Ranking the US Presidents... your thoughts?

[Jessie_Pinkman]

Source
..then sort by far right (aggregated) column

1 Abraham Lincoln
2 Franklin D. Roosevelt
3 George Washington
4 Theodore Roosevelt
5 Thomas Jefferson
6 Harry S. Truman
7 Woodrow Wilson
8 Dwight D. Eisenhower
9 Andrew Jackson
10 John F. Kennedy
11 Barack Obama
12 James K. Polk
13 Lyndon B. Johnson
14 James Madison
15 John Adams
16 Ronald Reagan
17 James Monroe
18 William J. Clinton
19 William McKinley
20 Grover Cleveland
21 John Quincy Adams
22 George H. W. Bush
23 William Howard Taft
24 Martin Van Buren
25 Rutherford B. Hayes
26 Gerald Ford
27 Jimmy Carter
28 Chester A. Arthur
29 James A. Garfield
30 Calvin Coolidge
31 Benjamin Harrison
32 George W. Bush
33 Richard Nixon
34 Herbert Hoover
35 Zachary Taylor
36 Ulysses S. Grant
37 John Tyler
38 William*Henry*Harrison
39 Millard Fillmore
40 Franklin Pierce
41 Andrew Johnson
42 Warren G. Harding
43 James Buchanan
44 Donald J. Trump

 

[KeithD]

To be fair, I don't think it's fair (more like piling on) to include Trump until his presidency is over.

 

[rae121452]

i don't know, warren g. and the donald seem almost to be neck and neck in the graft, corruption and incompetence column.

 

[AnAmericanDarling]

To be fair, I don't think it's fair (more like piling on) to include Trump until his presidency is over.

I think Trump's position in 44th place is more than generous. There's no way he'll improve.

 

[rae121452]

and, andrew jackson should also be at the bottom of the list for his manifest destiny involvement.

 

[Hypoxia]

Tromp hasn't yet provoked a war of secession so I rate him above Buchanan. Barely.

Yeah, the rankings are moot until a term ends and we get a better idea of the damages and/or benefits a POTUS produced. But it's fun to rag on, hey?

 

[AnalCreampieGiver]

Source
..then sort by far right (aggregated) column

1 Abraham Lincoln
2 Franklin D. Roosevelt
3 George Washington
4 Theodore Roosevelt
5 Thomas Jefferson
6 Harry S. Truman
7 Woodrow Wilson
8 Dwight D. Eisenhower
9 Andrew Jackson
10 John F. Kennedy
11 Barack Obama
12 James K. Polk
13 Lyndon B. Johnson
14 James Madison
15 John Adams
16 Ronald Reagan
17 James Monroe
18 William J. Clinton
19 William McKinley
20 Grover Cleveland
21 John Quincy Adams
22 George H. W. Bush
23 William Howard Taft
24 Martin Van Buren
25 Rutherford B. Hayes
26 Gerald Ford
27 Jimmy Carter
28 Chester A. Arthur
29 James A. Garfield
30 Calvin Coolidge
31 Benjamin Harrison
32 George W. Bush
33 Richard Nixon
34 Herbert Hoover
35 Zachary Taylor
36 Ulysses S. Grant
37 John Tyler
38 William*Henry*Harrison
39 Millard Fillmore
40 Franklin Pierce
41 Andrew Johnson
42 Warren G. Harding
43 James Buchanan
44 Donald J. Trump

How in the hell is Harry Truman, Woodrow "eugenics" Wilson and Andrew "Native American killer" Jackson above John F Kennedy?!?!?!?! Of course I don't think anyone should be above him unless it's FDR, Ike and Theodore Roosevelt. Personally between those three I referred to, I could only imagine FDR being above Kennedy though not by much if I had to pick one above him.

 

[BotanyBoy]

Calvin Coolidge....should have been at the top.

Best US president of all time.

George Washington in a close 2nd.

 

[KeithD]

How in the hell is Harry Truman, Woodrow "eugenics" Wilson and Andrew "Native American killer" Jackson above John F Kennedy?!?!?!?! Of course I don't think anyone should be above him unless it's FDR, Ike and Theodore Roosevelt. Personally between those three I referred to, I could only imagine FDR being above Kennedy though not by much if I had to pick one above him.

Muchly because all those social programs we remember Kennedy for? Most of them only got through because Lyndon Johnson, a master deal maker from his congressional days, pushed them through on his watch. Kennedy's pretty much the one who got the United States embroiled in Southeast Asia. It would have been interesting to see how he would have fared with that can of worms if he'd been around longer. I'm not anti-Kennedy, but Camelot was mostly a very good PR campaign.

