I propose that we gather together historical facts and engage in 'friendly' (you don't have to be friendly but remember that ultimately this is a bit about shitting on awful awful people) debate to decide who was the worst President in the history of the United States of America.
Herbert Hoover is up there, Andrew Jackson, Reagan, bush, for sure. Might get some hate for this but even though all the presidents did bad things some of the better ones were Grant and FDR, maybe carter, of course FDR did the horrible Japanese internment but my point is that among presidents they were the better ones.
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Yeah feels like a lib answer but the New Deal is probably when the US was closest to being a functional state. Concentration camps are bad but honestly could be one of the less bad things US presidents had done to date?
I think worst for me is Reagan just bc his ghost is still fucking us over 40 years later. Hoover and Jackson are also up there. God they really don't tell you in school that most presidents fucking sucked huh
Hoover is somewhat complicated when considering his accomplishments outside of the presidency, and it has led to some academics arguing for a reevaluation or reclaiming of Hoover's legacy. Personally, I still think it's fine to shit on Hoover because nobody should get a free pass for essentially being a less-wholesome and wealthier Jimmy Carter precursor, but he did a lot of okay things.
Before getting in politics, Hoover was a mining engineer, metallurgist, and later a mining businessperson/consultant. He created the first English translation of the most significant metallurgical textbook ever written (De re metallica), which has also been recognized as the best translation of the work to a modern language. Hoover was raised in relatively modest circumstances as well (his father was a blacksmith in Iowa).
In World War 1, Hoover helped prevent the mass starvation of as many as 10 million people in Europe (primarily Belgians) by organizing and funding the Commission for the Relief of Belgium. Hoover remains a celebrated figure in Belgium today.
When ignoring his politics, Hoover is an interesting and possibly admirable figure until one considers how mining is the most damaging industry ever. The Zinc Corporation that he co-founded in Australia was taken over by Rio Tinto in the 1960's, and it's now known as the Rio Tinto branch that is responsible for the destruction of a 46,000 year-old indigenous archeological site (among other offenses). Capitalists never can have a good legacy.
TL;DR Hoover is pretty much a more conservative Jimmy Carter.
True, and that also doesn’t factor in Hoover’s deliberate non intervention in the Great Depression for 2 years and his deportation of up to 2 million Mexicans, many of whom were American citizens, which is pretty much ethnic cleansing
Yeah his presidency has too much shit to dive into, but I hope my comment at least illustrates how conservatives aren't embarrassed as hell over naming things like the "Hoover Institute."
Good point. I am not sure if he is completely comparable to Carter though. Hoover did objectively horrible things as a president and did some good and bad as a non president. Carter had some bad things out of his control happen that were resolved later (hostage crisis), and did some good and bad things as a president, but as a non president is a really upstanding person. I hate to sound like a lib but the man retired onto his modest peanut farm where he gave away most of his money and lived frugally since, I have never heard of billionaires or other such people willingly giving up that lifestyle for their lives. So Carter definitely wins out in both categories.
There's one billionaire, Chuck Feeney, who fairly recently managed to give away almost his entire fortune. He didn't turn it into a marketing/media circus like Bill Gate's masturbatory nonsense. Feeney primarily focused on giving to first world educational and health institutions so it certainly wasn't anything radical, but he managed to peacefully and quietly remove one billionaire from the world.
Pretty sure leftists here mostly hate Carter over standing by during the East Timor genocide rather than being a poor negotiator during the Iranian hostage crisis.
Don't leave Lincoln out. Yeah his reasons for freeing the slaves weren't amazing, but he did it. Plus Marx wrote him letters of support which is cool.
Oh, of course. I like lincoln.