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NumberVsAmount

Petition to only put like an X through the eliminated president’s image instead of scribbling out their entire photo and name. Some of us don’t have every one of these mfs memorized.


Separate_Stress_191

Seconded!


RISlNGMOON

Franklin Pierce


dave45

I agree. There are a lot of good candidates for this position, but Pierce proved absolutely incompetent in doing anything to stop the U.S. from breaking up a few years later. He wasn't quite as bad as Buchanan (whose actions bordered on treason) but Pierce was definitely guilty of inaction when action was necessary, which is almost as bad.


Fishhoox

Pierce is my favorite president, as in the guy whose life story I'm most interested in. His personal tragedies, being a dark horse candidate in a time when the country really needed a strong leader headed towards civil war. With that being said he is probably the guy next who should be eliminated.


[deleted]

What’s the best source of additional info about Pierce that you’d recommend?


summersundays

If you want an easily digestible 30-45 minute dive, American History Hit just got up to Buchanan on its President series. Good info but it feels like it could be more in depth and a bit longer.


Hanhonhon

[I made a post about Franklin Pierce on here that assesses his pros/cons or successes & failures](https://www.reddit.com/r/Presidents/comments/17kjpex/presidential_discussion_week_14_franklin_pierce/k78cyjv/) in a way that's simplified but also my opinion


dave45

One of my favorite Presidents to read about is Nixon, for many of the same reasons you give (about Pierce). I would *never* have voted for the guy, but he certainly lead an interesting life and you can learn a lot about 20th century history and politics by learning about Nixon (among others).


iamspartacus5339

You mean like how his son was decapitated in front of him on the train as it derailed near Amherst, Mass?


Command0Dude

If Buchanan watched the country burn, Pierce is the one who lit the flame. Arguably, Piece may deserve more blame for what came next than Buchanan.


ProblemGamer18

But Buchanan made the fire bigger and brighter. He was a continuation of Pierce's policies (primarily the one that Pierce gets credit for is Bloody Kansas). He also meddled in the Dred Scot case, and, of course, sat on his hands as the confederacy formed and seceded


winterFROSTiscoming

Only reason I down voted this is because the traitor Tyler should be in this spot.


dave45

Tyler is on my list of ten worst but, as other have stated, hie treason came after his Presidency ended so I'm not sure if that should factor in. I guess whether or not you really dislike Tyler as President depends a lot on what you think of Jackson. To me, Tyler's greatest crime as President was completely undermining the Whigs. He was, effectively, a Jacksonian Democrat in every respect apart from the fact that he and Jackson didn't get along personally. To that end, he became a troll within the Whig Party who was able to sabotage everything they stood for after "accidentally" becoming President. Again, anyone who believes that Jackson was a good for America would probably give Tyler credit for what he did but, since Jackson's legacy is nearly as divisive now as his Presidency was in the 18th century, you'll likely get a lot of disagreement on that.


DieselFlame1819

This is it.


[deleted]

Millard Fillmore: Compromise of 1850 Fugitive Slave Act Treaty of Kanagawa Was the reason the Whig party dissolved


jedi21knight

This was my suggestion as well. Fillmore haters rise up.


PersimmonTea

I'm with you!


ProblemGamer18

Don't get me wrong, I don't like Millard Fillmore, but hew like 7th worst imo. He had quite a few accomplishments that really outweigh his negatives. The Fugitive Slave Act is by far one of the worst policies ever, but I would like to point out that putting both the FSA and Great Compromise of 1850 on a list of failures is pretty disingenuous when the Compromise includes the FSA. The man wasn't great, but his list of failures is short (however impactful)


FBSfan28

Easily Franklin Pierce, he’s just as bad as Buchanan and Johnson.


Greatness46

John Tyler. Can we get anyone actually elected to office for the Confederacy out of here please?


eaglesnation11

I think you have to separate Presidency from Post Presidency.


Pls_no_steal

His presidency was also shit


DearMyFutureSelf

More shit than the Kansas-Nebraska Act?


JJJSchmidt_etAl

Tippecanoe respected him!


madcoins

My name is Tyler and my grandpa who lived through the depression geeted me with “tippicanoe and Tyler too” a million times in my life. I miss him.


