Who do you think is the best president?

Who do you think is the best US president in history. I ask you to pick your top 5!

List of US presidents

The you can check here to see what historians and public opinion polls have said about our past presidents.

Historical rankings of US presidents

Here is my top 5.

1. Franklin Delano Roosevelt
2. Theodore Roosevelt
3. Thomas Jefferson
4. John F. Kennedy
5. George Washington

I would have to say

1) JFK
2) George Washington
3) Thomas Jefferson
4) FDR
5) Truman
6) Eisenhower
7) Jimmy Carter


worst ones ever:

1) GW Bush
2) Obama
3) GHW Bush
4) Nixon

In my lifetime,hands down it would have to be Ronald Wilson Regan!!!
Regan knew that the federal government needed to be downsized! Also he brought us out of the Carter era days of high interest rates and recession.

reply to post by boondock-saint


I like your list, both of them!

My 5 worst would have to be...

1. George Walker Bush
2. Ronald Reagan
3. Herbert Hoover
4. Woodrow Wilson
5. George Herbert Walker Bush

Obama and Clinton are in the top 10 worst.

[edit on 4/10/10 by Misoir]

Washington...

hands down, if we listened to half of what he advised back in the daaaaaay, we would not be playing the scruples of today..


his best quote..


"beware of the partied system"

hence forth X is today...

1. Andrew Jackson, he closed the national bank. It don't get no better than that.

2. Calvin Coolidge, he sat back and let the country run itself.

3. JFK, he was killed for trying to create a real currency.

4. George Washington, he never wanted the job.

5. William Henry Harrison, He died after just a month in office (if only a few of the most recent jerks could follow his example)

reply to post by Misoir


calvin coolidge aka "silent cal".

"mr. president, your so anti-social and quiet, yet you never miss a single party/social gathering, why do you insist on coming?"

coolidge: "you gotta eat somewhere"


"mr. president, i have a bet with some folks here that i wont get 2 words out of you tonight. what do ya say to that?"

coolidge: "you lose"

coolidge prefered telegram/horseback to the newly invented telephone, so when Harding died, they sent a rider to his house and woke him up at 3 am, he took the oath of office in his living room and went right back to bed.


i think he got us through a very difficult time in a very humble and respectable manner. he was one of those guys who didnt really want to be president, but did anyway.

coolidge was the definition of mr cool.

::edit::forgot other 4::

2. Ben Franklin (i dont care he should have been)
3. Washington
4. Polk
5. Grant

[edit on 10-4-2010 by LurkerMan]

1. John Adams- If you read David McColloughs "John Adams" you see why.lol
2. George Washington- For keeping the views of Hamilton and Jefferson at bay(to an extent).
3. James Polk- For expanding America (Sea to Shining Sea, instead of Atlantic Ocean to Miss. RIver.)
4. Andrew Jackson- for the reason of tackling the Fed. On the NEGATIVE side he also was responsible for sending Native Americans to reservations, many dieing along the way. (Trail Of Tears).
Thats the one problem with alot of American History. Some people did things to earn recognition and then that same person does something deplorable.
Um... Idk..
5. Clinton- for the reason of bringing the nation to a Surplus (finally) something that hasnt been seen since. (He was a Democrat). Im sure ill catch it for that one.lol
My Opinions.

1. George Washington: America's Cincinnatus
2. Abraham Lincoln: Martyr of National Unity
3. Thomas Jefferson: Author of the Republic
4. James Madison: Voice of the People (Publius)
5. Andrew Jackson: Protector of Separation of Powers
6. James Monroe: Architect of American Ascendancy
7. Ronald Reagan: Defender of the West
8. John Adams: America's First Politician

1. Abraham Lincoln
2. George Washington
3. Thomas Jefferson
4. James Madison
5. Ronald Reagan

Hands Down, Abraham Lincoln was the greatest of all presidents!!!
He defied all the odds that were against him(media, politicians, pro-slave owners, war) during his Presidency.

He helped keep our country a republic for a little while longer, by helping to win the Civil War. He put the word-out for the country to get on their knees and pray for the Union's victory and soon ending of the war; as the North and South were headed for a large battle in Gettysburg. I believe God answered those American prayers and sealed the outcome of the war. If he had not asked for Americans to pray, it's possible we could of been the Confederate States of America. He also made sure that General Grant would be our new commander on the battlefield, giving us a better chance of winning the war. President Lincoln was a peace loving man and a uniter, the opposite of Jefferson Davis.

