Favorite and least favorite thing about all 20th century presidents + Bush

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

McKinley
Favorite: He gave us Teddy Roosevelt
Least Favorite: He was a whore of big business

Roosevelt
Favorite: Trust busting
Least Favorite: too hawkish

Taft
Favorite: um....
Least Favorite: Tried to undo Teddy's work and restore the Gilded Age

Wilson
Favorite: Finally put an end to child labor for good
Least: Espionage and Sedition Acts + Palmer Raids

Harding
Favorite: He pardoned Eugene Debs
Least: the scandals

Collidge
Favorite: His personality
Least: His hands off the economy

Hoover
Favorite: He was personally a good guy
Least: Smoot-Hawley

FDR
Favorite: He tried to turn the country into a new socialist state
Least: The Internment of the Japanese

Truman
Favorite: He voted Taft-Hartley
Least: He really botched up the Korean War

Eisenhower
Favorite: His actions against Orval Faubus
Least: Many of the actions of his first Sec. of State, John Foster Dulles

JFK
Favorite: Ending the Cuban Missile Crisis
Least: Bay of Pigs

LBJ
Favorite: Great Society
Least: Just saying Vietnam is a little too broad, so I'll say the Gulf of Tonkin resolution

Nixon
Favorite: Establishment of the EPA and most of his increases of funding to domestic projects
Least: I don't really care about Watergate all that much actually. The Pinochet coup.

Ford
Favorite: John Paul Stevens
Least: Giving Suharto the go ahead to invade East Timor

Carter
Favorite: His much better approach to foreign policy
Least: The exception to that: Boycotting the 1980 Olympics

Reagan
Favorite: Um..."Tear down this wall!" was a good line
Least: Iran Contra

George H.W. Bush
Favorite: He had the foresight not to invade Iraq and knew what would happen. Plus Souter
Least: His failure of a domestic agenda

Clinton
Favorite: 8 years of peace and prosperity.
Least: NAFTA

George W. Bush
Favorite: His first term was just one big disaster and I except the second to be no different, but I do like the idea of Social Security reform even though I don't like exactly how he's going about it so the start isn't too bad. Plus Do Not Call
Least: I'm not going to even bother to try to choose....

[minionofmidas]

McKinley
Favorite: He gave us Teddy Roosevelt, if only to remove him from New York politics and render him harmless
Least Favorite: He was the intellectual property of big business

Roosevelt
Favorite: The Moose logo
Least Favorite: Colonialist

Taft
Favorite: His weight
Least Favorite: His later activity on the SC

Wilson
Favorite: Finally put an end to child labor for good
Least: Treatment of pacifists in 1917/18

Harding
Favorite: His rhetoric. "Progress is not (I-forget-the-word) nor palaver. It is not the perturbation of a people passion-wrought, but a promise proposed." Hilarious.
Least: His politics. All of them really.

Collidge
Favorite: His personality, also his support of internationalism
Least: His disastrous politics, esp. his unwillingness to act on his internationalist convictions.

Hoover
Favorite: You have to kind of feel sorry for the guy, yes
Least: The 1928 presidential campaign.

FDR
Favorite: Fireside chats
Least: The Internment of the Japanese

Truman
Favorite: Attempts to repeal Taft-Hartley, also Fair Deal rhetoric which paved the way to the civil rights movement
Least: His choice of secretary of state

Eisenhower
Favorite: Little Rock
Least: His choice of secretary of state

JFK
Favorite: Screwing Marylin Monroe
Least: Bay of Pigs

LBJ
Favorite: So many great things it's hard to pick. Father of modern American democracy, really.
Least: Gulf of Tonkin

Nixon
Favorite: Watergate, because it brought him down
Least: Invasion of Laos and Cambodia

Ford
Favorite: Saying he knows he'll burn in hell because he pardoned Richard Nixon
Least: Pardoning Richard Nixon

Carter
Favorite: Andy Kaufman's Carter impersonation
Least: Boycotting the 1980 Olympics

Reagan
Favorite: Voting four times for FDR
Least: Well, I'm not sure how much of it is true, but there is a theory that the Reagan campaign worked to prevent a solution to the Iran hostage crisis in the final weeks of the campaign.

