Best/Worst Presidents

[rocketpig]

SamuelRSmith said:

1 - FDR: soviet-style planning of agriculture, introduction of soviet-style rationing system, looking up citizens for the "crime" for being of Japanese decent, laws controlling gold ownership, public-works programs that led to the ideas of Keynes being locked into the political mindset until even today, questionable actions in regard to dealing with Japan before Pearl Harbour.

2 - Lincoln: how many US citizens died under this President? Illegal taxes. Changed the relationship between the people and the Federal Government for the worst, changed the entire political structure of the USA (massive reduction in states rights). During the rebuilding of the South, the place was like a dictatorship. He was also a massive inspiration for the tyrannical policies of today.

This thread is impossible to take seriously when you have these two at the top of your "worst" list.

Both Presidents did things I do not agree with, that much is certain. On the other hand, they are also the two Presidents that faced far more hardship during their terms than any other President since, oh, probably John Adams. You know, the second guy to ever take office.

And you completely manage to ignore the good things done by each man. You know, like Lincoln managing to restore the Union into one again, despite having the most imcompetant general staff imaginable for half the war. You also attribute him lording over the South's rebuilding process, yet fail to mention that he was dead during the entirety of it. And FDR... Well, he did a lot of crappy things as well. He also introduced the New Deal. Hard to complain too much about that, given the fact that we were in the middle of the Great Depression and it helped thousands of people avoid starvation. He was also very adept when it came to handling the war situation, gently nudging the American people toward that inevitable conflict and making sure they were prepared for it.

On top of that, both men were stable influences in a country gone mad with dischord. You may not think that sort of thing counts but if you look through books written by actual historians, they tend to take a different stance on the matter. While I'm not sure either of those Presidents were our greatest ever (I tend to not believe that, either), saying they were the two worst is just damned foolish and naive and completely dishonest with the facts of the matter.