4th Greatest President.

[H. Ross Peron]

The list of my top ten, in order (which could change):

1.  Lincoln
2.  Washington
3.  FDR
4.  Grant
5.  Garfield
6.  Arthur
7.  TR
8.  Jefferson
9.  Truman
10.  JQA

Mine is:

1. Lincoln
2. Washington
3. FDR
4. Thomas Jefferson
5. Harry Truman
6. Theodore Roosevelt
7. LBJ
8. Ulysses S Grant
9. John Adams
10. James Monroe

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

I tend to judge presidents based on their ability to use their electoral mandate (or lack thereof) to accomplish their agendas, as well as their success in making the United States a stronger and more powerful country. There's a difference between best presidents and favorite presidents, I'll add. Zachary Taylor, for example, could be a favorite president, but during his short time he neither shaped the national debate to suit his aims, nor did he find us a war to prove our mettle in. Had he lived, he'd likely be in both categories right now. There are certain asterisks that will always come with "great", as history shows.

Fair enough.  I admit that my top 10 list is my list of 10 favorite.  Obviously, Garfield can't be one of the greats since he wasn't in office that long.  However, the top three are both my favorites and who I consider the greatest.  Grant could possibly be 4th or up there if you count his pre-presidency Civil War leadership.  

Anyway, while the President should make the US strong, I disagree that conquering weaker nations such as Hawaii or the Philippines is necessarily a good thing or something that defines greatness. Luckily for the US, that aggressive foreign policy worked out in the long-term back then, but an aggressive and bad@$$ foreign policy is not only immoral, but it's never guaranteed to work out for a aggressor nation in the end.  FDR was certainly great for being strong abroad, but that's because WWII was a necessary war, not a war of conquest or arrogant imperialism.

The Spanish-American War is called that for a reason.

[Sopranos Republican]

Teddy Roosevelt.

[Peter the Lefty]

Kennedy *braces self for physical assault by mob*

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Kennedy *braces self for physical assault by mob*

Sock! BAMMM!  Pow!

[PJ]

Teddy is the only answer

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

I looked at the average presidential rankings, and Thomas Jefferson was 4th, so maybe he's the 4th greatest president.

Of course, Ernest thinks Jefferson was worse than Buchanan.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I looked at the average presidential rankings, and Thomas Jefferson was 4th, so maybe he's the 4th greatest president.

Of course, Ernest thinks Jefferson was worse than Buchanan.

Not quite that bad, but among two-termers, only Wilson, and maybe Bush have been worse.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

LBJ for ramming the Civil Rights Acts through Congress, plus Medicare/Medicaid and the Great Society. Even after accounting for Vietnam, the Civil Rights Acts are by far the most significant acts of the past 50 years IMHO. (minority/indebted)

[H. Ross Peron]

The list of my top ten, in order (which could change):

1.  Lincoln
2.  Washington
3.  FDR
4.  Grant
5.  Garfield
6.  Arthur
7.  TR
8.  Jefferson
9.  Truman
10.  JQA

Mine is:

1. Lincoln
2. Washington
3. FDR
4. Thomas Jefferson
5. Harry Truman
6. Theodore Roosevelt
7. LBJ
8. Ulysses S Grant
9. John Adams
10. James Monroe

Oops forgot Polk
1. Lincoln
2. Washington
3. FDR
4. Polk
5. Jefferson
6. Truman
7. LBJ
8. Teddy Roosevelt
9. Grant
10. Adams

[Earthling]

Why Polk?

[anvi]

Since he was for a time a rancher in my home-state, I'm duty-bound to vote for TR.  He was an outstanding president, so fortunately my provincialism is covered in this case.

By the way, besides establishing the right precedents for serving as president, which was obviously crucial, I've never been quite sure why Washington deserves to be ranked so high.  But I haven't studied the period much either.

[H. Ross Peron]

Why Polk?

Massively expanded the territory of the United States into resource rich and strategically important areas.

[Consciously Unconscious]

FDR would be no where near the top.  Washington, Lincoln, and Reagan would all be in my top three. Adams (the first) or Polk might be number 4. 

[MyRescueKittehRocks]

1. Washington
2. Jefferson
3. Coolidge
4. Cleveland
5. Madison
6. Monroe
7. Reagan
FDR is near my personal bottom (sorry grandma)

[Del Tachi]

Jefferson is the third-best with Teddy being the 4th. 

[LeBron]

Washington, Lincoln and FDR are pretty much set in place as the 3 Presidents who most defined the Presidency and were the best. Washington was the first President under the new governing system, Lincoln inherited the nation's worst national crisis, and FDR had both the Great Depression and World War II. Anyone saying FDR doesn't deserve the top 3 is fooling themselves.

For a 4th, I would have to say President Obama. Bush/Obama can easily be connected back to Hoover/FDR in the fact that their Republican predecessors destroyed the economy before they took office added onto that Obama ended the Iraq War and is a very bipartisan President. 5th would be Theodore Roosevelt, 6th is James Monroe, 7th is John F. Kennedy, 8th is Dwight Eisenhower, 9th is Thomas Jefferson, and 10th is Bill Clinton. Adams Sr./Jr., Wilson, Truman, McKinley, Carter, and WH Harrison and Zachary Taylor (had they lived longer) also get worthy mentions.

[Antonio the Sixth]

LBJ.

Let the massacre begin...

[Del Tachi]

LBJ.

Let the massacre begin...

Most reasonable choice of all the post-WWII presidents. 

LBJ is easily my favorite Democratic president, and Lady Bird is my favorite First Lady bar none.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

LBJ.

Let the massacre begin...

Given the Civil Rights and Voting Rights acts and the Great Society, certainly better than any post-WWII president excepting Truman, but the man was utterly despicable, Vietnam was too massive a blunder to just gloss over, and the War on Poverty was ultimately deeply flawed due to Johnson's attempt to focus on that, Vietnam, and the Space Race at once (I'd have axed the latter two OFC). I could also attack the very concept of welfare (i.e. humanistic capitalism) from the left, but I shouldn't expect much from American presidents.

[Mordecai]

The top three of American Presidents has been set in stone, more or less. George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt are the ones almost everyone will pick as the three greatest.
But if you have to pick a number four to go on a new Mount Rushmore, or something like that, who will that be and why? Who will complete the top four for you?

If I had to add another head to Mount Rushmore I'd make it a gigantic FDR head and leave it at that.

LBJ for ramming the Civil Rights Acts through Congress, plus Medicare/Medicaid and the Great Society. Even after accounting for Vietnam, the Civil Rights Acts are by far the most significant acts of the past 50 years IMHO. (minority/indebted)

This.

[Mechaman]

My 4th favorite is Grant.  Although his administration had problems, I take presidents' entire lives into account.  Grant won the Civil War, and even as President, he defended the civil rights of blacks and Native Americans.

^^^^^
This.

Grant is the most underrated President in history.  Here is a man who fought the Ku Klux Klan and was committed to Civil Rights, so much so that he secured (at least Constitutionally) voting rights for non-whites in an era when it was nowhere close to popular.

I think that alone makes up for the corrupt appointees and his bumbling of the 1873 Panic.

[free my dawg]

Teddy.

[Peter the Lefty]

LBJ.

Let the massacre begin...

Pun intended?

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

LBJ