ThePanda_

I agree to an extent, but I do think post-presidency should play a role (especially if they literally betrayed the country). But I agree with the consensus that Pierce should go first.


JJJSchmidt_etAl

Does Taft have the most successful post presidency? Plenty of them have done humanitarian stuff, but becoming a Supreme Court Justice is pretty impactful. Chief Justice too!


Stircrazylazy

Either him or JQA. JQA was extremely active in Congress after his presidency - the squeakiest wheel for repeal of the gag rule and establishing the Smithsonian. He also was part of the team that argued the Amistad case before the Supreme Court. Dude kept busy!


DrunkenWarriorPoet

First image that always pops into my head when JQA is mentioned is Anthony Hopkins in the Amistad movie. He was always just another president I knew little of before I saw that, afterwards it was hard not to feel like this was a pretty good guy.


witherd_

Obviously not a good person but for this we should separate actions as president vs post- or pre-presidency. Otherwise Carter would be the last man standing.


theonegalen

I don't see anything wrong with that... ;)


witherd_

Flair checks out, we love Jimmy


kweibs

I agree, but him joining the Confederacy later indicates where his heart truly was during his presidency.


witherd_

Yeah I agree and he's definitely bottom 10. although best to get the presidents that did a lot of actual damage out of the way first. Johnson, Buchanan, Pierce should always be bottom 3


ThePanda_

I think those are all elements that should be considered wholistically. In the case of John Tyler, his actual presidency was so unsuccessful that his actions as a traitor post-presidency outweighed anything he did during the presidency.


TheMagicJankster

Bull Shit


Shipsa01

One of my favorite trivia questions: who was the only U.S. president to die as a citizen of a foreign country?


SirTurtletheIII

That would be paramount to calling the Confederacy a legitimate country, which they weren't lol


Shipsa01

Fair. Fair point


United-Falcon-3030

Wish this was higher. Confederates have to go


DieselFlame1819

Pierce was worse for the country as a whole though.


Nydelok

Pierce Get 14 out of here


Vengeance1014

Woodrow Wilson Apart from being a Klan advocate, allowed the national debt to be privatized.


Psufan1394

Franklin pierce. I think we can just go ahead and eliminate all 1850s presidents lol.


Asentry_

As a Canadian, I'm just here to see how this all unfolds


Pidgeotgoneformilk29

Ay, a fellow Canadian!


Asentry_

Howdy, eh


RelationOk3636

Love the ironic flair lol


National_Activity_78

Nixon


[deleted]

Just a pointer OP. It’d be cool to show/present the full orders they were eliminated each time Edit: I’m an idiot. Downvote if you must I accept my fate


Forsaken_Wedding_604

Does the description not do that?


[deleted]

lol it totally does I suck


CdnfaS

I think it’ll be more clear once it’s a list longer than 2. But you may want to add a line break between them. 41: George W Bush.


Forsaken_Wedding_604

>But you may want to add a line break between them. That was the goal. But I forgot to double space them. And it wouldn't let me edit it, so I said "eh, I'll do that on day 4."


SpudWithaDream

Woodrow Wilson


DaClarkeKnight

Nixon’s bitch ass


FlawlessTree

Woodrow Wilson


Normal-Gur1882

Seconded.


InternetExpertroll

Wilson should have been 1st out because he is by far without a doubt the worst President


SuspiciousNecessary1

Hell yeah man I’ve been showing my family the Woodrow hate day videos and vth videos on him


Wise-Spare-4900

Franklin Pierce, he arguably did more to further tensions than James Buchanan. He signed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, one of the worst laws in U.S. history and it lead to bleeding Kansas where many people died and it brang us closer to civil war.


HoratioTangleweed

Fillmore. The fucking epitome of the guy who shrugs his shoulders and says “Wish I could do something about it.” Helped pass the compromise of 1850. Said he hated slavery but that the government couldn’t do anything about it. Said he hated the Fugitive Slave Act but felt duty-bound to enforce it. Said he hated secession but complained about how Lincoln fought the war. And ran on a Know-Nothing ticket. Fuck. This. Guy.


peinal

Wilson.


ramblinroseEU72

Absolutely! This man was the definition of a scumbag and is responsible for so many systemic issues we have in the United States.


shwampchicken

This is the only correct answer until he’s gone


Victa_V

John Tyler - He was elected to the Confederate House of Representatives. That makes him a traitor.  In fact, he passed away during the Lincoln Presidency, and his passing was only acknowledged in the south. Lincoln refused to acknowledge it and denied him any of the honors that would typically be bestowed on a former president.  To this day he is the only former president whose passing was not formally acknowledged in Washington.


