I can see the appeal of Harrison. The worst thing he did as President was to die quickly. Given a full four years or more of life, we should expect him to revert to the mean, and be an about-average President.
That said, he was also a slaveowner and a proponent of slavery. I’m sure he’d be able comply with modern laws against slavery, but that’d still leave him as a horrendous racist.
Ultimately, I went with Johnson. We don’t need a rehash of the mess he made of Reconstruction… but I think that, given the historical record he’d have access to, he’d realize what a mess it was, and learn from his previous mistakes. At least, I hope he would.
Personally, I picked Harding. He was certainly not a great President. He couldn’t manage his own administration, which was notoriously corrupt. But personally he was easy-going and likable. If we’re going to have a bad President, we might as well choose one who isn’t an asshole.
This. In a time where global warming is the biggest threat faced by our species, it’s ironic that the party of global warming denial is the same party that produced our most environmentally friendly president. He founded the EPA. He supported and signed the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, and an updated Clean Air Act. He was the president whose actions led to the clearing of urban smog. As far back as 1970, in his first State of the Union speech, he said the environment was the defining issue of the new decade. And that was just on the environment.
Yes, he was a crook, and yes, I know about his whole Southern Strategy, but he was smart (he predicted what would happen to Russia way back in the early 90s, and tried to warn Clinton) and was good at his job. I’d trade Trump for Nixon. It wouldn’t be a difficulty choice. Much easier than any of the other president’s in the OPs list of alternatives.
Let’s not give Nixon too much credit. I don’t think he really cared about the environment. It was just a cause that had popularity during his term of office so he jumped on the bandwagon. As you noted, Nixon was also willing to jump on the white supremacy bandwagon when he thought that would benefit him.
If the criteria is ‘better than Trump’, they’re mostly all okay. I picked Millard Fillmore because he sounded like one of the more harmless ones of those offered.
I’m a better choice than Trump. It’s a real low bar. He’s the worst President this country’s ever had, which is why any of the bad Presidents listed in the poll would be preferable to Trump.
That said, I don’t feel Johnson’s allegiance to the Constitution was any stronger than average. I feel his main motivation was class. Most southern leaders had grown up among the wealthy plantation owners and they felt that the interests of the south was synonymous with the interests of plantation owners. Johnson, on the other hand, had grown up poor and was a self-made man. He thought the plantation owners were not serving the interests of the majority of white southerners who were not wealthy plantation owners. His goal after the war was to break the power of the plantation owners and give it to poor and middle-class white southerners. But only the white ones; Johnson didn’t want blacks to have any political power and was okay with whites oppressing blacks.
Buchanan - Slavery advocate who personally intervened to assure the Supreme Court’s majority ruling in the pro-slavery decision in the Dred Scott case.
Johnson - Opposed the 14th amendment.
Pierce - Enforced the Fugitive Slave Act and considered the abolitionist movement a national threat.
Harding - Teapot Dome scandal and an affair (big whoop). Called for anti-lynching legislation, and was rather pro-civil rights and progressive for his time.
Tyler - Sided with the Confederacy. Enough Said.
Harrison - Pro-slavery and anti-Native.
Fillmore - Claimed he didn’t like it, but had no problems enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act.
