Arguably the only good thing he did during his presidency was the purchase of Alaska, which everyone at the time called Johnson's Folly, until they found all the oil and gold up there, that is
In his defense (mildly) he even claimed he wasn't the correct man for the job. He was a complete political puppet, he tried to push the agenda of whoever had talked to him last.
If someone with a brain and sober was in office after Lincoln was murdered, they could have nipped segregation in the bud. By the time Grant got into office Southern whites had gotten back on their feet.
I've begun to muse in the past few months that we're living in the alternate timeline, and in the proper timeline Andrew Johnson was not just impeached, but removed from office. Jim Crow and the KKK were nipped in the bud, etc, etc, etc. I fear that in the timeline we're in now, the Confederates are to the US as McDonnell-Douglas management was to Boeing after the purchase.
Grover Cleveland raped a woman, got her pregnant, promised to take of her and had her name the baby after a friend of his that passed away. He had a doctor he knew deliver the baby, then kidnapped it and had his sister raise it. Then he had the woman committed to a mental institution. When all this came out, he painted her to be mentally unstable and a drunk. He claimed she didn’t know who the father was and had several men come forward and lie saying they all had been with her. He also made it a point to mention that she had named the baby after who she thought the father was, and that wasn’t him. The guy was dead so he couldn’t say anything. He convinced everyone he had tried to help her by having her put away to get help and by finding the baby a good family because he assumed the father to be his deceased friend who the child was named after and he was just wanting to do the right thing.
James Buchanan. The Civil War escalated to the levels that it did because of his inaction. His presidency was by far the most disastrous in history. He’s at the bottom of every conceivable list.
wasn’t two of the main reasons he was elected was because he had no idea what was going on (living abroad for a while) and had zero bias or position on the matter because HE LEGIT WASNT THERE FOR A WHILE
As a non-American, the only time I've seen Buchanan mentioned anywhere was in the Oversimplified video about the "Pig war", where he's depicted as a spineless, inactive coward. That's probably at least somewhat of a caricature though, and I don't know anything else about him. Why was he so bad?
I believe you have your history mixed up. Both Jack Johnson and John Jackson, while definitely controversial candidates in their own right, both lost to Richard Nixon in the 3000 Earth Presidential Election. I'm surprised you forgot considering how close a race it was. Nixon only won by 1 vote!
And yet he also expanded voting rights for people who did not have property and vetoed the national bank because he said it would screw over the farmers. So he made some decent decisions, even though he made some terrible ones as well.
THANK YOU. I got into an argument with another teacher, a history teacher no less and he made a list of worst and he and all his bros didn’t even mention Jackson. Y’all. There are whole tribes that are gone forever. He deputized anyone with a gun to kill people based on race alone. And paid them for it!
Yeah, no one talks about how old hickory was kind of insane. He got his nick name from beating people with his cane and killed quite a few people in the white house back yard in private deuls.
He also continually got rid of our central bank which led to several recessions during the 19th century. An actual garbage right wing populist and brutally excessive and racist with manifest destiny.
I can't imagine my grandfather having to look at a 20$ bill and see the person responsible for him as a Seminole being born and raised in Oklahoma the history behind why is heartbreaking
Really surprised I had to scroll this far to get to this answer. Say what you will about Jackson, A. Johnson, or Trump, at least when those guys left we were still holding on to Charleston.
That shitneck Andrew Johnson who completely fucked the reconstruction of the South and is responsible for many of the systemic inequalities Black people are still facing today.
It’s crazy how much ground gained by African Americans during reconstruction. Had legit power in politics in a way that they wouldn’t get again until the 80s in some cases. Recouped some wealth as well. Just wiped all of it away truly a fuckin shame and one is forced to dream what life would be like if Andrew Jackson didn’t exist and the KKK didn’t commit the terror acts they did
Why are you doing this? Why? Isn’t the universe big enough for the both of us? What is wrong with you people? We could work together. Why be enemies? ‘Cause we’re different? Is that why?
Andrew Johnson for countermanding Gen. Sherman's Article 15 which gave 40 acres of land and a mule to the freed slaves. Johnson canceled the order and gave the land back to the former slave owners. Just think what a difference this would have made to the former slaves, who were already experts in farming. It would have given them an economic foundation for improving their lives and would linger today. And Johnson for staying drunk much of the time.
