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Scholars rate worst presidential errors
AP/beaufortgazette ^ | February 18 2006 | ELIZABETH DUNBAR

Posted on 02/18/2006 12:20:02 PM PST by ncountylee

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - From engaging in sexual relations with an intern to letting the Vietnam War escalate, U.S. presidents have been blamed for some egregious errors. So who had the worst blunder? President James Buchanan, for failing to avert the Civil War, according to a survey of presidential historians organized by the University of Louisville's McConnell Center.

The survey's top 10 presidential blunders were announced Saturday during a President's Day weekend conference called "Presidential Moments."

"We can probably learn just as much - or maybe even more - by looking at the mistakes rather than looking at why they were great," said political scientist and McConnell Center Director Gary Gregg.

Scholars who participated said Buchanan didn't do enough to oppose efforts by Southern states to secede from the Union before the Civil War.

The second worst mistake, the survey found, was Andrew Johnson's decision just after the Civil War to side with Southern whites and oppose improvements in justice for Southern blacks beyond abolishing slavery.

"We continue to pay" for Johnson's errors, wrote Michael Les Benedict, an Ohio State University history professor emeritus.

Lyndon Johnson earned the No. 3 spot by allowing the Vietnam War to intensify, Gregg said.

Where does Bill Clinton's Monica Lewinsky scandal rank? Many scholars said it belonged at No. 10, saying that it probably affected Clinton's presidency more than it did American history and the public.

The rest of the top 10 blunders:

-4: Woodrow Wilson's refusal to compromise on the Treaty of Versailles after World War I.

-5: Richard Nixon's involvement in the Watergate cover-up.

-6: James Madison's failure to keep the United States out of the War of 1812 with Britain.

-7: Thomas Jefferson's Embargo Act of 1807, a self-imposed prohibition on trade with Europe during the Napoleonic Wars.

-8: John F. Kennedy allowing the Bay of Pigs Invasion that led to the Cuban Missile Crisis.

-9: Ronald Reagan and the Iran-Contra Affair, the effort to sell arms to Iran and use the money to finance an armed anti-communist group in Nicaragua.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Extended News; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: gaffe; history; presidents; rankingpresidents
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To: ncountylee; nuconvert
Where is Carter???
Carter belongs here!

Carter was America's blunder. This is a list of Presidential blunders. Carter's every act was exactly what he wanted: the weakening of America to help the world, even though it actually didn't.

41 posted on 02/18/2006 12:53:36 PM PST by Teacher317
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To: ncountylee

Probably leftists - who else are historians - but also very hard to understand. They included Iran-Contra since I presume they had to make a political statement but excluded numerous errors by another recent Republican, President Nixon including Watergate. In fact, I think that Nixon's worse blunders Price Controls, implementation of Affirmative Action and appointing Ruckelshaus as head of EPA who then overrode staff recommendations and banned DDT killing and continuing to kill how many million Africans and others from Malaria.


42 posted on 02/18/2006 12:54:39 PM PST by SERUM10
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To: Busywhiskers
I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned Truman's loss of China to the Communists or his firing of MacArthur during the Korean War when we were on our way to undoing this mistake.

The lunacy of these historians show by merely mentioning Jefferson and Madison. Jefferson's sins, whatever they were, were more than covered by the fact that he alone more than tripled the size of American Territory by jumping on an opportunity. Madison, despite blunders in the early days of the War of 1812, went on to unify a young nation and close a continent to further European encroachment.

Also conspicuously absent from this list is FDR's transforming what begin as a normal cyclical economic downturn into a decade-long depression as an excuse to grow government.

43 posted on 02/18/2006 12:56:58 PM PST by Vigilanteman (crime would drop like a sprung trapdoor if we brought back good old-fashioned hangings)
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To: misterrob

I agree, it was things like that which kept him from being re-elected. It taught me one thing though, a bad Republican president is still better than the best Dim president.


44 posted on 02/18/2006 12:57:14 PM PST by tiki
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To: ncountylee
Carter belongs here!

DU maybe....but not here!!

45 posted on 02/18/2006 12:58:08 PM PST by Osage Orange (PC is BS)
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To: x

Other blunders...

Clinton's failure to kill OBL
Clinton's use of US troops under UN command in Somalia
GWB's pandering to democrats and moderates with massive expansion of social programs and refusal to veto spending
GWB's unwillingness to enforce borders
Reagan allowing US troops to be under control of UN in Beruit
Richard Nixon and Watergate gave us Jimmy Carter


46 posted on 02/18/2006 12:58:08 PM PST by misterrob (Islam is a hate crime)
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To: tiki

Bad republican presidents bring democrats into power...


47 posted on 02/18/2006 12:59:13 PM PST by misterrob (Islam is a hate crime)
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To: ncountylee

The only item on the whole list that belongs there is item #8, the Bay of Pigs.

