# The President Elimination Game **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [September 24, 2009, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317 "2009-09-24T01:36:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 19
**Author:** ![ToeJam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/361 "2009-10-31T21:10:46Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Well, I’m not a big fan, but I guess I’ll rise to Coolidge’s defense. > > He was scrupulous in not interfering in investigations, letting the chips fall where they may with Harding-era scandals (Teapot Dome, Veterans Affairs, Harry Daugherty, etc.). He restored public confidence in the Federal government. He cut taxes and yet was also able to reduce the national debt. A farmer himself, he vetoed wasteful agricultural subsidies. He spoke out against lynching and the Klan, which was politically risky at the time. He supported the Kellogg-Briand Pact, which although it didn’t “outlaw war,” laid the groundwork for later international law. He held unprecedentedly regular press conferences. He was personally honest. These are why in my list actually, Silent Cal is in the Top 10 for sure. He’s one of my fav. presidents and pretty virtually unknown now for the lil’ things like speaking out vs. the Klan. I’m a fan of the old Honest Man, shtick. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/362 "2009-10-31T21:35:23Z")
A further note on Taylor: [Yes, I know it wasn’t true cholera](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/956/did-u-s-president-zachary-taylor-die-of-eating-cherries-with-milk-on-a-warm-day). ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2009, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/363 "2009-11-01T03:52:14Z")
Switching to Van Buren then. ---
**Author:** ![CyclopticXander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@CyclopticXander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CyclopticXander)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2009, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/364 "2009-11-01T08:49:50Z")
> [@stuthehistoryguy](#): > > Can someone please lay out their case against Old Kinderhook? He was a dud. He was pretty politically ineffective for such a political animal. He was an unpopular one term president, mostly due to the financial crises that was created by the policies of he and Jackson, whose charm he lacked. A lot of people don’t like how he dealt with the Amistad case, and a lot more people don’t much care for his treatment of Native Americans. He still kept trying to get elected to the presidency again. And then again. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/365 "2009-11-02T10:42:08Z")
Van Buren, just to annoy the Madisonians. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/366 "2009-11-02T19:15:08Z")
15 votes so far. Looks like it will be 2 more days or 5 more votes. ---
**Author:** ![as\_u\_wish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@as\_u\_wish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/as_u_wish)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/367 "2009-11-02T23:26:32Z")
Madison, just to g e t i t o v e r w i t h. ---
**Author:** ![Ichini\_Sanshigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/d9b06d/32.png) [@Ichini\_Sanshigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichini_Sanshigo)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/368 "2009-11-04T02:38:38Z")
Adams. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/369 "2009-11-04T03:27:14Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > If you people don’t help me get rid of Martin Van Buren right now I’m not playing anymore. :mad: > [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Make your case against him then-almost all of the most obvious ones are gone now, and my putative choice, Coolidge, I am barely attached to. Well, there’s [that haircut](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Martin_Van_Buren_edit.jpg), for one. The Trail of Tears and his failure to prevent the persecution of the Mormons in Missouri. His fiscal policy prolonged the Panic of 1837 and only increased deflationary pressure on the dollar. > [@SandyHook](#): > > Lyndon Johnson. Probably the most reviled president ever. How the hell can the guy who signed (and promoted) the most important social legislation of the twentieth century be among our worst Presidents? ---
**Author:** ![Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d9b06d/32.png) [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boozahol_Squid_P.I)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/370 "2009-11-04T04:21:04Z")
Johnson’s not a bad choice, but Adams was worse. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/371 "2009-11-04T10:14:05Z")
As the Reader is Chicago-based, can we adopt local custom and vote more than once to get to the magic twenty? And my deceased grandmother would like to vote for Madison. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/372 "2009-11-04T14:54:47Z")
Bless her! ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/373 "2009-11-04T20:39:59Z")