That was Field Order 15, not Article 15. An Article 15 is a military document detailing a commander's non-judicial punishment of a subordinate, which can include demotion, confiscation of pay, and short periods of jail time.
Pretty sure white southerners would have done to all of those former slaves what they did to the black residents of Tulsa, so it wouldn't have mattered much anyway.
On the contrary. If anyone were a worse leader than Donald Trump, the country would fall apart and they would no longer be the President of the United States.
I’m surprised no one has said Woodrow Wilson. Anyway Woodrow Wilson’s polices and actions are still affecting the US today and not enough people know about what he did. Seriously look him up. In short he made WW1 last longer than it had to, contributed to the cause of WW2, was racists for his time (the twenties), was responsible for the idea of America getting involved in places it shouldn’t. No exaggeration Wilson’s ideals led to us interfering in the Vietnam war
There was a period in public school education where Wilson was looked at as a good president if I recall correctly, that’s why people aren’t saying him. But I agree, despite said public education I received.
I remember not knowing much about him until I took a college history class, read the required reading about Wilson and WWI and holy shit I was so mad after reading that book. Wilson easily shot up to my top 3 least-favorite presidents at that moment.
I think that public opinion favored him too much and now there is a counter culture movement against him. He leans towards being one of the worst presidents but isn't anywhere near as bad as someone like Andrew Johnson. His contribution towards WWII is played up a bit too much and he made some attempts at peace-making through things like The League of Nations that just weren't executed perfectly because there wasn't any precedence at the time. His holier-than-thou attitude as a white supremacist definitely hindered any attempts he made at world order but at least you can say there was an attempt.
Not only that, but he was racist even for his time. He re-segregated Washington DC, save for one black man, who was at the time irreplaceable, so he had him do his duties in a cage.
Churchill said that after WW1, America (and France) kept rejecting the idea that Germany could keep the Kaiser under a parliamentary system. If they could have had a constitutional monarchy system, like Britain, then, Germany would have seen their political system as ruled by the Kaiser, and more 'their own' and would have accepted it. As things turn out, they had to go full democracy and within 10 years, parties wishing to abolish the 'Weimar Republic' (democracy) were getting over 50% of the vote.
More dissidents were arrested or jailed in a few years under Wilson than under Mussolini during the entire 1920’s. He created a more effective propaganda ministry than Mussolini ever had. He unleashed thousands of badge carriers on the American people and harassed the press. He believed in eugenics, and also believed the state could create a pure race.
Don’t forget the federal reserve. The reason our economy is so insane all the time. It could be argued that the Fed caused the Great Depression and every other recession and he basically worked with some buddies to make them more powerful at the expense of generations of average citizens
Martin Van Buren. He would go on to create a gang of thugs known as the Van Buren Boys who would terrorize residents of the Upper East Side unless you flashed them their sign. ✋👌
Oddly enough though, he is the only president (other than Bush Sr.) that I mention including his middle name, it’s always been William Henry Harrison and i’m not sure why
Also utterly failed to back China's entirely reasonable request that, as a participant and ally in the war, they maybe should get back some of their territory that had been German rather than let the Japanese have it.
Andrew Jackson. Aside from the reasons many others have mentioned, I'd like to bring up the horrible handling of the Toledo War. Michigan and Ohio fight over a bit of land, and Wisconsin loses. The reason he let Ohio get the land was because he wanted Ohioans to vote for his reelection.
Woodrow Wilson. I feel like on the outside looks like he had a good presidency. If you just scratch the surface, it starts to get bad. Racist, segregated Washington, way too idealistic. Was part of the root cause of why WW2 started. Treaty of Versailles, League of Nations.
Nixon was arguably a pretty good president and a really terrible person. (Also don't forget he founded the EPA and OSHA). Honestly in the lens of history other than just outright breaking the law he did a lot of good work.
To be fair, during his candidacy when we was at the table at the 1967 Paris Peace talks, he purposefully sabotaged the talks because Johnson ending the war would have all but guaranteed his reelection. I don't think he should get credit for ending a war he prevented from ending earlier.
Nixon killed the Apollo program in order to move away from the legacy of Johnson and JFK. There were still 2 fully constructed Saturn rockets ready to go but funding for the program was cut before the missions could be executed. The loss of those two missions is an incalculable loss for science.
