Top 10 US presidents in history

[megaadvice 0]

IMO

 

1) Lyndon Johnson

2) Franklin D Roosevelt

3) Ronald Regan

4) George Washington

5) Abraham Lincoln

6) Bill Clinton

7) JFK

8) Rutherford Hayes

9) Thomas Jefferson

10) Harry Truman

[Art Sandusky 0]

Yikes. Terrible list.

 

1: Lincoln

2: Washington

3: F.D. Roosevelt

4: Wilson

5: T. Roosevelt

6: Kennedy

7: Polk

8: Truman

9: Madison

10: Eisenhower

[teke184 0]

1. George Washington

2. Abraham Lincoln

3. Teddy Roosevelt

4. Thomas Jefferson

5. Ronald Reagan

6. Dwight Eisenhower

7. Franklin Roosevelt

8. James Monroe

9. Andrew Jackson

10. James Polk

 

 

FDR's wartime leadership is not in question. Some of his personnel choices ARE, though, as there were a number of suspected or confirmed Soviet spies in his administration at all levels, including Alger Hiss of the State Department.

 

He also takes a hit for the long-term economic damage done by some of his programs, such as Social Security.

 

 

George W. is currently ineligible for the list under my personal rules, as I feel a president must be out of office at least 8-10 years to get a proper grasp on their legacy.

 

 

JFK doesn't make the list because his only big success, the Cuban Missile Crisis, was the result of bungling the Bay Of Pigs invasion. If the invasion was scrubbed or had succeeded, there would have been no immediate crisis.

 

 

LBJ is near the bottom, IMHO, because he half-assed Vietnam while ramming the Great Society down people's throats. He could have done one or the other well but, in the end, he fucked up the economy and the military for about 15 years.

 

 

Rutheford B. Hayes doesn't make it because of the bargain made to ensure his election in 1876. By tying the removal of troops from Florida, South Carolina, and Louisiana to his victory, he ended Reconstruction prematurely and left the freedmen to fend for themselves.

 

 

 

Truman arguably deserves to be on the list, but his poor handling of the Korean War helps offset the Marshall Plan and the decision to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

 

 

Woodrow Wilson was an idealistic fool as well as a poor politician.

 

His insistence on the League Of Nation at the expense of other items on the 12 Points as well as his decision to cut the Republicans in the Senate out of the Versaiies negotiations helped bastardize the finalized Versaiies treaty as well as ensuring that it would not be ratified by the US Senate.

 

 

Bill Clinton- I'll give him another 6-8 years to rehab his image but it looks right now that he was greatly overrated while in office and there are STILL scandals and failures from that time that surface every so often.

 

 

 

Kotz's list is one that appears to be acceptable. The only choices I find arguable are the presence and/or placement of Woodrow Wilson and JFK.

[Art Sandusky 0]

I did my list in Time Person Of The Year-style, but tried to have choices that had positive influences as well as factoring in how I felt about 'em.

 

The Cuban Missile Crisis would have gone down sooner or later the moment Castro took control and started hanging with the Ruskies. The Bay of Pigs was something Kennedy inherited anyway. I have him there for not only October 1962, but also the dramatic shift that his death caused in the country. In the early 60s, there was really no reason to think that America would be radically different in ten years besides the obvious technological differences. He also made the initial pledge to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade, and NASA enjoyed its golden age. This country just seems to be unraveling more and more, and the start of it (in my mind anyway) was November 22nd, 1963.

 

Wilson's a guy that got re-elected on a pacifist policy and was the first President to not just tell other nations to stay away like Monroe, or be full of bluster and cowboy tendencies like Teddy Roosevelt. He examined what exactly this new global power of the United States could bring to the table to make the entire world a better place, instead of just better in our little corner of it. He really should have been a guy who was elected in 2012 instead of 1912.

[Guest Princess Leena]

1. Reagan

2. Bush

3-10. Other Republicans.

[Art Sandusky 0]

And someone's gonna have to tell me why many call Reagan one of our best Presidents ever, because I'm not seeing it. He's probably in the top half (although I'd put him there more due to intangibles than actual accomplishment), but that's it.

[The Czech Republic 0]

1 Lincoln

2 Washington

3 TR

4 Jefferson

5 Wilson

 

Not gonna give 10, it's silly to rank 10 of a possible 43.

[The Czech Republic 0]

1. Reagan

2. Bush

3-10. Other Republicans.

Well that doesn't quell the MikeSC rumors at all.

[Guest Princess Leena]

I am a Pit regular, you know.

[snuffbox 0]

Lyndon Johnson was among the more pathetic Presidents.

[Art Sandusky 0]

1. Reagan

2. Bush

3-10. Other Republicans.

Which Bush?

[Guest Princess Leena]

Oh, that's right, there was 2 of them.

 

The younger one is better. Because the old one always goes to tennis tournaments, and then they waste time interviewing him and I get pissed.

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

Can't wait to see what teacher Y2Jerk posts!

 

Oops, I mean Mr. Jerk.

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

1. Lincoln

2. Washington

3. FDR

4. Jefferson

5. Truman

 

Honorable Mention: Ike

[SuperJerk 0]

1. Lincoln

2. FDR

3. George Washington

4. Thomas Jefferson

5. Teddy Roosevelt

6. Harry S Truman

7. Andrew Jackson

8. Dwight Eisenhower

9. James Madison

10. James K. Polk

[The Czech Republic 0]

Jerk, what do you teach, and why is the KC school district so fucking inept

[SuperJerk 0]

1. Reagan

2. Bush

3-10. Other Republicans.

