# Worst. President. Ever. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 2, 2003, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-president-ever/152250 "2003-02-02T05:22:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-president-ever/152250/41 "2003-02-02T13:09:59Z")
Emperor Roosevelt gets my vote. ---
**Author:** ![Texican](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ebca7d/32.png) [@Texican](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Texican)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-president-ever/152250/42 "2003-02-02T13:11:33Z")
Coming from Helen Thomas, I’ll take that as a compliment. I heard her once referred to as a “cackling pteradactyl from a liberal stone age”. I wish I could remember who said it. ---
**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:** [February 2, 2003, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-president-ever/152250/43 "2003-02-02T13:25:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diogenes the Cynic \* > **This guy cheated his way into office in the first place with a stacked supreme court.** Technically it wasn’t _cheating_. Bush got into office the same way Clinton avoided going to Vietnam – by using every connection and loophole the law and system allowed to achieve what he wanted. Morally and ethically questionable, yes. Illegal, no. Worst president ever? It’s hard to say without more knowledge of earlier presidents, especially the 19th century ones. Worst president recently? Definitely, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![MSU\_1978](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@MSU\_1978](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MSU_1978)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-president-ever/152250/44 "2003-02-02T13:27:56Z")
Diogenes, I believe these have been your finest posts ever. I believe Helen Thomas is right on target, and she should know. She’s been covering the White House since when, _Andrew_ Johnson? Buchanan was lame (but thank God we haven’t had a modern President Buchanan) but in his defense he was a lame duck by the time secession became inevitable. He simply felt powerless to stop it. The key word for GWB is squander. He squandered the sympathy of the world in the post-9/11 era, he squandered the opportunity to capture BinLaden, he squandered a large surplus and created huge deficits that Saint Reagan would be proud of. The right wing and their half-witted shills like Limbaugh point to his wondrous achievement in the 2002 elections. So they won a few very close races to capture a few Senate seats- so what? Both houses are still split nearly exactly down the middle. The party that wins the White House normally loses seats in the next congressional election. The fact that this didn’t happen is not a credit to Bush, it is MORE proof that Gore won! ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-president-ever/152250/45 "2003-02-02T13:39:25Z")
Msu wrote: > [@](#): > > I believe Helen Thomas is right on target, and she should know. She’s been covering the White House since when, Andrew Johnson? That makes (or at least ought to make) her an expert on White House press coverage — how to get there, where the bathrooms are, what the press corps protocol is and all that. But why does it qualify her opinion of presidents above anyone else’s? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-president-ever/152250/46 "2003-02-02T13:59:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bob Cos \* > **elucidator, perhaps that’s a function of the company you tend to keep? …** In this instance, they might best be described as “working class”. By a happy coincidence, it is also the company I prefer. ---
**Author:** ![ranwashingt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@ranwashingt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ranwashingt)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-president-ever/152250/47 "2003-02-02T14:00:46Z")
## jklann Andrew Johnson was the worst president ever. jklann, I have to vote with you - having just read an exhaustive historcal tome that presents the mere beginning rumblings of Johnson’s infestation of the office…The guy was truly a dick in the grand ole age of dicks…Baby Bush by comparison is just the same old Boss just as the last old Boss…His main crime to me, is his felonious lack of inspiration…I’ve been waiting all my life for an Addams, Lincoln, or even Nader, and all I get is this shill. ---
**Author:** ![milroyj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@milroyj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milroyj)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-president-ever/152250/48 "2003-02-02T16:52:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by elucidator \* > \*\*On the other hand, he’s still got a couple years to go. Unless he’s caught in bed with a live boy or a dead woman. \*\* A couple years? You mean like six, right? ---
**Author:** ![aahala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@aahala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aahala)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-president-ever/152250/49 "2003-02-02T17:28:08Z")
The worst president list includes just about everyone who served from Polk to Teddy Roosevelt, with the exceptions of Lincoln and Cleveland. It’s rather amazing the country survived. A couple were incompetent, but most of the remainder were simply filling the suit. ---
**Author:** ![greenteeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@greenteeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/greenteeth)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-president-ever/152250/50 "2003-02-02T17:34:33Z")
Well, I keep a pretty diverse set of company throughout the US. If anything, the breakup of opinions on George W. largely depends on sex. The large majority of men I know tend to love the guy (though hate his speaking ability) while a more narrow majority of women I know feel he is too war-like. There are of course people I know who absolutely loathe the guy, but they tend to be very liberal anyway. Anyway, his popularity rating is still relatively high, so I have to assume that he would be low on most peoples list of worst presidents. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-president-ever/152250/51 "2003-02-02T17:36:54Z")
popular cuurency is not much of a measure of a good or bad presidency. Nixon was popular, too. Lincoln was not. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-president-ever/152250/52 "2003-02-02T18:15:30Z")
