10 Best POTUS and the 10 Worst

[bigtex]

(Feb. 14) - "It's no surprise to see Abraham Lincoln, the man who held the nation together when it was on the brink of collapse, atop the list of greatest American presidents.
But many other presidents are judged far differently by experts than by the general public.
Bill Clinton left office with a high approval rating, but a panel of writers who focus on US politics and foreign affairs at the Times, a British publication, considered him mediocre. The president who passed progressive legislation but who saddled himself with the Monica Lewinsky scandal landed at number 23. As panelist Ben Macintyre put it, Clinton "promised so much, delivered so little and embarrassed everyone."
The panel of 8 judges ranked some modern day presidents like Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush at far ends of the spectrum. And others were close: John F. Kennedy missed the top 10 by one spot and Jimmy Carter barely managed to escape the bottom 10."

In order, the 10 Best were:

1. Lincoln
2. Washington
3. FDR
4. Jefferson
5. Teddy Roosevelt
6. Eisenhower
7. Truman
8. Reagan
9. Polk
10. Wilson

And now for the 10 Worst:

1. Buchannan
2. Pierce
3. Van Buren
4. Harrison
5. Nixon
6. GW Bush
7. Hoover
8. Harding
9. Garfield
10. Fillmore

[Epicurus]

IMHO I have to agree for the most part. I do not know as much about some of these presidents as I do others, but for the most part I think they were "spot on." I think Reagan should be #4 or #5, but where he is listed is fine. I also think Nixon and GW should be a little lower.

I also think our current president has, because of circumstances, an opportunity to be on either list.

TJ ;)

[bigtex]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Trader Jack @ Feb 15 2009, 08:03 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

IMHO I have to agree for the most part. I do not know as much about some of these presidents as I do others, but for the most part I think they were "spot on." I think Reagan should be #4 or #5, but where he is listed is fine. I also think Nixon and GW should be a little lower.

I also think our current president has, because of circumstances, an opportunity to be on either list.

TJ ;) [/b]

For the most part those were excellent observations! As for our current President, he has the opportunity to rank with the best of them. If you look at most of those ranked in the top tier, they took over during difficult times in our nations history and left the country much better than they found it. Obama clearly has that opportunity. On the other hand, if the country continues to flounder it could just as easily leave Obama at about the same level, or lower than Jimmy Carter.

As for Nixon, there is no doubt that Watergate is the first thing that historians will think of when they rank his years in office. With that said, there were accomplishments made during his administration that can not be ignored. I would personally rank him in the lower half but not in the bottom 10. I would rank Reagan in the upper half but probably not quite as high as this poll has put him.

As for Buchannan, Pierce, Van Buren and Harrison, I do not know much about any of them. But if they were worse than GW they must have been f*^king awful!! :unsure:

[harry]

I too pretty much agree with the lists as they stand. However I wonder how Harrison made it on the bad Presidents list. He was only in office for about 30 days before dieing of the case of pneumonia he caught while giving his inaugural address.
He was President for so little time (and gravely ill at that) that he didn&#39;t have time to do anything, good or bad.

[tbone2u]

That pretty much tells you how bright the people are that made up this list

[dutybound]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (harry @ Feb 15 2009, 10:57 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

I too pretty much agree with the lists as they stand. However I wonder how Harrison made it on the bad Presidents list. He was only in office for about 30 days before dieing of the case of pneumonia he caught while giving his inaugural address.
He was President for so little time (and gravely ill at that) that he didn&#39;t have time to do anything, good or bad.[/b]

It&#39;s possible that the Harrison listed is Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd President who served a single full term from March 1889 through March 1893. He was the grandson of late William Henry Harrison, the 9th President to who you referred.

BigTex,
Who&#39;s list is this? Who is on the panel of 8 judges? Why do you consider their list definitive?

[bigtex]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (dutybound @ Feb 15 2009, 02:21 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

It&#39;s possible that the Harrison listed is Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd President who served a single full term from March 1889 through March 1893. He was the grandson of late William Henry Harrison, the 9th President to who you referred.

BigTex,
Who&#39;s list is this? Who is on the panel of 8 judges? Why do you consider their list definitive?[/b]

I just posted it with no recommendation. It was something I found online. I certainly do not consider the list to be any better or worse than any other similar list that I have ever ran across. In fact, I posted a few conflicting remarks elsewhere in this thread.

[Htowner]

I think the panel of 8 consisted of Bigtex and his seven other handles :D

Just kidding .Don&#39;t ban him.

