Top 5 worst U.S. Presidents.

[CelticHoosier1993]

The title is pretty self-explanatory. I'd be interested in seeing your lists. Mine is
1. George W. Bush
2. Woodrow Wilson
3. Richard Nixon
4. Harry Truman
5. Ronald Reagan

[Old Europe]

The title is pretty self-explanatory. I'd be interested in seeing your lists. Mine is
1. George W. Bush
2. Woodrow Wilson
3. Richard Nixon
4. Harry Truman
5. Ronald Reagan

19th century presidents are awesome?

[A cowboy always follows his beard]

1. James Buchanan (Normal)
2. Andrew Johnson
3. Franklin Pierce
4. Richard Nixon
5. George W. Bush

[oakvale]

OP's list made me facepalm so hard I had to go to the emergency room.

[dialectical fetishist]

1. James Buchanan
2. Andrew Johnson
3. Franklin Pierce
4. Ronald Reagan
5. George W. Bush

[NY Jew]

1. FDR
2. Carter
3. Buchanan
4. Obama
5. Andrew Johnson

[crypto-fascist superhero]

I'll break it down by century, since it's kinda hard to compare.

18th/19th:

1. Lincoln
2. McKinley
3. Fillmore
4. Grant
5. B. Harrison

20th/21st:

1. Wilson
2. F. Roosevelt
3. Johnson
4. Truman
5. Nixon

[Californian Tony]

1. Buchanan
2. Tyler
3. Pierce
4. G W Bush
5. Hoover

[oakvale]

1) Buchanan (duh).
2) Pierce.
3) Tyler.
4) Johnson.
5) Nixon.

Hoover, Grant and Harding (who'd probably be in sixth place since I couldn't decide between him and Nixon for fifth) would be in the top ten, but I only had five places so...

EDIT:

1. FDR
2. Carter
3. Buchanan
4. Obama
5. Andrew Johnson

This one made me facepalm so hard I passed out for a couple of hours with blood coming out of my ears.

[Vosem]

4. Harry Truman

My single favorite President.  you.

[Communists For McCain]

Wow.

Oakvale and Antonio V are so far the only objective lists I've seen so far.

Note: What I mean by "worst" presidents are those who just failed miserably, regardless of political views.

My list:

1. James Buchanan (D-PA)
2. Franklin Pierce (D-NH)
3. John Tyler (I-VA)
4. Andrew Johnson (NU-TN)
5. Herbert Hoover (R-CA)

[Ѕenator Αverroës]

"Least effective" seems like a better word to use for my list.

1. John Tyler
2. James Buchanan
3. Franklin Pierce
4. Andrew Johnson
5. Warren Harding


BONUS - William Henry Harrison

EDIT - Including a best Presidents list for comparison:

1. Abraham Lincoln
2. George Washington
3. Thomas Jefferson
4. Franklin Roosevelt
5. Dwight Eisenhower

[True Federalist]

1. Wilson
2. Tyler
3. Pierce
4. Jefferson
5. George W. Bush

While Buchanan was not a particularly good president, one can't really say he made things much worse than they otherwise would have been, which is why he doesn't make my worst 5 list. If either Tyler or Pierce had had a full eight years they might have been able to displace Wilson from my top 5, but they were both bad enough in their first term to preclude getting a second so we'll never know.

[A cowboy always follows his beard]

1. Wilson
2. Tyler
3. Pierce
4. Jefferson
5. George W. Bush

While Buchanan was not a particularly good president, one can't really say he made things much worse than they otherwise would have been, which is why he doesn't make my worst 5 list. If either Tyler or Pierce had had a full eight years they might have been able to displace Wilson from my top 5, but they were both bad enough in their first term to preclude getting a second so we'll never know.

Please explain that. As bad as the Ograbme was, it can't make him worse than Buchanan.

[Jerseyrules]

1. Wilson
2. Taft
3. LBJ
4. FDR
5. Andrew Johnson

[WillK]

1. Wilson
2. Tyler
3. Pierce
4. Jefferson
5. George W. Bush

While Buchanan was not a particularly good president, one can't really say he made things much worse than they otherwise would have been, which is why he doesn't make my worst 5 list. If either Tyler or Pierce had had a full eight years they might have been able to displace Wilson from my top 5, but they were both bad enough in their first term to preclude getting a second so we'll never know.

Please explain that. As bad as the Ograbme was, it can't make him worse than Buchanan.

Why not?   
Buchanan's response to a crisis was less than we would like, but he didnt create the crisis. 
Jefferson essentially created the crisis with his policy proposal and the way he enforced it.