Hitler was a popular leader. Popularity has to do with how well they control and manipulate the media, and how well their people spin for them. It has nothing to do with actual ability. Helen Thomas seems to have approxamitely a million years in the White House press corps. She’s seen a lot more of the underbelly of the presidency than most reporters. IMO, that does qualify her a bit to give judgement. I don’t like Bush at all - he’s a war-mongering, irresponsable, quasi-reformed-drunken addict who’s daddy bought the oval office for him. OTOH, I think that Lincoln really sucked, but that’s mostly the byproduct of a research project I did last year for US History, trying to prove that Licoln was a tyrant, and it kind of jaded me. A lot. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Beagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Beagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beagle)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-president-ever/152250/53 "2003-02-02T18:39:50Z")
I guess the list for worst president ever encompasses only modern Republican presidents. Or, perhaps, some people’s assumptions are hanging out. We’ve had dozens of presidents and most people (in this thread) agree that the short list of the worst is Bush II, Reagan, Nixon. Throw in Bush I for the quadfecta. How about [Harding](http://www.ipl.org/div/potus/wgharding.html) or [Grant](http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/ug18.html)? **aahala** has it about right. ---
**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:** [February 2, 2003, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-president-ever/152250/54 "2003-02-02T19:19:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by NinjaChick \* > \*\*I don’t like Bush at all - he’s a war-mongering, irresponsable, quasi-reformed-drunken addict who’s daddy bought the oval office for him. \*\* That description fits Kennedy too (with the _possible_ exception of “war-mongering”. And “reformed”). And he was a pretty popular guy. Nixon had a lot of strong positives to mitigate against his strong negatives, most notably his “opening” of P.R. China. Nixon might be guilty of some of the greatest abuses of the office of POTUS, but he also accomplished some important things during his tenure, which I would argue prevent him from capturing the “Worst” position. So there: a Democrat dissed, a Republican reprieved. Are we happy yet? ---
**Author:** ![Beagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Beagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beagle)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-president-ever/152250/55 "2003-02-02T19:52:23Z")
I should have said “in” the short list of presidents. Actually, quite a few people have made some good historical picks. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![jeel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/71e660/32.png) [@jeel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jeel)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-president-ever/152250/56 "2003-02-02T20:14:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MSU 1978 \* > \*\*The key word for GWB is squander. He squandered the sympathy of the world in the post-9/11 era, he squandered the opportunity to capture BinLaden, he squandered a large surplus and created huge deficits that Saint Reagan would be proud of. \*\*You can blame Clinton-Gore for squandering the opportunity to capture Bin Laden back in 1996! > [@](#): > > \*\* > The right wing and their half-witted shills like Limbaugh point to his wondrous achievement in the 2002 elections. So they won a few very close races to capture a few Senate seats- so what? Both houses are still split nearly exactly down the middle. The party that wins the White House normally loses seats in the next congressional election. The fact that this didn’t happen is not a credit to Bush, it is MORE proof that Gore won! \*\* Now that’s a valid argument! Not! The reason Republicans held their ground last November, is because we are at war. And the American people want Republicans in office during a time of war. Whether that is right or wrong, time will tell, but it had nothing to Gore-bot coming close in 2000. ---
**Author:** ![nogginhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5e9695/32.png) [@nogginhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nogginhead)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-president-ever/152250/57 "2003-02-02T20:16:22Z")
I think an interesting underlying question is what it means to be a bad president. Does it mean failing to see where leadership is needed? Failing to lead, regardless of what the important issues are? Or successfully leading the country in the wrong direction? I would argue that the last is the most damaging kind of president. GWB is tops in that category for the past 100 years. As D the C pointed out so crisply, he’s been wrong on just about everything and pretty effective about, well, policy and legislation, if not directing public opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-president-ever/152250/58 "2003-02-02T20:20:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by elucidator \* > \*\*Jesus Horatio Christ, its like we were had by the Keystone Kops of Terror. > \*\* 😛 That reminds me of the line in _Johnny Dangerously_ when the head gangster says his gang is the “New York Yankees of crime”. And yes, GWB is a menace and a jerk. I’d bet my mortgage that he’s the first President to actually gloat over killing someone in a State of the Union address. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-president-ever/152250/59 "2003-02-02T20:34:43Z")
> [@](#): > > _jeel_ > Now that’s a valid argument! Not! The reason Republicans held their ground last November, is because we are at war. And the American people want Republicans in office during a time of war. Whether that is right or wrong, time will tell, but it had nothing to Gore-bot coming close in 2000. When, exactly, did we declare war, and who did we declare it against? ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-president-ever/152250/60 "2003-02-02T21:03:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diogenes the Cynic \* > \*\*When, exactly, did we declare war, and who did we declare it against? \*\* Well, what date did Congress authorize the use of force in Afghanistan? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-president-ever/152250.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-president-ever/152250.md?page=4)