Lincoln.
For all of the reasons already listed. It may sound silly and sentimental, and probably is, but my feelings on the matter can be summed up quite succinctly: Lincoln helped shape America into what it is today, Washington helped shape America.
This is crazy.
Washington, for sure.
Lincoln is our only truly great president(which is pretty good considering we’ve only had 43).
Washington.
I think I needed to make that a clearer vote.
What an odd statement. Could you defend this a bit with actual accomplishments and policies? I feel more he had greatness thrust upon him and thankfully rose to the occasion. But Washington was truly great and make perhaps the most remarkable sacrifice/decision in human history.
Beyond that, I of course feel Theodore Roosevelt was the greatest man to be President and a great President. Scholar, Warrior, Peacemaker, reformer, conservationist, author, adventurer, naturalist, historian, trust buster, lawman, rancher and probably father of the modern navy. I am sure I am overlooking a few others. Oh and the most successful third party candidate in US history if I am not mistaken.
With thanks to Curtis LeMay for the inspiration, I think I’ll start a Greatest American elimination game after this thread concludes and after giving everyone a chance to take a break.
As I envision it, each player would nominate five noteworthy Americans, providing a link to the Wiki bio of each. Naturalized U.S. citizens would of course be eligible for nomination, even if they were more famous for things done as citizens of another country. I think I’ll limit nominees to those who have been dead at least ten years; no living people, like the U.S. Postal Service’s rule in issuing commemorative stamps. After the deadline, I’ll arrange them alphabetically and we’ll vote much as we have here. Let me know what you think.
Correct, as indicated by his recognition of Haiti. If Lincoln had wanted to send freed slaves there, he wouldn’t have done that.
We’re in agreement, mate.
Vote tally:
Washington 12
Lincoln 12.
By standard rules, the next person to vote will determine the number 1 position.
Wow.
Or we could just declare it a draw at the top, which would be a bit of a cop-out, but kind of fitting.
I deliberately have not voted this round as I felt I could not put one ahead of the other. I will go have dinner and see if anyone else votes. If not, I will come back and do more research and see if I can split the tie.
On preview: calling it a tie will clearly fit my personal view to date.
Well, this has been very tough. I have previously commented that I thought that we were assessing people’s presidencies, not their total contribution. But Washington made substantial contribution to America before there was such a thing as a presidency, although he was Commander-in-Chief, a position now held by the president, of course. Should we really ignore that?
If we were to consider just the time in office, I would put Lincoln number 1. But I thnk we need to look further. Both men led America through times of war where missteps would mean that there would be no America today (in anything like the form we know it). Lincoln’s assassination meant he could not lead America through Reconstruction. Yet Washington did lead America through “Construction”, including making peace with Britain and allowing America to create itself free from the strife of war.
So on that basis I put Washington ahead of Lincoln and vote for the latter’s ouster.
And with that, the game is over. By the process of elimination, the greatest US President is:
George Washington (None, 1789-1797)
Eliminated Presidents:
And for post-game celebrations, I will turn it over to Brad Neely, for his unforgettable but perhaps not entirely historically accurate (and not completely work-safe) tribute.
Thanks - that was a lot of fun! I’m very pleased that Washington is now “first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of Dopers.”
Hey hey hey! He won by 1 vote… that’s hardly winning Dopers hearts and minds 
To quote the Freepers “He’s not MY President!” 
I like the idea, and agree with the “no currently or recently living” proviso. I participated in AOL’s “Greatest American” contest a few years back, and since I remember my five picks from back then, I’ll be nominating them to see how much this board’s contributors agree with my choices.
Thanks. I think I’ll start the thread in a week or so. I already have five in mind for my nominees.
It’s interesting that in a period of history when there is so much animosity between political parties, we ended up agreeing on the only president who had no party affiliation.
Yes. And the two highest-ranked Presidents of last 64 years (one of each party) are the two whose careers and styles were least like politicians.
Another idea- a state elimination game.
Well, *Jersey Shore *certainly isn’t helping the cause.
Remember, those are mostly New Yorkers and not people from Jersey.