Top 5 worst U.S. Presidents.

[Shameless Lefty Hack]

I agree with the before 1900/after 1900 distinction. The nation had changed a lot by/changed a lot in 1898.

so:

1789-1898

1) Andrew Johnson (I too agree that the Civil War was too much of a slow boil to pin on Buchanan alone to make him the worst)

The long march to Civil War Presidents, in order of having time to turn the ship:
2)Fillmore
3) Pierce
4) Buchanan


5) Van Buren (the guy that actually * carried out * the Trail of Tears. Also wanted to return the escaped slaves from the Amistad, and was largely powerless to stop the panic of 1837 (though that wasn't super duper his fault))

Honorable mention to McKinley (weak/relied too much on counsel, defeated Bryan in a bought election (Bryan of course brings a pitter patter to my populist heart). He had a pretty good Asst Sec of Navy and VP though : P) 


1898-2016

1) Hoover
2) Harding
3) W. Bush (No, not because I'm a lefty. Because I'm a realist in FP. He started off the American Century with a costly geopolitical mistake with immediate and severe consequences (Iraq))
4) Reagan (Okay this is because I'm a lefty, and I think the deregulation conga is bad, bad dance. He also started the 'massive deficit spending but everything's fine' train, for you conservatives)
5) Johnson (The Great Society was a wonderful idea, but Vietnam triggering the culture war and destroying faith in Gov't is basically unforgivable in my eyes.)


Honorable mentions go to Nixon (smart guy, effective, but see above about trust in Gov't) and  Clinton (NAFTA, triangulation, long term ideological crisis for the Dem party)  and. Jeers but no honorable mention goes to Kennedy for starting serious involvement in Vietnam.

Nixon is effectively tied for 5 with Johnson. Put together they destroyed the honor and prestige of the Presidency, and set the battle lines for the next 40 years of social strife.


Top 5:

1) Lincoln
2) Washington
3) TR
4) Ike
5) FDR (though really would prefer he'd devolved the New Deal to the states at some point. Muh Jeffersoniansim prevents him from being 2 or 1, b/c I'm not super enamored of the centralized state he created. That said, Great Depression and WWII are two massive crises he handled Pretty Well)

Honorable mention goes to Jackson, for bearing forth the notion that 'gosh, wouldn't it be interesting if regular people got to decide who would run the nation?' Honorable mention for domestic policy goes to LBJ, but ya know, he's on the other list for a reason.

Honorable wish goes to Bryan because gosh I just wish he was President at some point : P