best president of the twentieth century?

Question

i'd probably go with FDR. i would also say he's the most liberal: helped the poor, encouraged tolerance, and was opposed to war unless it was necessary.

i'd have to say the worst was Reagan. he clearly had no idea how to run the economy. either that or his rich friends were first on his priority list. not to mention Reagan hated dissent and the use of free speech.

Answer 1

Reagan


Worst a tie Carter and Clinton, they both nearly destroyed our military with cut backs and kiiled the working man with tax hikes

Answer 2

FDR I would agree with, Teddy Roosevelt was also good.

The things you say about Reagan are right-on, but GW Bush has tried to out-Reagan Reagan in almost everything Reagan did, and I think he succeeded. Tax cuts for the rich, destruction of the public education system, unnecessary military adventures, lying to Congress and the American people. Bush makes Reagan look like an amateur!

The only difference is that Reagan was able to convince people everything was okay. He was a much more convincing liar than Bush is.

Harding was also not a good president, but he had one big scandal and he felt so bad he died! GW Bush as had DOZENS of scandals as bad as Harding's.

Answer 3

FDR may have been a war time president but outside of being in the white house at one of the worst times in our history he made a plethora of mistakes, from the timing of his entry into the war to his treatment of fledgling Russia. Ronald Regan however was a master of communications. Knew how to put a team of specialists together and how to manage them. Despite your remarks about the economy, the data contradicts you at every turn. Look into how well the economy responded to the tax cuts and everything else that was implemented during his administration. He also put an end to the cold war by accelerating the technology race with Russia and made it impossible for their backwards economy to compete. Regan never made any statements or took any actions to suppress free speech. He was however a strong proponent of responsibility in exercising the right of free speech. Having the right of making free speech does not free one of the obligation of assuming responsibility for their statements.

Answer 4

BEST:

Teddy Roosevelt - for Sherman Anti-Trust Act and National Parks;

FDR - for extraordinary leadership through the Depression, which would have felled just about anyone else;

LBJ - WOULD have been great if he hadn't escalated Vietnam, which hobbled him and kept him from achieving his Great Society goals.
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WORST:

Hoover - tragic victim of circumstance, except that he was so much like George H.W. Bush, with a tin ear and no vision;

Harding - crooked cronyist;

Carter - hapless, weak, scattered.

Answer 5

Funny, isn't it?

Bush wasn't even successful at being the WORST president...

I think Nixon was a little worse than Reagan.

But to answer your question, the Kennedy's have always been the best politicians in America.
Despite all the scandals and hit marks on them, they perservere and continue to shine on.

I think the Clintons are close runners up.

I like Gore but I kind of feel like he gave up without a fight... I'm one that believes he won that election fair and square.

Answer 6

FDR was president during 80% of the great depression. FDR got us involved in a war that killed more americans than all other wars combined. FDR rounded up American citizens (japanese) into concentration camps. FDR conducted bombing campaigns against sovereign nations TARGETING civilians. FDR funded secret atomic weapons program. FDR was crippled but misled American public and hardly anyone outside of beltway knew he was crippled. FDR ignored warnings of Pearl Harbor bombing.
Even after all that Carter is worst.
Ted Roosevelt best followed closely by Reagan then a long way to third best.

Answer 7

The best was FDR and worst probably Warren Harding.

Answer 8

Dwight Eisenhower

Answer 9

Ronald Reagan

Answer 10

Tough call. Best? I dunno. Truman, Eisenhower, Nixon and Reagan.

Truman because he had to make an incredibly tough call -- drop the big one or not drop the big one. And when Paul Tibbets lamented "his" decision to drop it, Truman asked "Just who the hell does he think HE is?" With Truman, the buck truly stopped with him.

Eisenhower, because he was not a political insider. Oh, he loved playing politics as a general. Patton and Bradley often thought Ike was more British than American. But even before Ike got into politics, he too had to make an extremely tough call. On his order the only deserter in the U.S. military during WW II had to face the firing squad. His name, Pvt Slovich. As President, Ike had a vision.

