# Most Overrated and Underrated American Presidents **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 25, 2010, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-and-underrated-american-presidents/530355 "2010-02-25T03:14:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2010, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-and-underrated-american-presidents/530355/81 "2010-03-06T19:52:34Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > The same thing happened to the Kurds in Iraq. The US government (via the CIA) promised the Kurds support in their fight against Saddam Hussein, but the promised help never materialized. The Kurds got massacred as a result. This was in the mid-90’s, under Bill Clinton. Right. And JFK’s perfidy went even farther..look at what happened to the Diem brothers (South Vietnma): they trusted JFK-and both wound up murdered!:mad: ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2010, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-and-underrated-american-presidents/530355/82 "2010-03-06T19:56:09Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Right. Wrong. See above. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2010, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-and-underrated-american-presidents/530355/83 "2010-03-06T21:02:11Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > Good man, puppet president. All the good Republicans are puppets. Comes with the territory. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-and-underrated-american-presidents/530355/84 "2010-03-07T06:14:19Z")
> [@](#): > > Cuba still is Red. I’m aware of that. I willing to bet I have a better knowledge of history and than you do. > [@](#): > > They wouldn’t have been any better colonial masters thus why not defend our strategic interests and annex the Philippines? Because it’s wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-and-underrated-american-presidents/530355/85 "2010-03-07T22:17:41Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > Cuba still is Red. That will end as soon as Fidel Casto’s heart stops beating. His brother Raul, the nominal leader of Cuba these days, suggested normalizing the Cuba-US relationship, but Fidel quickly nixed the idea. As soon as Fidel has assumed room temperature, the Cuban government is going to say “Fuck it. We’re tired of living in self-imposed poverty.” Also, China is still officially Communist, but in practive they’ve largely become capitalists. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-and-underrated-american-presidents/530355/86 "2010-03-07T22:48:41Z")
> [@](#): > > Also, China is still officially Communist, but in practive they’ve largely become capitalists. The Chinese government is still communist which is going to be a growing problem because they’re running a country with an increasingly capitalist economy. The communists don’t see capitalism as a worthwhile goal in itself; they see it as a resource that can be used - sort of like the way the Saudi government sees oil. But at some point the goals of the communists who run the government and the capitalists who run the economy are going to diverge too far to be reconciled. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-and-underrated-american-presidents/530355/87 "2010-03-08T01:35:42Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Because it’s wrong. The Filipinos would have suffered anyways and they were better off with us than with the Kaiserreich or the British plus it would have been a strategically wise move a win-win situation. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-and-underrated-american-presidents/530355/88 "2010-03-08T04:03:55Z")
Curtis, what’s wrong is wrong. You can’t justify doing it by saying other people do worse things. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-and-underrated-american-presidents/530355/89 "2010-03-08T19:39:21Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > Who are in your opinion the most overrated and underrated American Presidents? NOTE: this only counts what they did as President not any previous accomplishments > > Overrated: > > Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican, 1801-1809) > James Madison (Democratic-Republican, 1809-1817) > Andrew Jackson (Democrat, 1829-1837) > Woodrow Wilson (Democrat, 1913-1921) > John F. Kennedy (Democrat, 1961-1963) > James Carter (Democrat, 1977-1981) > William Clinton (Democrat, 1993-2001) > > Underrated: > > James K. Polk (Democrat, 1845-1849) > Zachary Taylor (Whig, 1849-1850) > Chester A. Arthur (Republican, 1881-1885) > William McKinley (Republican, 1897-1901) > Richard Nixon (Republican, 1969-1974) > George HW Bush (Republican, 1989-1993) I decline to rate any president after Carter. We need more distance. And yes, I’m including Ronald Reagan there, though my impulse is to give him fairly good marks. Andrew Jackson was, of course, basically a comic book super-villain. The best thing one can say about Richard Nixon is that his villainy is merely a pale shadow of my fellow Tennesseans. (Yes, it’s true that when I pass the marker for Jackson in Overton Park every day, I am tempted to piss on it.) ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-and-underrated-american-presidents/530355/90 "2010-03-08T19:41:32Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > The coalition for Gulf War I was damn impressive. Bush I was a competent President. He doesn’t make my best list though. The senior Mr. Bush is the one who really tempts me to break my “must have been out of office for 30 years rule” on rating presidents. I think he did a competent job as well. I used to get annoyed at…I don’t know his name…that fellow on Saturday Night Live who would mock him for wanting to be cautious. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-and-underrated-american-presidents/530355/91 "2010-03-08T20:47:49Z")
LBJ He was the one who implemented JFK’s programs as well as a few he did himself, such as Civil Rights Act of 1964, “War on poverty”, Space race, rural electrification, Medicare & Medicaid and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965 ---
**Author:** ![tiescore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@tiescore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiescore)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-and-underrated-american-presidents/530355/92 "2010-03-10T20:36:55Z")
Can I put James Buchanon as Overrated? He’s generally ranked as the worst president of all time, and that doesn’t do him justice of how utterly bad he was. This might be a personal bias, not on politics, but that I’m embarrassed to say he was a great great great great uncle of mine… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-and-underrated-american-presidents/530355.md?page=4)