United States Worse President In the Past

[DarthOne]

Who do you think was the worse president of the USA? And why?

(Note: Obama and Bush Jr are excluded just because it’s too easy.)

For me, Woodrow Wilson. He’s pretty much to blame for most of the crap the US has had to deal with, both domestically and in terms of foreign policy. As well as round about to blame for World War 2 and the Cold War.

(I’ll go more into detail if anyone wants to know more)

 

[Abhorsen]

James Buchanan. His incompetence/disloyalty to the Union basically directly lead to the instability that enabled the Civil War. He convinced a Supreme Court Justice to join the majority on the Dred Scott case; mishandled Bleeding Kansas and tried to get fraudulent votes favoring a slavery constitution thru Congress; was nearly impeached; just said no to free real estate (Raiatea and Taha'a); invaded Mormon Utah and basically lost; and was the President under which Secession started (albeit a lame duck), and fucked up Ft. Sumter, and allowed his cabinet to funnel arms to the South.

 

[Bear Ribs]

Yeah, if @Abhorsen hadn't listed him first I'd go for Buchanan. Instead I'll nominate Franklin Pierce, a forgettable fellow who was chosen as a "Compromise Candidate" who could unite the North and South back together*. He managed to alienate both sides to a horrible degree instead. How badly? He lost re-election to Buchanan.

His policies directly led to Bleeding Kansas and he saw abolition as a dire threat to the union, so did his best to prop up slavery. He had a chance to obtain Cuba and failed it, even as his cabinet campaigned for it.

Ultimately he was the beta test version of Buchanan. A significant chunk of James Buchanan's stupidities were actually just Franklin Pierce's stupidities that Buchanan didn't put an end to.

*Spoiler: He didn't, there was a Civil War soon after.

 

[bullethead]

I dunno, Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren are pretty bad for going "Fuck our treaties with the Native Americans, take their land" and causing the Trail of Tears, plus their support of slavery and a bunch of other stuff that wound up biting the country in the ass later.

That said, Jackson was at least hardcore enough to survive among Klingons, since he took a pistol from a failed assassin and beat him with it.

 

[DarthOne]

I dunno, Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren are pretty bad for going "Fuck our treaties with the Native Americans, take their land" and causing the Trail of Tears, plus their support of slavery and a bunch of other stuff that wound up biting the country in the ass later.

That said, Jackson was at least hardcore enough to survive among Klingons, since he took a pistol from a failed assassin and beat him with it.

Now I’ve got the image of Jackson being reincarnated into a Klingon in a self-Insert style fanfic. Thank you for that.

 

[LordsFire]

If we're ruling out Obama, I'm going with Clinton for 'modern' screw-ups.

He didn't just get away with felony perjury offenses and open sexual misconduct (many presidents were guilty of more covert sexual misconduct), he was praised and glorified for it.

The amount of damage this did to the culture is enormous. When the President can have abusive sexual relationships, flout the law, and be lionized rather than jailed for it, that sends a message to people who are trying to decide whether or not they should be trying to do the same things.

If we're going further back, there's honestly so many terrible presidents it's hard to choose. FDR for extending the Great Depression, the Internment Camps, and giving away Eastern Europe to the Soviets, several 1800's Democrats for pro-slavery and anti-native issues as mentioned, etc, etc.

 

[LordSunhawk]

Wilson will always earn the top slot in my 'worst presidents ever' list for a myriad of reasons.

Even including all of the pro-slavery presidents prior to the Civil War... Wilson was most likely the single biggest racial bigot in presidential history. Note that he was one of the founders of the modern incarnation of the KKK (which, contrary to some people's blaming the South, was founded in New Jersey... at Princeton University while Wilson was president of the university)

Until God blessed America with Wilson's stroke, he was planning on dissolving Congress over the League of Nations debate and ruling as a dictator, mobilizing the de facto secret police he'd built up during WWI to enforce his will. He was such an extremist in that regard that even J Edgar Hoover was edging into opposition to him.

No President has *ever* trampled on civil liberties as hard as Wilson did, none. FDR at his *worst* was only a pale imitation of the abuses of Wilson. The internment camps of FDR? Nothing compared to the outright murder that Wilson encouraged against German-Americans in the run-up to WWI. Publicly disagree with Wilson? Better be prepared to defend yourself from a swarm of thugs, and when they do attack, if you survived you'd be arrested for assault and battery and then shivved in jail.

