Who do you think was the best man to be President?

Question

Just so we're clear - I'm not asking who was the best President, but who was the best man in the job. I'd have to say Jimmy Carter.

Answer 1

FDR -- Franklin Roosevelt.
He brought the country out of the worst depression we've ever faced, made us into a world power economically and militarily, stayed out of WWII until Japan attacked, then led us ably through that long and difficult conflict. No other president has had trials as difficult or results as good.

Answer 2

I'm stunned at many of the answers given thus far. FDR? FDR did not end the Great Depression--World War II did. No historian would claim that FDR ended the Great Depression. Had we not entered WW II Roosevelt's death on April 12, 1945 would have taken place during the Great Depression.

Eisenhower?

Kennedy? KENNEDY? Kennedy was morally bankrupt, a mediocre president (at best), and a role model for NO ONE.

For my money, the greatest President and the best all around person to be elected to President was Abraham Lincoln. I cannot believe that Lincoln was only mentioned once be 22 contributors. I would debate Lincoln's greatness against ANY U.S. president. Morally, he was above reproach. Where were the extra-marital affairs that FDR, Kennedy, and Clinton engaged in? Where was the scandal as those seen by Reagan, Clinton, Bush, and Nixon? He pulled the nation through the WORST crisis ever seen. The Great Depression affected about 1/4th of the country at large, the Civil War touched EVERY single life in one way or another.

Abraham Lincoln would rank among the three or four greatest Americans to ever live.

Answer 3

Jimmy Carter? He was one of the worst. Look up the Iran Crisis and the Gas shortage. He also claimed to see ufo's when in office.


Personally I like Theodore Roosevelt the best. Best and nicest guy was probably Herbert Hoover. But nice doesn't make a good president.

Answer 4

I would agree that in my lifetime Jimmy Carter was the best MAN in office, though far from the best president. I think he was probably the last person in office who truly saw himself as a public servant. Most people these days (Clinton and Bush included) see the position as a way to make a name for themselves. I think in the entire history of the US, there have been others, Woodrow Wilson and Thomas Jefferson come to mind. Good Question, thanks!

Answer 5

Not that I was alive to know this first hand, but I would have to say George Washington. He is the only man that I know of that did not even really want the job. He was a military hero and being the first President, he had more pressure on him that anyone alive at that time could realize.

Answer 6

Carter may have been it. Earlier in the century, probably Harry Truman or Woodrow Wilson. The Republicans with best character in the 20th Century were probably Ford, Hoover and Coolidge.
Personal lives aside the best President ever was probably Franklin D. Roosevelt, followed by Lincoln.

Answer 7

Bill Clinton, he was intelligent and went into the presidency with a plan to cure the repuglican blues, (Its the economy stupid.) His plan worked well as the United States responded with the largest expansion ever. He even got things done with a hostile congress, which Jimmy Carter could not. So I would have to say he was the most qualified in over 40 years.

Answer 8

Ronald Reagan.

Answer 9

Washington. A leader. Moral. Honorable. Devout Christian. A servant to the people, and obedient to the Constitution. He'd be called a theocratic ultra-right wing kook by today's Democrats, sad to say.

Carter was too pessimistic and too conciliatory to failure. Witness his 'malaise' speech.

Answer 10

Morally, I would also say Jimmy Carter. He also had an extremely high IQ. As far as leadership, I would say FDR, despite being wheelchair bound. Our country is a superpower today thanks to FDR seizing the opportunity to become a world power.