# Ten Worst Presidential Blunders... What do you think? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 19, 2006, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152 "2006-02-19T02:32:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2006, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/121 "2006-02-20T18:14:31Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I’m thinking of a President who had an extended extramarital affair with a woman over whom he held a position of authority. The nation found out about it, and scandal ensured. Subsequent genetic evidence proved that he did, indeed, have the affair alleged. Of whom am I thinking? > > Here’s a hint: The story broke over two hundred years ago. Not Jefferson, anyway. In his case, **no scandal ensued.** ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2006, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/122 "2006-02-20T18:17:58Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > Clinton was wrong to cheat on his wife. But when the information that he was doing so was revealed it should have been treated in the same manner we treated the recent Cheney shooting; we should have made a lot of bad jokes at his expense for a couple of weeks and then moved on. Nothing Clinton did rose to the level of “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors” and it was purest partisan politics to try and pretend otherwise. As a Republican, I’m dreading the day when the Democrats are in a position for some payback. That day may come sooner than you think. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2006, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/123 "2006-02-20T18:18:44Z")
Actually Jefferson did take some heat in the press from it. But back then scandals didn’t erupt near like they did today. Information took a lot longer to spread and the public was a lot less likely to follow the news. Journalists wrote several articles in the early 1800s trying to embarass Jefferson over the matter. It certainly wasn’t unheard of for a slaveowner to father children with his slaves but it also could easily result in social embarassment for the slaveowner and even possibly criminal charges (for mixing the races, not for rape.) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2006, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/124 "2006-02-20T18:21:00Z")
> [@Age Quod Agis](#): > > And as long as we’re on the subject of Carter, I’m not sure how he avoided the list: freezing oil prices, boycotting the Olympics, (possible) 3 Mile Island cover-up, and the botched Iranian hostage rescue. Probably because no **one** of those, taken alone, merits to Top 10 status. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2006, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/125 "2006-02-20T18:22:48Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Or are you saying that the US backed Somoza against all reform until a revolution became inevitable? Yes, and that started long before Reagan for that matter. The original Somoza was put in place by US power back in 1927, and Sandino’s revolt against him started about 1 day afterward. The revolution didn’t “become inevitable”, there was \*always \* an insurgency under the Somozas. When Sandino temporarily won control of much of the country, by defeating a force of US Marines, he was promptly killed. Later, it became easy for the Somozas to label the populist uprising against them “Communist”, and therefore demanding of more US support to oppose it. That’s a trick many tinpot dictators around the world figured out for themselves, just as many populist insurgencies labeled \*themselves \* “Communist” for the purpose of gaining support from the _USSR_. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2006, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/126 "2006-02-20T18:23:05Z")
> [@Age Quod Agis](#): > > I agree that the Clinton-Lewinsky fiasco should not have made the top 10, but I doubt that most historians would agree with you that that overthrow of Iran’s supposedly democratic government was clearly such a terrible thing. That government may have been democratic in name, but it was also Communist and anti-Western, and was threatening American (and British) interests in the region. (That’s not to say that I think it was a great idea in retrospect, just that it wasn’t clearly such a bad idea at the time.) :rolleyes: What exactly was “Communist” about Mohammed Mossadegh? And why does “threatening American (and British) interests in the region” justify subverting another country’s government, in 1953 or at any other time? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2006, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/127 "2006-02-20T18:26:27Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Both the President _and_ the Secretary of Defense are civilians in the military chain of command. The Secretary of Defense is **not** in the chain of command. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2006, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/128 "2006-02-20T18:28:16Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I nominate Truman’s decision to drop the bombs on Japan. Absolutely unnecessary slaughter of thousands of innocents. The Japanese were already trying to negotiate a surrender through the USSR, and the only condition they were holding out for (keeping the emperor) was granted to them anyway. A crime, perhaps, but not a blunder. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2006, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/129 "2006-02-20T18:35:30Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > [Hoo boy, yes.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_G._Harding#Extramarital_affairs) > They weren’t just rumors. He did have a child out of wedlock with his mistress.DNA tests of Hemings’ descendants have proven it. [Lucy Rutherfurd.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_Page_Mercer_Rutherfurd)[Kay Summersby](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kay_Summersby). > > Don’t forget Bush 1 and [Jennifer Fitzgerald.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Fitzgerald). And don’t forget **Eleanor** Roosevelt. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor\_Roosevelt#Marriage\_and\_family](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_Roosevelt#Marriage_and_family) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2006, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/130 "2006-02-20T18:59:18Z")
