Most controversial president?

Question

Is it fair to say that George W Bush is the most controversial US president of all time? He seems deeply unpopular with the rest of the world, although half of all Americans seem to love him.

Does G.W. Bush really break the mould, or have there been even more potty presidents in the past?

Answer 1

To believe Bush is the most controversial means that you are either foreign to this country and have only a passing understanding of its history or you are a citizen with your head in the sand.

Controversial at the time of his presidency;

1. Lincoln- nearly 60% of the country voted against him in 1860 but because of the fact that nearly half a dozen others ran he won. He was so controversial in HIS TIME that 11 states left the Union. He had elements within the Union pressing him to make peace throughout his tenure. Luckily, history has been far kinder.

2. Nixon- left office in disgrace before he could be removed by Congress. If not for Ford, he would have served jail time.

3. Andrew Johnson- Southern Democrat loyal to the Union. Well okay that made him hated in 11 states off the bat. The fact that he was a southern Democrat made him hated by the Majority of the North. He was President without a country. He missed being removed by a single vote. What was his offense. Did he lie to a grand jury, did he commission a break in, did he defy the Supreme Court, no he fired someone. That is controversial.

4. Andrew Jackson- the Supreme Court ruled that the government could not forcibly expel Indians from their lands and force them to settle somewhere else. What did Jackson say, let the Supreme Court enforce it. You history buffs will notice the Indian Territory jumping onto your maps at about this time.


Modern Controversial President are many and will be better looked at through the eyes of future historians. I am an ultra conservative Republican. But I see Bush's faults and they are many, but are the faults of someone who thinks they are doing right by his country. I felt Clinton was mistreated but also realized that he did technically break the law.

People hold your judgements. Our parents and grandparents judged Truman, Lyndon Johnson, and Ford harshly. But historians, and our on judgments made with the benefit of time have shown us that their decisions were not perfect but as perfect as the situation would allow.

Answer 2

President George Walker Bush

Answer 3

I would say the most controversial President in US history was probably Andrew Jackson. He was censored by congress, to action that weakened the US banking system by shutting down the 2nd Bank of the US, and has the "Trail of Tears on his hands. His attitudes about people of different races probably makes him the racist of any President the United States every had. However, the Democratic Party points to him as the founder of their party, we was a very effective military general, prevented South Carolina for seceding from the Union during his administration, was possibly the most popular presidents during his election to high office at the beginning of his term, and is still honored by having his likeness on the US Twenty Dollar Bill. George W. Bush when it comes to controvery doesn't rank anywhere near him.

I could also cite Hayes, U.S. Grant, Warren G. Harding, and Richard M. Nixon for starters, but I don't think that is necessary. Bush has certainly made his mistakes - but he has a long road to go before he can be seen as most controversial.

Answer 4

I feel that it -is- fair to say Bush is the most controversial president of all time. Despite his unpopularity, his administration is an embarrassment and threat to justice everywhere. Dubya broke the mold altogether. I believe that he will be remembered as the worst president in the history of the United States.

Answer 5

Old Bushy boy has nothing over Tricky Dick (Richard Nixon). Can you imagine a president being forced to resign? He did some crap, and left the country upside down and inside out. And too boot Spiro Agnew was also forced to resign. It all proved one thing, that the American system really works! A lot of countries wouldn't have been able to do it,it you'd have ended up in civil war or a violent coups. Thank god for the USA!

Answer 6

Yes it is fair, it is true, and it is pathetic. And a lot less than 1/2 of America loves him. He didn't even win the elections really. It is hard to explain the electoral college but Bush didn't win the popular vote. And a good deal of the people that did vote for him don't love him but like the alternative less. What fools these mortals be. Anyway I digress....in the popularity polls now Bush is doing really poorly.

Answer 7

I think that Abraham Lincoln was much more controversal during his own time than anything current. And by that I am not saying I believe Lincoln was bad, I believe he was a very very good president, but there was an actual civil war and so obviously many disagreed with him on a much greater scale than now.
The worst recent presidents I can think of was Carter and/ or Johnson they were both pretty bad.

