The Worst President Ever

A group of my highly educated (as defined by the amount of money their parents' spent to send them to institutions of higher learning and not what they learned) friends and I recently sat and debated who was the worst president in American history. The immediate target was the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, but it was determined that this was too easy. So the debate began in earnest to identify the "next worst:.

For my money, it was a much more difficult debate than one would have thought. The easy money pointed to Andrew Johnson and Herbert Hoover, but they ultimately were not even runner ups. Johnson was impeached by the House of Representatives (technically charged with violating the Tenure of Office Act) but was acquitted by one vote margin in the Senate. His shortcomings were clearly issues of patronage and political dispute resulting from, among other things, his hurry to bring the south back into the union. He alienated both the Democrats and the Republicans. Hoover, forever immortalized for his "chicken in every pot", was not a politician and had never held elected office (he served as Secretary of Commerce under both Coolidge and Harding) prior to his winning the White House. He inherited an economy and a financial system which were untenable and his lack of experience and timing has forever tarred him with being the sitting president for the beginning of the Great Depression.

Though popular, these two former Chief Executives did not even make the top 5 of our discussion. We had a difficult time isolating a number one. FDR was a divisive choice. We noted that his admirers have crowned him the savior of the Great Depression, but we concluded (as have many more scholarly folk) that it was really WWII which turned the economic tide, putting Americans back to work and shifting the balance of trade. We debated the writings of the likes of John Toland, who believed it was FDR's decision, and one of his most unpardonable sins, to ensure American entry into WWII by ignoring intercepted plans and allowing Pearl Harbor to transpire as it did, enraging the nation and driving even the most fervent of isolationists into the battle (Toland wrote a conspiratist's tome, noting that America's entire carrier fleet just happened to be out of harbor and cruising the Aleutians on December 7th). We talked about how, in the final stretches of the war, FDR sold out Eastern Europe and much of Germany in his attempts to curry favor with Stalin. He left a legacy of "big government" and bureaucratic handouts that continue to blight our society.

We argued, as well, for Bill Clinton to garner the top spot. We talked about he launched us into Balkan politics (less you forget it was his command which bombed Sarajevo to remove a war criminal and dictator). We talked  about his decision to throw American troops into an impossible situation in Somalia (immortalized by "Black Hawk Down"). We had heated discussion over his gaining credit for presiding over one of the greatest economic recoveries, but in doing so removing the curbs which had protected the financial system from the abuses which nearly brought us to ruin again in 2008 (the repeal of Glass-Steagall, among other things). More than these flaws, though, we felt him one of the worst in direct correlation to his taste in women. Aside from a discussion of Hilary, which took a while, we rued that the most powerful man in the world managed affairs with a string of women who could have made the trailer trash hall of fame. We discussed his crowing glory in this regard which was, of course, Monica Lewinsky. [The best he could muster was a chubby, unattractive, and mostly crazy, young intern? To top off his well known womanizing, certainly not a flaw in some European ruling circles, Bill had the audacity to lie under oath about this activities in the Oval Office while proving just how poor the educational system; and, in this specific case, the sex education system in Arkansas was when he denied having sex (only oral)].

Another too easy target, in our discussions was W, but the group argued that his failings, and inherent stupidity, were ultimately and directly related to the idiots he surrounded himself with as advisers (anyone want to go shooting with Cheney?). How about JFK someone asked? We gave him credit for his alleged affair with Marilyn (after all, one can marry for wealth but have other needs - not something I subscribe to personally, but also not something for which he should gain a vote as worst of all timer for - after all she was an icon). What many, in the discussion had forgotten, is that Kennedy, aside from his clubby Boston and family politics, was the President who launched our involvement in Vietnam. [Not a crowing glory but a major failing which is largely overlooked as a result of his assassination and the ascendancy of his VP, Lyndon B Johnson, who magnified the problems for us in South East Asia. Johnson' s Great Society proved to be anything but great as was his overall legacy]. Carter got a nod for his mis-steps: rabid inflation, Tehran and Billy. There were even a few votes for Grant and his legacy of graft.

In the end, though, our discussion reverted back to the fund raiser from Chicago. I'd like to say that we decided to give him the rest of his term to make final decision, but we did not. In the end, one of my friends summed it all up: January 20, 2013.