Flametorrent the Mutatator. His destruction of the colonies on Io and Mars were the greatest war crimes ever committed in the history of the Second American Empire during the War of 3032. When he sent the bionic ostriches to Utopia Planitia armed with temporal stasis bombs, he single-handedly…wait…what year is it, again?
I remember talking to some Intergalactic residents that said they voted for him. I don't usually end relationships over politics, but this time I felt I had to.
I think the list of best Presidents would be shorter. My vote is for James Buchanan for not stopping the Civil War or Andrew Johnson for being a douche.
Not a terrible president, but James Buchanan is considered one of the most useless presidents due to the fact that had he done anything the south would have had a much harder time in 1860.
Given what's happened to the middle class and the rights of women as a direct result of policies he set in motion, I'm going to suggest everyone take another look at Reagan. He basically handed the republican party to the evangelicals on a platter.
My grandpa will go on for hours about how much he hates Reagan. He was living in California when Reagan's policies shut down mental health facilities and put all of those patients on the streets without any help. The homeless population and crime skyrocketed because there was zero support for them. Yes, those insane asylums needed an overhaul. No, let's not just throw everyone to the wolves. My grandpa's stories about it are horrific and incredibly sad.
I don’t know if I’d go as far as to call Reagan the absolute worst, but I’ll be the first to say he’s the most overrated. Considering how positively conservatives still view him, he’s really the progenitor of an enormous amount of destructive policies and philosophies in the states, but it took a while for them to really bare their fangs.
People seem to be avoiding saying Trump. He is the culmination of Reagan’s bad policies on economics, race relations, and setting back rights of women. To say nothing of installing, if not unqualified at least a lot less qualified than others who were available, to lifetime Supreme Courts appointments where they are voting not on the constitutional merits of cases but pretty much the desires of the right wing of the country. Takes some mental gymnastics to say states can’t regulate guns even though 2nd amendment says well regulated, and at the same time say they can regulate the heck out of women to the point where they are trying to restrict travel and speech of women who might be pregnant. Also, stare decisis be damned. He sucked up to our enemies and alienated our Allies. He avoided a pandemic when there was a chance it might have been contained. He exacerbated wealth inequality with his tax policies and did his best to undo our attempts at making health insurance more inclusive and accessible. He grifted millions from the government by his constant golf trips to his own properties. He respected no norms of governance. He constantly attacked the other party and has increased or exposed resentments that are spilling over into violence. He was involved in an attempted coup that seems to be ongoing. It exhausts me to think about how this terrible destructive force is still directing the ugliness that the GOP has become.
I had to scroll way, WAY too far down for Reagan go heaven mentioned. Literally responsible for all of the US’s major issues today (inequality, high crime, poor education, poor infrastructure…)
James Buchanan. While Trump may have fueled a few thousand extremists to take up arms, this guy set up the south to secede from the union and was a major catalyst in starting the Civil War. He was no dumbass either, he knew exactly what he was doing
This is the only comforting thing about the Trump presidency, that he was too fucking dumb to really do anything calculated and the damage he caused was an odd mix of purposeful maliciousness and sheer stupidity.
Ronald Reagan fucked this shit up 40 years ago and now we are seeing the trees of terror he planted bearing more and more fruit for fewer and fewer people.
Well, he did sign the Hawley-Smoot Tariff act into law in a terrible effort to circumvent the depression by increasing tariffs so that more domestic production would occur. Instead, it increased the price of goods and economists usually agree that it made the depression much worse:
Aside from James Buchanan and Andrew Jackson, probably also Woodrow Wilson. Was a vocal defender of the KKK as well as implementing many draconian policies.
I am super disappointed that no one said Woodrow Wilson. The man single handedly gave rise to the second KKK by screening the Birth of a Nation at the White House. He segregated the federal government. He gave rise to the lost cause myth. He started the tradition of American imperialism and intervention that lives on to this day. Overall just a shit human being and terrible president.
Reagan. He layer the groundwork for the current hellscape we live in today. Fucker inspired the neo-liberalism and focused on the evangelical Christians which has been absorbed onto our politics while also further eviscerating labor rights we had in target of corporate/wealthy interests. That's why policy that would be good for us gets fucking trashed all the time because politicians fear they'll alienate that base since they are the most active.
