Scholars Now Rank Donald Trump As the Worst President in U.S. History

[W. Niederhut]

I have long believed as much,* and I say this as a guy who asked Santa Claus for a hardback book about American Presidents for Christmas in 1964, at age 7.

During the past 60 years, I have read biographies of most American Presidents.

We have had previous discussions about this subject on the Education Forum with American history scholars, including James DiEugenio.

My own opinion, stated previously, is that the last of the old Jacksonian Democrats, Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan, have long been somewhat unfairly vilified for their well-intentioned efforts to save the Union and preserve the old Jacksonian coalition between northern Democrats and Southern slave holders.

For their reluctance to dissolve the Union, Buchanan was almost hanged in Pennsylvania during the Civil War, and Pierce ended his days as a lonely pariah in New England.

Compared to Donald Trump, and Andrew Johnson, both Pierce and Buchanan were well-educated men and, in Pierce's case, a decorated U.S. war veteran (Mexican American War.)

Pierce was a Colgate alumnus, and close college chum of the great American writer, Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Buchanan was a diligent, well-respected lawyer and distinguished American diplomat.

In similar fashion, Millard Fillmore was vilified by history for his efforts, in 1850, to preserve the Union.

Andrew Johnson, the blatantly racist drunkard from East Tennessee who sabotaged proper Reconstruction, comes closest to rivalling Trump for worst POTUS in history, IMO.

George W. Bush also deserves a disastrous ranking for his promotion of the specious, multi-trillion dollar PNAC Neocon "War on Terror."

But only Donald Trump has done what historian Michael Beschloss called, "the worst thing a President can do"-- refusing to relinquish power.

* Official Results of the 2024 Presidential Greatness Project Expert Survey

(Link won't copy-- see LA Times article below for link)

Experts rank Biden among the best presidents. Trump? Not so much - Los Angeles Times (latimes.com)

 

 

Edited February 20 by W. Niederhut

[Robert Morrow]

LBJ was the worst.