I'll leave out the newer ones...the pain is still too fresh.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Harding
Least: His politics. All of them really.

actually while most of them were bad, he was probably the best president we had up to that point on racial issues. During a campaign stop he gave a strong speech against lynching. He didn't do anything as president in that area though.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

McKinley
Favourite: The political blunder that gave us Teddy
Least Favourite: Put it like this; when Big Business said "jump" he didn't just say "how high", he fetched a stepladder as well.

T. Roosevelt
Favourite: Trust busting
Least Favourite: The whole colonialist thing

Taft
Favourite: Losing in such an amusing way
Least Favourite: Being a reactionary prick on the Supreme Court

Wilson
Favourite: Ending child labor (appointing Bryan Secretary of State was good as well)
Least Favourite: Treatment of Pacifists during WWI. Oh and the racism thing.

Harding
Favourite: Er... er... er... pardoning Debs was the only decent thing he did so...
Least Favourite: Where do I start? Worst (and most corrupt) President ever

Coolidge
Favourite: His personality was pretty cool (bad pun intended)
Least Favourite: Caused the Great Depression

Hoover
Favourite: He was a nice guy when all's done and said.
Least Favourite: 1928 Campaign

FDR
Favourite: The New Deal
Least Favourite: Treatment of Japanese Americans

Truman
Favourite: Doing all he could to stop Taft-Hartley+ Taking on the Dixiecrats and generally sticking up for the little guy
Least Favourite: The silly (and often pretty bitter) row with John L Lewis.

Eisenhower
Favourite: Little Rock
Least Favourite: His choice of Secretary of State

JFK
Favourite: Preventing WW3
Least Favourite: Bay of Pigs

LBJ
Favourite: Amazing domestic policy that helped millions of people and brought democracy to the Deep South.
Least Favourite: His general ignorance of foreign policy, which allowed him to be duped by hawkish advisors.

Nixon
Favourite: Watergate, because it got rid of him (oh all right... some of his domestic stuff wasn't half bad)
Least Favourite: Disgusting foreign policy

Ford
Favourite: Saying he'll burn in hell because...
Least Favourite: ...he pardoned Nixon

Carter
Favourite: He's a nice guy when all's said and done
Least Favourite: Failing to realise that Congress is not like the Georgia Legislature of the early '70's...

Reagan
Favourite: "Allowing" O'Neill to get the better of him in the last 6 years of his Presidency
Least Favourite: Gutting regional development

Bush I
Favourite: Er... losing to Bubba the way he did
Least Favourite: Abandoning the Iraqi Shia to their fate... and all for electoral reasons.

Clinton
Favourite: Nothing really bad happend
Least Favourite: Didn't get a whole lot done either

Bush II
Favourite: Getting rid of the Taliban
Least Favourite: Beings so damned crass

[skybridge]

What is your people's obsession with Coolidge's personality?

And to the guy before me, that Clinton didn't get a lot done is just false.

[TX_1824]

McKinley
Favourite: He gave us Teddy
Least favourite: Led the way for the highest tariff in American history, McKinley Tariff. Also, allowed big business to monopolise and drive up consumer prices.

T. Roosevelt
Favourite: Led the way to make an effort to save our environment by creating national parks and reserves. Anti-trust legislation.
Least Favourte: Wanted to compete with European nations and set up American colonies.

Taft
Favourite: White House staff had to build a special bathtub because he got stuck in the old one and had to be pried out.
Least Favourite: Hated the job so much that he received only eight electoral votes and couldn't be happier.

Wilson
Favourite: Child Labour laws
Least favourite: initially opposed women's suffrage and his apparent racism.

Harding
Favourite: The Roaring Twenties began. Probably not of his doing.
Least favourite: Just an awful president.

Coolidge
Favourite: The most lade back president ever.
Least Favourite: The most lade back president ever.

Hoover
Favourite: His quote when he became the Republican nominee in 1928, "We in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land". Then the market crashed after he got elected.
Least favourite: Didn't know how to solve The Depression.

FDR
Favourite: Did everything he could to win WWII.
Least favourite: He tried to turn the country into a socialist state and thus prolonged the depression.

Truman
Favourite: desegregated the armed services and began to focus on Civil Rights.
Least favourite: The Korean War, though he was able to preserve South Korea.

Eisenhower
Favourite: Forced integration in public schools.
Least Favourite: His Sec of State

JFK
Favourite: Cuban Missle Crisis
Least favourite: Almost provoked nuclear war with the Bay of Pigs.

