Who was the worst American President

[The Archregimancy]

Warren G Harding and Franklin Pierce were pretty bad. Millard Fillmore wasn't too crash hot either. Andrew Johnson and james Buchanan were also quite terrible, but I feel too stereotypical for naming them.

On the contrary, I'd say that's a fairly good list showing a far more solid grasp of history than most people posting in this thread.

[Daynor]

I'd have to go with FDR or Andrew Jackson. Coincidentally both two of my favourite presidents (as in to read about, not to live under), since Andrew Jackson was such a bad-ass and overall dick and FDR was so power-hungry.

[Forsher]

The 21st President.

Personally I'd put Chester A. Arthur in the "meh" pile. He wasn't a bad President, he just also wasn't a good President.

You people (I believe this is a standard and recent American political construction despite its being similar to the "your" construction) know too much about the numbers of US presidents and not enough about the numbers of the sequels of the Greatest Christmas film ever made.

[Radiatia]

Warren G Harding and Franklin Pierce were pretty bad. Millard Fillmore wasn't too crash hot either. Andrew Johnson and james Buchanan were also quite terrible, but I feel too stereotypical for naming them.

On the contrary, I'd say that's a fairly good list showing a far more solid grasp of history than most people posting in this thread.

Oh wait sorry you're right - I'm meant to say George W. Bush and/or Barack Obama were the worst.

[The Tiger Kingdom]

I'd have to go with FDR or Andrew Jackson. Coincidentally both two of my favourite presidents (as in to read about, not to live under), since Andrew Jackson was such a bad-ass and overall dick and FDR was so power-hungry.

Erm...It wasn't like FDR was outlawing elections or anything.
He just didn't care much for the *informal* two-term tradition.

[Lerodan Chinamerica]

Easily Wilson. 'Separate but equal' my ass.

[Liberated Counties]

Bush.

[Lerodan Chinamerica]

On the contrary, I'd say that's a fairly good list showing a far more solid grasp of history than most people posting in this thread.

Oh wait sorry you're right - I'm meant to say George W. Bush and/or Barack Obama were the worst.

Too early in Obama's Presidency to determine where he sits with his predecessors, but so far he's not doing a great job.

[Gordano and Lysandus]

As a President who did things badly: Reagan.

As the worst US President, for doing NOTHING AT ALL: William Henry Harrison. He died a month into office.

[Radiatia]

Personally I'd put Chester A. Arthur in the "meh" pile. He wasn't a bad President, he just also wasn't a good President.

You people (I believe this is a standard and recent American political construction despite its being similar to the "your" construction) know too much about the numbers of US presidents and not enough about the numbers of the sequels of the Greatest Christmas film ever made.

I feel bad that I can name every US President, but still can't name every NZ Prime Minister. (Before Michael Joseph Savage it's a complete mystery to me.) Although to be fair, the US Presidents come and go in a nice orderly fashion. NZ Prime Minister pretty much had the same 6 people on loop until the early 20th century.

[The Tiger Kingdom]

Oh wait sorry you're right - I'm meant to say George W. Bush and/or Barack Obama were the worst.

Too early in Obama's Presidency to determine where he sits with his predecessors, but so far he's not doing a great job.

I feel he's doing a good job in a very difficult and ridiculously obstructive situation.

[Radiatia]

Oh wait sorry you're right - I'm meant to say George W. Bush and/or Barack Obama were the worst.

Too early in Obama's Presidency to determine where he sits with his predecessors, but so far he's not doing a great job.

Check your sarcasm detector. The batteries are flat.

It's also too early to determine whether GWB was a good or bad President. Some Presidents, such as Eisenhower and Truman, leave office extremely unpopular but history later vindicates them.

Others, such as Chester A. Arthur and Warren G. Harding ended their terms as popular Presidents, but history later forgets them, or decides it doesn't like them much at all.

[Forsher]

You people (I believe this is a standard and recent American political construction despite its being similar to the "your" construction) know too much about the numbers of US presidents and not enough about the numbers of the sequels of the Greatest Christmas film ever made.

I feel bad that I can name every US President, but still can't name every NZ Prime Minister. (Before Michael Joseph Savage it's a complete mystery to me.) Although to be fair, the US Presidents come and go in a nice orderly fashion. NZ Prime Minister pretty much had the same 6 people on loop until the early 20th century.

I know a few. John Jey, Helen Clark, Robert Muldoon, David Lange, Keith Holyoake, Michael Joseph Savage, Richard Seddon, Jenny Shipley and, well, that's actually it. I should know more, really, but I mean we don't exactly do the "Name every President" thing that one finds in basically every American film/programme set in a school ever.

[Eleutheria]

Being British I don't know all that much about American Presidents, so I can't say for sure who is the worst. But one thing I do know is that JFK is vastly overrated and his cult-status is largely undeserved.

A quote by Christopher Hitchens comes to mind:

"Like every one else of my generation, I can remember exactly where I was standing and what I was doing on the day that President John Fitzgerald Kennedy nearly killed me...the Cuban Missile Crisis"

JFK may not be the worst, but he's not the sacred cow he's made out to be. Hookers and nearly ending the world should be his legacy.