 

[Cherico]

Going to second Wilson, remember how much effort went into desegregating the military?

It was desegregated before Wilson....seriously he fucked up so much and I'm glad that stroke happened.

 

[Tzeentchean Perspective]

If we're going further back, there's honestly so many terrible presidents it's hard to choose. FDR for extending the Great Depression, the Internment Camps, and giving away Eastern Europe to the Soviets, several 1800's Democrats for pro-slavery and anti-native issues as mentioned, etc, etc.

He also signed the NFA into law.

Until God blessed America with Wilson's stroke, he was planning on dissolving Congress over the League of Nations debate and ruling as a dictator, mobilizing the de facto secret police he'd built up during WWI to enforce his will. He was such an extremist in that regard that even J Edgar Hoover was edging into opposition to him.

Source for that statement?
I'd also add that Wilson helped shut down the Japanese proposal to ensure racial equality during Versaille which helped fuel their resentment towards the west.
I'd say Carter wars the worst for bungling Iran, creating the Department of Education, and his "malaise" nonsense.

 

[clancyphile]

I'll go on the indisputably bad presidents from most recent to present. I will ignore the restriction, since the most recent ones did play a part.

Barack Obama - George W. Bush had the War on Terror stabilized in Iraq. Obama threw all that work away. He pretty much donned kneepads for the mullahs in Iran. China morphed into a major power on his watch while the Navy dwindled to a low not seen since pre-World War I. Domestically, the IRS targeted the Tea Party on his watch, and counter-intelligence powers were turned on the political campaign of the opposing party.

Bill Clinton - The polarization kicked in to high gear on his watch. He lowered the character bar on the presidency, and his policies on China helped a major geopolitical foe on the road to potentially challenging us.

Jimmy Carter - By allowing the shah to fall, he created the conditions for the Global War on Terror.

Richard M. Nixon - The Watergate cover-up was a HUGE unforced error that not only had domestic consequences, but also massive geopolitical ones as well. A Nixon not forced out saves South Vietnam and Cambodia.

Lyndon Baines Johnson - The Great Society put America on a track towards a fiscal cliff. He bungled the Vietnam War, and that allowed the left of today to start rising.

Woodrow Wilson - Pretty much started the notion that there was an elite class entitled to "rule" America.

James Buchanan - His inaction as states succeeded cost over 660,000 people their lives.

 

[Sailor.X]

Andrew Johnson. He took a Civil War victory and managed to let the bastards behind all that death walk away Scott Free.

 

[Bacle]

I'm going to up Wilson again, because that scumbag created so many messes that we are still dealing with the after-effects of.

Also, Bill Clinton for fucking over middle America with NAFTA, selling massive amounts of tech to China for almost nothing, his bungling of the whole 'Black Hawk Down' incident and Somalia in general (we had Abrams in-country before he pulled them out, and he wouldn't allow AC-130 gunship support), and for helping support the Uranium One deal his hag-wife made.

 

[ShieldWife]

It’s hard to say though I would personally buy Wilson, FDR, and LBJ pretty high on the list for worst. In some ways, I would say that it was these guys who built the modern left. Johnson in particular set in place policies which may well be the death of America, including the welfare state and open borders.

For a recent Republican example, since we’ve all been focusing on Democrats, I would say that George W. Bush was terrible too.

 

[Cherico]

It’s hard to say though I would personally buy Wilson, FDR, and LBJ pretty high on the list for worst. In some ways, I would say that it was these guys who built the modern left. Johnson in particular set in place policies which may well be the death of America, including the welfare state and open borders.

For a recent Republican example, since we’ve all been focusing on Democrats, I would say that George W. Bush was terrible too.

I defiantly put Dubya in the top ten, of the worse.

He's the grand standard of suck by which I compare all future presidents is he better then that dumbass then I dont have a problem.

 

[Bacle]

For a recent Republican example, since we’ve all been focusing on Democrats, I would say that George W. Bush was terrible too.

He would have been a decent peace-time POTUS, but he let his friendships and loyalty get in the way of facts.

 

[LordsFire]

He would have been a decent peace-time POTUS, but he let his friendships and loyalty get in the way of facts.

What do you mean by this?

