# Who Was the Greatest President of All Time? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 25, 2014, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-greatest-president-of-all-time/691593 "2014-06-25T07:20:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2014, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-greatest-president-of-all-time/691593/81 "2014-06-30T03:32:04Z")
Lincoln was the best presidential _writer_ of all time. I don’t think there will ever be a presidential speech better than the Gettysburg Address. Is it widely known only in the US or around the world as well? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2014, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-greatest-president-of-all-time/691593/82 "2014-06-30T04:32:15Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > Lincoln was the best presidential _writer_ of all time. I don’t think there will ever be a presidential speech better than the Gettysburg Address. Is it widely known only in the US or around the world as well? You might want to check out Lincoln’s second inaugural address. Two of the best speeches in the English language. Note that they were both short. ---
**Author:** ![common\_good](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@common\_good](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/common_good)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-greatest-president-of-all-time/691593/83 "2014-07-04T00:22:10Z")
Al Smith. Almost. ---
**Author:** ![DingoelGringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@DingoelGringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DingoelGringo)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-greatest-president-of-all-time/691593/84 "2014-07-04T00:24:26Z")
I’d nominate JFK! ---
**Author:** ![common\_good](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@common\_good](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/common_good)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-greatest-president-of-all-time/691593/85 "2014-07-04T00:26:18Z")
> [@Robertfchew](#): > > didn’t William howard taft get stuck in the white house bathtub. that’s impressive I heard that. And Nixon got is dick caught in his fly. Also, Reagan got his head stuck in a toilet while looking for his hat. Not sure about that one. Sure sounds like Dutch. ---
**Author:** ![common\_good](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@common\_good](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/common_good)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-greatest-president-of-all-time/691593/86 "2014-07-04T00:33:55Z")
All we’ve proven here is that dubya is nowhere in sight. Anyway, the answer is Washington, Lincoln, FDR, JFK, and the present guy…you know, the black guy from Kenya. Yeah, he belongs in 5th, or higher, place. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-greatest-president-of-all-time/691593/87 "2014-07-04T02:59:15Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > True, LBJ was a giant. I would put him behind FDR as second greatest 20th century president. Could the Civil Rights Act have passed if JFK had picked a different successor? I’m not sure. Between the Civil Rights Act and Medicare, LBJ was a true visionary. Seconded. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-greatest-president-of-all-time/691593/88 "2014-07-04T03:45:35Z")
> [@common\_good](#): > > All we’ve proven here is that dubya is nowhere in sight. Anyway, the answer is Washington, Lincoln, FDR, JFK, and the present guy…you know, the black guy from Kenya. Yeah, he belongs in 5th, or higher, place. What did JFK do to merit being in the top five? Greater than Teddy Roosevelt, really? Eisenhower? Clinton? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-greatest-president-of-all-time/691593/89 "2014-07-04T03:57:37Z")
If you’re counting Obama in the top 5, then it’s obvious the guy likes pretty speeches, so JFK would of course also rank highly. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-greatest-president-of-all-time/691593/90 "2014-07-04T17:44:03Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > What did JFK do to merit being in the top five? Greater than Teddy Roosevelt, really? Eisenhower? Clinton? Cuban-missile kerfuffle, probably. ---
**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:** [July 4, 2014, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-greatest-president-of-all-time/691593/91 "2014-07-04T18:13:41Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > What did JFK do to merit being in the top five? Greater than Teddy Roosevelt, really? Eisenhower? Clinton? Died. Gave LBJ enough political capital to enact the most important legislation of the 20th century. Of course, being dead is not a Presidential act so I don’t have JFK anywhere near the top 10. His handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis (or any of his foreign affairs stuff, really) should not be a point of pride. Of course, he sort of put a man on the Moon, which is the greatest achievement of all in its way. ---
**Author:** ![Haldurson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/51bf81/32.png) [@Haldurson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Haldurson)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-greatest-president-of-all-time/691593/92 "2014-07-04T18:48:00Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Lincoln gets it just for saving the Union, clinches it with freeing the slaves. Isaac Asimov once called him “undoubtedly the greatest American who ever lived,” not just the greatest POTUS. There were a few really