the best and worst presidents?

[Christian Hansen]

who's the best & worst presidents in history?my top/bottom 5 rankingTOP 51: FDR2: Ronald Reagan3: Abraham Lincoln4: Teddy Roosevelt5: Richard Nixon (contriversial i know) but he signed a necluaer reduction with the Sovjets, opened China and ended the Vietnam warBOTTOM 55: Jimmy Carter4: Grover Cleveland3: Herbert Hoover2: Andrew Johnson1: LBJwhat's your top/bottom 5?

[Bob]

Top Five Best1) FDR2) Abraham Lincoln3) George Washington4) Thomas Jefferson5) JFKTop Five Worst1) Dumbya Bush2) James Buchanon3) Warren Harding4) Herbert Hoover5) Andrew Johnson

[kenmurray]

Top Five:1. Abe Lincoln2. FDR3. George Washington4. Thomas Jefferson5. JFKBottom Five:1. Dumbya Bu$h ( aka the great communicator) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEbZqvMu2cQ2. Warren Harding3. James Buchanan4. Herbert Hoover5. Richard Nixon

[JDThomas]

An outsiders view:Those say 'Aye':1.Teddy Roosevelt2. FDR3. Lincoln4. Thomas Jefferson5. JFK... and Nay:1. Dumbass2. Harding3. GHWB4. Hoover5. Taft---------------------Honorable mentions:Reagan: growing up next to a first strike soviet target was not much fun so I appreciate his efforst here if nothing elseCarter: he was shafted by the Washington elite and our 'favorite' government agenciesNixon: forget the man, history will remember his administration did a lot of good work (with or without Dickies knowledge).Truman and Grant both had difficult acts to follow - Grant especially was no great, but I suspect that he was not as bad as was made out.I can't make my mind up about Wilson nor McKinley

[Dealey Joe]

Would someone tell me why Lincoln is so highly rated as a president?

[tom jeffers]

it is interesting that our most socialist president is rated high by all...FDR.

[Bighunter43]

My Top Five:1. Lincoln2. Reagan3. FDR4. Washington5. Tie - James K. Polk/JeffersonBottom:5. Carter4. W3. Taft2. Hoover1. Andrew Johnson(Jury is still out on Obama.......he might make my bottom list)Joe, Lincoln was not viewed as a great President during his lifetime. People in the North and the South hated him. Imagine another Civil War today, and how that President would be viewed. The death toll, Lee's Army winning battle after battle, the N.Y. draft riots........very little was going his way early on, and many would have given in and let the South go! Without him, I truly believe we would be in 2 separate countries! No other President could have delivered us thru that Civil War. His determination to not let the South secede and his leadership during the war was the glue that held us together. Not to mention the end of slavery. While it wasn't his original goal, as quoted, "If I could restore the Union by freeing all the slaves, I would do so. If I could restore it by freeing none of the slaves, I would do so"......and of course his Emancipation Proclamation only freed slaves in states in open rebellion........but he knew it was wrong, and had the courage to finally make it happen! He has no equal...............

[Dealey Joe]

Well my view of Lincoln, not being a great history buff, is, I put him in a class with G.W. Bush.His attempt at Nationalizing the Banks and printing U.S. Notes was the equivalent of the Federal Reserve System.Slavery was not the issue of the Civil War.You are correct, the only slaves freed were from southern states in reparation of their resistance andfor their evil deeds of wanting to stay free men and not be part of a Big National Government.He could have cared less about the slave. Lincoln was probably responsible for more damage to this country that any other single person.We are still not over it in fact we look at the JFK assassination as catastrophic. The Lincoln presidency was worse.I thought it odd the school rooms always had a picture of George Washington and one of Lincoln?? Another conspiracy?He was also a lawyer from Illinois.....The lost 13th amendment is also of interest in the Lincoln Presidency being a lawyer.

[Bighunter43]

Joe, I respect and value your opinions as much as anyone on here. As a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, my views on Lincoln suprise myself sometimes. I think ALL Presidents have their faults, some more than others! I sincerely believe that Lincoln was NOT an Abolitionist, but knew that slavery was morally wrong. In part, issuing the Emancipation Proclamation was really a "war aim", giving the Union a "cause" when things weren't going their way! But he did bring about the end of it, although of course he was dead when the 13th Amendment was passed. Yes, Slavery was of course not the ONLY cause of the Civil War, as economics, the Tariff, States' Rights were also in the mix. However, SLAVERY is THE underlying cause of the war! One need not look any further than the Order of Secession for Texas and the other Southern States! The Civil War was eventually coming whether Lincoln was elected or not. His election just pushed the South to Secede. I respect him for his commitment to saving the Union.............I do not think we stay together without his determination and guidance during the war. If we had split for good, who knows where we would be today. Just my thoughts..........

[Phil Dragoo]

The Constitution of the United States of America devotes Article I to legislative Power, a Senate and House of Representatives.Article II places executive Power in a President.The first was George Washington.He rallied us to defeat the King and his military might, his arrogance and deprivations. Wouldn't accept Caesar's power. Led admirably and retired modestly.Thomas Jefferson made that little real estate deal, the Louisiana Purchase, sent Lewis & Clark off, made his books the nucleus of the Library of Congress, and had the ink of the Declaration of Independence coming out of his veins.Abraham Lincoln maintained a whole rather than two portions. He was reviled, assassinated, reviled still. I remember the Montgomery bus station water fountains in 1963, White and Colored. We gave. May 25, 1864, Little Anna River, Virginia.Teddy Roosevelt. What an energizer. And an enemy of the hyphenated American. Was he our first president to face the world.Ronald Reagan. He had a faith in American exceptionalism over Soviet intimidation which carried the day. It is not that nuclear midnight now. It is that morning in America.Who has damaged us.Franklin Roosevelt per the Roosevelt Myth, John T. Flynn, 1948, with a fifty-year foreward by my college's Ralph Raico, notes Roosevelt would not join with Hoover in turning the helm, but let it go on the last months. Then, the unemployment would not be reversed for a decade. Only when the soldiers returned to stoke the engine would we recover--and by then, the Greatest Socialist was dead.Was there any stone left on top of another after James Carter. Was there one aspect of the economy not in shambles; was any enemy dictator not embraced.William Clinton made certain the Peoples Liberation Army had our missile guidance data through top donors C. Michael Armstrong and Bernard L. Schwarz. Wen Ho Lee passed the warhead data with Bill Richardson riding shotgun.Woodrow Wilson made certain World War I would not end all wars, but would set the conditions for the Second.Harry Truman would insure the legacy of betrayal of Eastern Europe was complete, that China would fall to Mao, that South Korea would be overrun, that MacArthur would be fired.But wait—call now and we include for no additional charge Lyndon Johnson.The only president complicit in the assassination of his predecessor (that we know of).The only president to concoct a pretext for war (Gulf of Tonkin Resolution).The only president to buy votes with a six-trillion-dollar “war on poverty.”And the only president to go wimpering off like a little girl leaving unresolved a dark and stormy foreign war of his own contrivance.A just God has awarded him a place far beyond this writer's capacity to guage.