LBJ
Favourite: Civil Rights
Least favourite: Didn't know how to handle Vietnam (though no one ever figured it out).

Nixon
Favourite: Domestic policy
Least favourite: Watergate. Why break into the DNC? Did he not know he was going to win big?

Ford
Favourite: Generally tried to do what he believed was right. Good foreign policy.
Least favourite: Pardoned Nixon. Guaranteed he would lose in 1976.

Carter
Favourite: Overall nice guy. Better as an ex-president.
Least favourite: Foreign policy. 1980 boycott, hyperinflation, long gas lines and I voted for him in 1976.

Reagan
Favourite: The Great Communicator. Was able to gain support from both sides of the aisle.
Least Favourite: Saying ketchup was a vegetable.

Bush 41
Favourite: Good foreign policy.
Least favourite: "Read my lips!" speech. We didn't follow up to Baghdad and remove Saddam and thus here we are today. We actually had the majority Shiite support then.

Clinton
Favourite: Had a good domestic policy and rode the dotcom boom of the 90's.
Least favourite: Didn't give enough attention to the growing terrorist threat of the early 90's.

Bush 43 (so far)
Favourite: Doesn't pander to the U.N.
Least favourite: Didn't give enough respect to the terrorist threat until it was too late. He had a lot of clues; WTC 93, two embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998, USS Cole 2000 as well as other warning signs. So here we are.

[skybridge]

McKinley
Least favourite: Led the way for the highest tariff in American history, McKinley Tariff. Also, allowed big business to monopolise and drive up consumer prices.

I'm glad to see a Republican complain about these kinds of things.

[TX_1824]

McKinley
Least favourite: Led the way for the highest tariff in American history, McKinley Tariff. Also, allowed big business to monopolise and drive up consumer prices.

I'm glad to see a Republican complain about these kinds of things.

I generally support anti-trust legislation and small tariffs on imported goods, if any tariff at all, in order to promote competition and keep consumer prices low. The only reason I support any tariff at all is to encourage consumers to buy American and support American workers. Big business will make their profits. Competition keeps prices low.

[PBrunsel]

McKinley
Favorite: Made the UNited States a World Power.
Least Favorite: Gave us Teddy Roosevelt.

Roosevelt
Favorite: The Great White Fleet's World Tour
Least Favorite: The Depression of 1907.

Taft
Favorite: Was a bigger trust buster than TR ever was and he was a big friendly nice guy who every one liked.
Least Favorite: Failed to provide dynamic leadership like TR.

Wilson
Favorite: Reformed the tariff and ended our fear of British goods.
Least: The League of Nations

Harding
Favorite: The Washington Treaty
Least: The illigitimate child

Collidge
Favorite: His hands od business
Least: Not running for reelection in 1928.

Hoover
Favorite: He was the first President to help the starving and unemployed. Too many to mentiuon really.
Least: Smoot-Hawley, I guess.

FDR
Favorite: Approved of Eisenhower as Supreme Allied Commander.
Least: He tried to turn the country into a new socialist state and Court Packing scheme of 1938.

Truman
Favorite: Ended World War II and was a tough son of a bitch.
Least: His failure to unite Korea.

Eisenhower
Favorite: Strong Cold War Leadership and the golfing greens.
Least: Too laid back and didn't focus on the Presidency enough.

JFK
Favorite: Tax Cuts of 1962.
Least: His many, many, many affairs.

LBJ
Favorite: Beautification Act
Least: Great Society

Nixon
Favorite: Attempting to reform the Chinese Governemnt and Shuttle Diplomacy.
Least: Affirmitive Action

Ford
Favorite: Restored honor to the Presidency.
Least: His stupid Poland line.

Carter
Favorite: Strong moral vaues
Least: Terrible forign policy

Reagan
Favorite: Tax Cuts, economic boom, greatest sustained growth since Monroe [outlasted Clintons by 4 years]
Least: Somehwhat of a "hands-off" Presidency

George H.W. Bush
Favorite: Taking down Saddam Hussein and seeing the Cold War end.
Least: His failure to condemn the Chinese after Tiannemen Square.

Clinton
Favorite: NAFTA and balanced budget
Least: Coddling Chinese Communists and giving them millitary secrets.

George W. Bush
Favorite: Tax Cuts in 2001 and the Paryial Birth Abortion Act
Least: Somehwhat secretive Presidency.

