The American Presidents

Discussion in 'History' started by tim840, Jul 22, 2008.

?

Who were America's best eight presidents?

  1. George Washington

    16 vote(s)
    72.7%
  2. John Adams

    5 vote(s)
    22.7%
  3. Thomas Jefferson

    12 vote(s)
    54.5%
  4. James Madison

    4 vote(s)
    18.2%
  5. James Monroe

    3 vote(s)
    13.6%
  6. John Quincy Adams

    2 vote(s)
    9.1%
  7. Andrew Jackson

    5 vote(s)
    22.7%
  8. Martin Van Buren

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  9. William Henry Harrison

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  10. John Tyler

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  11. James Polk

    1 vote(s)
    4.5%
  12. Zachary Taylor

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  13. Millard Fillmore

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  14. Franklin Pierce

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  15. James Buchanan

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  16. Abraham Lincoln

    15 vote(s)
    68.2%
  17. Andrew Johnson

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  18. Ulysses Grant

    1 vote(s)
    4.5%
  19. Rutherford Hayes

    1 vote(s)
    4.5%
  20. James Garfield

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  21. Chester Arthur

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  22. Grover Cleveland

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  23. Benjamin Harrison

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  24. William McKinley

    2 vote(s)
    9.1%
  25. Theodore Roosevelt

    12 vote(s)
    54.5%
  26. William Taft

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  27. Woodrow Wilson

    4 vote(s)
    18.2%
  28. Warren Harding

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  29. Calvin Coolidge

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  30. Herbert Hoover

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  31. Franklin Roosevelt

    10 vote(s)
    45.5%
  32. Harry Truman

    4 vote(s)
    18.2%
  33. Dwight Eisenhower

    6 vote(s)
    27.3%
  34. John Kennedy

    13 vote(s)
    59.1%
  35. Lyndon Johnson

    1 vote(s)
    4.5%
  36. Richard Nixon

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  37. Gerald Ford

    2 vote(s)
    9.1%
  38. Jimmy Carter

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  39. Ronald Reagan

    8 vote(s)
    36.4%
  40. George Bush, Sr

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  41. Bill Clinton

    7 vote(s)
    31.8%
  42. George Bush, Jr

    1 vote(s)
    4.5%
Multiple votes are allowed.
  1. tim840 Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    1,653
    In your opinion, who were the best eight U.S. presidents?
     
  2. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  3. tim840 Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    1,653
    It seems to me that the presidencies of Jefferson and Kennedy are overrated. So whoever it was that voted for these two: what is it they did that is so important/good?

    And Bill Clinton, for that matter?

    :shrug:
     
  4. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  5. Kadark Banned Banned

    Messages:
    3,724
    George Washington, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, and John F Kennedy.

    Sorry, there weren't enough people on that list that stood out to me. If you want me to explain my choices, you'll have to wait - I'm in no such mood right now.

    Kadark the Wolverine
     
  6. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  7. Pandaemoni Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    3,634
    Kennedy did stand up during the Cuban Missile Crisis and was wise enough to not listen to those experts who were counseling for war, though I still didn't vote for him. I did vote for Jefferson because he was able to see past his own philosophical predilections and spend the money needed to double the size of the U.S., preventing French or Spanish domination of the center of what is today America. It was an important thing.

    I voted for:

    Washington: He stepped down.

    Adams: Refused to go to War with the French, despite the clamoring for it

    Jefferson: Louisiana Purchase

    Madison: Backed the National Bank even though he originally thought it unconstitutional because he felt that national practice had invalidated his personal belief, thus expanding federal power.

    Lincoln: The Civil War

    Teddy Roosevelt: Did many things not the least of which was negotiate the peace for the Russo-Japanese War and he began to break the grip of unregulated capitalism on the U.S. (though I am a fan of capitalism generally).

    Wilson: For the First World War and, more importantly, the League of Nations.

    FDR: The Second World War.

    John Quincy Adams also gets a gold star for being the force behind the Monroe Doctrine, though he was not President at the time. Thinking about it more I likely should have bumped someone for LBJ. I don' like the man personally, but it was he, not Kennedy, who got civil rights legislation passed
     
  8. S.A.M. uniquely dreadful Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    72,825
    I think Washington was the best. He managed to convince everyone he was the Founding Father, which essentially meant that the existing natives were not only invisible, they simply did not exist. His mass murder of the native Americans was considered a patriotic act, which was weird, considering the natives had already been living there. And he got elected President. That makes him a smart man. Especially since his ideologies still live on. The native Americans are still invisible and for most Americans, simply do not exist as rightful owners of the land.
     
