Who was the most reviled president while in office?

[samgrant]

Can we consider their post-presidency activities and behaviors on the question?

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[larry_cockerham]

This poll list is a mite long? Too many of these guys were reviled by a hugh number of folks for a considerable number of diverse reasons. Hard to compare Andy Jackson with Bill Clinton. Jackson was, for example, looked on as a national hero for his exploits against the British. A good number of Native Americans had quite disimiliar viewpoints. Clinton was mostly just looked on for his exploits.

[elektratig]

Originally Posted by samgrant

Perhaps the question should have been "Who was the most justifiably reviled president while in office?"

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Sam,

Actually, I think you have it backwards. The interesting question is, "Who was the most unjustifiably reviled?"

If I may cast someone else's vote, Daniel Walker Howe seems to believe that John Quincy Adams gets the award:

"[T]he presidential campaign of 1828 was probably the dirtiest in American history. It seems only fair to observe that while the hostile stories circulated about Adams were largely false, those about Jackson were largely true. An exception was the charge appearing in an Adams paper that Jackson's mother had been a prostitute."

[DJ Psychomike]

Well, Lincoln had people at war with him so that tops impeachment calls!

Add in the people in the union that didn't like him and you have a sizable army!

FDR was hated, but the truth about his economic policies and trust of Stalin wasn't fully understood until recently. Truman and Eisenhower hiding the extent our nation had been infiltrated by spies and enemy agents, LBJ and Nam, our first socialist President Nixon, the ineffective Jimmy Carter.... the miracle is we have survived them all!

[5fish]

Originally Posted by DJ Psychomike

Well, Lincoln had people at war with him so that tops impeachment calls!

Add in the people in the union that didn't like him and you have a sizable army!

FDR was hated, but the truth about his economic policies and trust of Stalin wasn't fully understood until recently. Truman and Eisenhower hiding the extent our nation had been infiltrated by spies and enemy agents, LBJ and Nam, our first socialist President Nixon, the ineffective Jimmy Carter.... the miracle is we have survived them all!

Dj,

You have amazing interpolation of recent history, I figure we lived in the same time frame just different or parallel worlds

[cw1865]

Nixon is many things....but not a socialist.....

[samgrant]

Again, "reviled" may not be the subject, but what do you think about this Wikipedia entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histori...tes_Presidents


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[samgrant]

On the 5th anniversary of "Mission Accomplished", there is this today:

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com...odern-history/


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[samgrant]

Another few Presidential rankings:

http://www.debatableland.com/the_deb...ost-under.html

http://www.debatableland.com/the_deb...-the-core.html

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[diddyriddick]

Interesting question. I'll stay away from anybody from the last fifty years. My choice for the worst is....Buchanan. When the country most needed action, he gave us inaction.