Despite a late charge by fellow Founding Father John Adams, James Madison, the only president to actually lose control of the nation’s capital to an enemy army, has been shown the door. He joins Hoover, Grant, and Carter as Presidents whose best achievements were made out of office. George Washington (None, 1789-1797) John Adams (Federalist, 1797-1801) Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican, 1801-1809) James Monroe (Democratic-Republican, 1817-1825) John Quincy Adams (Democratic-Republican, 1825-1829) Martin Van Buren (Democrat, 1837-1841) James Polk (Democrat, 1845-1849) Zachary Taylor (Whig, 1849-1850) Abraham Lincoln (Republican, 1861-1865) Chester Arthur (Republican, 1881-1885) Grover Cleveland (Democrat, 1885-1889, 1893-1897) Benjamin Harrison (Republican, 1889-1893) William McKinley (Republican, 1897-1901) Theodore Roosevelt (Republican, 1901-1909) William Howard Taft (Republican, 1909-1913) Woodrow Wilson (Democrat, 1913-1921) Calvin Coolidge (Republican, 1923-1929) Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Democrat, 1933-1945) Henry Truman (Democrat, 1945-1953) Dwight Eisenhower (Republican, 1953-1961) John Fitzgerald Kennedy (Democrat, 1961-1963) Lyndon Baines Johnson (Democrat, 1963-1969) Gerald Ford (Republican, 1974-1977) George Herbert Walker Bush (Republican, 1989-1993) William Jefferson Clinton (Democrat, 1993-2001) Eliminated Presidents: 1. James Buchanan (Democrat, 1857-1861) 2. Franklin Pierce (Democrat, 1853-1857) 3. Andrew Johnson (National Union, 1865-1869) 4. Warren Harding (Republican, 1921-1923) 5. Millard Fillmore (Whig, 1850-1853) 6. Richard Milhous Nixon (Republican, 1969-1974) 7. Herbert Hoover (Republican, 1929-1933) 8. Ronald Reagan (Republican, 1981-1989) 9. Andrew Jackson (Democrat, 1829-1837) 10. Rutherford Hayes (Republican, 1877-1881) 11. Ulysses Grant (Republican, 1869-1877) 12. John Tyler (Whig, 1841-1845) 13. James Earl Carter (Democrat, 1977-1981) 14. James Madison (Democratic-Republican, 1809-1817) I will vote for Woodrow Wilson, who was racist even for his time, conducted probably the most dishonest re-election campaign in presidential history, was horrible on civil rights during the war, and established the ideological precedent for a century of American military adventurism overseas. Also, I think the five day, 20 vote minimum is just slowing things down. From here on out, the deadline is three business days. Which means the voting for this round closes at 2:30 PM on Monday. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/374 "2009-11-04T20:47:39Z")
John Adams. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/375 "2009-11-04T21:11:59Z")
James Monroe, because I don’t like the Monroe Doctrine. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/376 "2009-11-04T21:33:07Z")
Maybe the Madison haters can now turn their attention to somebody whose lifetime achievements pale in comparison to those of our shortest president. Someone like CHESTER ALAN ARTHUR, f’rinstance. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/377 "2009-11-04T21:50:12Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > To think there’s is only a three generation gap between now and 1790! BTW, how do meet Mr. Tyler? Sorry, didn’t see this question before. We go to church together. He sometimes helps out with the high school kids, if you can believe it. He was an accomplished lawyer and also taught history at U of Richmond, VMI and the Citadel. Here’s a [profile](http://www.franklinlionsclub.com/Tyler.html) of him. Okay, back to business: Hey, Hey! Ho, Ho! Chester Arthur’s got to go! ---
**Author:** ![CyclopticXander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@CyclopticXander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CyclopticXander)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/378 "2009-11-04T22:04:23Z")
Arthur wasn’t really a good president, he does have an interesting record in regards to civil service reform considering how much he personally befitted from all sorts of corrupt behavior. And he didn’t really do anything terrible. Anyhow, Still Van Buren…I’m waiting for people to join me on this little train. ---
**Author:** ![Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d9b06d/32.png) [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boozahol_Squid_P.I)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/379 "2009-11-04T22:21:50Z")
I’m fine with Wilson at this point. The pointless engagement of the US in WWI, and his selling out his ideals in the treaty negotiations for his pet LoN project are reason enough for me. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317/380 "2009-11-05T01:00:51Z")
Did a bit of reading on MVB. Bit of a spineless weasel, wasn’t he? Refused to lift a finger to help the LDS when they were being lynched in the midwest–so much for the first amendment. Left Texas out to dry as well–not exactly a resolute moment in presidential history. Then there’s the Trail of Tears, and let’s not even get into the Amistad affair. Good Lord! I’ll put away my Adams schtick for now. Get MVB out of here, and I don’t care how many NYC gangsters come after me for saying it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317.md?page=18) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-elimination-game/511317.md?page=20)