Andrew Johnson.
Only the VP nominee to balance the ticket. In other words, he was the opposite of Lincoln
Arguably the only good thing he did during his presidency was the purchase of Alaska, which everyone at the time called Johnson's Folly, until they found all the oil and gold up there, that is
The effects of all that are still felt today. Dude screwed the US over hard.
Yes! He’s the reason the south is the pestering shit hole that it is today!
In his defense (mildly) he even claimed he wasn't the correct man for the job. He was a complete political puppet, he tried to push the agenda of whoever had talked to him last.
The two presidents before Lincoln and his successor are usually ranked as the worst ones by historians.
Every President between Andrew Jackson and Lincoln was irrelevant and/or shit
Any sources for that claim? Not denying it but it is a fairly strong claim.
My only claim to fame is that I have indirect lineage to James Buchannon.
Andrew Johnson paved the way for the KKK to form in the aftermath of the civil war
Thank you, nobody believes me when I say this!!!
If someone with a brain and sober was in office after Lincoln was murdered, they could have nipped segregation in the bud. By the time Grant got into office Southern whites had gotten back on their feet.
I've begun to muse in the past few months that we're living in the alternate timeline, and in the proper timeline Andrew Johnson was not just impeached, but removed from office. Jim Crow and the KKK were nipped in the bud, etc, etc, etc. I fear that in the timeline we're in now, the Confederates are to the US as McDonnell-Douglas management was to Boeing after the purchase.
He's been dead for 147 years and I still want to impeach the bastard
I can't believe how many conservative morons this comment brought out. Truly impressive group of them in replies to this comment.
What a cunt
People say he "botched" reconstruction but he really actively sabotaged it
Grover Cleveland raped a woman, got her pregnant, promised to take of her and had her name the baby after a friend of his that passed away. He had a doctor he knew deliver the baby, then kidnapped it and had his sister raise it. Then he had the woman committed to a mental institution. When all this came out, he painted her to be mentally unstable and a drunk. He claimed she didn’t know who the father was and had several men come forward and lie saying they all had been with her. He also made it a point to mention that she had named the baby after who she thought the father was, and that wasn’t him. The guy was dead so he couldn’t say anything. He convinced everyone he had tried to help her by having her put away to get help and by finding the baby a good family because he assumed the father to be his deceased friend who the child was named after and he was just wanting to do the right thing.
Whaaaat???
opponents of Cleveland at the time frequented the slogan "Ma, Ma, where's my Pa?"
This is so messy, holy shit. Who needs reality TV when you can just read this LOL.
That's bad, but that has nothing to do with his presidency(s).
Drunk History also covered part of this. If you want a comedic twist to scumbaggery.
Awesome username
James Buchanan. The Civil War escalated to the levels that it did because of his inaction. His presidency was by far the most disastrous in history. He’s at the bottom of every conceivable list.
What about the list of the Worst US presidents?
wasn’t two of the main reasons he was elected was because he had no idea what was going on (living abroad for a while) and had zero bias or position on the matter because HE LEGIT WASNT THERE FOR A WHILE
As a non-American, the only time I've seen Buchanan mentioned anywhere was in the Oversimplified video about the "Pig war", where he's depicted as a spineless, inactive coward. That's probably at least somewhat of a caricature though, and I don't know anything else about him. Why was he so bad?
Jackson and Johnson.
A family company
I believe you have your history mixed up. Both Jack Johnson and John Jackson, while definitely controversial candidates in their own right, both lost to Richard Nixon in the 3000 Earth Presidential Election. I'm surprised you forgot considering how close a race it was. Nixon only won by 1 vote!
Andrew or lyndon?
Michael and Magic?
The 'Trail of Tears' guy wasn't great.
Good enough for the $20!
Andrew "Old Hickory" Jackson. That was yet another terrible point in our past.
I had a history teacher in high school who said Andrew Jackson was his favorite president.
And yet he also expanded voting rights for people who did not have property and vetoed the national bank because he said it would screw over the farmers. So he made some decent decisions, even though he made some terrible ones as well.
THANK YOU. I got into an argument with another teacher, a history teacher no less and he made a list of worst and he and all his bros didn’t even mention Jackson. Y’all. There are whole tribes that are gone forever. He deputized anyone with a gun to kill people based on race alone. And paid them for it!
