 2 2 3
Franklin D. Roosevelt 855 3 3 2
Theodore Roosevelt 807 4 4 4
Dwight D. Eisenhower 745 5 8 9
Harry S. Truman 737 6 5 5
Thomas Jefferson 727 7 7 7
John F. Kennedy 722 8 6 8
Ronald Reagan 691 9 10 11
Lyndon B. Johnson 687 10 11 10
Woodrow Wilson 683 11 9 6
Barack Obama 669 12 NA NA
James Monroe 646 13 14 14
James K. Polk 637 14 12 12
William J. Clinton 634 15 15 21
William McKinley 627 16 16 15
James Madison 610 17 20 18
Andrew Jackson 609 18 13 13
John Adams 604 19 17 16

 

[Casca XV]

title that pic "POS"