Presidential Rankings

[Demrepdan]

George W. should not be in the top 5 or top 10 even. That's just absurd. In fact he should not even been on the LIST until is Presidency his over. It's best to judge a person's preformance as President AFTER he is President.

And Ronald Reagan as NUMBER ONE?!?!?! What the hell!!

Abraham Lincoln should be number one..followed by FDR as a close number 2.

[Demrepdan]

FDR a close second?  oh boy.  

You should explain yourself...

[Demrepdan]

William Henry Harrison made the fewest mistakes.

He made two that I can think of. He made the longest inagural speech ever and in freezing weather to boot, and he died.

Dying is a BIG mistake.

[Demrepdan]

1. George Washington, no question
2. Abe Lincoln
3. FDR
4. Ronald Reagan
5. Teddy Roosevelt

Side note_ I do not include Bush in the rankings because his presidency is still in progress. If he had been shot this morning I would have put him at 5. I expect him to be higher by 2008, If he succeeds in changing the face of the mideast.

Bottom:
38. Jimmy Carter
39. Rutherford B. Hayes
40. Richard Nixon
41. Ulysses S. Grant
42. Warren Harding

You've had one of the most sensible lists I've read all day. You admit that President Bush's Presidency is not over yet, and thus he cannot be FULLY judge. You also don't have William J. Clinton in your bottom 5 as others do. However, I would argue that George Washington is not the best President, I don't really see what he did to earn that title.

I intend to post MY list soon, however, being the "historian" that I am, I must do some extra research to make sure that my list is not just fluff.

[Demrepdan]

I agree that "M" has made a good list here.  I ask why were you so critical of my list when you praised "M's"?  Our lists (at least, our top and bottom 5's) are very similar.

I didn't mean to be so critical of your list, and if I was I apologize. The main disagreement I had with your list, however, is that you had Ronald Reagan listed as number one. And George Washington above Abraham Lincoln. But I won't argue that those two Presidents deserve to be in at least the top 5 or top 10 category.

I look forward to your list.  Yes, it takes time to make a *good* list.  I researched each of the presidents, but I confess, I did all of it in just one weekend's time...which doesn't allow for an accurate ranking.  Good luck!

Oh no. lol Now I feel like all eyes are on me for my list. lol

[Demrepdan]

I think FDR is perhaps the most overrated president in U.S. history.  Most economist have come to the conclusion that he prolonged the Great Depression.  He interned the Japanese.  He created the welfare state that we're still paying for today.  He gutted the military putting us at risk when war came knocking at our door.  He fabricated the case for going to war.  Communists were infultrating his administration and he was asleep at the wheel.

Did this man do any lasting good for this country?  I don't see that he did.  To the contrary, I think he did more long term damage to the country than almost any other politician in American history.

Same with Truman.  Someone commented on this thread that even though Truman embraced failed economic policies, he was tough on Communism.  He wasn't though.  "Containment" was a sham.  He didn't contain Communism during his administration, rather, Communism spread.  Not long before announcing the policy of containment, Truman was still referring to Stalin as "Uncle Joe."

Reagan was the first president since the Bolshevic Revolution who actually saw Communism lose ground during his administration.  He recognized that the Soviet Union's economy couldn't withstand an arms race with the United States.  By walking out of the Reykjavik during the arms reduction talks, Reagan doomed the Soviet Union.  They were struggling to catch up as we built a military machine.  He swept away the Soviet pawn of Grenada and halted Communism's advance in South America.

Reagan was just about the only president who actually stood up to the USSR.  Who knows how much earlier the USSR would've fallen had Truman or FDR or Kennedy or Nixon or any other Cold War presidents had stood up to them?

Allow me to sum up your post.

Democrats bad....Republicans..goooood.