Who was the worst President of the 20th Century

[rpannier]

Poll question: Who was the worst President of the 20th Century

Every President has their pluses that supporters point to with pride and detractors highlight as why they sucked. I compiled a list of Presidents of the 20th Century (I left out McKinley, Harding and Kennedy because they never completed their first term, Both Roosevelts because I consider the to be the two best Presidents of the 20th Century and Hoover because he inherited the failed economic policies of Coolidge and was just unwilling and unable to deal with it - he was too obvious and lacked any real redeeming value to his Presidency).
Technically this should be (in my view) the worst President after Hoover.
Just curious who you'd pick.

[liberalpragmatist]

1. Harding needs to be included

He may have only been in office for 3 years or so but even in that little amt of time he's generally ranked as among the worst ever. He should be included.

McKinley should also be included. He completed one term. And I think Presidents should be judged by the term they have, with the exceptions of Garfield and William Henry Harrison. Yes, it might not be fair, given that they never completed their terms, but how would Roosevelt be judged if he only had 1 and 1/2 terms under his belt instead of 3? For that matter, what if he had lived and finished his 4th term? Neither McKinley nor Harding nor Kennedy were in office such a short time that you couldn't evaluate them well.

I mean, did it really take us 5 years to figure out Dubya's been a disaster?!

Anyway, I go for Nixon. He had some good foreign and environmental policies but he escalated Vietnam, crushed the economy in an effort to buy off various groups support, cynically twisting Democratic goals to fit his own (similar to Bush), and of course Watergate.

[rpannier]

2. The poll maxes out at 10 options

So, I had to create some criterion and I required completing their term to be one of the criterion.

[liberalpragmatist]

5. Oh I see

sorry

[rpannier]

9. So was I

I wanted every Prseident to be an option

[nvliberal]

8. McKinley doesn't really count,

for he was assassinated in 1901, which is hardly much of the 20th century.

But the omission of Harding is egregious.

[rpannier]

12. The Problem was the poll generator maxes at 10 choices.

So I deceided to make one of the criterion they must have finished one complete term -- hence no Gerald R. Ford either. It was the easiest way to objectively create the poll.

[davepc]

10. Warren G... A facist before his time!

"Less government in business and more business in government." -- Warren G Harding

[Thirtieschild]

28. Harding

Let's not forget Teapot Dome. We already have the winner for the 21st century. In fact, we have the worst ever, even worse than Harding.

[genius]

34. Hoover should have been included. Dubya is just like him.

Seriously, read some of what Hoover had to say. It's sounds like Dubya after Katrina.

[LSdemocrat]

35. Warren Harding is my first choice (and it isn't close)

The man was completely in over his head and hired some of the most corrupt cronies seen in high government positions (until now).

[davepc]

3. Woodrow Wilson for getting us involved in World War I

Which probably would of ended in a stalemate without us, and seen the end of the British Empire. Creating the income tax and laying the groundwork for the military industrial complex. Actively cultivating the resurgence of the KKK from the White House. His "arsenal of Democracy" rhetoric which has been used as justification for American Imperialism for over 80 years...

[WoodrowFan]

26. have you ever actually taken a history class?

Wow, what a historically inaccurate post! Have you ever actually TAKEN a history class, beside reading Zinn's book?

Point by Point.

Germany would have won World War I without the US and they would have extended their militaristic society. Google the Brest-Litovsk Treaty to see what I mean.

He did not "create" the income tax. The 16th amendment was Taft's work, Wilson just used it first. It was also a Progressive tax designed to make those who could most afford it pay the most. Funny how it’s usually RWers who attack him for that.

"laying the groundwork for the military industrial complex. " He wanted the government to run the arms business so as to prevent private companies from profiting from war. He HATED lobbyists.

"Actively cultivating the resurgence of the KKK from the White House." That may be the stupidest thing in your post. he thought they were thugs. Yes, he saw "Birth of a Nation" in the White House. he didn't know WHAT the film was until he saw it and, contrary to popular myth, he didn't make the 'history written with lightening" comment. According to first account accounts he sat through the movie without saying a word, crumpled up the program in a little ball (he usually saved them), and stalked out without saying a word. He HATED the whole "lost cause" myth and thought it stupid. Harding had a better relationship with the Klan than did Wilson.


"His "arsenal of Democracy" rhetoric " That was FDR that coined the phrase "arsenal of Democracy" . Jesus. Wilson was, like FDR, a great believer in multilateralism. Blaming Wilson for imperialists like Bush is like the RWers blaming Darwin for Hitler because the latter used some of the former's writings or thoughts for their own misdeeds.


Just thank God you're not one of my students because you'd be looking at a huge, fat "F" if you turned this in on a test. Most historians, most LIBERAL historians, consider Wilson one of the best Presidents ever, just after TR. He fought for Union rights (the AFL was a huge supporter), got the first 8 hour day law, the first child labor law, significantly reduced tariffs (which were a tax on consumers which benefited only big companies by allowing them to charge more). He was a late convert to the 19th Amendment (BTW, the film Iron-Jawed Angels attributes the actions of others to Wilson for dramatic effect) but it was his pushing Congress that finally got it through the legislature. He also vetoed the Volstead Act because he felt Prohibition would be a disaster. Then there is the League of Nations.

