Who is the worst President in history?

Answer 1

First, I think it is foolish and short-sighted to try to rank ANYONE as best or worst who has served in the past 20 years. We simply don't have the perspective to judge.. it tends to be purely emotional and partisan.

I would rank as the "worst" Presidents should be those whose policies clearly made things worse, not those who may have been hampered by opposition or simply not politically very effective. Thus I'd omit the likes of John Quincy Adams.

Worst two, then:
1) Franklin Pierce -- he supported slaveowners to the point of accepting what everyone knew was a trumped up government brought us "bleeding Kansas", which was essentially the beginning of the Civil War.

2) James Buchanan -- marginally better; took the same general position as Pierce. Beyond his failure on Kansas, he did a horrible job between Lincoln's winning the election and taking office to effectively counter secession (people in his cabinet were even actively working for the secessionist governments!)

Worst in 20th century:
Jimmy Carter -- disastrous on domestic issues, esp. the economy ("misery index"), but that dims compared to his foreign policy, allowing Communist expansion in Central America (which Reagan had to clean up) and the fall of Iran (which we are STILL trying to figure out how to deal with)...

And Jimmy Carter certainly wins my vote for worst EX-President... Breaking all precedent by bad-mouthing his successors (before him there was an understanding that you did not do so). But more important that that bad form since the early 90s he's been running around secretly (and not alway so secretly) trying to run his own foreign policy, even if it is directly contradictory to the current elected administration. (Thus I utterly disagree with the image, which I once bought into, of his being a "decent man" and great ex-President.)

Also, I have to disagree with some of the "classic answers" we often see... at least for their reasons. Harding & Grant are usually ranked low because of scandals on their watch. Hard to be sure about how much personal involvement Harding had in Teapot Dome, and I'm not a big fan, but his economic policies (tricky postwar transition time) were more effective than he is usually given credit for. As for Grant, no one questions that he was personally scandal-free (though generally too trusting of OTHERS' motives), and many are reassessing his successes (e.g., as a strong champion of the freedmen in the very difficult post-war era). Hoover is blamed for the Great Depression, or at least making it worse -- there may be some truth to that, but if so it's not that he just sat back (contra the popular myth), but probably that he tried to have the government do too MUCH... things that it was ill-equipped to do.

Answer 2

This is rather subjective. I know there would be a lot of people who will say George W. Bush, but history still needs to judge him first. It could be Warren G. Harding. His administration was very corrupt. It could also be Jimmy Carter. He wouldn't play politics with congress and proved inept during the Hostage Crisis in Iran. He is a good decent person and that is what makes him the best ex-president ever.

Answer 3

Nixon=watergate

Answer 4

I believe it is George W. Bush for the following reasons:

He attacked Afghanistan in search of Al Queda, Taliban, and Osama only to divert funding from this war to Iraq (which is illegal). Today, the Taliban have reclaimed much power. Heroin trade is back up to pre-war levels. Osama is still missing.

He invaded Iraq by "fixing the intelligence to meet the policy" as the Downing Street Memos indicate. It was the greatest invasion in US history that was based on the notion of pre-emption. And think about it, we IGNORED the UN to invade a country for IGNORING the UN.

He squandered the biggest surplus in US history.

He ran up the highest deficit in US history - not exactly a fiscal conservative.

In his first year as president, he set a record for the most vacation days of any president.

He presided over the worst security breach and the greatest attack on American soil in US history. And while it was happening, sat and read a book about goats for several minutes.

It took him over 18 months to even set up an investigation into the biggest security breach in American History and then refused to testify under oath before the 9/11 Commission. He demanded that he be interviewed, in private, with Dick Cheney at his side.

Appointed more convicted criminals to adminsitrative and WH positions than any other president in history.

He permitted the deepest cuts in Veteran's benefits than any other president.

He presided over the biggest stock fraud scandal in the history of the United States and yet accepted campaign contributions from some of the people accused in the matter.

He has had the least amount of press conferences among all presidents since the birth of television.

He has broken or overturned more international treaties than any other president in US History.

He was in charge when the the worst federal response followed the worst natural disaster (Katrina.) And he refused to accept any responsibility for it.

He has ignored more generals than any other president. Many of them suggested that the Iraq war required more troops. Many of them demanded better post-war planning. Many of them demanded that Rumsfeld be fired. Bush has ignored all of that.

He doesn't keep his promises to children - No Child Left Behind is under-funded by as much as 10 billion dollars.

30 Million Americans live in poverty as of 2006. There are steeper cuts to the basic health benefits and shelter provided to children living under poverty under Bush.

All this...and more...and yet he hasn't admitted one mistake since he has been in office.

Answer 5

Jimmy Carter. He left American hostages in Iran for 444 days.

Answer 6

The second Bush, with the first one coming in real close behind him.

Answer 7

Easy. William Henry Harrison. He broke a month after we bought him. And presidents don't come with warranties.

Answer 8

Bush, Bush Bush, probably the answer a lot of people will give...everyone hates him..and some ppl defend him saying "oh, but he hasn't done anything.." that's exactly it! he doesn't do anything for this country! although I also think Nixon is up there w/him...

Answer 9

LBJ and Nixon