IS GEORGE BUSH THE WORST PRESIDENT -- EVER? PARIS -- President John F. Kennedy was considered a historian because of his book "Profiles in Courage," so he received periodic requests to rate the presidents, those lists that usually begin "1. Lincoln, 2. Washington ..." ADVERTISEMENT But after he actually became president himself, he stopped filling them out. "No one knows what it's like in this office," he said after being in the job. "Even with poor James Buchanan, you can't understand what he did and why without sitting in his place, looking at the papers that passed on his desk, knowing the people he talked with." Poor James Buchanan, the 15th president, is generally considered the worst president in history. Ironically, the Pennsylvania Democrat, elected in 1856, was one of the most qualified of the 43 men who have served in the highest office. A lawyer, a self-made man, Buchanan served with some distinction in the House, served as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and secretary of state under President James K. Polk. He had a great deal to do with the United States becoming a continental nation -- "Manifest Destiny," war with Mexico, and all that. He was also ambassador to Great Britain and was offered a seat on the Supreme Court three separate times. But he was a confused, indecisive president, who may have made the Civil War inevitable by trying to appease or negotiate with the South. His most recent biographer, Jean Clark, writing for the prestigious American Presidents Series, concluded this year that his actions probably constituted treason. It also did not help that his administration was as corrupt as any in history, and he was widely believed to be homosexual. Whatever his sexual preferences, his real failures were in refusing to move after South Carolina announced secession from the Union and attacked Fort Sumter, and in supporting both the legality of the pro-slavery constitution of Kansas and the Supreme Court ruling in the Dred Scott class declaring that escaped slaves were not people but property. He was the guy who in 1861 passed on the mess to the first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln. Buchanan set the standard, a tough record to beat. But there are serious people who believe that George W. Bush will prove to do that, be worse than Buchanan. I have talked with three significant historians in the past few months who would not say it in public, but who are saying privately that Bush will be remembered as the worst of the presidents. There are some numbers. The History News Network at George Mason University has just polled historians informally on the Bush record. Four hundred and fifteen, about a third of those contacted, answered -- maybe they were all crazed liberals -- making the project as unofficial as it was interesting. These were the results: 338 said they believed Bush was failing, while 77 said he was succeeding. Fifty said they thought he was the worst president ever. Worse than Buchanan. This is what those historians said -- and it should be noted that some of the criticism about deficit spending and misuse of the military came from self-identified conservatives -- about the Bush record: He has taken the country into an unwinnable war and alienated friend and foe alike in the process; He is bankrupting the country with a combination of aggressive military spending and reduced taxation of the rich; He has deliberately and dangerously attacked separation of church and state; He has repeatedly "misled," to use a kind word, the American people on affairs domestic and foreign; He has proved to be incompetent in affairs domestic (New Orleans) and foreign (Iraq and the battle against al-Qaida); He has sacrificed American employment (including the toleration of pension and benefit elimination) to increase overall productivity; He is ignorantly hostile to science and technological progress; He has tolerated or ignored one of the republic's oldest problems, corporate cheating in supplying the military in wartime. Quite an indictment. It is, of course, too early to evaluate a president. That, historically, takes decades, and views change over times as results and impact become more obvious. Besides, many of the historians note that however bad Bush seems, they have indeed since worse men around the White House. Some say Buchanan. Many say Vice President Dick Cheney.
Right... I hated 8 years of relative peace, a government surplus and high employment with a good standard of living. Clinton sucked!
This is an interesting point. I was just reading about the massive price-gouging that was going on in the early years of the Confederacy. Some historians believe it is one of the reasons the South lost the Civil War. It was definitely one of the reasons for the Trail of Tears.
What about the sperm that didn't make any babies? That just died next to the 23 crispy creme donuts, struggling to stay intact in a bath of acid? Hmm? What about the children mc mark? WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN?
I would have to put President Hindenburg at the top of the list. He just signed Germany over to Hitler. What a rube.
Clinton's only problem is he cann't keep his pants zipped. While that is not a good thing, it hardly make him the worst president. Do you have any historical perspectives when you said Clinton is the worst president?
Hasn't this topic come up already a few times? GW Bush is far from great but lets not forget he's still got 3 years in office left. He's still got a ways to go before reaching the likes of Buchanan or Harding.
maybe there's some truth to it.. well there's a ton of incredible hit pieces of editorials appearing on the "faux news" site as well..
Clinton was definitely not the first president to sleep around in office. What are your reasons for making this statement? Can you back it up?
Sorry that you don't care for it, but it reflects the feelings of a large cross section of historians. That bothers you? Tough. I'm sure you can find a historian or two somewhere who will take umbrage with this assessment. Go for it. Personally, he's the worst President of the United States that I've experienced in my lifetime, which includes Tricky Dick Nixon. For a long time, I thought Bush would be hard pressed to beat out Nixon, but he's surpassed him, and then some. Keep D&D Civil.