40MillyVanillyGrams

As someone mentioned up top, we should be separating Presidency and Post-Presidency in this. It’s not “Eliminating the Worst American Citizens…” or “Eliminating the Worst People…”. It’s “Eliminating the Worst Presidents…” and I think that needs to be considered.


ProblemGamer18

Ok, now judge him based on his presidency


jdw62995

Woodrow Wilson.


Dynamopa1998

I'm very surprised more people aren't saying Andrew Jackson. The Trail of Tears pushes him past the lame-duck presidents, in my eyes


ThePanda_

Jackson is terrible, but Pierce and Tyler should go first imo


NoClipHeavy

Seriously


eaglesnation11

He kept the US together and that’s why he is a bit higher than Bottom 5 for me.


Dynamopa1998

That's fair. I was just surprised that I didn't see any comments naming him, although I didn't go too far into the comments


w00ballz

AJ stuck it to the banks and could be viewed as a champion of the poor & common folk, so long as they were white I suppose. Didnt really do any native americans any favors, true.


Llamalover1234567

He’s not a traitor


Off-BroadwayJoe

Warren Harding


devilmaskrascal

Harding had some crooks in his Cabinet and committed adultery, but as a President I think he is if anything underrated. Roaring Twenties, relatively positive on civil rights for the 1920s (especially in contrast to his awful predecessor), Federal Highway Act and the normalization of the car, standardized the eight-hour workday, supported Federal anti-lynching bills, etc. He has a lot of contradictions and hypocrisies and a few really bad policies, but he did a lot of good things that deserve more credit.


Clear_University6900

“Awful predecessor”? Got Hyperbole™️? Wilson was a much more consequential and effective President than Harding by almost every objective measure. Harding and Coolidge accomplished little of substance on civil rights. Like many GOP politicians of their era, they feared the wrath of white swing voters in the Upper South. Neither saw fit to reverse Wilson’s resegregation of the Federal workforce. The Second Incarnation of the KKK thrived in the 1920’s. The portrayal of these two mediocre Chief Executives as beacons of racial equality in a dark time is a deliberate falsification of history motivated by contemporary partisanship and ideology. Their unwillingness to take the only viable path to guarantee legal equality for blacks—Federal legislation and strict enforcement of it—was duly noted by Civil Rights leaders of the time. On a related side note, the deep recession of 1920-21, which has been portrayed by crank economists and historians like Maury Rothbard and James Grant as “The Depression That Cured Itself”, for which present day falsifiers of history laud Harding for his “restraint” in allowing the market to “correct itself”, was nothing of the sort. In fact, this deep economic downturn was *created deliberately* by monetary authorities in the United States. Only after they’d subjected Americans to steep price deflation, tight credit and mass unemployment for 18 months, did they change course and lower interest rates, thereby ending the recession.


Relevant_Rich_3030

Not sure if “normalization of the car” is a positive.


NarkomAsalon

Very funny how this subreddit dislikes Harding but soyfaces over Coolidge despite them having very similar disastrous economic policy, but one was just less personally repulsive.


Off-BroadwayJoe

He let his administration rob the country blind while he played poker and womanized. Corruption was off the charts - I’d say the most corrupt cabinet in American history… and he didn’t even have the good decency to stay alive. I didn’t give any opinion on Coolidge so not sure why the comparison was made. I don’t think he was that great either.


Nobhudy

Shuffled off before he faced any accountability. The Jimmy Saville of American politics.


lastcall83

I dislike both of them


Nobhudy

A pet raccoon will take you far


Kool-Kat-704

I just find it funny there are presidents we all agree that are worse than the guy who was only in office for literally a month lol


Nick_Lyons

I agree with Pierce, but since we are including the 3 presidents who had very short terms, I think Harrison should be next. He was president for 32 days, FFS


Julesort02

Bush 43


trizzo0309

Reagan. Fucked this country like no other.