Generally the worst blots on his record are his Civil Liberties record in World War I, which is one of the worst records of ANY administration. If you want scary though, consider that the conservatives were pushing him to do MORE. He was also a racist. DUH! A southern Democrat who grew up in Civil War Georgia and reconstruction South Carolina was a racist! Try to find one who wasn't! He did support state anti-lynching laws though, which is the only (tiny) bright spot in this part of his record. The sad thing is, he wasn't out of the mainstream, for either party.

Maybe you should read some history and not rely on Zinn and the History Channel.

Oh, and if you think I'm being snotty, too bad. to quote (with a couple edits) one of my favorite pages..http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/PSEUDOSC/SelfApptdExp.htm

Most people become experts by meeting the standards of other experts. I'm not a "self-appointed" expert. (my) University said I was an expert when they granted me a doctorate. (My Employer) said I was an expert when they hired me as their historian. Other professionals say I'm an expert when they accept my research for publication. What would you say if someone walked into your place of employment, admitted he had no technical training in your work, but told you that you were doing it all wrong (probably while demonstrating amply his lack of expertise)? Wouldn't you describe such a person as arrogant? Who is really the self-appointed expert here, the person with a lot of training (as in several DECADES studying this) or the person with none who still thinks he is qualified to criticize?


Finally, BYE BYE!

[longship]

4. Harding

Definitely Harding. Second, Hoover. Third, Reagan.

[Ignacio Upton]

6. In no real order

Coolidge, Nixon, and Wilson, with FDR, TR, Eisenhower, and Clinton being the best.

With Coolidge, his policies caused the Crash of 1929, while Hoover, in my humble opinion, was not the bad guy that he was made out to be, but his policies were just not right to stop the Depression (he and Jimmy Carter were both good people objectively, but they were President at the wrong time). Hoover tried to lead charity efforts, and was well known for his humanitarian efforts during WWI. Democrats actually wanting him to run for President on their ticket in 1924 or 1928, and even FDR had nice things to say about him. Coolidge allowed Mellon to run wild, and allowed for holding companies to fuck things up. Coolidge is what scares me in terms of having Grover Norquist and his ilk.

With Wilson, his crack down on Civil Liberties during WW I was even worse than what Bush has done. I recently read a book on America and WW I called "Over Here" by an author named Kennedy. The censorship that Wilson employed with the Justice Department and Postmater General would make Ashcroft laugh with happiness. His racism and acceptance of white supremacy were bad, in that he allowed for federal offices to be segregated, something that Lincoln initially opposed. The war effort was also pretty mis-managed initially. However, I'm not sure if having Taft, TR, or Charles Evans Hughes in would have made a difference on that issue because America's military was not prepared for anything like a World War no matter who was in office. However, his economic policies during the war, contrary to the laissez-faire types, helped greatly in establishing America as a global entity. After the war, the government price controls were expired and inflation and strikes started, and privatizing the government merchant marine led to a decline in American power in overseas trade that it gained from Britain.


Nixon did some good things for the country, like establish price controls and set up the EPA, and have relations with China. However, he was a fascist in his acts, such as his enemies list, his Southern Strategy, raids on Brookings Institution, and Coverup of Watergate. His aiding Pinochet in Chile and bombing of Cambodia rank up there too.


For worst Democratic and Republican Presidents of all time, if you want to know about worst Republican, it would either be George W., Coolidge, Harding, and the worst Democrat would either be James Buchanan, Andrew Jackson, or Grover Cleveland.

[jobycom]

15. I agree on Hoover. He wasn't a bad president, just an ineffective one

A bad president messes things up. Hoover inherited a mess, and was unable to fix it. It may have been unfixable. He wasn't bad, he just wasn't good enough.

Coolidge was the bad guy who set Hoover up to fail, just as Reagan did to HW Bush.

It's hard to judge who the worst was, for me, because Reagan looms as such a stupid, evil man that I can't look at him objectively. He brought racism back to life as it was trying to die. He kicked off his campaign in Philadelphia, MS, a town known only for the triple murder of civil rights activists by KKK members. Reagan divided a nation that needed healing, brought war and military violence back into fashion when America was finally rejecting it, set up every major foreign crisis that we face today, from Iraq to Usama bin Laden, and had no concern for how many people he killed or how many lies he told.

I recognize intellectually that Woodrow Wilson could be accused of almost every single one of those, too, but I am not as emotionally involved in Wilson. And Wilson signed (reluctantly) onto women's suffrage and was a voice of diplomatic reason in Europe after WWI. Those two edge him slightly to the good side of Reagan, for me.

