Posted on 12/07/2005 11:06:54 AM PST by woofie
PARIS -- President John F. Kennedy was considered a historian because of his book "Profiles in Courage," so he received periodic requests to rate the presidents, those lists that usually begin "1. Lincoln, 2. Washington ..."
But after he actually became president himself, he stopped filling them out.
"No one knows what it's like in this office," he said after being in the job. "Even with poor James Buchanan, you can't understand what he did and why without sitting in his place, looking at the papers that passed on his desk, knowing the people he talked with."
Poor James Buchanan, the 15th president, is generally considered the worst president in history. Ironically, the Pennsylvania Democrat, elected in 1856, was one of the most qualified of the 43 men who have served in the highest office. But he was a confused, indecisive president, who may have made the Civil War inevitable by trying to appease or negotiate with the South. His most recent biographer, Jean Clark, writing for the prestigious American Presidents Series, concluded this year that his actions probably constituted treason. It also did not help that his administration was as corrupt as any in history, and he was widely believed to be homosexual.
Whatever his sexual preferences, his real failures were in refusing to move after South Carolina announced secession from the Union and attacked Fort Sumter, and in supporting both the legality of the pro-slavery constitution of Kansas and the Supreme Court ruling in the Dred Scott case declaring that escaped slaves were not people but property.
He was the guy who in 1861 passed on the mess to the first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln. Buchanan set the standard, a tough record to beat. But there are serious people who believe that George W. Bush will prove to do that, be worse than Buchanan. I have talked with three significant historians in the past few months who would not say it in public, but who are saying privately that Bush will be remembered as the worst of the presidents.
There are some numbers. The History News Network at George Mason University has just polled historians informally on the Bush record. Four hundred and fifteen, about a third of those contacted, answered -- maybe they were all crazed liberals -- making the project as unofficial as it was interesting. These were the results: 338 said they believed Bush was failing, while 77 said he was succeeding. Fifty said they thought he was the worst president ever. Worse than Buchanan.
This is what those historians said -- and it should be noted that some of the criticism about deficit spending and misuse of the military came from self-identified conservatives -- about the Bush record:
He has taken the country into an unwinnable war and alienated friend and foe alike in the process;
He is bankrupting the country with a combination of aggressive military spending and reduced taxation of the rich;
He has deliberately and dangerously attacked separation of church and state;
He has repeatedly "misled," to use a kind word, the American people on affairs domestic and foreign;
He has proved to be incompetent in affairs domestic (New Orleans) and foreign (Iraq and the battle against al-Qaeda);
He has sacrificed American employment (including the toleration of pension and benefit elimination) to increase overall productivity;
He is ignorantly hostile to science and technological progress;
He has tolerated or ignored one of the republic's oldest problems, corporate cheating in supplying the military in wartime.
Quite an indictment. It is, of course, too early to evaluate a president. That, historically, takes decades, and views change over time as results and impact become more obvious. Besides, many of the historians note that however bad Bush seems, they have indeed seen worse men around the White House. Some say Buchanan. Many say Vice President Dick Cheney.
Richard Reeves' column appears on Sunday.
Well...whoever it was it wasn't Jack!
"Certainly Kennedy belongs on this list."
Finally, someone agrees with me! Every time I say JFK was a POS, people look at me like I landed from Mars or something like that!
Where is this secret cabal? Any criticisms I find on here about President Bush seem to be well thought out and justified.....at least I think so.
Yep, Andrew Johnson used to be high up in these lists because of his impeachment, but ever since Clinton was impeached, impeachment is no longer counted as a negative. Curious isn't it?
/sarcasm
While I don't agree at all with that ridiculous list of supposed evils attributed to George W. Bush, I am concerned that his failure to address illegal immigration will be a HUGE negative on his record.
Who were the "self-identified conservatives" who are also historians? I can't think of any.
As much as I don't like Bush no freaking way he comes close to being the worst prez. Carter, FDR, and Clinton were the worst of the last century. Clinton will never be considered the worst because he was the luckiest president ever with little that he had to deal with. These historians are road kill.
JFK is the most overrated president ever, but the worst is... Hell, I don't know. Carter, Clinton, LBJ and FDR have all damaged the country in their own special way.
Whatever anyone thinks of G W Bush, you have to give him credit for having the guts to tackle a problem no other POTUS has had the balls to deal with -- reform of the Middle East. The libs are trying desperately to smear him because they know his success means they are out of power for the forseeable future. Also, he will totally eclipse their beloved Bubba in future history books.
Yeah, Carter was definitely the most incompetent.
The Iraq War effectively took All eyes off the Mexican border.. STILL.. obviously that was the plan.. Worked too like a champ.. and insulates Bush from being accused of being a TRAITOR.. The Mexican insurgency is Bad in a hundred ways.. and continues unabated too.. Bush lately throwing "us" a chicken bone.. foregos wheres the beef.. The Mexican insurgency is on purpose with malice aforethought.. With almost nobody, not a word, not a clue, complaining about 20 million plus illegals in this country, maybe 30 million.. Even the democrats are pointing toward Iraq.. while Americas pocket is being picked.. Mexifornia is already North Mexico..
I voted him his daddy and his brother multiple times.. This boy is a sleeper.. I don't trust him.. He has that John Kerry weasley ways about him.. Knew there was a problem when he said, "I'm a Unite'er not a Divide'er".. Uniting with WHOM.?. DEMOCRATS.?. Well we all know what it means now..
Let the record show this is the first time I've voted for Carter.
Lyndon B. Johnson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Bill Clinton
(see a pattern here?)
Not even close. Lyndon Baines Johnson going away.
#1 -- No debate.
The Book of Lists, 3rd Edition: The List of the Most Hated and Feared Persons in History, 1983 (p. 393).
The above list came from a poll of a bunch of Europeans in 1983.
So how did you like him otherwise? LOL He was bad, no two ways about it, and you did an excellent job of listing why.
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