[dazzleman]

Wilson
Favorite - Idealism
Least Favorite - Racist, overly arrogant

Harding
Favorite - Advocated better treatment for blacks
Least Favorite - Corruption, incompetence

Coolidge
Favorite - Small government
Least Favorite - Failed to head off depression

Hoover
Favorite - Great humanitarian
Least Favorite - Unable to cope with depression

Roosevelt
Favorite - Courageous resistance to Nazis
Least Favorite - Class warfare prolonged depression

Truman
Favorite - Had ba**s, stood up to communists
Least Favorite - Demagogue on economic issues

Eisenhower
Favorite - Maintained peace and prosperity
Least Favorite - Too passive on civil rights

Kennedy
Favorite - Tough foreign policy, tax cuts
Least Favorite - Crisis-prone foreign policy

Johnson
Favorite - Civil rights laws
Least Favorite - Belief that answer to poverty lay in government spending; committing to war without intending to win

Nixon
Favorite - Opening relations with China; ending US involvment in Vietnam
Least Favorite - Overly liberal on certain domestic issues, Watergate

Ford
Favorite - Decency, restoration of civility after Vietnam/Watergate, conservative economic and foreign policy
Least Favorite - Poor public speaker; bad at public relations

Carter
Favorite - Pissed off core Democratic groups by not being liberal enough
Least Favorite - I'd hardly know where to begin...Dangerous foreign policy that appeared peaceful, but was dangerous passive and ultimately would have led to war

Reagan
Favorite - Confronted Soviets, unleashed economic expansion
Least Favorite - Passivity led to scandal

Bush
Favorite - Confronted Saddam Hussein
Least Favorite - unable to articulate vision for future

Clinton
Favorite - Welfare Reform (forced on him by Republicans)
Least Favorite - Failed to deal with emerging problems like terrorism; overly ego-centric view of the presidency

Bush
Favorite - Willing to risk popularity to bring future benefits (in marked contrast with his predecessor)
Least Favorite - Explosion in discretionary government spending

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

McKinley
Favorite: VP choice
Least:  Pawn of the big corporations

Rossevelt
Favorite: trust busting
Least:  Too pro war

Taft
Favorite: chosen by Rossevelt
Least: Rossevelt later changed his mind

Wilson
Favorite: chld labor, League of Nations
Least: racist

Harding
Favorite: pardoned Debs
Least: teapot Dome

Coolidge
Favorite: born in Vermont
Least:  caused the Great Depression

Hoover
Favorite: Depression wasn't really his fault, much better than Coolidge
Least: Still couldn't fix the economy

FDR
Favorite: Ended Great Depression, won WWII
Least: Intenment of Japanese

Truman
Favorite: civil rights
Least: cold war

Eisenhower:
Favorite: Forced busing
Least: Dulles

JFK:
Favorite: Cuban Missile crisis
Least: Daddy helped him get the job

LBJ:
Favorite: Great Society, civil rights
Least: Tonkin Bay resolution

Nixon:
Favorite: EPA and other regulatory agencies
Least: Watergate, JFK assassination connections

Ford
Favorite: Stevens
Least: Pardoned Nixon

Carter
Favorite: pro-human rights
Least: pro-human rights except for with the Shah's regime

Reagan
Favorite: Had supported New Deal, quitely raised taxes
Least: Tax cut, Iran contra

HW Bush:
Favorite: Read my lips....
Least: Nazi ties, only made it because of a powerful daddy

Clinton:
Favorite: Economic boom
Least: Rather conservative for being a Democrat

W Bush:
Favorite:  United the Democrats better than the Democrats ever could have by themselves
Least: Everything

[Notre Dame rules!]

Lewis,
Are you implying that you believe in the conspiracy theory that Reagan sent Bush to Iran via SR-71 Blackbird to negotiate that the Iranians hold the hostages until after the election?

Could it be that Carter's botched attempt to rescue them kind of pissed off the Iranians into not wanting to release them until Carter's ineptitude got him fired by the American people?