 

[Sailor.X]

It’s hard to say though I would personally buy Wilson, FDR, and LBJ pretty high on the list for worst. In some ways, I would say that it was these guys who built the modern left. Johnson in particular set in place policies which may well be the death of America, including the welfare state and open borders.

For a recent Republican example, since we’ve all been focusing on Democrats, I would say that George W. Bush was terrible too.

In regards to FDR. He was not that bad. My Father lived through the Great Depression. And from the stories both he and my older relatives told me. FDR gave the country the one thing it was lacking during that time. Hope. The Great Depression was bad. I mean really really bad. Historians who did not live through it can't grasp the despair that was all over the country. The Spirit of the American people was broken. And FDR doing his Fire Side Chats and some of the infrastructure projects begun under him gave people hope and lifted the Spirits of the people. That can not be understated. Too many times we focus on policy or our political views. Sometimes we need to look at the Psychology of the populace. to understand how people in a point in time view things.

 

[LordsFire]

In regards to FDR. He was not that bad. My Father lived through the Great Depression. And from the stories both he and my older relatives told me. FDR gave the country the one thing it was lacking during that time. Hope. The Great Depression was bad. I mean really really bad. Historians who did not live through it can't grasp the despair that was all over the country. The Spirit of the American people was broken. And FDR doing his Fire Side Chats and some of the infrastructure projects begun under him gave people hope and lifted the Spirits of the people. That can not be understated. Too many times we focus on policy or our political views. Sometimes we need to look at the Psychology of the populace. to understand how people in a point in time view things.

I'd give this a lot more credence, if his policies were not directly responsible for making the Depression continue.

The unemployment rate peaked below 10%, and was starting to recover within just months, before the government started 'helping.' Once the government got involved, the unemployment rate stayed above 10% for a decade.

Trying to increase people's morale when they're dealing with a problem he created/kept going, scores him no points with me.

 

[Sailor.X]

I'd give this a lot more credence, if his policies were not directly responsible for making the Depression continue.

The unemployment rate peaked below 10%, and was starting to recover within just months, before the government started 'helping.' Once the government got involved, the unemployment rate stayed above 10% for a decade.

Trying to increase people's morale when they're dealing with a problem he created/kept going, scores him no points with me.

Like I said ti was bad man. Spouting hard data to people of that era when they have just lost everything would have gotten you shot in 5 minutes time. Literally shot dead.

Edit: You also forget this was going on during the same time. Dust Bowl

Edit 2: Before the New Deal South Carolina looked pretty much like it did in the 19th Century. You had people still using Horse and buggy as the main form of transportation into the early 1940s. After the New Deal projects got finished in SC. The State finally entered the 20th Century. That is one of the reasons I don't hate the man.

 

[What's the sitch?]

Woodrow Wilson

From what I understand, his desire/desparation to get the league of nations going got him to agree to terms of the treaty of versailles which was incredibly punitive against Germany. This basically ensured that a "Hitler" was going to arise at some point, it was just a matter of when and what exact flavor. The treaty was incredibly harsh but just not enough actually stop Germany hitting back (as can be seen in WW2 20 years later). In reality they should either have dissolved Germany right there and made a diaspora of the German people at that point(or worse) or been Magnanimous in their victory so as to not create guaranteed future enemies.

I mean imagine if the USA had pulled a treaty of Versailles on Japan post WW2? Would we have had a WW3 another 20 years later? Instead they led the reconstruction and reformation of the country and secured it as an ally or at least non enemy. You need to either show mercy, or kill your enemy outright. A "country" is not something that you can leave humiliation like that festering in, a person may die or let something go.... eventually........, but people have children and they will carry on they agendas of their parents, they will wonder why they are being punished for something they didn't do.

It really bothers me to know that one person literally held the future of the entire @#$@$%@ world in their hands right their and they botched it that terribly. This was a United States @#$@%@ president for God' sake, especially at that time no one was in a position to tell us what to do, no one. And yet he caved, he was weak, he had a lack of character, conviction, moral fiber, the vision and fortitude to shape the world. It would have been so easy, but he let it crumble. We are still paying for his failures.

I could only hope to not be as bad as him if for some reason I ever ended up in that position, I can only hope to be better......


Also as mentioned by others all that actual, real, racist crap with Woodrow Wilson, which is not even comparable to "witch hunt tier" racism that I see today.