Who was the most reviled president while in office?

[ewc]

I know this is a Civil War board and i have a fair idea how this poll will turn out as both those of us who admire President Lincoln and those who revile him acknowledge the tremendous opposition to him while during his presidency. But taking a broader view, and as we all have an historical bent, was another president even more reviled in his time? We certainly have a goodly number from which to choose . So, on with the poll.

[FSPowers]

There are too many Presidents from all parties that have done boneheaded things to mention.

[elektratig]

ewc,

I can't decide! The problem is that so many presidents have been the subject of vicious attacks, whether deserved or not. In addition to those on your list, there are probably others who deserve inclusion. For example, I happen to be in the middle of Robert Remini's brief biography of John Quincy Adams (part of the American Presidents Series, edited by Arthur Schlesinger), and I'd guess that JQA is in the top ten.

[ewc]

electratig- i happen to completely agree with you. Every president has his virulent opposition. If I was going to include another president on the list. it would be Quincy Adams, almost did in place of W, as W is a bit too recent, but in the end, decided that he has had so much virulent (and spurious) opposition that I felt it wouldn't be just to exclude him. I also gave the Founding Fathers (including Q) a bye as the time is now so far removed from us and that a good deal of what they had to go through was in the name of building this great country.

Quite honestly, i thought Lincoln was a dead ringer for this poll, but I guess a number of our less than illustrious chief execs have been of such recent vintage and memory that the impressions are too powerful to overcome, and that's not to say the likes of Nixon and Clinton don't deserve the honor anyway. For my part, i threw history to the wind and went with my emotions in fingering a villain- Easy Billy Clinton. He may well indeed have earned the 'honor' outright on his own lack of merit, but for me, it was certainly a gut over mind decision.

[elektratig]

Well, since no else is volunteering, I'll take a partial stab at it, ranking only the 19th Century presidents and including John Quincy:

A. Lincoln
A. Johnson
A. Jackson
J.Q. Adams
J. Buchanan
U.S. Grant

My vote for Lincoln would, I think, remain unchanged even if all candidates were included.

[sockknitter]

I cast my ONE vote for Clinton. It is not necessarily because I consider him the most worthy of being reviled; it is because I think in general over the United States he received the most hatred from the population while he was in office.

I looked at a list of all the Presidents and picked out my top 5, coming up with 1) Clinton 2) Nixon 3) Herbert Hoover 4) Lyndon Johnson 5) Franklin Roosevelt. I repeat, they are not necessarily who I would pick as being our worst Presidents. I think as communications improved over the years, people have become much more able to spread their opinions and influence others. My list was undoubtedly heavily influenced by reading contemporary newspapers and references to Presidents by living people. It is sobering to consider that I have lived during the terms of more than ten Presidents!

[ole]

I put my vote on Nixon, not because I believe he was a bad president, but I think he got the majority of the voting public riled. Bill Clinton was re-elected and probably could have had a 3rd term which would have put him in charge after 9/11 (shudder).

Recognizing that all president's had their share of revulsion, I based my decision on the numbers crossing that magic 50 percent mark.
Ole

[lrd89]

"I will not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president." (Lyndon Johnson, Televised Address to the nation, 1968)

[johan_steele]

Don't be so hard on Lincoln; simply take a look at the popular vote he garnered for his re-election and contrary to some who believe otherwise on this board I've never seen credible evidence of vote tampering. The Army idolized the man. Ironically his lowest % of votes in the Army was from Michigan at only around 75%. Missouri troops gave him a whopping 99% of their votes. Alabama (though their votes didn't count) 94%. His popularity among the Black Population, North & South was outright increadible (again their votes didn't count).

I believe he garnered something like 80% of the military vote. Compare that to Clinton who received IIRC only about 10% of the military vote...

Keep in mind much of what we think we know about how Lincoln was thought of by the populace comes from newspapers... every bit as biased then as now. IMHO w/ no less agenda in their reporting than those of today.

[rbenne]

Reviled.... meaning not what I think but how he was treated in office.

I believe Clinton does not belong on the list, he was a media darling and while hated by some he was loved to the point of worship by many (I am NOT amoung them)

Nixon was actully going up for what would have been a succesful impeachment, have to call him as Number 1 on the list, (I liked him)

Johnson I hate more then any other man, but it seems i was not alone there, he did not seek nomination for a good reason.

Lincoln, no way, while made fun of often I would hardly call him reviled, his re-election proves his popularity.