United States has attempted to elect Presidents to get the job done right. There are various Presidents throughout history who have not stood by their word and have gone against the will of the people. Their decisions and actions are insufficient and unruly. Many of them do not act fast and are also not right for the job. As such, here is the top 10 list of worst US Presidents.
1. Barack Obama:
The current President of the United States, Barack Obama is one of the worst presidents. Until this year, he has not been incisive in action. He stood by and did absolutely nothing as DP Horizon Oil Spill leaked all over the Guelph of Mexico for 3 months. 4.9 million barrels of oil spilled through the water, polluting it. When it came to rising Gas Prices, his actions were insufficient. Prices rose from $1.83/gallon in 2009 to $3.44/gallon in 2011. Lastly, Obama worsened unemployment rates since coming into power. Since coming into power, the rates have increased, and not decreased as his Presidential platform predicted. Obama’s aim to get the United States out of what he called another “Great Depression” has been deemed useless.
2. James Buchanan:
Buchanan rubbed salt on the wounds between Successional States and the Union States. He supported the Dred Scott decision, which refused to protect African Americans under the constitution, added Kansas as a slavery state and put slavery issues on a state level. In making such decisions he caused greater tensions between the North and the South. He was the first President to have left office 39 days before a Civil War ensued.
3. Bill Clinton:
Bill Clinton is an utter humiliation to the United States for two reasons. First, his foreign policies lacked decisiveness and were all over the place. He declared war on numerous countries, notably Yugoslavia, Iraq and Somalia. The intervention into Yugoslavian and Somalian civil wars lacked reason. Furthermore, the Iraqi War in December of 1998 had no clear results. Secondly, he was sleeping on the job and getting paid. When America expected him to be a leader, he was busy cheating on his wife with an intern in the Oval Office. When caught, he wagged his finger in front of the camera and stated “I want to say one thing to the American people, I’m going to say this again. I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. I never told anybody to lie. Not a single time. Never. These allegations are false and I need to go back to work for the American people.” How can anyone respect a President who stood up and lied in front of the whole world and got caught?
4. Richard Nixon:
Although this President did a service to the United States by ending the 20 year Vietnam War, he still hit the books as one of the worst presidents. During the Watergate scandal, he tapped into the National Democratic Party Headquarters. 5 members from his fundraiser organization, the Committee to Re-elect the President, were arrested for trespassing and burglary. After extensive investigation 6 of Nixon’s top advisers were charged with fraud for their part in the scandal. A grand jury charged Nixon as co-conspirator. Nixon had no other choice but to resign in shame.
5. John F. Kennedy:
This President led the United States into a possible nuclear crisis right at its doorstep. The Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis were an embarrassment to the United States. As a superpower, the United States should have done much more to secure the nation against any nuclear catastrophes, before threats were made. Furthermore, John F. Kennedy should have had a better campaign set up to decrease tensions between his country and the Soviet Union. The Bay of Pigs invasion only infuriated the Soviet Union and the Cubans even more.
6. Jimmy Carter:
This man is no better than the 9 other Presidents on the list. He indirectly contributed to the rise of Islamic Militancy in Iran. He did not support the Shah in a time of need in Iran. The Shah, a loyal friend of the United States and an anti-communist, was losing power as the Iranian Revolution was expanding exponentially. When the Iranian Hostage Crisis took place, it took him 154 days to respond. When the war in Afghanistan was taking place he refused to send athletes to the Olympics in Moscow. Finally, he deserves no credit for trying to decrease inflation and rising oil prices, especially in 1977.
7. George H.W. Bush, Senior:
This president is a crook and a liar. Throughout his presidential campaign and term he was quoted as saying, “Read my lips: No new taxes.” In 1990 he did the exact opposite and went against what people voted and raised taxes. Furthermore, this President increased spending on bringing down the Soviet Union and on protecting the country from outside forces. With increased spending, he was able to put his country into a recession. Is that what he called, protecting the nation?
8. Herbert Hoover:
Hoover was not the brightest President of the United States. He feared that too much government intervention would cause citizens to be less self-reliant. During the Great Depression, he refused to provide aid to families. He feared that they would become addicted to government money. Although he argued otherwise, his policies followed the leave it alone approach. How can any President watch his people live in misery and do nothing to help? Only a bad president can. Thankfully he was voted out before he could do more damage.