US History teacher who came here to say Jackson. My 8th graders - who agree on nothing - agree that he was “trash.” 🤣
Yeah, no one talks about how old hickory was kind of insane. He got his nick name from beating people with his cane and killed quite a few people in the white house back yard in private deuls.
The rest of the government: yes these native peoples are their own nation and should remain where they are
He also continually got rid of our central bank which led to several recessions during the 19th century. An actual garbage right wing populist and brutally excessive and racist with manifest destiny.
I can't imagine my grandfather having to look at a 20$ bill and see the person responsible for him as a Seminole being born and raised in Oklahoma the history behind why is heartbreaking
Jackson is usually rated pretty highly by historians, actually.
Sure but if you read one of the biographies on him they are pretty much all wildly entertaining.
James Buchanan. Encouraging secession and setting the stage for the civil war puts him at the top without much debate.
My history teacher in middle school said buchanan was the worst president as well.
Really surprised I had to scroll this far to get to this answer. Say what you will about Jackson, A. Johnson, or Trump, at least when those guys left we were still holding on to Charleston.
I also said James Buchanan.
Andrew Johnson is directly responsible for much of why the US is fucked up today
i’ve determined it is possible if we go back in time to 1865 we can kill Johnson and then chill for 24ish years then kill baby Hitler
CAn you explain why?
What we’ve learned today: never elect someone named Andrew.
YangForPresidentHQ
That shitneck Andrew Johnson who completely fucked the reconstruction of the South and is responsible for many of the systemic inequalities Black people are still facing today.
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It’s crazy how much ground gained by African Americans during reconstruction. Had legit power in politics in a way that they wouldn’t get again until the 80s in some cases. Recouped some wealth as well. Just wiped all of it away truly a fuckin shame and one is forced to dream what life would be like if Andrew Jackson didn’t exist and the KKK didn’t commit the terror acts they did
Jack Nicholson, for doing such a lousy job at dealing with the Martians.
ACK ACK!
Why are you doing this? Why? Isn’t the universe big enough for the both of us? What is wrong with you people? We could work together. Why be enemies? ‘Cause we’re different? Is that why?
Now I really want to see a thread about the worst fictional presidents.
I just want the American people to know that they have two out of three branches of government still working for them. And that ain't bad.
Andrew Johnson for countermanding Gen. Sherman's Article 15 which gave 40 acres of land and a mule to the freed slaves. Johnson canceled the order and gave the land back to the former slave owners. Just think what a difference this would have made to the former slaves, who were already experts in farming. It would have given them an economic foundation for improving their lives and would linger today. And Johnson for staying drunk much of the time.
That was Field Order 15, not Article 15. An Article 15 is a military document detailing a commander's non-judicial punishment of a subordinate, which can include demotion, confiscation of pay, and short periods of jail time.
A) it applied to a specific set of 400K acres of land total in Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina
Pretty sure white southerners would have done to all of those former slaves what they did to the black residents of Tulsa, so it wouldn't have mattered much anyway.
Andrew Jackson or James Buchanan are the two I'd put up for that award.
Andrew Jackson and James Buchanan don't really belong in the same category.
I would add Woodrow Wilson and Andrew Johnson.
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Isn't that what "history" means?
On the contrary. If anyone were a worse leader than Donald Trump, the country would fall apart and they would no longer be the President of the United States.
My future pick is Ron DeSantis.
The Andrews.
I’m surprised no one has said Woodrow Wilson. Anyway Woodrow Wilson’s polices and actions are still affecting the US today and not enough people know about what he did. Seriously look him up. In short he made WW1 last longer than it had to, contributed to the cause of WW2, was racists for his time (the twenties), was responsible for the idea of America getting involved in places it shouldn’t. No exaggeration Wilson’s ideals led to us interfering in the Vietnam war
There was a period in public school education where Wilson was looked at as a good president if I recall correctly, that’s why people aren’t saying him. But I agree, despite said public education I received.
I remember not knowing much about him until I took a college history class, read the required reading about Wilson and WWI and holy shit I was so mad after reading that book. Wilson easily shot up to my top 3 least-favorite presidents at that moment.
