Who Was the Greatest President?

[Elutherian]

I wasn't sure whether to post this here in politics, or in History, but I figured I'd just go with it here.

Who do you think the greatest president in U.S. History was and why?

 

[Old Rocks]

Lincoln. He held the nation together, and defined it's nature after the Civil War.

 

[Elutherian]

Mine would be William Henry Harrison.

He had the decency to "relinquish" his office after 1 month, thus doing the least damage of any U.S. President.

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

Probably Grover Cleveland.

 

[Elutherian]

Lincoln. He held the nation together, and defined it's nature after the Civil War.

If my wife left me, and I hunted her down, beat her sensless, then chained her to the basement, all in the name of saving my union, and that is considered a good thing... then Lincoln was a great president.

 

[Big Black Dog]

George Washington. He's the only President that doesn't catch shit from anybody because he was a President.

 

[rightwinger]

Lincoln
FDR
Teddy Roosevelt

 

[midcan5]

FDR was the greatest as he faced challenges both at home and abroad. He managed to move the nation away from the fascism that was gaining ground at that time, he worked to alleviate the great depression, he enacted laws that supported American workers, and created legislation that moved America forward. He simply was a fantastic leader during some incredibly tough times as his long presidency proves.

The great depression ended a year or two after FDR was elected according to any chronological history you survey. The effects lasted for many years after that and the war finally brought people and business together in a Keynesian frenzy of work and spending. While OT that togetherness stayed put till Reagan (worst president) began the decline of America with his destruction of the middle class worker, his tax reductions for wealthy, and his war deficits.

 

[Oddball]

Washington, because he really didn't want it.

Over the last century, the best one we've had has been Coolidge.

All of the purported "best", as claimed by academe and the political punditry, have in fact been the worst for the republic.

 

[Elutherian]

FDR was the greatest as he faced challenges both at home and abroad. He managed to move the nation away from the fascism that was gaining ground at that time, he worked to alleviate the great depression, he enacted laws that supported American workers, and created legislation that moved America forward. He simply was a fantastic leader during some incredibly tough times as his long presidency proves.

The great depression ended a year or two after FDR was elected according to any chronological history you survey. The effects lasted for many years after that and the war finally brought people and business together in a Keynesian frenzy of work and spending. While OT that togetherness stayed put till Reagan (worst president) began the decline of America with his destruction of the middle class worker, his tax reductions for wealthy, and his war deficits.

That's about the funniest shit I've ever heard. FDR was the MOST Fascist president in our history. The Depression lasted until after the end of WWII because of his Keynesian economics prolonging the correction (see the recession of 1921). He ran the largest propoganda campaigns of any president, took control of private industry, and destroyed crops to drive up prices while people were starving in the streets.
And I wont even get into the draft, internment camps, weapons of mass destruction, etc...

 

[manu1959]

washington...started it...
lincoln....held it together
fdr....defended it
reagan....redefined it....
obama...redefining it again....

 

[DiamondDave]

You have to go by eras again.. hard to really compare LBJ to Jefferson, for example

In the past 50 years.. Reagan... In timeframe 50 to 100-125 years ago, Probably Teddy R... Beyond that probably Washington or Adams

Most overrated... JFK and Lincoln.. and that happens mainly because of the assassinations.. that is natural though... FDR greatly overrated also

Underrateds... Andrew Jackson... Woodrow Wilson

 

[manifold]

Ben Franklin

 

[midcan5]

presidential ratings


U.S. President Ratings
Historical rankings of United States Presidents - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
frontline: the choice 2004: leadership: rating the presidents - washington to clinton | PBS
Presidential Rankings — Infoplease.com
Who Was the Greatest President? - MSN Encarta

Washington, Lincoln, and FDR are always on top.

 

[Oddball]

presidential ratings


U.S. President Ratings
Historical rankings of United States Presidents - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
frontline: the choice 2004: leadership: rating the presidents - washington to clinton | PBS
Presidential Rankings — Infoplease.com
Who Was the Greatest President? - MSN Encarta

Typical.

Don't defend your choices and appeal to outside opinion that agrees with yours.

Typical and pathetic.

 

[DiamondDave]

presidential ratings


U.S. President Ratings
Historical rankings of United States Presidents - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
frontline: the choice 2004: leadership: rating the presidents - washington to clinton | PBS
Presidential Rankings — Infoplease.com
Who Was the Greatest President? - MSN Encarta

Washington, Lincoln, and FDR are always on top.

And we can post rankings that have different outcomes... your point is what?

 

[Xenophon]

George Washington easily.

Didn't want to be king, created a moral term limit, warned against foreign entaglements.

Honest, war hero and no weasel.

What else could you hope for.

 

[Dr.Traveler]

I'm a big fan of Lincoln and FDR, as well as some that never appear on the lists like George H.W. Bush, but for the greatest President in US history you have to go with Washington.

George Washington could have been king if he wanted, or at the very least President for life. Instead he set the precedent of serving only 2 terms, instituted a lot of the traditions of the Presidency, and guided a young and weak nation through some of its most vulnerable periods.

 

[Oddball]

FDR and Lincoln, along with T. Roosevelt, are, without a doubt, the most overrated presidents in history.

 

[JakeStarkey]

Washington, FDR, and Lincoln.