> [@Martin Hyde](#): > > Journalists wrote several articles in the early 1800s trying to embarass Jefferson over the matter. It certainly wasn’t unheard of for a slaveowner to father children with his slaves but it also could easily result in social embarassment for the slaveowner and even possibly criminal charges (for mixing the races, not for rape.) Was race-mixing illegal, then? I always thought anti-miscegenation laws were put in place later, as a reaction to Reconstruction. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2006, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/131 "2006-02-20T19:37:36Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > It is impossible for the powerless to aggress against the powerful. > [@Diogenes](#): > > Ever heard of suicide bombers? It’s difficult to think of instances in which powerful people have been killed by suicide bombings. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2006, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/132 "2006-02-20T19:52:44Z")
Tsar Aleksander II might have been the first suicide-bomb victim. The PM of Sri Lanka survived one by the Tamil Tigers in 1999, as did President Musharraf of Pakistan in 2003. ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2006, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/133 "2006-02-20T20:04:14Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > The Secretary of Defense is **not** in the chain of command. Incorrect, sir. He is second in the chain of command according to the [Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldwater-Nichols_Act). ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2006, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/134 "2006-02-20T20:24:35Z")
> [@Zakalwe](#): > > Incorrect, sir. He is second in the chain of command according to the [Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldwater-Nichols_Act). “bypassing the Joint Chiefs of Staff” . . . interesting . . . I was sure the SoD was outside the chain of command because that’s a crucial plot point in one of Robert Heinlein’s stories, “The Happy Days Ahead” – the last story in his 1980 book _Expanded Universe._ (There’s a set-to between the SoD and the new president, who reminds the Secretary that she is in the chain of command and he is not.) Always dicey to use fiction as a source, but Heinlein was an Annapolis man and I never imagined he would get something so fundamental wrong. Yet, according to this article, the Secretary of Defense/War was always in the chain of command, even before the Goldwater-Nichols Act. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2006, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/135 "2006-02-20T20:26:57Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Tsar Aleksander II might have been the first suicide-bomb victim. > The PM of Sri Lanka survived one by the Tamil Tigers in 1999, as did President Musharraf of Pakistan in 2003. And Zheng the king of Qin, who later became the First Emperor of China, survived an assassination attempt by Jing Ke – who knew that, succeed or fail, he would die. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jing\_Ke](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jing_Ke) Assassination is often a risky business. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2006, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/136 "2006-02-20T21:12:20Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > The Secretary of Defense is **not** in the chain of command. Actually, he is. That’s one reason why the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs stands politely beside the Secretary at press conferences with his mouth shut until the Secretary calls upon him to speak. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2006, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/137 "2006-02-20T21:16:33Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > It’s difficult to think of instances in which powerful people have been killed by suicide bombings. Not to mention an instance in which Monica Lewinsky has been compared to a suicide bomber. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2006, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/138 "2006-02-20T21:24:43Z")
So what made Hoover our greatest president, **Liberal?** Or was that a whoosh? ---
**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:** [February 20, 2006, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/139 "2006-02-20T21:25:11Z")
> [@](#): > > The investigation wasn’t created by Republicans; it was created by the White House (in response to political pressure). The investigation wasn’t controlled by the Republicans; it was controlled by the independent counsel. The independent counsel wasn’t appointed by Republicans; he was appointed by an independent three judge panel (and at the time of his appointment, Starr was lauded as a great, non-partisan, totally fair-minded choice). The scope of the investigation wasn’t broadened merely because Ken Starr or the Republicans decided to investigate more and more stuff; it was broadened by statutory or executive mandate. I have to disagree. I remember it was obvious even at the time (and as I’ve said, I’m a Republican) how blatently partisan the whole investigation process was. ---
**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:** [February 20, 2006, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152/140 "2006-02-20T21:31:33Z")
> [@](#): > > I nominate Truman’s decision to drop the bombs on Japan. Absolutely unnecessary slaughter of thousands of innocents. The Japanese were already trying to negotiate a surrender through the USSR, and the only condition they were holding out for (keeping the emperor) was granted to them anyway. No, the basis the Japanese were negotiating on was no occupation of Japan, no demilitarization of Japanese forces, the retention of some Japanese occupied territory, and the entire existing Japanese government and military leadership to stay in power. They were basically offering the same terms, with different details, that they had sought at the height of their power in 1942. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-worst-presidential-blunders-what-do-you-think/345152.md?page=8)