I think that public opinion favored him too much and now there is a counter culture movement against him. He leans towards being one of the worst presidents but isn't anywhere near as bad as someone like Andrew Johnson. His contribution towards WWII is played up a bit too much and he made some attempts at peace-making through things like The League of Nations that just weren't executed perfectly because there wasn't any precedence at the time. His holier-than-thou attitude as a white supremacist definitely hindered any attempts he made at world order but at least you can say there was an attempt.
Oh yeah didn’t Woodrow Wilson screen Birth of a Nation in the White House? Pretty sure he was a supporter of the klan.
Ho Chi Minh actually attempted to talk with Wilson regarding the future of Democracy in Vietnam, and Wilson snubbed him.
Not only that, but he was racist even for his time. He re-segregated Washington DC, save for one black man, who was at the time irreplaceable, so he had him do his duties in a cage.
Churchill said that after WW1, America (and France) kept rejecting the idea that Germany could keep the Kaiser under a parliamentary system. If they could have had a constitutional monarchy system, like Britain, then, Germany would have seen their political system as ruled by the Kaiser, and more 'their own' and would have accepted it. As things turn out, they had to go full democracy and within 10 years, parties wishing to abolish the 'Weimar Republic' (democracy) were getting over 50% of the vote.
Woodrow Wilson was also our most overtly racist president.
And he created the Federal Reserve and made the federal income tax constitutional. Gross.
More dissidents were arrested or jailed in a few years under Wilson than under Mussolini during the entire 1920’s. He created a more effective propaganda ministry than Mussolini ever had. He unleashed thousands of badge carriers on the American people and harassed the press. He believed in eugenics, and also believed the state could create a pure race.
Don’t forget the federal reserve. The reason our economy is so insane all the time. It could be argued that the Fed caused the Great Depression and every other recession and he basically worked with some buddies to make them more powerful at the expense of generations of average citizens
Martin Van Buren. He would go on to create a gang of thugs known as the Van Buren Boys who would terrorize residents of the Upper East Side unless you flashed them their sign. ✋👌
Sounds like the real problem is terrible city planning.
Took me a moment to realize this was a Seinfeld episode.
Upper west side… but yes.
Also he makes some great house music.
Had to scroll way to far to find this.
They especially terrorized people who didn’t agree with the members who wanted to become city planners.
William Harrison... he didn't even survive the 90 day trial period.
On the other hand, the guy did nothing wrong during his time in office.
I would argue he is one of the best as his tenure was so short he did not have a chance to do anything stupid
Tyler Too was the biggest troll in US presidential history
He also has the record for the longest inauguration speech.
Oddly enough though, he is the only president (other than Bush Sr.) that I mention including his middle name, it’s always been William Henry Harrison and i’m not sure why
Jokes aside, had read a bit about him.
Talk about not fulfilling your campaign promises
Underrated comment.
A list of good presidents would be shorter.
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Jimmy Carter was the best human among them, though even he was pretty shitty as President.
Woodrow Wilson
For re-segregating the US civil service and praising “Birth of a Nation”? Or for getting the US into WW1?
Only one to invade Russia. Worked out horribly.
Also utterly failed to back China's entirely reasonable request that, as a participant and ally in the war, they maybe should get back some of their territory that had been German rather than let the Japanese have it.
Andrew Jackson. Aside from the reasons many others have mentioned, I'd like to bring up the horrible handling of the Toledo War. Michigan and Ohio fight over a bit of land, and Wisconsin loses. The reason he let Ohio get the land was because he wanted Ohioans to vote for his reelection.
Check your facts on the last statement. The Toledo War was after the 1832 election.
“Michigan and Ohio fought over who owned Toledo, and Michigan won” is the old joke
Woodrow Wilson. I feel like on the outside looks like he had a good presidency. If you just scratch the surface, it starts to get bad. Racist, segregated Washington, way too idealistic. Was part of the root cause of why WW2 started. Treaty of Versailles, League of Nations.
The Millard Fillmore museum complete with his hand built home is across the street from my house. They offer free tours.
Simply anticipating Nixon being mentioned.
Nixon was arguably a pretty good president and a really terrible person. (Also don't forget he founded the EPA and OSHA). Honestly in the lens of history other than just outright breaking the law he did a lot of good work.
