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In reply to the discussion: Just curious: Worst president ever [View all]Jim Lane
(11,175 posts)57. C-SPAN's surveys of historians picked Buchanan, and I concur.
Buchanan came in dead last in the surveys of both 2000 and 2009. Link: 2009 Historians Presidential Leadership Survey.
Anyone who wants to pursue the question further will find it considered in depth in the Wikipedia article "Historical rankings of Presidents of the United States". One point I found interesting was that JFK, while mentioning Buchanan, was against the whole enterprise. He's quoted as saying: "No one has a right to grade a Presidenteven poor James Buchananwho has not sat in his chair, examined the mail and information that came across his desk, and learned why he made his decisions."
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W was the most inept but St. Ronnie did the most far reaching damage to the US. eom
chieftain
Sep 2013
#10
in terms of pushing our country away from progress and toward reaction - it's Reagan hands down
Douglas Carpenter
Sep 2013
#12
yup. Reagan for the shit he put in motion to follow his term. W for the short term crap in office.
Gidney N Cloyd
Sep 2013
#62
I had Buchanan coming in fifth worst for the reasons you enumerate. N.B. Lincoln initially also
HardTimes99
Sep 2013
#15
Bingo. That's exactly why I voted for him. The destruction he wrought cannot be overstated.
MotherPetrie
Sep 2013
#26
Bush/Cheny were in a class by themselves and are America's answer to Caligula, Nero or Commodus
coldmountain
Sep 2013
#31
Really hard to choose between Bush Jr. and Reagan. Going to have to think about that some.
stevenleser
Sep 2013
#38
Bush Sr. because he failed to properly react to the collapse of the Soviet Union
FarCenter
Sep 2013
#41
So many to chose from, but I usually go with Wilson. He was an idiot way out of his depth
Egalitarian Thug
Sep 2013
#61
Grant and Harding were ranked as the two failures in the 1962 Schlessinger historian poll
Midwestern Democrat
Sep 2013
#63