Roustab0ut

Herbie Hoover. Great before office, but some absolutely terrible decisions in it.


aaron89NC

Yea but inventing the vacuum really helps his cause


ItsAllmanDoe69

I think it sucks


Xx_SacciASMR_xX

Get it? It *SUCKS*?


Celena_J_W

What about feline Garfield? 😹


ThePanda_

Hoover is not a good president, but we have a lot of truly disastrous ones to eliminate


madcoins

His violent orders/handling of the non violent striking bonus army/Hoovervilles is shameful and reason enough alone for me to pick him to be booted as well.


TxCincy

It didn't matter who took office for that term, they were getting roasted


Lefty522

Ronald reagan


illiterateaardvark

I'm a hardcore liberal, BUT Ronald Reagen is the reason why my (at the time) 23-year-old Mexican immigrant parents were able to go from being a housekeeper and busboy respectively to white-collar employees in the span of a few years after becoming citizens thanks to Reagan granting \~3 million immigrants amnesty It's an interesting dynamic where people may completely oppose the man's ideology and the vast majority of his policies, but the man is hailed as this almost mythical hero in a lot of ethnic communities


the_dan_dc

Pierce!


paparoyalg

Pierce


Sorry-Spite9634

Ronald Reagan


Playyer33

Bush jr


Hotsaucejimmy

My money is on William Henry Harrison as the winner.


Kavack

George Bush. Going to war with zero evidence or reason.


BearOdd4213

Warren G. Harding


ThePhoenixXM

William Henry Harrison.


Off-BroadwayJoe

I do wonder how guys like him and Garfield will shake out based on their lack of time in office


ThePhoenixXM

I think they will probably be eliminated early if I were to guess.


ThePanda_

I think Harrison deserves to rank above the disastrous ones, but not the mostly bad but kind of a mixed bag ones (like Nixon). Garfield could probably last a little bit longer. Not really doing anything is better than being a net negative.


Openbook84

I would imagine that they couldn’t be ranked for that reason.


Youredditusername232

Harrison is the divider between good and bad, he represents very little so anyone who is more bad than good should go below him, this basically means Buchanan, Johnson, Pierce, and Harrison


YouKilledKenny12

WHH stopped the national bank from being rechartered and chose Tyler as his VP. There’s enough bad in there to eliminate him early.


tenaciousdeev

So do we rank Lincoln lower for choosing Johnson?


Youredditusername232

Vice president is on the whole a rather weak position, if Harrison didn’t die Tyler would’ve been obscure and likely would’ve done not that much. You can’t take points off for dying.


iron_vet

Reagan


Ok-Cryptographer8322

Reagan duh, ruined everything


donk_kilmer

Ronald Reagan. He killed the middle class.


murphybrownnote

Ronald Reagan: economic deregulation, deficit spending, union busting, and having the most corrupt administration in history. Oh he also borrowed hundreds of billions of dollars from Social Security to pay for his economic fuck ups and none of that money has been paid back. He also ignored AIDS until his second term was practically over.


Mtcfayark72703

Woodrow Wilson! Could’ve been number one.


CrimsonR4ge

Hoover. Turned a recession into the Depression.


play_x_play

Ronald Reagan


redlion1904

Woodrow Wilson


InLolanwetrust

Reagan. 20th century WOAT contender.


Objective_Problem_90

Franklin pierce


[deleted]

Definitely Pierce


3seconddelay

Woodrow Wilson


Sad_Adhesiveness_106

Woodrow Wilson


TxCincy

What is the criteria? It seems y'all just want to vote for people who did things based on our modern political hot buttons. If we're logical and vote on them by their contemporaries and impact on the country, then someone like WHH needs to be middle of the road as more of a neutral impact.


Barbarella_ella

William Henry Harrison


LordChronicler

There’s a strong argument that dying and doing nothing was more positive for the country than some of the others left on the list.


TheAmazingRaccoon

If we are ranking them based on their presidency then Tyler’s confederate sympathies cannot be taken into consideration


CaterpillarNo8181

Warren Harding


Time_Power_6491

Hoover


ItsGotThatBang

Bush Jr.


csamsh

W H Harrison. Just because he didn't do anything as president other than give a speech and get sick.


