Worst President of these three (19th-century Republicans)

[tpfkaw]

Have at it.

[Mr. Smith]

Grant should've done more Reconstruction and been more careful about his appointments but he was okay,...Hayes was alright.

But McKinley is why we are a damn mess foreign policy wise, and his economic stances were pretty voodoo-ish, he's the first Republican not worth voting for.

[SWE]

Hayes was easily one of the worst presidents of all time.

[TNF]

Hayes

[Antonio the Sixth]

McKinley by far.

[ElectionsGuy]

McKinley by far.

I agree with Antonio on something?

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

McKinley

[Grumpier Than Thou]

Gonna go with McKinley, Hayes in a close second.

[Rockefeller GOP]

Hayes or McKinley, though all three are massively underrated by historians, especially Grant.  Yeah, I said it.

[traininthedistance]

Grant is clearly the best of these three; turning a blind eye to corruption is not so great but ending Reconstruction and being a warmongering goldbug are both clearly worse.

Eh, coinflip, voted Hayes.

[TDAS04]

McKinley

[Goldwater]

Hayes

[Mechaman]

Voted for Hayes.

McKinley was a pretty horrible president, but Hayes set the stage for the right wing takeover of the GOP by ending Reconstruction, busting unions, and being a pro-gold hack.  The effect that surrendering the South to the Democratic Parties that existed then was an incredible mistake that arguably effected virtually every single vote Congress took from 1877 onwards.

Arguably, you could blame Hayes for why goldbug warmongers like McKinley eventually became the standard in the GOP rather than the exceptions.

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

Hayes because McKinley was good and Grant didn't steal his election.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Voted for Hayes.

McKinley was a pretty horrible president, but Hayes set the stage for the right wing takeover of the GOP by ending Reconstruction, busting unions, and being a pro-gold hack.  The effect that surrendering the South to the Democratic Parties that existed then was an incredible mistake that arguably effected virtually every single vote Congress took from 1877 onwards.

Arguably, you could blame Hayes for why goldbug warmongers like McKinley eventually became the standard in the GOP rather than the exceptions.

Remember when you use to actually examine figures in history rather than make them into absurd stereotypes?

In any case, voted Hayes.

[Mechaman]

Voted for Hayes.

McKinley was a pretty horrible president, but Hayes set the stage for the right wing takeover of the GOP by ending Reconstruction, busting unions, and being a pro-gold hack.  The effect that surrendering the South to the Democratic Parties that existed then was an incredible mistake that arguably effected virtually every single vote Congress took from 1877 onwards.

Arguably, you could blame Hayes for why goldbug warmongers like McKinley eventually became the standard in the GOP rather than the exceptions.

Remember when you use to actually examine figures in history rather than make them into absurd stereotypes?

In any case, voted Hayes.

That doesn't prevent me from forming opinions about said historical figures.

For the record, I always thought McKinley was a warmonger and a goldbug.  He was actually a pretty decent Republican on labor issues and eventually evolved on trade issues, but other than that he was pretty horrible.

None of this to deny Grant's own pretty pro-gold stances and protectionist views, either.

[tpfkaw]

Rather ironically, given the course of this thread, there's a solid case to be made that Grant was the most aggressively pro-gold standard POTUS ever (certainly up there with Jackson and Polk, in any event).

Anyway, if William Jennings Bryan had been elected and "free silver" enacted, the result would have been the instant failure of every bank in America. Everyone would have lost all their savings and credit markets would have been frozen for decades even if there weren't any further devaluations. The Royal Navy would've blockaded US ports until European creditors were paid in gold. It would have made the Great Depression look like Japan in the 80s.

There's a reason why nobody educated, not the "progressives," not writers for The Nation, not the faculty of Harvard, supported Bryan. Whatever your half-formed or fully-formed opinions about the gold standard, you may note that the transition from gold standard to fiat currency was an extremely gradual process lasting more than a century, and was not completed until after 1. the dollar had decisively replaced the pound as the world's reserve currency, and 2. everyone else had gone (or went simultaneously) off the gold standard. For an example of what happens to a prosperous country when it's run by "money cranks" who intentionally induce general debt defaults via sudden inflationary shocks, see Argentina.

I voted McKinley in the poll, but his keeping America from becoming a third world country is quite praiseworthy.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Hayes, even if only by virtue of the circumstances of his election.

To be fair, even though the Republicans totally stole the election; the Democrats were also doing their best to steal the election themselves by disenfranchising freedmen en masse in the South.

Anyway, I voted McKinley, due to his foreign misadventures; but it was a true coin toss between Hayes and McKinley.

[H. Ross Peron]

Hayes, the betrayer of Reconstruction