Best post Eisenhower Republican President?

[traininthedistance]

Um... probably the elder Bush, narrowly over Ford.

[Oakvale]

It's amusing that two of those (Bush II, Nixon) are among the very worst Presidents in American history. The answer's obviously Reagan.

[Lief 🗽]

H.W. Bush was actually a pretty decent president.

Ford didn't do anything.

The other three actively damaged the country.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Dear Lord, people... The only thing worse than a left-winger defending Nixon is a left-winger defending Reagan.

[Beet]

Dear Lord, people... The only thing worse than a left-winger defending Nixon is a left-winger defending Reagan.

Well he did leave the inflation, unemployment, and growth rates better than when he came in, and he managed the Soviet Union in a stellar fashion; he does not quite get credit for the Brezhnev doctrine's repeal by late 1988 but he pushed it along. Such actions went a very long way towards restoring national morale. To judge Republicans presidents as good merely because they were ineffective is not really much different from Republicans who hope the economy crashes because it will make Obama less effective.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

I wonder how many Democrats voted Ford mainly because his term was the shortest

[PPT Spiral]

Ford did the least amount of damage.

[PJ]

Ford for being a do-nothing President.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Dear Lord, people... The only thing worse than a left-winger defending Nixon is a left-winger defending Reagan.

Got it backwards there, dawg. The Nolan chart ain't the only way to judge a president.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Ford wasn't openly destructive, so him I guess.

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

Reagan is the correct answer.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Nixon

[Goldwater]

[1] Reagan
[2] Ford
[3] Bush Sr.
[4] Bush Jr.
[5] Nixon

[Wolverines34]

Reagan!.

[Gass3268]

Ford or Nixon, I guess.

[Supersonic]

Did more good than bad: George HW Bush, Gerald Ford

50-50: Nixon

Awful, awful Presidents: Dubya & Reagan

How so?

[morgieb]

Dear Lord, people... The only thing worse than a left-winger defending Nixon is a left-winger defending Reagan.

The problem is is that the Republican party post-Eisenhower was largely pretty awful. Objectively, you had one well-regarded President, two steam-piles of mediocrity, and two god-awful Presidents. While I preferred Ford and Bush snr. to Reagan as people, there isn't a lot to say about their records as President. Reagan while obviously implementing a lot of policies I hate is probably the defining figure of politics today.

So that's why I voted Reagan. Not my favourite, but is the best, most accomplished. And he wasn't utterly corrupt (for lack of a better word) like Nixon.

[Cryptic]

Voted H.W. Bush.  It was a toss up between him and Ford.

[IceSpear]

Dear Lord, people... The only thing worse than a left-winger defending Nixon is a left-winger defending Reagan.

The problem is is that the Republican party post-Eisenhower was largely pretty awful. Objectively, you had one well-regarded President, two steam-piles of mediocrity, and two god-awful Presidents. While I preferred Ford and Bush snr. to Reagan as people, there isn't a lot to say about their records as President. Reagan while obviously implementing a lot of policies I hate is probably the defining figure of politics today.

So that's why I voted Reagan. Not my favourite, but is the best, most accomplished. And he wasn't utterly corrupt (for lack of a better word) like Nixon.

This.

[Phony Moderate]

1. Ford
2. Nixon
3. Bush Sr.
4. Reagan
5. Bush Jr.

[Del Tachi]

1.  Nixon
2.  Bush 43
3.  Reagan
4.  Ford
5.  Bush 41

Nixon takes the cake.  Sans-Watergate he's probably a "Top 10" President. 

[All Along The Watchtower]

H.W. Bush was actually a pretty decent president.

lol

[TTS1996]

Reagan, obviously. Pleasantly surprised to see that Nixon isn't winning. With how awful this forum is about this type of thing, I'd expected Nixon to be far & away the leader. Ford in second is promising.

Does it really give you succour Ford is now leading with the most proferred reason being (I paraphrase) "GOP Presidents are all evil, but Ford was in power the least time and therefore did the least damage"? Given 90% of the members of this forum are hipster Democrats born post-1990, it hardly fills me with confidence this is being decided on an entirely subjective basis. :/

[politicallefty]

Dear Lord, people... The only thing worse than a left-winger defending Nixon is a left-winger defending Reagan.

Nixon could have been disastrous, but he was restrained by a Democratic Congress. I'm not a fan of the man himself and I do think he was horribly corrupt (and should have been put on trial post-resignation). I have a personal disgust with that. I also think his command of the Vietnam War was criminal and I vehemently disagree with his veto of the War Powers Resolution.

However, with that said, there were important steps made during his Administration on the foreign policy front. Domestically, I think he was most definitely a moderate during his time. Some of our best environmental laws came about during the Nixon Administration. He also had a constructive answer to dealing with the healthcare situation in this country. I would've been strongly on Ted Kennedy's side at the time, but I'd easily embrace Nixon's healthcare plan now. His proposal even federalized Medicaid, which only few on the left seem to talk about today.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Did more good than bad: George HW Bush, Gerald Ford

50-50: Nixon

Awful, awful Presidents: Dubya & Reagan

How so?

Where to begin?

Blowing up deficits and the debt, reckless deregulation of financial markets, gutting social welfare spending causing massive social carnage, handing us an unsustainable military-industrial complex, supporting genocidal terrorists and interfering in other country's affairs, and generally ruined America and the world  by pushing economic liberalism, the results of which we have seen over the past 33 years with the slow deathspiral of our cities, manufacturing base, and middle class.

Basically he began the destruction of America.

If that's all ya got on Reagan, why, pray tell, is Nixon ranked above him?