[Ignacio Upton]

16. Wilson tacitly supported Freeper and Protest Warrior-like groups

Like the National Security League and the American Protective League. The only thing that makes me not hate him entirely was his support for woman's sufferage, even if it only was reluctantly, and he was a progressive on economic issues (but he set back the labor movement unintentionally with his policies toward IWW and creation of company unions in some cases during the war)We would have to wait until Roosevelt until we saw another President take on child labor, the right to unionize, and shorter work days. Another good thing about Wilson was that he had the foresight to know the Treaty of Versailles would lead to mroe disaster (WWII) but Lloyd-George and Clemencau were acting on the popular opinion from their countries, who wanted Germany punished. Republicans, TR and Henry Cabot Lodge in particular, aslo subscribed to this view.

[Montauk6]

7. I'd still vote Dubya as the absolute worst.

I don't care! 20th, 17th, 13th, 19th, 45th century, no matter.

[BlueCaliDem]

30. I wholeheartedly agree with you. Dubya's the ABSOLUTE WORST! n/t

[Mr Rabble]

11. Ray-Gun. Put a happy face on the Neo-Con movement.

We have him to think for the mess we are in now.

[chalky]

17. I agree...he was a Trojan Horse president. A pre-cancerous growth.

Laid the foundation for the nightmare we're living with today.

[Montauk6]

33. Ronnie and this fictional character

Top left...

[moobu2]

13. George bush Sr. was the most insignificant.

[Blue_In_AK]

14. Hard to choose between Nixon and Reagan... n/t

[dback]

19. I agree, that's a toughie, but for totally different reasons

Nixon wasn't a terrible president in some ways, but he was an absolutely terrible man, and Watergate, the tapes, et all proved it. They almost completely obliterated the good works he accomplished.

Reagan as a person wasn't a bad man--nothing like the scary troglodyte Nixon was. He genuinely thought he was doing the right thing, and the tunnel vision, simple-minded focus, and moral imperative which made him an excellent lifeguard (see: the miniseries "The Reagans") were disasters on a national/global basis. (Deficits don't matter, trees cause pollution, the Soviets are "Evil" and must be destroyed through missle-defense, AIDS isn't a problem, homelessness is a voluntary choice, etc.)

Bush is thus the intersection of both--Nixon's personal reprehensibility, crossed with the single-minded tunnel vision (narcissism?) policies of Reagan. Bad, bad, baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad juju.

[ProudDad]

18. You left the shrub out

I think he was worse than Nixon or Harding or ray-guns...

As Comic Book Guy would say, "Worst President Ever"

[rpannier]

20. He's not 20th Century

[DerekG]

21. Truman--for the reasons cited by Gore Vidal

1. He set in stone the national security apparatus that destroyed our republic and set us on a permanent wartime economy.

2. His administration atomized 200,000 civilians in the name of Cold War politics.

3. His gross hyperbole--in regard to the Red Menace--laid the groundwork for Nixon/McCarthy madness (you do know that he institutionalized loyalty oaths long before Uncle Joe gained notoriety, right?).


Runners up:

Nixon
Wilson
Reagan

[progressive_realist]

22. I voted Coolidge, but. . .

Harding would have been my first choice, and Wilson is pretty much tied with Coolidge and Hoover.

I guess that just wasn't our nation's finest period.

Reagan, Ford, Nixon, and Carter weren't exactly great, either. So I guess we had two bad periods.

[Vogon_Glory]

25. I Also Voted Coolidge

Calvin Coolidge, after Warren Harding, was the worst US President in the 20th century. Laissez-Faire economics, almost no oversight of financial markets, military interventions in Latin America for the benefit of the United Fruit Company and other US interests--Coolidge set up Herbert Hoover to take the fall in 1929 stock market crash.

Most of us who pay any attention to what "Conservative"/Republican reactionaries have been proposing note that a Coolidge-era federal government and a Coolidge-era attitude towards business and social welfare are what the radical right is trying to foist on us.

[mcscajun]

23. Shouldn't have left Harding out. He was so useless that historians

still call him one of the worst, if not THE worst President EVER, not just of the 20th Century. Coolidge runs second.

[demnan]

24. Herbert Hoover, hands down.

Why FDR looked so good and won four elections

[bemildred]

27. Wilson & Raygun. Worst enemies of the American republic. nt

[noonwitch]

29. Reagan, for so many reasons

1. Supply-side economics, that left thousands of homeless individuals and families in every major city in the nation.
2. For presiding over a cabinet with the record number for indictments (well, at least for now).
3. For setting up 9-11 by funding terrorists.
4. For waging a domestic "war on drugs" while allowing nun-murdering terrorists to sell their drugs in our inner cities to fund a war Congress wouldn't fund.
5. For aligning the GOP irrevocably with the religious right.

The only good things Ronald Reagan did were to sign the legislation making MLK's birthday a national holiday, and for appointing Sandra Day O'Connor to the USSC.

[HereComesTrouble]

31. Reagan without a doubt

And lapbitch W Bush is even worse but he wasn't on the list.

[MrBenchley]

32. I have to say

I find "Truman cost us having Mao as an ally" one of the most grotesque statements I've read in a long long time...

Of course, it's only midday....