Best/Worst Presidents

[mrstickball]

Mr Khan said:
On "technically a democrat" you have to note that the Democrats stood for the stuff that Cleveland stood for at the time. He was constitutionalist in the sense that he was anti-industry, whereas the Republicans were pro-tariff and pro-subsidy. He built his popularity on the large resentment for industrialization that was in full swing in America at the time.

Best:

1 - Johnson: Stood up to the racists and worked to weed out the KKK fairly aggressively. Arguably politically motivated more than personally (given that he obstructed such efforts as Senate leader in the '50s). Great Society, etc.

2- FDR: essentially laid the foundation for modern America in terms of policy, military, diplomacy, he stood up for the poor and provided real leadership out of the depression and through the second world war.

3- Lincoln: Held the nation together against the instance of states' rights run amok that was the Confederacy.

4- Theodore Roosevelt: certain racist tendencies, though not overt support for the KKK (which hadn't been revived yet). However, he helped lead the cause of progressivism in the early 20th century for pushing America into modernity.

5- Andrew Jackson: Stood up to the lunacy of nullification in his day. The Trail of Tears is a black mark against him, but he took no prisoners and helped sharpen the focus of the Federal Government.

Worst:

1- James Buchanan: Largely his fault the civil war was allowed to happen.

2- Warren Harding: Fairly incompetent (largely the reason why he died.) Although his supply-side fixes temporarily abated the economy, he ignored underlying issues that tore into the 20s.

3- Ronald Reagan: Set this country back 30 years. The poisonous political ideas he helped champion are what holds this country back today, the fruits of his labor.

4- Andrew Johnson: Accidental president who was unfairly hounded by the Republican congress at the time, but he was ill-suited for his time. Real post-civil-war leadership was needed.

5- John Q. Adams: Cheated his way into the presidency and was made largely ineffectual because of it.

Not fully true about Grover Cleveland. Read up on Grover's nomination and fighting with the Tammany Hall Democrats of New York. He wasn't in-line with a lot of the Dems at the time.