[bigtex]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Htowner @ Feb 15 2009, 02:40 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

I think the panel of 8 consisted of Bigtex and his seven other handles :D

Just kidding .Don&#39;t ban him.[/b]

HT---You obviously overlooked the obvious. You know damn good and well that had I been the decision maker, GW would have been dragging up the rear! ;)

On a related note, I found the following Associated Press article on the Houston Chronicle&#39;s webpage.

================================================== ==========


Historians: Lincoln top president; George W. Bush 36th
By NATASHA T. METZLER Associated Press
Feb. 15, 2009, 1:53PM

WASHINGTON — Just days after the nation honored the 200th anniversary of his birth, 65 historians ranked Abraham Lincoln as the nation&#39;s best president.

Former President George W. Bush, who left office last month, was ranked 36th out of the 42 men who had been chief executive by the end of 2008, according to a survey conducted by the cable channel C-SPAN.

Bush scored lowest in international relations, where he was ranked 41st, and in economic management, where he was ranked 40th. His highest ranking, 24th, was in the category of pursuing equal justice for all. He was ranked 25th in crisis leadership and vision and agenda setting.

In contrast, Lincoln was ranked in the top three in each of the 10 categories evaluated by participants.

In C-SPAN&#39;s only other ranking of presidents, in 2000, former President Bill Clinton jumped six spots from No. 21 to 15. Other recent presidents moved positions as well: Ronald Reagan advanced from No. 11 to 10, George H.W. Bush rose from No. 20 to 18 and Jimmy Carter fell from No. 22 to 25.

This movement illustrates that presidential reputations are influenced by present-day concerns, said survey adviser and participant Edna Medford.

"Today&#39;s concerns shape our views of the past, be it in the area of foreign policy, managing the economy or human rights," Medford said in a statement.

After Lincoln, the academics rated George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt and Harry Truman as the best leaders overall. The same five received top spots in the 2000 survey, although Washington and Franklin D. Roosevelt swapped spots this year.

Rated worst overall were James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Franklin Pierce, William Henry Harrison and Warren G. Harding.

The survey was conducted in December and January. Participants ranked each president on a scale of one, "not effective" to 10, "very effective," on a list of 10 leadership qualities including relations with Congress, public persuasion and moral authority.

[Htowner]

Guilty as charged,sir.

[WTF]

http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12...lincoln-racist/

More problematic were Lincoln’s views on race. He held opinions not very different from those of the majority of his racist countrymen. Even if slavery was wrong, “there is a physical difference between the white and black races that will for ever forbid the two races from living together on terms of social and political equality.” His solution was a form of ethnic cleansing: shipping blacks off to Liberia, or Haiti, or Central America — anywhere as long as it wasn’t the United States.

Lincoln’s views may have started to change once he saw how bravely black troops fought for the Union cause, but even at the time of his death, he was willing to leave the fate of emancipated slaves in the hands of bigoted state legislators. “Whether Lincoln ever went beyond being an anti-slavery white supremacist,” Fredrickson writes, “is a question that is difficult to resolve.”

So should we tear down his memorial on the National Mall? Only if we are ready to impose a present-day absolutism on a realistic and deeply empathetic politician who took matters one careful step at a time to try to keep them moving in the right direction. Fredrickson closes his book by quoting from Douglass’s 1876 address, and here Douglass got it exactly right: “Viewed from genuine abolition ground, Mr. Lincoln seemed tardy, cold, dull and indifferent; but measuring him by the sentiment of his country, a sentiment he was bound as a statesman to consult, he was swift, zealous, radical, and determined.”

[Guest 072509-1]

FDR should be at the top of the 10 best list, and GW at top of the worst.

FDR got this country back on her feet with his many plans and work programs to help our economy. It seems that our govt is in a similar situation now.

[bigtex]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Kay Sommers @ Feb 16 2009, 06:25 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

FDR should be at the top of the 10 best list, and GW at top of the worst.[/b]

I agree with you on both counts! ;)

[AlexisSoftTouch]

What about Carter?

[WTF]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (AlexisSoftTouch @ Feb 16 2009, 08:19 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

What about Carter?[/b]

Carter appointed Vocker and should get more credit for the economic recovery of the eighties and Reagan less. I give Reagan credit for keeping us out of war.....when they blew up the Marine barracks he cut and ran ....just like he should have, we had no business over there. Whoaaaa sorry for the rant....Carter was allot better than he gets credit for. Much more a visionary than Reagan or Clinton as was Bush Sr.