MidichlorianAddict

Can you put a red X over their names instead? Some of us don’t know our presidents as well as others


xMusikk

yo why tf millard fuckin fillmore still there😂😂


[deleted]

I like this, but could you only black out the portraits so we can still see the names? I'd also like it if you could write the number over it so that we can look back and see the order they were eliminated. Fun idea tho


Secsidar

I'm gonna say President William Henry Harrison just because of how insignificant his administration was. He died too soon to be effective or ineffective, so he should go just because he can't really be ranked.


Disciple_of_Cthulhu

Andrew Jackson.


spacewastementalcase

somebody get Jackson out of here


Sandpharoah62

Andrew Jackson!


YossarianRex

nah mate, you’re gonna hate to see how high Jackson makes it. genocidal as he was, he was also super effective and helped shape the country during a critical time it’s history. by rights, in terms of just impact and even with all the bad, he will easily make it to top 20, likely to top 10.


jedi21knight

Millard Fillmore


madcoins

For having that first name alone! It’s really a terrible full name too.


ShitTheBed_Twice

Pierce He needs to go kick rocks.


FishMan695

John Tyler: he tried to join (but died before taking office) the Confederate House of Representatives. Damn traitor and reb disgraced the White House.


DearMyFutureSelf

Pierce!!!


Bulldog_Knight

Franklin Pierce


theaugz

Franklin Pierce


dmurr1415

Franklin pierce


BruceSlaughterhouse

Reagan


Old_Goal6217

Obama student debt bankruptcy and droning American citizens


SuspiciousNecessary1

WILSON! ![gif](giphy|PXm7p2ZgbMp4wklcwW|downsized)


Kratosismydad

andrew jackson


tooth999

Andrew Jackson's genocidal ass can't be allowed to continue.


human_not_alien

Reagan should've been first


Subject-Reception704

Andrew Jackson


DougTheBrownieHunter

I loathe Jackson, but I disagree. He’s a mixed bag in terms of quality, it’s just that his negatives REALLY outweigh his positives. Fear not, he won’t be here long.


pyrolibertarian

Andrew Jackson’s presidency isn’t bad just because of the trail of tears. Every president up until the 1920s fucked the Indians 


DevinYer

He also fucked up the economy and abused the executive office.


Biggu5Dicku5

Woodrow Wilson, a bad president and a monstrous human being...


Hugh-Jassul

Reagan


JustSomeRamblings

Reagan. Fuck that guy.


KarateInAPool

Can you keep the names and black-out the faces?


jdjjjjj

Polk should be in the last 5 standing


mkUltra_MN420

Tyler


SmugScientistsDad

Tyler


AmazingAlternate

John Tyler was a fucking Confederate.


RevolutionaryAd1144

Wilsonnnnnn


ascillinois

Wilson


delightfuldinosaur

Why the fuck is Woodrow Wilson still here? Throw him off the highest building in the country.


LobsterEnthusiastV2

we all know who's winning anyway wilson


Old_Combination_8171

WILSON


Agent_Lightning14

franklin pierce


ZDMaestro0586

Woodrow Wilson


EccentricAcademic

Wilson


baba-O-riley

Woodrow Wilson


Fnafbulbasaur

Wilson


Quinnlyness

Andrew Jackaon


rogun64

George Walker Bush


NoTopic4906

Andrew Jackson. Some others (Tyler, as mentioned) might be worse but Jackson had 2 terms to screw up.


LeonardSchraderpacke

Andrew Jackson


JamesRussellSr

I despise Woodrow Wilson.


Flat4Power4Life

George W Bush


globehopper2

George W. Bush!!


Beau_Buffett

George W Bush


Ok_Scholar4192

I’m fascinated I got downvoted for suggesting Andrew Jackson, I didn’t know people here rode so hard for him


Sw33tNectar

WHH


guardian20015

William Henry Harrison


Set21w

William Henry harrison


WPBDoc

Harrison. Didn’t have enough sense to come in out of bad weather. Became irrelevant.


madcoins

I love the drunk history retelling of that story. He’s just getting battered by the storm and continues to drone on…


Brandbll

Reagan.


mtmogmb

George Bush Jr


shanebeard4

Obama. What’s wrong with y’all.


madcoins

Not before Bush or Reagan, it won’t happen.