 

[Hypoxia]

Does disputing presidential rankings make anyone here feel or live better? And should we pity Millard Fillmore? He only gets a ghetto street in San Francisco, and a fire-prone zone outside Los Angeles.

 

[Blue]

Trump is obviously not the worst US president.
Maybe the worst in terms of international optics, in terms of how much relative harm he's done (So far) he's not even close to the bottom.
Heck even if we just do the presidents post-WW2, if the UN actually enforced the precedents set at the Nuremburg tribunals every single US president since the war would be hung for crimes against humanity.

 

[Jessie_Pinkman]

Does disputing presidential rankings make anyone here feel or live better? And should we pity Millard Fillmore? He only gets a ghetto street in San Francisco, and a fire-prone zone outside Los Angeles.

And exactly which conversations here make anyone here feel or live better?

 

[Hypoxia]

Heck even if we just do the presidents post-WW2, if the UN actually enforced the precedents set at the Nuremburg tribunals every single US president since the war would be hung for crimes against humanity.

I've argued that yes, at least every post-WWII POTUS has been structurally forced to commit domestic crimes, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. I blame Congressional abandonment of responsibility.

And exactly which conversations here make anyone here feel or live better?

Those encouraging one-fisted thinking, of course.

 

[KeithD]

Does disputing presidential rankings make anyone here feel or live better? And should we pity Millard Fillmore? He only gets a ghetto street in San Francisco, and a fire-prone zone outside Los Angeles.

I suggested that it's premature (and apples and oranges) to rank Donald Trump with already-completed presidencies because he's not done yet. He has the potential of being 136th out of 45.

 

[patient1]

I'd like to get some time and perspective on Trump and Obama.
For example- I credit Obama for reopening Cuba, and blame him for not closing Gitmo like he promised. He had two terms. On balance, I don't know where to put him. I'm pretty sure Trump will always be in the bottom tenth regardless..

I would have rated Coolidge higher and FDR lower, but I'm against a strong central government.

In the same vein, I would have rated Tyler higher, simply because he seemed to be a rare exception ( like Washington ) who did not try to grab more power for himself and his office.

 

[NickStJohn]

,,,,,

,,,,,

 

[Hypoxia]

George F. Will, Dec. 13, 2017

That commie! Oh wait, he's a Reagan-Bush guy. That commie!

 

[Jessie_Pinkman]

I think my biggest surprise was Polk @#12.
He went to the Democratic Convention as just a possibility of maybe getting a VP offer, but walked away as the Dem's candidate for Pres. Only serving one term, he didn't even run for reelection, but is still considered by many to be the most effective president of the pre–Civil War era.

 

[FEELINGLUCKYPUNK]

The real test is always WATCHA DONE LATELY? some of the Presidents barely survived the swearing in ceremony.

 

[TJX]

I can think of 444 reasons carter should be ranked dead last. The last 3 presidents we elected that were outsiders gave us carter obama and trump. The 3 worse presidents imo. Trump and carter are obvious. Obama presided over the greatest social spit this country has seen since viet nam and civil rights in the 60s.

 

[FEELINGLUCKYPUNK]

Lincoln usually ranks high but few know why. He killed 800,000 in an unnecessary bloodbath that ended with every slave still a slave. H.L. Mencken called Abe a poet Some say he was a con who launched the war to enrich the railroads. I suspect both sides conspired to kill him .

 

[KeithD]

that ended with every slave still a slave.

Umm, no. Not even close. Some yes. Every slave? Not even close.

 

[colddiesel]

Richard Nixon was a crook but also a pretty good President. Being a crook does not make you ineffective.

I would put Polk much higher. He got in, did what he said he would do and got out - He expanded the USA more than any other Pres - and only took one term.

Warren Harding was very popular before and throughout his term, and after he died. He was particularly popular with the Press. However, subsequent academic and democrat historians successfully libelled him for the next 90 years for the sins of his cabinet appointments.

Buchannan was the worst with Andrew Johnson a close second.

Truman was a good decision maker - had a couple of tough ones.

Reagan and Kennedy are both over-rated.

 

[Hypoxia]

Lincoln usually ranks high but few know why. He killed 800,000 in an unnecessary bloodbath...

South Carolina rebels attacked a US Army fort. Insurrection and treason. Shameful.

 

[patient1]

I can think of 444 reasons carter should be ranked dead last. The last 3 presidents we elected that were outsiders gave us carter obama and trump. The 3 worse presidents imo. Trump and carter are obvious. Obama presided over the greatest social spit this country has seen since viet nam and civil rights in the 60s.

I have thought Carter the poorest president in my lifetime...until recently.


In his defense, and in hindsight, he deregulated interstate trucking, air travel, and home brewing. Home brewing led to craft brewing. Mr. Carter has enhanced my quality of life.