I thought it was universally acknowledged that James Buchanan was the worst US President ever. I rather expect that history will continue to agree with that assessment.

Martin Van Buren, who enforced Jackson’s Indian Acts, is also seriously up there, as is Warren Harding, Andrew Johnson, Millard Filmore, John Tyler, Ulysses S. Grant and Franklin Pierce. George W. Bush will certainly be in the bottom half courtesy of his invasion of Iraq and failure to act sufficiently early to curb the excesses of the financial system, but history may struggle to place him in the bottom 10.

As for the author of this piece, apart from Barack Obama, it is hard to understand who he would put in his top 10. I would have Lincoln, F.D. Roosevelt, Jefferson, Washington, Wilson, Teddy Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, Eisenhower and Polk.

Dear Agronomist,

It is not universally acknowledged that Buchanan was the worst president. Many historians choose Harding for that position.

My choice for the best is Washington. His refusal to accept a third term established a precedent for the limitation of power. He could have been reelected for life.

I would put Wilson and Reagan in the bottom 10. Wilson could have kept the US out of WW1 and didn’t. His self-determination has given sanction to a number of new nations being founded on the basis of ethnic nationalism that makes people within the borders of those nations who do not fit the national paradigm second-class citizens. His racism delayed black liberation. I believe his self-determination was motivated by his hope that ‘lesser’ peoples would be less likely to come to the United States. His alienation of the Republicans kept the US out of the League of Nations. With a stronger League WW2 might have been prevented. Reagan belongs in the bottom 10 because Reagonomics culminated in the financial catastrophe during Baby Bush’s administration.

At the top I would have Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Chester A. Arthur James Monroe and William Howard Taft.

On bottom I would have from the worst: Andrew Jackson, Baby Bush, James Buchanan, Franklin D. Pierce, Woodrow Wilson, Ronald Reagan, Warren G. Harding, Herbert Hoover, James K. Polk, Calvin Coolidge, Andrew Johnson. I have 11 bad because I think they all belong there.

James K. Polk belongs in the bottom 11 because he continued the genocidal policies of Andrew Jackson towards the Indians and initiated an aggressive war against Mexico. Although the US benefited greatly from the war it remains an unconscionable act of aggression.

Many put Grant in the bottom 10. However, two of my grandchildren are also his descendents. They are both bright and beautiful.

Eisenhower has been called a ‘do nothing’ president. In that lies his greatness. Many of the things he refused to do shouldn’t have been done.

Barack Obama’s administration is only at the beginning. Time will tell where he ranks.

By far the worst president was Woodrow Wilson. WW1,income tax,federal reserve bank,illegalization of drugs,women with the right to vote. Wilson was the first U.S. president to be stooged by that hideous bloated swine Winston Churchill. Wilson the moron was sucked in by the phoney telegram from Germany to its Mexican embassy and the betrayal of the Lusitania by Churchill withholding U-boat sightings.

Keith, you seem as over-full of confidence in the American Way as the born-again religio cranks, most with looks in their eyes like Nazi stormtroopers on parade.

Just as Socrates implied, don't look as if you own the world, just let the thoughts run deep and sensible to find the real truth of the matter.

Was Bush incompetent? He was only as good as his controllers.

Was his regime dishonest, conniving and brutal?

Most definitely.

Congratulations david f. At last a contributor with a sensible rating system for US presidents.
"Many put Grant in the bottom 10. However, two of my grandchildren are also his descendents. They are both bright and beautiful."