9. Andrew Johnson:
With the end of slavery in 1864 and the introduction of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendment to the Bill of Rights, reconstruction in the South was on its way. Lincoln was an excellent advocate for bringing the nation to unity. He stood by the African Americans by granting them civil rights, dignity and their right to vote. Andrew Johnson did the exact opposite after Lincoln was assassinated. He refused to fund reconstruction in the South. Tensions between whites and blacks ensued, causing greater inequalities and separation caused by Jim Crow Laws later in the 1800s. Johnson was impeached and thrown out of office in 1868 for failing to abide by the law. He fired his secretary of state, despite there being a law which disallowed him to do so. What a great president leads by example by breaking the law?
10. Andrew Jackson:
Andrew Jackson is another Christopher Columbus figure who was adamant on wiping out the Native American population. He took away their rights to land by moving them from their homes in his bid to expand the country westward. He murdered 1,000s of Aboriginals who fought his policies, which forced them to sign removal papers. Specifically, he took advantage of a divided Cherokee nation and nearly wiped out their nation in 1830 when he discovered gold on their property. He did this despite existing treaties being in place between the US government and the Cherokee nation.
Worst list ever. Millard Fillmore was the worst president ever
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A worst presidents list with Clinton and J.F.K on it. You are so far brainwashed into the right wing that Margaret Thatcher and Hitler both seem a bit liberal by comparison.
i am not an American and i thought Andrew Johnson impeachment wasn’t successful
This is the most ridiculous list I have ever read about worst presidents. Top ten lists on politics SHOULD not be based on the writer’s opinion.
Obama is far from being number 1 worst, sure he did some things any president would do that make people dislike him…. but in comparison with Buchanan, how is Obama number 1? Buchanan pushed America into the Civil War and did nothing to prevent it… causing hundreds of thousands lives lost and a long history of hatred… and yet you put Obama on #1 just because “he did nothing about the BP oil spill” You’re an idiot.
Yea this list is terrible. You can’t name top ten presidents without showing a bias. And Clinton, JFK, And Carter? They’d definitely be better than Bush 2.
All the lists do have a perspective (or a bias…), as you may call it. If you think a different list deserves to be on, submit it. We would love to hear what you have to say. Make sure everything is backed with concrete arguments.
We are open to scholarly debates.
Stupid list – totally waste our time to read such a biased list.
The lists from these sites are more neutral:
http://www.usnews.com/news/slideshows/10-worst-presidents/9
http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-501143_162-2496227.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_rankings_of_Presidents_of_the_United_States
200+ yrs of Presidencies and we are to believe that 4 of the last 6 Presidents belong on this list and 1 of those isn’t George W? One of your major complaints about Clinton is that he had an affair? Well heck you better expand this list since a large # of Presidents famously had affairs. And btw, where is Warren Harding? In virtually every list of bad Presidents he lands at or near the top but here you’ve ignored him.
This list is a joke.
Ill agree Harding and Fillmore and I do not like JFK here as he was in office for way tonshortmof a period to really make a judgement. But I 100% agree with Barack ZERO Obama at the top taking over for WORST (modern day) from Jimmy Carter. Carter the peanut farmer was way in over his head as is the community organizer. Obama has brought more distress on this nation as well as knockedmatvthe foundation that built it. Oh wait he didn’t build that!
Biased list is right. Clinton was oneof the best President’s ever. You would by your pocket book. Those 8 yeras were awesome. Who cares about cigars, fat chicks named Monica. And they said Hillary was running the White House. If she was, then she did great and she should be our President. George Bush Jr and Sr are the worst. George Jr was by far the dumbest.
Boy oh boy this has to be one of the most ignorant top ten worst presidents list i’ve seen thus far. One you left off the man who let the country get attacked by terrorist and ruined our economy but put his father on? two JFK? really? Clinton? by my memory economy was at the best it had been in 45 yrs when clinton was in office. Oh I do apologize. He wasnt racist or wasn’t an outragous war junky looking to kill everyone. sorry he was focused on bettering this country and believing that the human race can strive in an equal manner.
This isn’t a list, it’s bias opinions
what about carter