1. Washington ('nuf said)
2. Jefferson
3. Adams
4. Kennedy ( I marvel at how much the democrat party has changed since his day)
5. Reagan (Got the country on it's feet again in time of economic turmoil)

reply to post by john spartan


How can you say Lincoln was our greatest president? He started an unecessary war in which thousands of innocent civilians were killed. He suspended habeus corpus as well as doing many other terrible things that would make him be considered a war criminal by todays standards. Also you wouldn't be the CSA if you live in the north. The confederates were fighting a defensive war.

I'm of the opinion that Lincoln was possibly the worst president before the current usurper.

My vote for the best goes to Washington and Reagan.

Favorite was George Washington as he was the only president that didn't blame the former one. Second would have been Thomas Jefferson who was very wise in what he said especially when talking of god.

After that they all get fairly flawed. Worst IMO would have been Jimmy Carter/George Bush. They decided to push there ideologies more than others and ended up crashing the American system. Obama is terrible with his radical ideology and pushing the Healthcare agenda while our economy tanks and the "terrorists" are coming in through a defenseless border, coupled with a fact that he inspired so many by using great empty words. FDR would also be listed in the worst because of the "New Deal" which was basically an end to our sovereignty as states. Finally Hoover who decided nothing ever needed to be done if you are president so he just watched the country fall.

reply to post by Nosred


My Top 10
1. George Washington
2. James K. Polk
3. Thomas Jefferson
4. John Adams
5. JFK
6. Calvin Coolidge
7. FDR
8. James Monroe
9. Grover Cleveland
10. Ronald Reagan

My 5 Worst
1. Richard Nixon
2. Abraham Lincoln
3. George W. Bush
4. George H. W. Bush
5. Jimmy Carter

Originally posted by DTigerW

5. Clinton- for the reason of bringing the nation to a Surplus (finally) something that hasnt been seen since. (He was a Democrat). Im sure ill catch it for that one.lol

Although Clinton was a Democrat, he was probably the most fiscally conservative president in the past 30 years. George W. Bush and Reagan claimed to be fiscally conservative, but they spent government funds like drunken sailors.

The only reason I can see Reagan and W justifying their "fiscally conservative" label is if we magically pretend spending money on the military is not really government spending. I would like to have a died-in-the-wool Republican explain this one to me.

I'm sorry but to me, the best president is an EX-PRESIDENT.

Tucked away someplace, unable to stirr too much BS.

Here are my list for personal favorites and influence.

George Hebert Walker Bush. (For his foreign policy)
Bill Clinton
Barack Obama
Jimmy Carter
Ronald Reagen
Thomas Jefferson
Andrew Jackson
Abraham Lincoln
Both President Roosevelt's
and Dwight D. Eisenhower

reply to post by Misoir

Here is my top 5.
1. Franklin Delano Roosevelt
2. Theodore Roosevelt
3. Thomas Jefferson
4. John F. Kennedy
5. George Washington

Gosh, nice list and certainly hard to dispute without unzipping one's political travel bag.

Personally, I like Ike... Dwight D. Eisenhower. A Commander of SHAEF, he had the experience of holding together the greatest military and diplomatic coalition in history. Following that, he came home and ran for president as a Republican, but always espousing moderation and fighting against extremism from both ends.

He was quoted as such on more than one occasion...

"People talk about the middle of the road as though it were unacceptable. Actually, all human problems, excepting morals, come into the gray areas. Things are not all black and white. There have to be compromises. The middle of the road is all of the usable surface. The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters."

...

I despise all adjectives that try to describe people as liberal of conservative, rightist or leftist, as long as they stay in the useful part of the road.

...

It is far easier to to choose an extreme and align with it, than defend the center where the great majority of humanity exists.

Cheers

reply to post by redoubt


A vote for Eisenhower is a vote for PEACE!

I'd take an Eisenhower right now. Don't believe I have a real favorite... though he may be the closest.

I haven't been alive long enough to see...in person...what a real President is like...especially a good one.

As for the worst Presidents....

1. REAGAN
2. BUSH jr
3. CLINTON
4. NIXON

I don't know how anyone could have Reagan at the top of their favorites list...nor Clinton as well...since their administrations put in place the policies that have led to the deterioration of our economy and country.

[edit on 12-4-2010 by David9176]