I can see that Monroe’s getting no traction, so I’ll switch my vote to Arthur. JFK was a better President than both of them combined.
buh-bye chester arthur!
Arthur, just so everyone will shut up about him already.
Arthur, if newcomers are allowed a vote.
What is the criterion anyway? Reagan and Jackson are often called “great” Presidents. Even I – no right-winger – would argue Reagan’s and even Nixon’s Presidencies had redeeming merit. Other than missing Jackson (and perhaps Reagan or Adams) the list seems to be moving towards a best-ever list.
If it’s allowed, can I change my vote to G.W. Bush? I know he was eliminated at the outset, but I’d like the pleasure of eliminating him again.
Welcome, septimus! See page 1, post 1: “In this game you will pick one (1) president to eliminate, the one that you think is the worst of those listed.”
Everyone will have, and has had, their own definition of “worst.”
FWIW, I agree that Reagan, especially, was eliminated unfairly early. But that was before I started voting so I can’t complain.
Broadly speaking, the voters in this game have been more willing to eliminate Presidents who were effective, but towards a bad end, than the usual surveys of “greatest Presidents”. Jackson, in particular, got the boot for the Trail of Tears. See also Woodrow Wilson.
And Reagan. I believe the prevailing rationalle in booting RWR was his enabling of the religious right, creating the “culture war” dichotomy that persists until today.
This game tends to work against polarizing figures, at least on the right. If the game were played in reverse–pick your favorite, then set him aside and go for the next–Reagan may well finish toward the top.
Current vote total:
Arthur 13
Kennedy 6
I’m calling this one.
Chester Alan Arthur is the 24th President voted out. Having Mark Twain in your corner only carries you so far, apparently.
George Washington (None, 1789-1797)
Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican, 1801-1809)
James Monroe (Democratic-Republican, 1817-1825)
James Polk (Democrat, 1845-1849)
Abraham Lincoln (Republican, 1861-1865)
Grover Cleveland (Democrat, 1885-1889, 1893-1897)
William McKinley (Republican, 1897-1901)
Theodore Roosevelt (Republican, 1901-1909)
William Howard Taft (Republican, 1909-1913)
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Democrat, 1933-1945)
Harry S. Truman (Democrat, 1945-1953)
Dwight Eisenhower (Republican, 1953-1961)
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (Democrat, 1961-1963)
Lyndon Baines Johnson (Democrat, 1963-1969)
William Jefferson Clinton (Democrat, 1993-2001)
Eliminated Presidents:
- James Buchanan (Democrat, 1857-1861)
- Franklin Pierce (Democrat, 1853-1857)
- Andrew Johnson (National Union, 1865-1869)
- Warren Harding (Republican, 1921-1923)
- Millard Fillmore (Whig, 1850-1853)
- Richard Milhous Nixon (Republican, 1969-1974)
- Herbert Hoover (Republican, 1929-1933)
- Ronald Reagan (Republican, 1981-1989)
- Andrew Jackson (Democrat, 1829-1837)
- Rutherford Hayes (Republican, 1877-1881)
- Ulysses Grant (Republican, 1869-1877)
- John Tyler (Whig, 1841-1845)
- James Earl Carter (Democrat, 1977-1981)
- James Madison (Democratic-Republican, 1809-1817)
- Martin Van Buren (Democrat, 1837-1841)
- Woodrow Wilson (Democrat, 1913-1921)
- Calvin Coolidge (Republican, 1923-1929)
- John Adams (Federalist, 1797-1801)
- Benjamin Harrison (Republican, 1889-1893)
- Gerald Ford (Republican, 1974-1977)
- Zachary Taylor (Whig, 1849-1850)
- George Herbert Walker Bush (Republican, 1989-1993)
- John Quincy Adams (Democratic-Republican, 1825-1829)
- Chester Arthur (Republican, 1881-1885)
Continuing with John F. Kennedy.
Barring another runaway, voting closes at 2 PM on Monday, December 14.
JFK, your time is up.
A couple of months ago, I presented a a paper on vampires (wazimamoto) in Kenya. In it, I gave the British all kinds of hell for what they did in Kenya.
I realize that business-as-usual imperialism in the Philippines and elsewhere did not compare to kipande and the myriad of other abuses visited upon Africans during British hegemony. That’s why I’ve held back this long. It’s time to vote out the chief proponent of overseas imperialism in American history.
I vote for William McKinley.
JFK. His legacy seems more based on his looks and his untimely death than substantive achievements (of which there were a few, but not as many as LBJ).
McKinley as my pro-JFK vote.
I’ll go for Monroe again. Little to show for eight years in office; far less than JFK had for just three-plus.
JFK: GTFO!
a
James Monroe. When you get down to it, what right did the US have to establish the Monroe Doctrine?
Next on my average-ranking list is William Howard Taft. Unlike most of the presidents, his average score was a round number. According to the polls, he’s the 20th best president.
I’m surprised Taft has escaped a vote so far; I believe he’s the only President to ever finish third in a re-election campaign.
Nothing really against Taft, but somebody’s gotta go, so it might as well be him. However, I’ve always liked this anecdote: