Who's Worse, Who's Worst

The question of who are the best and worst American presidents is an interesting one that can make for good conversation among historically minded people. I’ve long thought that Washington and Lincoln are clearly the two best presidents, with the only really tough question being which of them should be first. I rate Washington slightly higher, because his accomplishment in creating the nation seem to me to be even greater than Lincoln’s in preserving it. However, it is close, and there are valid points each way. (I hope that there is never a third candidate who belongs with them, because I hope the nation never faces dangers dire enough or situations severe enough to allow one. )

I have also been consistent for years about who belongs at the bottom. My bottom four have been Woodrow Wilson, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon ,and Jimmy Carter, listed chronologically since I have vacillated about who among them was really the worst. While allowing that each of them had his successes and accomplishments as well, I think they have earned their rankings.

President Wilson led America into an unnecessary major war in which our presence helped to destabilize Europe and lead to the wars and tyrannies that followed. His administration gave us the income tax, an invasion of Mexico, gross violations of the civil rights of dissenters, a government takeover of the railroads, botched post-war peace negotiations, and federal drug and alcohol prohibition (to be fair he did veto the Volstead Act, though it is said for only technical reasons). To boot, he re-segregated federal offices and bureaus that had been integrated under prior administrations.

Lyndon Johnson’s record includes the Vietnam War, the grossly failed programs of the so-called Great Society, massive increases in the size of government, inflation, serious personal corruption, the collapse of the post war anti-communist consensus, and use of the IRS, the FBI, draft boards and other parts of the government to suppress dissent.

Richard Nixon gave us race quotas, OSHA, the EPA, the DEA, wage and price controls, the endgame in Vietnam, a failed détente policy of accommodation with the Soviet Union, continued suppression of dissent ,more inflation, an energy crisis, and, just for fun, the 55 mph speed limit. He was forced out of office under the threat of impeachment.

Jimmy Carter’s legacy includes the Departments of Energy and Education, rampant inflation, the overthrow of the Shah of Iran, double digit interest rates, economic decline, defeat after defeat in the Cold War, the Iran hostage fiasco, another energy crisis, a serious decline of America’s position in the world, malaise, weakened American armed forces, a dispirited nation with people buying wheat grinders and freeze dried food at survivalist stores, and being chased by a rabbit.

These guys are hard to beat. However, we may now have a fifth who belongs in there with them. Consider the record of George W. Bush. He can claim the Iraq war, the McCain-Feingold restrictions on free speech, exploding domestic spending, record federal deficits after a period of surpluses under his predecessor, the TSA and the Patriot Act, a huge drop in the value of the dollar, the federal response to Hurricane Katrina, a stock market that will likely be lower in even nominal terms after eight years than when he took office, the destruction of the post September 11th consensus against terrorists, and now the subprime mess and the panics and bailouts in financial markets. I think he’s a contender.