10 Greatest Presidents

[Nixon in '80]

Well, this isn't "Presidents I am most in line with ideologically"...

FDR was an incredibly effective executive in both domestic and foreign policy.

So effective the court had to step in and stop him.

And he almost got around that, too.

You haven't addressed my Andrew Johnson statement.

[frihetsivrare]

George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
Calvin Coolige
Andrew Jackson
Dwight Eisenhower
John Kennedy
James Madison
John Adams
Franklin Pierce
Millard Filmore

For 9 and 10 I simply thought of some random presidents.  I don't like any of the 20th Century presidents except the ones I mentioned.

[Lief]

1. Franklin D. Roosevelt
Large Gap
2. Theodore Roosevelt
3. Thomas Jefferson
4. Abraham Lincoln
5. Dwight Eisenhower
6. George Washington
7. James K. Polk
8. James Monroe
9. Chester A. Arthur
10. Harry Truman

Honorable mentions to Presidents that did great things but were undone by horrible sins: Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon

[ShadowOfTheWave]

#1-Roosevelt (#2)
#2-Nixon
#3-Clinton
#4-Jefferson
#5-Lincoln
#6-Grant
#7-Washington
#8-Johnson (#1)
#9-Roosevelt (#2)
#10-Taft

[Neinrein]

1. Washington
2. Jefferson
3. Jackson
4. F. Roosevelt
5. Monroe
6. Wilson
7. Reagan
8. Eisenhower
9. Truman
10. Cleveland

Honorable Mention to Clinton and A. Johnson

[Neinrein]

1. Washington
2. Jefferson
3. Jackson
4. F. Roosevelt
5. Monroe
6. Wilson
7. Reagan
8. Eisenhower
9. Truman
10. Cleveland

Honorable Mention to Clinton and A. Johnson

Now I'm confused.  I thought you would only have voted for him out of partisan loyalty.  Are you aware of his record and status as The Bourbon Democrat?

He appointed Southerners to his cabinet, and he managed the economy fairly well. Main thing I judge a president by is how well the country does and in the case of Cleveland, Cleveland has to be there because he served as a counterweight to the "wave the bloody shirt" tactics of the party of Lincoln, because in those days, every Republican campaign consisted of demonizing the South, continued that way until the Dunning school took precedence

[Scam of God]

1. Thomas Jefferson
2. Abraham Lincoln
3. George Washington
4. Theodore Roosevelt
5. Franklin Delano Roosevelt
6. Lyndon Baines Johnson
7. Harry Truman
9. William McKinley
10. Andrew Jackson

[WillK]

Id enjoy hearing why so many people rank Jefferson so high.
 What criteria do yo apply that leads to that result?

[Χahar]

1. Washington
2. Jefferson
3. Jackson
4. F. Roosevelt
5. Monroe
6. Wilson
7. Reagan
8. Eisenhower
9. Truman
10. Cleveland

Honorable Mention to Clinton and A. Johnson

Now I'm confused.  I thought you would only have voted for him out of partisan loyalty.  Are you aware of his record and status as The Bourbon Democrat?

He appointed Southerners to his cabinet, and he managed the economy fairly well. Main thing I judge a president by is how well the country does and in the case of Cleveland, Cleveland has to be there because he served as a counterweight to the "wave the bloody shirt" tactics of the party of Lincoln, because in those days, every Republican campaign consisted of demonizing the South, continued that way until the Dunning school took precedence

Is that really an issue for you? My god.

[Beet]

Obama's obsession with comparing himself to Lincoln, "Team of Rivals", Springfield Illinois, the lack of Southerners in his cabinet, all taken together may come off as distasteful (not to mention arrogant). On the other hand he did campaign hard in Virginia and North Carolina, and tried to campaign in Georgia.

[Scam of God]

Obama's obsession with comparing himself to Lincoln, "Team of Rivals", Springfield Illinois, the lack of Southerners in his cabinet, all taken together may come off as distasteful (not to mention arrogant). On the other hand he did campaign hard in Virginia and North Carolina, and tried to campaign in Georgia.

No, you're just a whining Clintonista. Thank God that Obama's transition has gone far more smoothly than Bill's insistence on appointing posts based on token demographies.

[DownWithTheLeft]

1. Thomas Jefferson
2. Abraham Lincoln
3. George Washington
4. Theodore Roosevelt
5. Franklin Delano Roosevelt

What a conflicting list, the biggest lover of freedom at the top but the two biggest haters of it almost in the Top 5

[Scam of God]

1. Thomas Jefferson
2. Abraham Lincoln
3. George Washington
4. Theodore Roosevelt
5. Franklin Delano Roosevelt

What a conflicting list, the biggest lover of freedom at the top but the two biggest haters of it almost in the Top 5

Jefferson was an agrarian and would have loathed American capitalism as it today exists.

[SPC]

1. Thomas Jefferson
2. Abraham Lincoln
3. George Washington
4. Theodore Roosevelt
5. Franklin Delano Roosevelt

What a conflicting list, the biggest lover of freedom at the top but the two biggest haters of it almost in the Top 5

Jefferson was an agrarian and would have loathed American capitalism as it today exists.

capitalism =/ corporatism

[Scam of God]

1. Thomas Jefferson
2. Abraham Lincoln
3. George Washington
4. Theodore Roosevelt
5. Franklin Delano Roosevelt

What a conflicting list, the biggest lover of freedom at the top but the two biggest haters of it almost in the Top 5

Jefferson was an agrarian and would have loathed American capitalism as it today exists.

capitalism =/ corporatism

For the past fifty years, it has. And Jefferson was fond of the Levelers and Diggers and other such groups from Britain's past. He was no friend to modern libertarians.

[WillK]

1. Thomas Jefferson
2. Abraham Lincoln
3. George Washington
4. Theodore Roosevelt
5. Franklin Delano Roosevelt

What a conflicting list, the biggest lover of freedom at the top but the two biggest haters of it almost in the Top 5

Jefferson was an agrarian and would have loathed American capitalism as it today exists.

capitalism =/ corporatism

For the past fifty years, it has. And Jefferson was fond of the Levelers and Diggers and other such groups from Britain's past. He was no friend to modern libertarians.

As Historian Forrest Macdonald put it, "Jefferson conducted a fifteen-month reign of oppression
and repression that was unprecedented in American history." 

[Cylon Candidate]

1. Truman
2. Lincoln
3. Washington
4. FDR
5. TR
6. Polk
7. JFK
8. Jefferson
9. John Adams
10. Eisenhower

Honorable mentions: Clinton, McKinley, and H.W. Bush (in that order).

[Beet]

Obama's obsession with comparing himself to Lincoln, "Team of Rivals", Springfield Illinois, the lack of Southerners in his cabinet, all taken together may come off as distasteful (not to mention arrogant). On the other hand he did campaign hard in Virginia and North Carolina, and tried to campaign in Georgia.

No, you're just a whining Clintonista. Thank God that Obama's transition has gone far more smoothly than Bill's insistence on appointing posts based on token demographies.

Obama is the one who said his cabinet would "look like America". One of the reasons Obama's transition has gone smoothly is that he has been advised by so many experienced people who cut their teeth under Clinton.

Edit: Obama did not say this! That actually makes me feel better about him.

[Jacobtm]

I feel like if you value the USA, more or less in it's current incarnation, you have to have Washington, Lincoln and FDR as the top 3, because they actually held the country together at its 3 most vulnerable times in its history. Without these men, the USA as it is now may not exist.

Of course, there are some who wish that the USA was dramatically different than it currently is...