Answer 8

Well, the most recent president who was not good was Nixon since he was involved in the Watergate Scandal, among other dirty things he did (hence the nickname Tricky Dick), but I don't think a president has torn this country apart like this since Lincoln, and at least there was a reason for it...

TO JSTAGUY: Get facts straight. It was President Johnson, the vice-president who took over when Kennedy was shot, who placed us in the Vietnam War.

Answer 9

Bush is a war president only because he started a war! This was utterly voluntary on his part and based completely on lies.

His lying his nation into war, depleting our treasury, killing 2500 of our guys, maiming tens of thousandsmore,and murdering thousands of innocent iraqis has got to be far worse than richard nixon's despicable self. His foot-dragging on global warming is having disasterous consequences - again, far worse than Nixon.

Don't worry about Bush you silly fools - he is not feeling bad - the man is a sociopath and he's already told us "who cares what you think?" very early in his dictatorship.

Answer 10

RICHARD NIXON WAS CONTROVERSIAL....
BUSH IS A "WAR PRESIDENT " THERE IS ALWAYS A PROBLEM WITH A SITTING PRESIDENT AT THE TIME OF WAR.....
THE MAJOR PART OF HIS PRESIDENCY HAS BEEN ABOUT THE MIDDLE EAST AND THE CONFLICTS THERE AND HERE WITH 9/11 ...... BUSH HASN'T GOTTEN TO DO ALL OF WHAT HE COULD HAVE DONE WITHOUT THE CONFLICTS THAT HE HAS HAD TO FACE AS THE LEADER OF THE FREE WORLD....

I CAN'T IMAGINE HOW HIS LIFE MUST BE..
REGARDLES OF WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT GW , IT HAS TO BE SAID THAT HE IS A STRONG MAN......

HE HAS A DIFFICULT JOB AND HE ISN'T IN HIS POSITION TO PLEASE EVERY ONE....
I APPRECIATE THAT HE CAN KEEP IT ALL TOGETHER....MORE THAN THE MAJORITY OF THE REST OF US WOULD HAVE FOLDED ALREADY.
I DID NOT VOTE FOR MR. BUSH ,BUT I CAN SIT BACK AND APPRECIATE HIS STRENGTH AND TENACITY.

WE ALL WISH THERE WAS PEACE..WE LIVE IN A HOSTILE WORLD..... I'M NOT SURE ANY OF US COULD HAVE DONE ANY BETTER.......

I DO NOT AGREE WITH THE MAJORITY OF HIS POLITICS AND AM ANGERED SOME TIMES AT THE DECISIONS THAT ARE MADE.... BUT I REFUSE TO BE DEVISIVE...
HE HAS ENOUGH TO WORRY ABOUT THEN ANSWERING TO PEOPLE WHO ARE CONTINUALLY BATTERING HIM WITH QUESTIONS.......
HE'S NOT A POTTY PRESIDENT.......HE'S A WAR TIME PRESIDENT.......

LYNDON jOHNSON WAS SO BATTERED BY THE PRESS AND THE PROBLEMS IN VIET NAM THAT HE WENT ON TV AND STATED HE WOULD NOT BE A CANDIDATE FOR HIS PARTY'S NOMINATION FOR PRESIDENT.....

THERE HAVE BEEN HORRIBLE PRESIDENTS. BUT REMEMBER WE PUT THESE PEOPLE IN OFFICE ...SO WHEN IT GETS ROUGH WE HAVE TO LET THEM DO THEIR JOB........
IHAVE MORE ISSUE WITH THE PRESS AND HOW THEY INSTIGATE AND BLOW THINGS OUT OF PRORPORTION...THEY NEED TO SHUT UP AND STOP GIVING SO MUCH INFORMATION OUT TO THE PUBLIC....