To be fair, during his candidacy when we was at the table at the 1967 Paris Peace talks, he purposefully sabotaged the talks because Johnson ending the war would have all but guaranteed his reelection. I don't think he should get credit for ending a war he prevented from ending earlier.
Nixon is responsible for The War on Drugs which is arguably the single most harmful policy decision of any US president.
Nixon killed the Apollo program in order to move away from the legacy of Johnson and JFK. There were still 2 fully constructed Saturn rockets ready to go but funding for the program was cut before the missions could be executed. The loss of those two missions is an incalculable loss for science.
He also sponsored a genocide.
Flametorrent the Mutatator. His destruction of the colonies on Io and Mars were the greatest war crimes ever committed in the history of the Second American Empire during the War of 3032. When he sent the bionic ostriches to Utopia Planitia armed with temporal stasis bombs, he single-handedly…wait…what year is it, again?
2022. Its 2022 Goddamit. now we gotta reset the clockinator.
Don't blame me. I voted for Meepzorp.
I remember talking to some Intergalactic residents that said they voted for him. I don't usually end relationships over politics, but this time I felt I had to.
What year was it again, when president-candidates decided they need flashy names that basically described their policies?
Don't blame me, i voted for Benshir the Benevolent. Ya know, i really, really thought the names made the choice quite clear in that election.
Yeah, but at least he’s pro-life!
I think the list of best Presidents would be shorter. My vote is for James Buchanan for not stopping the Civil War or Andrew Johnson for being a douche.
Andrew Johnson - fucked up Reconstruction.
William Henry Harrison. He stayed in bed for his entire time in office.
Well, actually, that’s better than most of the Presidents people are nominating….
Not a terrible president, but James Buchanan is considered one of the most useless presidents due to the fact that had he done anything the south would have had a much harder time in 1860.
Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan did nothing to stop the Civil War. Buchanan arguably paved the way for southern secession.
Glad to see someone address the more recent failures.
Carter is the GREATEST Ex President we ever had, so for all he's done since beeing President, Ill give him a Pass...
I'm saving this for discussions with with my Trumpy family during Thanksgiving dinner.
I think I"m seeing a trend here.
Comment saved. My daughter constantly asks me why trump was a bad president. You could added paid off porn stars to the list
this is the right answer
Andrew Jackson. Trail of Tears
Roosevelt had internment camps, but we don't consider his worst parts to be representative of his whole. Jackson is favorably ranked by historians
Given what's happened to the middle class and the rights of women as a direct result of policies he set in motion, I'm going to suggest everyone take another look at Reagan. He basically handed the republican party to the evangelicals on a platter.
My grandpa will go on for hours about how much he hates Reagan. He was living in California when Reagan's policies shut down mental health facilities and put all of those patients on the streets without any help. The homeless population and crime skyrocketed because there was zero support for them. Yes, those insane asylums needed an overhaul. No, let's not just throw everyone to the wolves. My grandpa's stories about it are horrific and incredibly sad.
I don’t know if I’d go as far as to call Reagan the absolute worst, but I’ll be the first to say he’s the most overrated. Considering how positively conservatives still view him, he’s really the progenitor of an enormous amount of destructive policies and philosophies in the states, but it took a while for them to really bare their fangs.
People seem to be avoiding saying Trump. He is the culmination of Reagan’s bad policies on economics, race relations, and setting back rights of women. To say nothing of installing, if not unqualified at least a lot less qualified than others who were available, to lifetime Supreme Courts appointments where they are voting not on the constitutional merits of cases but pretty much the desires of the right wing of the country. Takes some mental gymnastics to say states can’t regulate guns even though 2nd amendment says well regulated, and at the same time say they can regulate the heck out of women to the point where they are trying to restrict travel and speech of women who might be pregnant. Also, stare decisis be damned. He sucked up to our enemies and alienated our Allies. He avoided a pandemic when there was a chance it might have been contained. He exacerbated wealth inequality with his tax policies and did his best to undo our attempts at making health insurance more inclusive and accessible. He grifted millions from the government by his constant golf trips to his own properties. He respected no norms of governance. He constantly attacked the other party and has increased or exposed resentments that are spilling over into violence. He was involved in an attempted coup that seems to be ongoing. It exhausts me to think about how this terrible destructive force is still directing the ugliness that the GOP has become.
Ronald Reagan.