[tinman64]

McKinley:

Favorite: Gave us ol' TR
Least Favorite: US became colonial power

T. Roosevelt:

Favorite: Trust buster and progressive
Least Favorite: Hawk

Taft:

Favorite: none
Least Favorite: Overturned many of TR's reforms

Wilson:

Favorite: Ended child labor
Least Favorite: Alien and Sedition acts

Harding:

Favorite: none
Least Favorite: Appointed crooked cronies

Coolidge:

Favorite: A good, honest man
Least Favorite: Passed on due benefits for WWI vets

Hoover:

Favorite: A good, honest man
Least favorite: Letting Gen. MacArthur attack the bonus army and burn down the "Hoovervilles"

FDR:

Favorite: "Alphabet Soup" programs
Least Favorite: Internment of Japanese-Americans

Truman:

Favorite: Ended race separation in US Army
Least Favorite: Didn't run again in 1952

Eisenhower:

Favorite: Stood up to Orval Faubus
Least Favorite: Preferred golf to leadership

Kennedy:

Favorite: Cuban Missile Crisis
Least Favorite: Bay of Pigs

Johnson:

Favorite: Medicare
Least Favorite: Escalation in Vietnam

Nixon:

Favorite: EPA
Least Favorite: Christmas bombing of Cambodia, Watergate, audio tapes revealing anti-Semitism

Ford:

Favorite: A honest, decent man (needed after Nixon)
Least Favorite: Nixon pardon

Carter:

Favorite: Human rights, Camp David accords
Least Favorite: Handling of economy

Reagan:

Favorite: Helping to end Cold War
Least Favorite: Increase in federal deficit; rich got richer, poor got poorer

G. H. W. Bush:

Favorite: Experience in foreign policy
Least Favorite: Handling of economy

Clinton:

Favorite: peace, prosperity
Least favorite: Personal problems that helped lead to Al Gore's 2000 defeat

G. W. Bush:

Favorite: none
Least favorite: too numerous to list

[DanielX]

McKinley:
Good: Was absolutely devoted to his wife
Bad: Dressed like the guy on top of a wedding cake

Roosevelt, T:
Good: He's a very good speaker
Bad: A bit too progressive for my tastes

Taft:
Good: Nice guy, really
Bad: About as progressive as Teddy

Wilson
Good: Produced the first female president (his wife)
Bad: Was one racist SOB

Harding
Good: didn't do anything bad
Bad: Didn't know how to say 'no'

Coolidge
Good: Didn't say much
Bad: Did even less

Hoover
Good: Devoted to his wife (like McKinley)
Bad: Stranglehold tariff

Roosevelt, F. D.
Good: His cameraderie with Churchill
Bad: The New Deal went way too far

Truman
Good: Knew that Communism was a threat
Bad: Didn't do enough about it

Eisenhower
Good: Played golf
Bad: Choice of veep

Kennedy
Good: tax cuts
Bad: went halfway in Bay of Pigs (either full-way or not at all!)

Johnson
Good: very wiley on political issues
Bad: Socialism out the wazoo

Nixon
Good: Legalized gold
Bad: Watergate

Ford
Good: actually stemmed inflation a bit
Bad: couldn't walk and chew gum at the same time

Carter (i'll give two each)
Good: builds great houses, peanuts are good
Bad: inept foreign policy... come to think of it, inept economic policy too

Reagan
Good: gave the military $$$ to win the cold war
Bad: Iran-Contra

Bush I
Good: didn't 'go wobbly'
Bad: tax increases

Clinton
Good: Balanced budget.. for a year or so.
Bad: Chinese campaign contributions

Bush II
Good: Actually knows how to take weighted risks
Bad: Hasn't bothered to balance the budget (yet).

[A18]

Worst thing about McKinley are those damn tariffs.

[George W. Bush]

I didn’t feel like doing the old ones.

Kennedy
Good: Gave America Peace and hope for a new Era.
Bad: It was all an Illusion

Johnson
Good: Very Smart, Like Cheney
Bad: Handling of the war

Nixon
Good: Ended Vietnam
Bad: Watergate

Ford
Good: Good man, Good President
Bad: Wrong place, Wrong time

Carter
Good: Camp David Accords, Same as Ford
Bad: Bad at Economy, Same as Ford

Reagan
Good: His Brilliant Speeches and helped bring America Back
Bad: Seemed not to care at times

Bush I
Good: Regan VP
Bad: Raised Taxes

Clinton
Good: Good Peace Time President, good Economy
Bad: Ignored everything and let it get bumped on predecessor

Bush II
Good: 9/11
Bad: Doesn’t seem to think the Economy is an Issue in first term