10 Best U.S. Presidents

[Akno21]

As I said on the 10 Worst board, to be fair and analytical at the bar of history, I will only count those before 1945.

BEST
1. Franklin Roosevelt
2. Abraham Lincoln
3. George Washington
4. Woodrow Wilson
5. Theodore Roosevelt
6. James Monroe
7. James Madison
8. Andrew Jackson
9. Thomas Jefferson
10. James K. Polk

I would add Truman, Ike, JFK, and Clinton if I were to include every president. (You can see that is kind of biased)

[Akno21]

Washington should get some credit for setting a precendent that neraly everybody else followed. When he took office, no one really knew how the government was going to work, but he was the one who figured it all out for us. He isn't the best, but he should definitly be among the Top 10.

[Akno21]

We Dems love our Bill Clinton.

1.  Clinton
2.  FDR
3.  Lincoln
4.  Teddy Roosevelt
5.  Carter
6.  Cleveland
7.  JFK (not John Forbes Kerry but...soon)
8.  Truman
9.  Jefferson
10. Buchanan

That's biased in a good way. I don't know about Buchanan at #10. He let the allowed tensions that led to the Civil War to escalate.  

[Akno21]

1. Abraham Lincoln
2. George Washington
3. Ronald Reagan
4. Thomas Jefferson
5. George W. Bush

This is exactly why we shouldn't count presidents after 1945 in these lists. Partisan Politics clogs our vision of a president's accomplishments. A Democrat's list would look like that except JKF at 3 and Clinton at 5.

[Akno21]

After reading several biographies on several presidents over the last few months, my list now stands:

1. William McKinley (1897-1901)

2. Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865)

3. George Washington (1789-1797)

4. Ronald Reagan (1981-1989)

5. Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945)

6. James K. Polk (1845-1849)

7. Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909}

8. Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961)

9. Herbert C. Hoover (1929-1933)

10. Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809)

What made you put Hoover behind FDR? If you've done one thing on this forum, it is advocating Hoover and his policies, and picking apart FDR's.

[Akno21]

Despite my favor towards Hoover, I have to admit that FDR was the president who inspired Americans more while being president. FDR was also the president who appointed Ike commander of Allied Forces.

I read several books on FDR, and I could not, except for partisan reasons, place him below Hoover. I am a historian, and as such can not let my partisanship cloud my historical judgment.

Good for you, PBrunsel. It would be nice if more people on both sides would put common sense ahead of partisanship.

[Akno21]

Despite my favor towards Hoover, I have to admit that FDR was the president who inspired Americans more while being president. FDR was also the president who appointed Ike commander of Allied Forces.

I read several books on FDR, and I could not, except for partisan reasons, place him below Hoover. I am a historian, and as such can not let my partisanship cloud my historical judgment.

Good for you, PBrunsel. It would be nice if more people on both sides would put common sense ahead of partisanship.

Partisanship should not interfere with choosing the more efective president.

That's why I think we should only count those presidents up to 1945, otherwise it gets unaviodidly partisan.

[Akno21]

1. Adams
2. Jefferson
3. Washington
4. Monroe
5. Madison
6. Buchanan
7. Polk
8. Hoover
9. McKinley
10. Kennedy

Adams? The guy made the Alien and Sedition Acts! Anyone who wants to jail members of the media for opposing him isn't the greatest President ever.

[Akno21]

1. Adams
2. Jefferson
3. Washington
4. Monroe
5. Madison
6. Buchanan
7. Polk
8. Hoover
9. McKinley
10. Kennedy

Adams? The guy made the Alien and Sedition Acts! Anyone who wants to jail members of the media for opposing him isn't the greatest President ever.

Yes, though I think they should be revised (they were a little tough). I think they should be brought back in some form in our current enviroment.

So you think we should limit what journalists can say, even more than we already do?

[Akno21]

1. Adams
2. Jefferson
3. Washington
4. Monroe
5. Madison
6. Buchanan
7. Polk
8. Hoover
9. McKinley
10. Kennedy

Adams? The guy made the Alien and Sedition Acts! Anyone who wants to jail members of the media for opposing him isn't the greatest President ever.

Yes, though I think they should be revised (they were a little tough). I think they should be brought back in some form in our current enviroment.

So you think we should limit what journalists can say, even more than we already do?

More then we do? We barely restrict journalists at all and that is half the problem. We need to get back to WW2 standards of journalism.

