The Worst Presidents of All Time

Last week I wrote about who I think the best Presidents were. Today we’ll discuss the worst.

The greatest fault you can find with any President is weakness. It’s a willingness to be led, by the past, by other people, or by ideology, and let losses pile up in their name, that can turn an elected leader into a disaster. And America has had its share.

As with last week’s piece on great Presidents, please feel free to disagree and state your reasons below:

1. George W. Bush – Iraq, Katrina, the Great Shitpile. He wasn’t evil, and he wasn’t stupid. What he was, in the end, was weak. He let others lead us, and they led us astray. Dick Cheney was, and is, a truly vile, very frightened little man, who represents the worst America can become. Iraq left us unable to save New Orleans. Bush’s ideology and passivity created the Great Recession, which nearly destroyed the world economy. From the method of his selection by an ideological court, to his end as an object of ridicule, he ruined what should have been the best years of my life. America will never forgive him.

Warren G. Harding – You had one job and you blew it. Again, the problem was weakness. He was a congenitally weak man, who let himself be led into scandal, for whom the office was always going to be too big. The best thing he did was die in office. The second best thing was to keep FDR out of office prematurely, and leave James Cox free to gain his fortune.

Herbert Hoover – He could have been one of our great Presidents, but instead his ideology made him rigid, unable to deal with the economic crisis that overwhelmed him. As tied to the politics of Theodore Roosevelt as Buchanan was to Jackson, or as Bush was to Nixon. This was his weakness, an inability, even an unwillingness, to think differently in the face of circumstances.

Andrew Jackson – The one great historical thesis in American history that was a mistake. Jackson was a horrible bigot, an imperialist who killed central banking, and he created the conditions for a crash so complete in 1837 it took us a decade to dig out of it. He defied the Supreme Court in order to commit genocide against Native Americans, and stood squarely for the slave-owner against the slave. Most analysts would put Martin Van Buren, who inherited the mess, in this place. But how about we give discredit where it’s due.

James Madison – The father of the Constitution nearly lost the whole country. His Washington wound up being burned by Canadians, in the only successful foreign invasion. Blundered his way into a war with England in support of Napoleon, and if not for Waterloo England may have pressed its advantage on us. His wife, Dolly, was our first great First Lady, however, and basically created the position, serving both her husband and Thomas Jefferson as the nation’s chief hostess.

Be back next week.