[Senator Snowstalker]

1. James Buchanan
2. John Tyler
3. Franklin Pierce
4. Warren Harding
5. George W. Bush
6. Martin van Buren
7. Andrew Johnson
8. Calvin Coolidge
9. James K. Polk
10. Zachary Taylor

My top 10:

1. Abraham Lincoln
2. Franklin Roosevelt
3. George Washington
4. Theodore Roosevelt
5. Harry Truman
6. Dwight Eisenhower
7. James Madison
8. Lyndon B. Johnson
9. Thomas Jefferson
10. John F. Kennedy

[I'm JewCon in name only.]

1. FDR
2. Woodrow Wilson
3. James Buchanan
4. Jimmy Carter
5. Herbert Hoover


Barack Obama isnt too far behind. Like 7 or 8, maybe 9.

[oakvale]

I've said this before, but the internet's hatred of Woodrow Wilson is just my favourite thing. My favourite thing.

[Senator Snowstalker]

I've said this before, but the internet's hatred of Woodrow Wilson is just my favourite thing. My favourite thing.

He was massively flawed with his intervention in WWI and segregationism, but his progressive reforms balance him to about average.

[oakvale]

I've said this before, but the internet's hatred of Woodrow Wilson is just my favourite thing. My favourite thing.

He was massively flawed with his intervention in WWI and segregationism, but his progressive reforms balance him to about average.

Personally, I wouldn't quite put Wilson in the top ten, but he's up there. Let's say...  a solid #12.

EDIT: Actually, maybe he would squeak into the top ten. I don't know, it's not like I'm writing a book and have to keep a perfectly consistent view the whole times.

[Χahar]

What do you like about Wilson? Genuinely interested here.

[Beet]

Let me preface this with that I don't know a lot about Wilson.

I know he was a segregationist and was quoted in the introduction to Birth of a Nation, and that certainly doesn't endear me to him. But what I like about him is that I associate him with the high tide of progressivism (the income tax amendment; the FTC, the Clayton Antitrust Act, child labor laws, and yes even the Federal Reserve). I think the US entry into WWI, while not entirely necessarily, was not heinous either, may have helped to shorten the war and more than anything else pushed the US into superpower status. And while he failed to get the US into the League of Nations or negotiate a more sustainable Treaty of Versailles, I blame the latter on British and French vindictiveness and the former on his opponents in the Senate. I think the League of Nations overall as a concept was vindicated by the UN.

Wilson's decision to champion nationalism I view overall positively within the context of the time that was dominated by empires. I see it as foreshadowing all of the national movements from then until the sunset of empire in the 1960's, and continuing to this day. His Fourteen Points were attractive to many forward-thinkers in anti-imperialist movements, and the failure to fully implement them disappointed them. In the international arena I see him as basically a figure whose ideas were so far ahead of his time that they weren't realistic, but they finally came to greater fruition after WWII. Lastly, fairly or unfairly I associate him also with the success of womens' suffrage. I understand that he didn't originally support it, but eventually changed his mind.

However, I understand that there have been some books written about him that are highly critical. If I read these books, perhaps my mind would be changed.

I don't feel I know enough about the 19th century Presidents to list my five worst.

[True Federalist]

Let me preface this with that I don't know a lot about Wilson.

I know he was a segregationist and was quoted in the introduction to Birth of a Nation, and that certainly doesn't endear me to him. But what I like about him is that I associate him with the high tide of progressivism (the income tax amendment; the FTC, the Clayton Antitrust Act, child labor laws, and yes even the Federal Reserve). I think the US entry into WWI, while not entirely necessarily, was not heinous either, may have helped to shorten the war and more than anything else pushed the US into superpower status. And while he failed to get the US into the League of Nations or negotiate a more sustainable Treaty of Versailles, I blame the latter on British and French vindictiveness and the former on his opponents in the Senate. I think the League of Nations overall as a concept was vindicated by the UN.

I do wonder why people keep blaming or praising Wilson for the 16th Amendment.  It was sent to the States under Taft.  34 of the necessary 36 States ratified the amendment before Wilson was even the Democratic nominee.  All three major candidates in 1912 were in support of the 16th amendment.  After the election was over another 6 or 7 states ratified the amendment before Wilson took office (Massachusetts ratified on Inauguration Day, and I don't know if they did so before or after noon.)

Granted, Wilson was a major force behind the passage of the Revenue Act of 1913, but the income tax levied in that act was incidental to the reform of the tariff.

[For Oklahoma]

1. Woodrow Wilson
2. Franklin Delano Roosevelt
3. Lyndon Johnson
4. Herbert Hoover
5. James Buchanan