Eisenhower warned Kennedy either to call off the Cuban invasion or to go in determined to win it. He did neither.

The rest of these items are all arguable. And none of them are in a class with Carter's Panama Canal decision or--even worse, in my view--Carter's decision to support replacing the Shah of Iran with the Ayatollahs.

I don't seem to see Truman's decision here to let the Communists take over China, either.

And stupid as the Monica business was, clinton's decision to back the Muslims in Yugoslavia was much, much worse. As was his decision to give the Communist Chinese full information about MIRVed ICBMs and nuclear warheads in exchange for a few million dollars in campaign contributions.


48 posted on 02/18/2006 1:01:06 PM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: ncountylee
I'd say the number 1 presidential blunder was Lincoln's decision to see a play at Ford's theater on April 14, 1865.

FDR's court-packing scheme deserves a spot on the list ahead of Iran-contra, as does Clinton's refusal to take custody of Bin Laden when the Sudan offered to hand him over. Truman's allowing the Russians to occupy half of Korea continues to cause us trouble today. McKinley's decision to annex the Philippine Islands may deserve a spot too.

49 posted on 02/18/2006 1:03:27 PM PST by Verginius Rufus
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To: Chi-townChief

If you're left you're a liberal; if you're far left you're a socialist; if you're off-the-charts left you're a scholar.


50 posted on 02/18/2006 1:04:52 PM PST by Dionysius (ACLU is the enemy)
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To: ncountylee

Clinton- building a wall that resulted in the September 11th attacks being possible.


51 posted on 02/18/2006 1:05:16 PM PST by RWE
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To: ncountylee

The top four were Democrats. Go figure.


52 posted on 02/18/2006 1:05:27 PM PST by Hoodat ( Silly Dems, AYBABTU.)
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To: x
Frankly I think the effects of Clinton...are still not known.

The guy was up to his eyeballs in corruption. Domestic. Foreign. Chinese. United Nations.

Murder. Rape. Intimidation. Threats. Blackmail. Money Laundering.

GIVE ME A BREAK!!!

53 posted on 02/18/2006 1:06:39 PM PST by Osage Orange (PC is BS)
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To: ncountylee
Lyndon Johnson earned the No. 3 spot by allowing the Vietnam War to intensify, Gregg said.

Johnson never allowed the war to be won.

And the media sided with our enemies and still do.

Setting a goal less than victory is treason!!

54 posted on 02/18/2006 1:06:54 PM PST by CROSSHIGHWAYMAN (Toon Town, Iran...........where reality is the real fantasy.)
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To: ncountylee

The lefty "historians" conveniently forgot about Carter's failure to handle the Iran situation and Clinton's passive approach to terrorism and failure to deal with Bin Laden. We're got both of them to thank for the really big crisis coming our way soon.


55 posted on 02/18/2006 1:07:24 PM PST by pallmallman
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To: ncountylee

I disagree strongly with:

# 2 and # 9

"The second worst mistake, the survey found, was Andrew Johnson's decision just after the Civil War to side with Southern whites and oppose improvements in justice for Southern blacks beyond abolishing slavery."

Reconstruction was a disaster. After Johnson left office, Grant hammered the South creating deep resentments among Southern Whites. I don't understand why this mistake was listed since Grant reversed Johnson's moderate approach (except in Tennessee). Reconstruction led to the rise of the KKK and Jim Crow. Had more moderate policies prevailed, Civil Rights for Blacks might have evolved more naturally and sooner.

As for #9, Iran-Contra was not a good think, that is trading with Iran, but helping the freedom fighters in Central America was a good thing.

I see they left out FDR's caving into Stalin at Yalta; loosing China and Jimmy Carter abandoning the Shah in loosing Iran.


56 posted on 02/18/2006 1:07:29 PM PST by GeorgefromGeorgia
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To: ncountylee
Richard Nixon, Department of Education

Lyndon Johnson, the Great Society.

FDR, social security.

Jimmy Carter, getting elected.

Bill Clinton, missing Osama.

57 posted on 02/18/2006 1:07:35 PM PST by groanup (Shred for Ian)
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To: ncountylee
John F. Kennedy allowing the Bay of Pigs Invasion that led to the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Allowing? This is the only Presidential action in history in which the President isn't responsible. Oh no, you see his predecessor came up with the plan, and the CIA had it ready to go, and Kennedy merely unwisely acquiesces.

58 posted on 02/18/2006 1:08:57 PM PST by Plutarch
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To: GeorgefromGeorgia

I rank Andy Jackson's threat in 1833 to put 50,000 Federal troops in S Carolina as a major error.


59 posted on 02/18/2006 1:09:04 PM PST by RightWhale (pas de lieu, Rhone que nous)
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To: groanup

Good Ones


60 posted on 02/18/2006 1:10:24 PM PST by GeorgefromGeorgia
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