Ranking the presidents

BSNN ^ | 01.21.03 | By John Flaherty

[meandog]

Interesting...
The historians that I admire, however, have ranked them this way(top and bottom dozen)

Top
1. Lincoln
2. Washington
3. Jefferson
4. T. Roosevelt
5. Polk
6. F. Roosevelt
7. Madison
8. Jackson
9. Reagan
10. Adams
11. Truman
12. Monroe...

Bottom dozen:
31. G. Bush
32. Pierce
33. Harding
34. Filmore
35. Carter
36. Hoover
37. L.B. Johnson
38. Nixon
39. Grant.
40. A. Johnson
41. Buchanan
42. Clinton

[Alberta's Child]

Like Johnson, he avoided being removed from office by one vote . . .

Huh?

The lists you provided are far more accurate than the ones in the article. Ranking Theodore Roosevelt ahead of FDR is the key.

Also, I suspect that once the 1960s generation fades into history and the last 50 years can be viewed objectively, JFK will start showing up on lists of the worst presidents in U.S. history. If you go back and look at the three years he was in office, they are remarkable only because almost nothing of note was accomplished during that period.

[Drango]

I think Clinton was rank....

[Huck]

Washington HAS to be number one. And I love Madison, but his Presidency was a bit, uh, messy. I am not a huge Jefferson fan, but he seems to have been very successful. Fun parlor game, isn't it? Wish I had more time.

And FDR was a nightmare, at least domestically. I have to admit he led the war forcefully.

[PaulJ]

his personal war against Castro was illegal (and would eventually play a part in his assassination)

the greatest lie ever forced on the American people (the Warren Commission investigation of JFK's assassination).

Noriega was a U.S. CIA puppet who helped run drugs and launder money for the CIA. Bush was involved (both as VP and as CIA director)

You should have warned me to put on my tin foil hat.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

George Will put it best: Jimmy Carter was the worst president of the US. Bill Clinton was the worst man to have become president.

[yonif]

Truman was the first president to recognize Israel.

[kidd]

I disagree completely with Bush (41) on the "worst" list. He shouldn't be on either list. The reasons given are bogus. No mention that he continued the successful policies of Reagan and conducted the "cleanest" war in American history. Bush's (41) biggest drawbacks are his complete inaction on abortion and his lie about no tax increases.

How could this author use the Bush-Noriega fantasy and completely ignore the Chinese campaign contributions to Clinton in exchange for nuclear secrets - which would solidly place Clinton at the top of the "worst" list?

[Silas]

I like the idea of Brooke Burke (hostess of 'Rank') doing a special on this. Or anything else. ILBB.

[Fiddlstix]

You should have warned me to put on my tin foil hat.

Ditto

[TontoKowalski]

I would have put Harding on your "worst" list...although I see the list you've cited does include him...so it's not an oversight, just an honest difference of opinion.

Paul, I ping you to this post, since you've got your tin hat on, so I can alert you to the theory that Harding was murdered while in office because of an attempted coverup of something dealing with the Teapot Dome scandal.

I don't remember the details of this theory, but when I saw the details organized and presented, I thought, "You know, this conspiracy theory could actually be right on the mark."

[lawgirl]

Similarly, the presence of Jimmy Carter and (much as it pains me personally)

oops just lost all credibility with me.

[cousair]

Clinton's name should NEVER be included on any list of BEST PRESIDENTS....NEVER,NEVER!!

[Protagoras]

I guess the whole exercise is based on what the criteria is. MY criteria would be how well the Presidents defended the rights of the citizens and upheld their oath of office.

Given that, the list would look much different.

[Protagoras]

The author of the list seems to be enamored of big government proponents.

[ricpic]

Coolidge: The last President with the integrity to attempt to maintain limited government, i.e. not to steal from the American people; on the worst list? I don't think so.

[Silas]

Brooke Burke. Hostess of E's TV show 'Rank':

http://ak1.aka.eonline.com/7/1480/1218/0001/www.eonline.com/On/People/Images/burke2.jpg

[AntiGuv]

By and large I agree with this list, except that I would shift Truman down several notches - probably out of the top 10 - and Lyndon Johnson (reluctantly) up a couple notches. I don't think that Truman did anything particularly distinctive that anyone else would not have, and I think Johnson's manuevers were crucial to the breaking of Jim Crow - whatever his shady motivations. That's just MO.

[Austin Willard Wright]

Harding in the bottom dozen?! Poor Warren can't get no respect! He slashed taxes and spending, reduced inflation, and preceded over a vigorous post-war economic recovery. He dared to speak out for civil rights in the South in contrast to the segregationist Woodrow Wilson. His administration gave us the Washington Naval Treaty, which brought sweeping multi-lateral arms reductions.

He appointed a cabinet of intellectual heavyweights including Andrew Mellon, Hoover, and Charles Evans Hughes. His appointment to the Supreme Court included William Howard Taft.

Yes....I know you will trot out Teapot Dome but, all things considered, it was vastly overrated in importance. Only one cabinet official was convicted. He was secretary of interior Albert Fall who was convicted on a single charge and aquitted on all others. Fall's recent biographer argues that he was mostly a scapecoat. The other corruption involved lower level people and was mostly piddling.

Harding was not personally involved in the corruption. When he found out the first inkling of evidence he shook one of the guilty parties by the lapel in anger. The corruption was trivial when compared to that tolerated my many "greats" such as FDR.

All it all...I'd rank him number one for the twentieth century.

BTW, most of your top ten became "great" by taking us to war. Is there a pattern here?

[jpl]

FDR above Reagan? Heresy, especially on a site like this (one would think). Personally, I don't really have a problem with him being in the top ten given his role in bringing us into the War, but his complete disregard for basic constitutional principles and desire to be "President for Life" move him way down the list in my opinion. He's the reason why we had to pass the term-limit amendment to the constitution.