[The Tiger Kingdom]

I feel bad that I can name every US President, but still can't name every NZ Prime Minister. (Before Michael Joseph Savage it's a complete mystery to me.) Although to be fair, the US Presidents come and go in a nice orderly fashion. NZ Prime Minister pretty much had the same 6 people on loop until the early 20th century.

I know a few. John Jey, Helen Clark, Robert Muldoon, David Lange, Keith Holyoake, Michael Joseph Savage, Richard Seddon, Jenny Shipley and, well, that's actually it. I should know more, really, but I mean we don't exactly do the "Name every President" thing that one finds in basically every American film/programme set in a school ever.

I could name every president, in order, when I was six.
I was not a popular child.

[Lerodan Chinamerica]

Too early in Obama's Presidency to determine where he sits with his predecessors, but so far he's not doing a great job.

I feel he's doing a good job in a very difficult and ridiculously obstructive situation.

I like some of the things he's done and doing, but some other things just make me shake my head in dissapointment.

[The Archregimancy]

On the contrary, I'd say that's a fairly good list showing a far more solid grasp of history than most people posting in this thread.

Oh wait sorry you're right - I'm meant to say George W. Bush and/or Barack Obama were the worst.

All joking aside, it's faintly depressing that it's taking a New Zealander to inject a dose of reality into the thread (with your first list, rather than the jokey Bush/Obama option).

As to NZ Prime Ministers, just nod your head sagely, and then mutter something along the lines of "but of course, it's not as straightforward as remembering US Presidents, what with William Fox's four terms over a 17 year period, and the decision about whether Hugh Watt counts or not".

[Lerodan Chinamerica]

Too early in Obama's Presidency to determine where he sits with his predecessors, but so far he's not doing a great job.

Check your sarcasm detector. The batteries are flat.

It's also too early to determine whether GWB was a good or bad President. Some Presidents, such as Eisenhower and Truman, leave office extremely unpopular but history later vindicates them.

Others, such as Chester A. Arthur and Warren G. Harding ended their terms as popular Presidents, but history later forgets them, or decides it doesn't like them much at all.

Sorry, I hadn't taken notice of the rest of the conversation :I

A world where Bush Jr. is considered good would be fascinating.

[Radiatia]

I feel bad that I can name every US President, but still can't name every NZ Prime Minister. (Before Michael Joseph Savage it's a complete mystery to me.) Although to be fair, the US Presidents come and go in a nice orderly fashion. NZ Prime Minister pretty much had the same 6 people on loop until the early 20th century.

I know a few. John Jey, Helen Clark, Robert Muldoon, David Lange, Keith Holyoake, Michael Joseph Savage, Richard Seddon, Jenny Shipley and, well, that's actually it. I should know more, really, but I mean we don't exactly do the "Name every President" thing that one finds in basically every American film/programme set in a school ever.

I can name from MJS to John Key in order, but before that it's vague. I know there's someone called Gordon Coates, Richard Seddon, someone with the surname "Massey" and Henry (or possibly Harry) Sewell. Oh and Julius Vogel. That guy had the greatest beard ever.

[Nationalist State of Knox]

In all seriousness, John Tyler was pretty bad.

[TaQud]

Either Franklin Pierce or William Harrison.

[The Tiger Kingdom]

In all seriousness, John Tyler was pretty bad.

You can argue about which Presidents ideologically betrayed America, but Tyler took betrayal to another level entirely.

[Forsher]

Too early in Obama's Presidency to determine where he sits with his predecessors, but so far he's not doing a great job.

Check your sarcasm detector. The batteries are flat.

It's also too early to determine whether GWB was a good or bad President.

I dunno, most people would struggle to convert 90% approval ratings to 19% or something.

Okay, he wasn't as bad as I remembered. But that was the weirdest thing about the terrorism assessment last year... I was so familiar with the idea of Bush as stupid and unpopular and everything immediately post 9/11 is actually mostly sensible and popular.

[Radiatia]

Check your sarcasm detector. The batteries are flat.

It's also too early to determine whether GWB was a good or bad President. Some Presidents, such as Eisenhower and Truman, leave office extremely unpopular but history later vindicates them.

Others, such as Chester A. Arthur and Warren G. Harding ended their terms as popular Presidents, but history later forgets them, or decides it doesn't like them much at all.

Sorry, I hadn't taken notice of the rest of the conversation :I

A world where Bush Jr. is considered good would be fascinating.

It's too early to say. I predict he's probably going to remembered as a sort of Herbert Hoover figure, but it's possible that he could be remembered for keeping America relatively safe from terrorists. (History is funny like that... it likes to airbrush things.)

[Radiatia]

Oh wait sorry you're right - I'm meant to say George W. Bush and/or Barack Obama were the worst.

All joking aside, it's faintly depressing that it's taking a New Zealander to inject a dose of reality into the thread (with your first list, rather than the jokey Bush/Obama option).

As to NZ Prime Ministers, just nod your head sagely, and then mutter something along the lines of "but of course, it's not as straightforward as remembering US Presidents, what with William Fox's four terms over a 17 year period, and the decision about whether Hugh Watt counts or not".

Hugh Watt or as most New Zealanders call him - "Who What?"