If we don't, then how come journalists are always suing the government for more information. Not allowing people to dig for the truth and arresting them if they do find it is/would be a terrible mistake and disservice to the people of our country.

[Akno21]

1. Adams
2. Jefferson
3. Washington
4. Monroe
5. Madison
6. Buchanan
7. Polk
8. Hoover
9. McKinley
10. Kennedy

Adams? The guy made the Alien and Sedition Acts! Anyone who wants to jail members of the media for opposing him isn't the greatest President ever.

Yes, though I think they should be revised (they were a little tough). I think they should be brought back in some form in our current enviroment.

So you think we should limit what journalists can say, even more than we already do?

More then we do? We barely restrict journalists at all and that is half the problem. We need to get back to WW2 standards of journalism.

If we don't, then how come journalists are always suing the government for more information. Not allowing people to dig for the truth and arresting them if they do find it is/would be a terrible mistake and disservice to the people of our country.

If they reported stories that directly resulted in the death of American service personnel. For example, Abu Gharib. The reporter/s who reported that story should have been tried and fined or jailed for aiding the enemy.

But if reporters hadn't found it, then we wouldn't know. So you want the people to be less informed than they are. Can we try and fine or jail Bush, Rumsfeld, etc. for aiding the enemy? If you think a reporter is more directly responsible for an American soldiers death than the government, you are dead wrong.

[Akno21]

1. Adams
2. Jefferson
3. Washington
4. Monroe
5. Madison
6. Buchanan
7. Polk
8. Hoover
9. McKinley
10. Kennedy

Adams? The guy made the Alien and Sedition Acts! Anyone who wants to jail members of the media for opposing him isn't the greatest President ever.

Yes, though I think they should be revised (they were a little tough). I think they should be brought back in some form in our current enviroment.

So you think we should limit what journalists can say, even more than we already do?

More then we do? We barely restrict journalists at all and that is half the problem. We need to get back to WW2 standards of journalism.

If we don't, then how come journalists are always suing the government for more information. Not allowing people to dig for the truth and arresting them if they do find it is/would be a terrible mistake and disservice to the people of our country.

If they reported stories that directly resulted in the death of American service personnel. For example, Abu Gharib. The reporter/s who reported that story should have been tried and fined or jailed for aiding the enemy.

But if reporters hadn't found it, then we wouldn't know. So you want the people to be less informed than they are. Can we try and fine or jail Bush, Rumsfeld, etc. for aiding the enemy? If you think a reporter is more directly responsible for an American soldiers death than the government, you are dead wrong.

Maybe we don't need to know EVERYTHING? Ever thought that some things the government knows may be very dangerous to civil stability? What good have we gotten out of finding about about the so called torture at Abu Gharib?

The public uproar iniated some investigations. We are paying for the war, we should know what are money is being used for.

[Akno21]

1. Adams
2. Jefferson
3. Washington
4. Monroe
5. Madison
6. Buchanan
7. Polk
8. Hoover
9. McKinley
10. Kennedy

Adams? The guy made the Alien and Sedition Acts! Anyone who wants to jail members of the media for opposing him isn't the greatest President ever.

Yes, though I think they should be revised (they were a little tough). I think they should be brought back in some form in our current enviroment.

So you think we should limit what journalists can say, even more than we already do?

More then we do? We barely restrict journalists at all and that is half the problem. We need to get back to WW2 standards of journalism.

If we don't, then how come journalists are always suing the government for more information. Not allowing people to dig for the truth and arresting them if they do find it is/would be a terrible mistake and disservice to the people of our country.

If they reported stories that directly resulted in the death of American service personnel. For example, Abu Gharib. The reporter/s who reported that story should have been tried and fined or jailed for aiding the enemy.

But if reporters hadn't found it, then we wouldn't know. So you want the people to be less informed than they are. Can we try and fine or jail Bush, Rumsfeld, etc. for aiding the enemy? If you think a reporter is more directly responsible for an American soldiers death than the government, you are dead wrong.

Maybe we don't need to know EVERYTHING? Ever thought that some things the government knows may be very dangerous to civil stability? What good have we gotten out of finding about about the so called torture at Abu Gharib?

The public uproar iniated some investigations. We are paying for the war, we should know what are money is being used for.

My problem with Abu Gharib is that the DoD asked the journalists not to release the photos as they were already investigating the matter. I believe the DoD was to light. They should have TOLD them they would not release the photos or they would be fined for a first time offense.

And what right does the DoD have to do that?