 

Ha-ha, very funny.

 

Now you have to post a REAL list.

[SuperJerk 0]

Jerk, what do you teach, and why is the KC school district so fucking inept

 

1. I teach special ed. Social Studies. My B.S. is in History (with a minor in sociology). My Masters will be in special education. I used to teach regular ed. Social Studies at a KC charter school before quitting because the KC school district (the very one you mentioned) was going to take it over.

 

2. The KCMSD is so inept because administrators are trained to let kids get by with just about anything. The teachers lack leadership from administration, and anyone who tries to fight the system is turned into a political example by the people in charge or the teachers unions.

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

Jerk, what do you teach, and why is the KC school district so fucking inept

 

1. I teach special ed. Social Studies.

 

I'm student teaching right now and the mainstreaming thing is fucking me up badly. A couple of the kids in my classes are impossible to even converse with. I'm supposed to somehow teach them history and civics?

[Guest TheDictionary]

inept

 

adj.

 

1. Not apt or fitting; inappropriate.

2.

Displaying a lack of judgment, sense, or reason; foolish:

an inept remark.

Bungling or clumsy; incompetent:

inept handling of the account.

 

 

 

[Latin ineptus : in-, not; see in-1 + aptus, suitable; see apt.]

[Nighthawk 0]

1. Lincoln

2. Kennedy

3. Clinton

4. Harrison

5. Hayes

6. Grant

7. Jackson

8. Nixon

9. Taft

10. Jefferson Davis

 

Personal reasons.

[SuperJerk 0]

Jerk, what do you teach, and why is the KC school district so fucking inept

 

1. I teach special ed. Social Studies.

 

I'm student teaching right now and the mainstreaming thing is fucking me up badly. A couple of the kids in my classes are impossible to even converse with. I'm supposed to somehow teach them history and civics?

Mainstreaming should ONLY be used on the kids who can handle it. Districts that think they need to mainstream every single kid, no matter what their level of ability is, need to pull their collective heads out of their asses.

[The Czech Republic 0]

Incidentally, my mom taught special ed over in Woodstock, Ill. until about the late 70s, early 80s, I think, and told me that special ed teachers in her district were actually paid less than regular teachers. Is it still like that? Explain that one to me.

 

Did you see John Stossel's piece on education reform last Friday? He mentioned how the KC school district built an Olympic natatorium, gymnasium, and bought a shitload of laptops with the idea of improving the school...the kids got worse, and the schools lost accreditation. Also, shame on unions. I know it's Stossel, so it's going to have a certain bent, but man, what a shitty bunch of people they can be.

[SuperJerk 0]

Incidentally, my mom taught special ed over in Woodstock, Ill. until about the late 70s, early 80s, I think, and told me that special ed teachers in her district were actually paid less than regular teachers. Is it still like that? Explain that one to me.

Not exactly. A Sp. Ed. teacher basically has two jobs: classroom teacher (responsible for teaching, planning, and grading) and case manager (responsible for collecting all the data on a Sp. Ed. student, writing Individual Education Plans, and all the other paperwork mandated by federal regulations). We get paid equally for being classroom teachers, but not for being case managers. Turnover in the field is HUGE.

 

Did you see John Stossel's piece on education reform last Friday? He mentioned how the KC school district built an Olympic natatorium, gymnasium, and bought a shitload of laptops with the idea of improving the school...the kids got worse, and the schools lost accreditation. Also, shame on unions. I know it's Stossel, so it's going to have a certain bent, but man, what a shitty bunch of people they can be.

 

The Olympic pool incident was about 20 years ago, actually. Most of the desegregation money KCMSD spent was blown on unproven theories, pet projects, ridicules magnet school themes, and building improvements.

 

The unions basically take the attitude that nothing is ever a teacher's fault, even when it is. There's a lot of really good teachers in KCMSD, but there's also a lot of bad ones. The good ones usually end up quitting and going somewhere where they're apprecitated.

 

Was Stossel doing his usual "vouchers are awesome" song and dance?

[Vern Gagne 0]

McKinley's underrated.

 

Garfield might have been an excellent president, had he not been assassinated his first year in office.

[The Czech Republic 0]

Was Stossel doing his usual "vouchers are awesome" song and dance?

Of course. I understand the problems that come with it, but the man can make a case.

 

On unions: I know it's their job to stand up for the teachers, but making them as bulletproof as they are is so ridiculous. My high school principal was reportedly forced out because he was more of an independent arbitrator in teacher/student-parent issues than just automatically assuming the teacher is right. The new man falls right in line, which greatly pleases my school's union, which meets on school grounds during contract hours, a practice I believe is not entirely legal.

[snuffbox 0]

1. Lincoln

2. Kennedy

3. Clinton

4. Harrison

5. Hayes

6. Grant

7. Jackson

8. Nixon

9. Taft

10. Jefferson Davis

 

Personal reasons.

 

Winner.

[Special K 0]

When I went to the JFK museum (in the book suppository in Texas) They said he wins the best prez poll almost every time. Que?

 

He's certainly one of the best speaker of all time. No doubt. And he did only associate with high-class tail, but come on.

 

And those of you who voted Lincoln, keep in mind his wife was crazy. He couldn't even keep his wife in line, how's he supposed to run a country?

[Art Sandusky 0]

I'd say he did a pretty good job of managing it.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

My favorite is TR. If I were a president, that's who I'd want to be. Guy had personality. Plus he shot huge animals for fun.