exceptional presidents, and Lincoln certainly is at or near the top of the list. What I can’t believe is that it took so many posts ahead of yours to mention his name. FDR certainly is up there as well. ---
**Author:** ![Haldurson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/51bf81/32.png) [@Haldurson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Haldurson)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-greatest-president-of-all-time/691593/93 "2014-07-04T18:49:14Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > Cuban-missile kerfuffle, probably. Also Bay of Pigs. Oh wait… ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-greatest-president-of-all-time/691593/94 "2014-07-04T19:15:10Z")
> [@Haldurson](#): > > Also Bay of Pigs. Oh wait… That was really an Eisenhower operation, wasn’t it? Kennedy just inherited it. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-greatest-president-of-all-time/691593/95 "2014-07-04T20:34:04Z")
My first thought was to say George Washington, for choosing not to be king… But you know what? I don’t actually have any problem with monarchy. We’d still be doing just fine with a descendant of Washington on the throne of America, so long as he didn’t hold any real power (like the current situation in the UK). We in the US demand that our president be both a political leader and a symbol of the country, and that’s a difficult combination of jobs. Much cleaner to separate them between two people. I could also say that FDR accomplished a lot, most of it very good. But I’m not a fan of the way he accomplished it. He set us on a road that, were it not for his death, would have led towards a President-for-life who held real and considerable power. While I kind of like ceremonial kings, that doesn’t extend to the non-ceremonial kind, which FDR would have been. Teddy Roosevelt was certainly our most badass president, and he did good, but neither of those really equates to “great president” in my eyes. So I think I’m going to go with Lincoln. I don’t know how he would have fared in peacetime, but he didn’t serve during peacetime, and he, probably alone of all men of his time, was able to provide exactly what the country desperately needed during our greatest crisis. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-greatest-president-of-all-time/691593/96 "2014-07-04T21:07:38Z")
> [@Haldurson](#): > > Also Bay of Pigs. Oh wait… “At least we tried” ---
**Author:** ![orangeapples](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7993a0/32.png) [@orangeapples](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orangeapples)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2014, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-greatest-president-of-all-time/691593/97 "2014-07-05T01:33:52Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > My first thought was to say George Washington, for choosing not to be king… But you know what? I don’t actually have any problem with monarchy. We’d still be doing just fine with a descendant of Washington on the throne of America, so long as he didn’t hold any real power (like the current situation in the UK). **We in the US demand that our president be both a political leader and a symbol of the country, and that’s a difficult combination of jobs**. Much cleaner to separate them between two people. (Bolding mine) I’m not saying you’re wrong about this (the part I highlighted), but I’m not sure I’m convinced it’s true either. I think we expect our president to lead us, certainly, and to represent us on the world stage, but I don’t view them as particularly symbolic of our nation. Excepting the canonization of the more prominent leaders in our nation’s history, which perhaps was your intent. > [@](#): > > I could also say that FDR accomplished a lot, most of it very good. But I’m not a fan of the way he accomplished it. He set us on a road that, were it not for his death, would have led towards a President-for-life who held real and considerable power. While I kind of like ceremonial kings, that doesn’t extend to the non-ceremonial kind, which FDR would have been. I would put FDR at the top of my list. For a lot of the reasons already stated previously in this thread, and because of this film; [FDR: American Badass! (2012) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1811315/?ref_=nv_sr_1). I don’t remember how to make a link appear as text in BB code, but it’s _FDR: American Badass!_ for anyone who doesn’t want to bother with the link. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2014, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-greatest-president-of-all-time/691593/98 "2014-07-05T01:50:45Z")
George Washington. ---
**Author:** ![No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_umlaut_for_U)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2014, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-greatest-president-of-all-time/691593/99 "2014-07-05T03:30:54Z")
FDR. I’d put Lincoln next, then Eisenhower. DDE was the last president to try to rein in the military, and did so from the stance of having been a General. Plus, a lot of his ideas were nearly prescient. After that, I’d go with Washington, Jefferson, and Clinton. ---
**Author:** ![isisoisis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e68b1a/32.png) [@isisoisis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/isisoisis)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2014, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-greatest-president-of-all-time/691593/100 "2014-07-05T07:00:12Z")
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