This may have been discussed before, but if so I missed it. I'd like to see people's views on the subject of who was the best US President ever and who was the worst, and if you respond, please explain your reasons.
In my opinion the best president was George Washington. He had to create the framework of the executive branch of the US government while staying withing the guidelines of the Constitution and also had to avoid allowing power to corrupt him. I don't think any of his contemporaries could have accomplished that feat. A close second would be James Garfield. Held two non consecutive terms and he viewed his role in government as a restraint against Congress. He vetoed more bills in eight years than all other presidents combined.
The worst president, in my opinion, was James Buchanan. He failed to mitigate the looming crisis of succession and then after he let the union break up, he did nothing to attempt to restore the country. A close second would either be Andrew Johnson who let himself be treated as a non entity by both Congress and the cabinet he inherited, of Ulysses Grant, who was unable to curtail the rampant corruption in his administration that eventually led to the most fraudulent election in American history, one which might actually have been stolen by the Republican reconstruction machine in Florida and Louisiana.
What's everyone else's thoughts.
