I’ll grant you that Illinois was iffy, though there were certainly indications of Republican fraud downstate. I don’t grant Texas.
Regardless, you have to prove Kennedy’s personal involvement and knowledge and direction of such fraud to make a case against him. Such was proved against Nixon, for far more banal crimes. (You’ll note, please, that I do not personally blame Bush for the arguable voter fraud that won the election for him in 2000.)
(Kennedy, by the way, does not rank all that highly for me. Probably in the teens somewhere, maybe as low as the high twenties.)
However other then Watergate Nixon was actually a pretty good President even for liberals: he established the EPA, expanded welfare and Great Society programs that Johnson began, opened up China, and so on.
The Presidents in the Greatest to the Least Greatest Order:
Abraham Lincoln (Republican, 1861-1865) Won the Civil War, freed the slaves, and preserved the Union
George Washington (None, 1789-1797) Led the nation through it’s most turbulent time through firm but concilatory leadership that did not fall sway to dictatorship nor a mere puppet President
Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democrat, 1933-1945) Helped allevate the country’s economic problems with the New Deal (though not as successful as some claim) and won World War II.
James K. Polk (Democrat, 1845-1849) In four years almost doubled America’s territory with the acquisition of all of the Pacific and Rocky Mountain West and kept all his promises.
Theodore Roosevelt (Republican, 1901-1909) Without degenerating into socialism, helped curb the worst excesses of the Gilded Age along with a firm foreign policy
Harry Truman (Democrat, 1945-1953) Presided over the end of World War II and the start of the Cold War. Created NATO and intervened in the Korean War.
William McKinley (Republican, 1897-1901) Kept a high tariff and expanded American territory
Dwight Eisenhower (Republican, 1953-1961) Built the Interstates and continued firm Cold War policy
Ronald Reagan (Republican, 1981-1989) Helped end the Cold War, curbed excess regulations, and restored American confidence
Richard Nixon (Republican, 1969-1974) Opened up China, sought a reasonable peace in Vietnam, kept the economy afloat, and passed large amounts of social legislation
Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican, 1801-1809) Louisiana Purchase and repealing the Alien and Sedition Acts but also reduced the size of the military and devestated America’s economy with the Embargo Act.
James Monroe (Democrat-Republican, 1817-1825) Issued the Monroe Doctrine which would preserve American security
George H.W. Bush (Republican, 1989-1993) Presided over the fall of the Soviet Union, crushed Hussein in Persian Gulf War, and liberated Panama
Lyndon B. Johnson (Democrat, 1963-1969) Tried to save South Vietnam and passed civil rights legislation but launched an excessive amount of Great Society programs which proved ineffective
John F. Kennedy (Democrat, 1961-1963) Very much overrated, but did cut taxes, push for civil rights, and keep up a moderate Cold War policy
John Adams (Federalist, 1797-1801) Defied both parties by standing firm against France but not declaring war but passed the Alien and Sedition Acts
John Quincy Adams (Democratic-Republican. 1825-1829) A good, decent President who kept up the American System of tariffs and internal improvements
Chester A. Arthur (Republican, 1881-1885) Kept a high tariff and enacted civil service reform but signed the Chinese Exclusion Act
William Howard Taft (Republican, 1909-1913) Kept a high tariff and continued moderate progressive policies
Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican, 1877-1881) A progressive President who launched civil service reform and tried to stop Jim Crow policies but failed
Benjamin Harrison (Republican, 1889-1893) Kept a high tariff and managed the nation well during a relatively unexciting time
Grover Cleveland (Democrat, 1885-1889, 1893-1897) A man of high character and principle but reduced the tariff
William Clinton (Democrat, 1993-2001) Reduced taxes, dismantled the welfare system, and interevened in Yugoslavia but failed to stop the genocide in Rwanda
Gerald Ford (Republican, 1977-1981) Did not do much and was a weak President but strength was needed
Andrew Jackson (Democrat, 1829-1837) Effectively ethnically cleansed the Indians in the east and destroyed the Bank of the United States causing the Panic of 1837 but did stand for the Union in the Nullification Crisis
Ulysses Grant (Republican, 1869-1877) Helped fight for the civil rights of blacks but was corrupt and failed to effectively reconcile the nation.
Woodrow Wilson (Democrat, 1913-1921) Sent the US into an unnecessary war in World War I and refused to compromise on the League of Nations
Andrew Johnson (National Union, 1865-1869) Strong foreign policy but did not support civil rights for blacks at all
Martin Van Buren (Democrat, 1837-1841) Ineffective President who did not do much during the Panic of 1837
Calvin Coolidge (Republican, 1923-1929) A President who did not do much and his inaction caused the Great Depression
Herbert Hoover (Republican, 1929-1933) Presided over the Great Depression but failed to do decisive action
James Carter (Democrat, 1977-1981) A very weak President who failed to restore American confidence, revive the economy, nor deal strongly with the Soviets and Iranians in foreign policy
John Tyler (Whig, 1841-1845) More or less betrayed every single part of the Whig agenda
Warren Harding (Republican, 1921-1923) Very corrupt President and ineffective, failed to join the League of Nations
James Madison (Democrat-Republican, 1809-1817) Led America into near suicidal conflict of the War of 1812 almost causing New England’s secession
Milliard Filmore (Whig, 1850-1853) Accepted the Compromise of 1850 when his predecessor Zachary Taylor had stood firm and refused to do so.
Franklin Pierce (Democrat, 1853-1857) An effective servant of the South who supported the pro-slavery faction in Bleeding Kansas and repealed the Missouri Compromise
James Buchanan (Democrat, 1857-1861) Another lackey of Dixie who supported Taney’s ruling the Dread Scott case, tried to make Kansas a slave state through patronage and bribes despite the fact that the people of Kansas opposed it, mismanaged the economy in the Panic of 1857, and did not do anything as the South seceded and seized federal armouries and forts causing the long, bloody four years of Civil War and 600,000 dead Americans. An absolute unqualified disaster and the worst President America ever saw.
I don’t support high tariffs now (I ardently support NAFTA) but in the XIXth Century I believe high tariffs were necessary to make America’s industries grow.
Other than Watergate (which did not kill a single person nor cause a decline of the economy nor cause a foreign policy defeat) his accomplishment were mostly positive
Sure - from my perspective, Nixon did very well as President on non-social issues - but subverting democracy is arguably the worst crime a democratically elected leader can commit.
Certainly, a President who got us into a nuclear exchange with the Soviet Union, or forcibly expelled all black citizens or somesuch would have been worse, but since those haven’t happened, Nixon’s crime stands alone.
Think about Clinton: his Presidency was fairly nondescript in terms of policy. Mostly, he just maintained the status quo, and oversaw significant economic growth which may or may not have had anything to do with him. Still, when history remembers him, do you think he’ll be remembered for the dotcom boom, or for Monicagate?
Well most liberals seem to nostalgic for the days of Clinton so increasingly I think it will be the former and similarly Nixon’s presidency will be viewed more objectively as those who saw Watergate pass on.
Most liberals were not all that happy with Clinton - he was fairly moderate socially and if anything rather conservative fiscally. However, he certainly looked an awful lot better after the first few years of the Bush administration.