Nixon. Now HE was a political insider. He'd been in politics all of his adult life. He knew how to work the system. AND, he had the audacity to carry out his campaign promises.

Reagan. He took Hollywood acting to a whole new level. A cowboy who wasn't to be messed with, ol' Mohmar Guidaffi (?sp) learned the hard way that the U.S. isn't going to take !@#$ from a third world punk. Reagan out spent the Communists and forced their system to collapse. He also wanted to build us into the premier super power of the world -- "Peace through superior firepower." At home, he had a policy of accountability and responsibility, he cut social feeding trough programs like welfare that had suffered generational abuse for decades.

The worsed? Another toss up. Warren Harding, FDR, Kennedy, Johnson, Carter and Clinton.

Harding couldn't keep his pants zipped and accomplished nothing.

FDR, brought this country as close as we've ever been to communism -- we're still paying for his social programs that have enslaved a great many. His foreign affairs policy wrought the wrath of the Japanese upon us, and he courted Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany -- he made Pappa Joe Kennedy (a bootlegger) ambassador.

JFK inhereted Eisenhower/Nixon's Bay of Pigs Invasion scheme. Realizing this to be a bad idea, he opted to cancel the support for the operation, but let the operation continue otherwise as planned -- thus murdering 2510 Americans in all of four days. He also listened to Nixon (who was working on the premise of The Domino Theory) and involved us in Vietnam. There was a serious dark side to JFK that to this day, most Americans refuse to acknowledge.

LBJ, wrote checks he couldn't cover (social programs had to be repealed later by Nixon). He continued the war in Vietnam and when he realized just how much of a losing situation he'd created with his insistance on second guessing the field commanders and demanding final say on what was to be deemed a viable target, he simply announced that he would not run for re-election. He was a coward and a womanizer, continuing the Kennedy legacy of adultry, pandering and spending.

Carter, OK, so he was able to bring Egypt and Israel together... He gave away the Panama Canal, he squandered our money on the MX missile system, managed to single handedly tick off OPEC, capitulated to Iran our embassy personnel AND STILL, still welcomed the deposed dictator to our country. He gutted the CIA and set up our current involvement in the middle east (specifically Iraq/Iran -- much like von Bismarck and WW I). Our economy under his leadership (?!!!) floundered miserably. His brother Jimmy and his mother were more interesting than was he.

Clinton, was a do nothing president. He did not support the U.N. cease fire agreement that ended the first gulf war. He involved us needlessly in Bosnia, Haiti and Somalia. He had opportunity to stave off several terrorist attacks and instead, worked as an obstructionist. He surrounded himself with the likes of Berger, Albright and everyone's favorite, Reno. He was a "feel good" guy. But once that feeling wore off and you realize the party's over (and has been for some time), you also realize, your pocket's been picked, your wallet gone through and you are surrounded by a bunch of empties that now needs to be picked up and thrown away. He almost got us into WW III. He was extremely cavalier about how far to go with the military draw down and as a leader, was quite wreckless and worthless.

Answer 11

1. Ronald Reagan (rebuilt military, destroyed USSR, cut taxes, longest period of American economic expansion)
2. Teddy Roosevelt (encouraged individualism and self-reliance, greatest period of American expansion)
3. Harry Truman (knew when to drop the bomb on Japan, knew when to stand up to monopolistic business practices, knew when to stand up to unions, only president to not cash in on his presidency after he left office)
4. Dwight Eisenhower (great military leader, built the interstate highway system)
5. JFK (stood up to Cuba, stood up to the USSR, very pro-business for a democRAT)

I used to think Jimmy Carter was the worst president. Now that you mention it, I'd have say FDR was the worst, and for all the reasons you give. He divided this country by class. He encouraged welfarism and dependence on government. He fought individualism and self-reliance.