  9. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    33,264
    Since I didn't know those presidents that were before Truman, I can only vote for one of them, Eisenhower, for he did the best to me.
     
  10. nietzschefan Thread Killer Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    7,721
    Kennedy was only pres for like 2 1/2 years before the OWNERS of America took over and have ran everything since.
     
  11. tim840 Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    1,653
    I like Adams a lot, too. He was a brilliant secretary of state and a courageous congressman. And he would have been a good president if it hadn't been for the mindlessly vengeful Jacksonians that controlled Congress and crippled his administration.

    Wilson, I don't agree with. He was a racist segregationist, and he was too idealistic and not forceful enough to orchestrate a satisfactory peace after World War I. He couldn't keep the United States out of World War I (which I believe we should never have gotten into) and his handling of the home front throughout the war was deplorable: the Alien and Sedition Acts severely limited freedom of speech - any person opposed to the war could be jailed, and many were - and his Committee on Public Information spread propaganda that fueled extreme hatred and discrimination against German-Americans.
     
  12. tim840 Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    1,653
    My question remains to be answered...

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

    Why has Bill Clinton got so many votes? What did he do that was so good? Personally, I think he sucked. :shrug: So those of you who like him, please explain why you do.
     
  13. desi Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    1,616
    Kennedy was about to nix the federal reserve before he got capped. That is why he got my vote.
     
  14. draqon Banned Banned

    Messages:
    35,006
    I love Bill Clinton, he was an amazing president! During him economy strived. NASA was funded properly. Education got many money. Children programs were funded...and CIA did it job keeping us safe. Thank you Bill Clinton. =)
     
  15. tim840 Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    1,653
    Hmm... I guess the economy was pretty good under Bill Clinton. But his foreign policy was terrible.
     
  16. superstring01 Moderator

    Messages:
    12,110
    Right. Because the 1700's was a warm and fuzzy century. Seriously, all human beings are a product of the era they live in. Looking back and judging with our contemporary morals is just too convenient. Cyrus TG and Darius TG slaughtered whole villages. Hundreds and thousands of people died under them. They were nonetheless great leaders. They reformed the government. Standardized taxes, coins, trade, roads as well as weights & measures. Instituted fair and centrally appointed satraps. Freed slaves and created a justice code. They, nevertheless, killed people mercilessly. All leaders are horribly flawed. Some are just less flawed, for their time, than others.

    George Washington was one of the best and despite his glaring flaws he was an amazing leader and an indispensable First President.

    ~String
     
  17. superstring01 Moderator

    Messages:
    12,110
    Yes, because the president of the USA sits atop some grand economic pyramid and directs the economy from his perch.

    This is how you separate the dullards from the rest. While I think that Clinton was a good president, it has nothing to do with the economy which he effected very little during his presidency.

    ~String
     
  18. Kadark Banned Banned

    Messages:
    3,724
    Well said.

    I agree. Well, actually, America has been owned by foreigners since Woodrow Wilson's presidency (1913), thanks to the Creature From Jekyll Island or, in other words, the Federal Reserve System. While Wilson may partially be forgiven for eventually regretting his decision, John F Kennedy is a highly commendable man for attempting to override the corrupt system. But alas, his attempts to reform America's monetary policy earned him his cold-blooded assassination. You correctly point out the fact that the hidden owners have, in fact, run America to their liking ever since. In addition, I must say that Kennedy's patience in the Cuban Missile Crisis was highly admirable.

    Kadark the Maniac
     
  19. tim840 Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    1,653
    In that case, why do you think CLinton was a good president?
     
  20. ashura the Old Right Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    3,611
    Hrm, looking at the results, it certainly seems to be true that war makes people great. As for anyone who voted for Woodrow Wilson, I can only point out that the man is the direct ancestor of Bush's "spreading of democracy" and "if you're not with us, you're against" mentality.
     
  21. superstring01 Moderator

    Messages:
    12,110
    I love Adams as a founder and secretary of state. As a president he was horribly flawed. At heart, truly the most "good" founder of them all: his morals reflected his day to day approach. He treated his wife and black employees with unimaginable equality and dignity. He was passionately philosophical and an amazing political strategist. But the Alien and Sedition act, his childish temperament, his impertinence and inability to evoke any passion in his cabinet really made him ineffective.

    His two best accomplishments as president were the founding of the Navy and the avoidance of war with France.

    ~String
     
  22. one_raven God is a Chinese Whisper Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    13,433
    Jesus! How old are you?
     
  23. Orleander OH JOY!!!! Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    25,817
    Yeah, I think he was pretty amazing as well. :bravo:
     

Share This Page