This is the right answer honestly. Probably started the March to the next civil war which is coming.
Closed all the mental institutions and kicked out the mentally unwell patients literally onto the street
I had to scroll way, WAY too far down for Reagan go heaven mentioned. Literally responsible for all of the US’s major issues today (inequality, high crime, poor education, poor infrastructure…)
Worst until Trump.
James Buchanan. While Trump may have fueled a few thousand extremists to take up arms, this guy set up the south to secede from the union and was a major catalyst in starting the Civil War. He was no dumbass either, he knew exactly what he was doing
Let's dispel once and for all with this fiction that James Buchanan didnt know what he was doing. He knew exactly what he was doing
To be fair; in 1861 it was a fairly safe bet that the matter who was president; the South would secede.
This is the only comforting thing about the Trump presidency, that he was too fucking dumb to really do anything calculated and the damage he caused was an odd mix of purposeful maliciousness and sheer stupidity.
Ronald Reagan fucked this shit up 40 years ago and now we are seeing the trees of terror he planted bearing more and more fruit for fewer and fewer people.
Reagan was known for his charisma and charm.
What a travesty Ronald Reagan isn't further up this thread. Goes to show he's still made of Teflon.
I scrolled way too fucking far to see this. Fuck Reagan. Dude set up the absolute fuckery that is modern American politics and economics.
Yeah, we’re STILL getting fucked over by Reagan decades later and will continue to be fucked over by his legacy for the foreseeable future.
It feels like an entire “we didn’t start the fire” style song could be written about all the bad shit Reagan fucked up with our country
Reagan for sure.
I was hoping to see this higher on the list.
Especially for the institutionalized mentally ill who were turned out on the streets to fend for themselves.
AND that crusty m-effer stopped our adoption of the metric system. Fuck that guy.
Woodrow Wilson. Federal reserve and income tax.
Was one ever impeached twice? Asking for a friend.
Agree hello
Herbert Hoover and his “hands-off” approach to the Great Depression
There’s a reason they called the homeless camps “Hoovervilles” during that time.
Well, he did sign the Hawley-Smoot Tariff act into law in a terrible effort to circumvent the depression by increasing tariffs so that more domestic production would occur. Instead, it increased the price of goods and economists usually agree that it made the depression much worse:
Every economic problem we have currently, can be traced back to Ronald Reagan.
Woodrow Wilson
Aside from James Buchanan and Andrew Jackson, probably also Woodrow Wilson. Was a vocal defender of the KKK as well as implementing many draconian policies.
Nixon bc of the watergate scandal. He ruined the global economy. We are all wage slaves and housing is unaffordable. All Nixon.
I am super disappointed that no one said Woodrow Wilson. The man single handedly gave rise to the second KKK by screening the Birth of a Nation at the White House. He segregated the federal government. He gave rise to the lost cause myth. He started the tradition of American imperialism and intervention that lives on to this day. Overall just a shit human being and terrible president.
Wilson.
Ronald Reagan
As much as people want to say Donald Trump, I gotta go with genocidal maniac, Andrew Jackson. Incidentally, Jackson is Trump’s hero.
Trump is happy just to be in the top 50 best presidents.
I am not sure about the worst, but the best was David Palmer from 24.
I like to argue Ronald Reagan.
Don’t forget his Central American always-be-on-the-wrong-side policy, or Ollie North/Iran-Contra
Andrew Jackson oversaw one of the worst genocides in human history. So yeah he gets my vote.
Reagan. He layer the groundwork for the current hellscape we live in today. Fucker inspired the neo-liberalism and focused on the evangelical Christians which has been absorbed onto our politics while also further eviscerating labor rights we had in target of corporate/wealthy interests. That's why policy that would be good for us gets fucking trashed all the time because politicians fear they'll alienate that base since they are the most active.
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson-Trail of Tears, caused the Panic of 1837, ignored the Supreme Court to fuck over the Cherokees, also tried to kill his own VP
Andrew Jackson, hands down, not close
Polk lied to start the Mexican American war.
It's a tie for me. Andrew Jackson. Committed mass genocide.
Don't mind me, I'm just here with popcorn.
Martin Van Buren.
I suppose it depends on how you measure "worst" but as a criminologist I emphatically nominate Reagan... though Clinton gets an honorable mention.