Worst President from World War 2 to 2012? And why?

[DanielX]

Worst to Best:
Johnson = Nixon > W. Bush > Carter = Ford = Clinton >  Kennedy > Truman >  HW Bush > F. Roosevelt = Reagan > Eisenhower

In some cases (Carter and Ford, especially) the issue isn't necessarily political policy but leadership skills (or rather, lack thereof); to the contrary, Eisenhower, Reagan, and F. Roosevelt were all good leaders, whatever their political policies/actions were. Johnson, Kennedy, and W. Bush are dragged down by poor choices for Defense Secretary (Rumsfeld, McNamara; technically Ford qualifies as well but Rumsfeld's first term was short). Johnson, Nixon, Clinton, and to a lesser degree Kennedy were brought down by personal moral failures. Johnson, F. Roosevelt, Nixon, Reagan, and W. Bush among others instituted policies which lead to short-term gain but contributed to the nation's current financial woes. Note: by my grading standards even Eisenhower would only get a "C+"; Kennedy and below would get failing grades.