Washington has to be worst - without him you'd still be British subjects, allowed to play poker online and no tax on winnings.

I'll go with the obvious ones.

FDR, Washington & Lincoln.

FDR being greatest president ever is grossly overrated.

The man attempted to take over the Supreme Court, imprisoned Japanese descendents illegally and spent more money on social programs than any president ever had before him


Washington-1
Lincoln-2
Jefferson-3

Those "Japanese descendants" were rounded up without charge, imprisoned without trial, and lost most of their possessions. As an added bonus, the men got to go risk their lives fighting the Germans while their wives, children, and elderly parents spent the war in concentration camps.

Not to mention he ordered the burning of crops and slaughter of livestock in a lunatic scheme to try to raise crop prices. This at a time when people had no money and were going hungry. Then there was the little matter of him sealing the fate of millions of people in Eastern Europe, agreeing in a back room meeting with his "uncle Joe" to condemn nations from Poland to Bulgaria to 50 years of Stalinism. What a lover of freedom.

I could also bring up how the Ponzi scheme he founded is nearing its endgame, and the aftermath is not going to be pretty - but that's just piling on.

The fact that so many think he was great is overwhelming evidence that government education needs to end. Greatly expand central government power & leave a mountain of skulls in your wake and you are a great man (FDR, Wilson, Lincoln). Leave the American people alone to live their lives as they see fit (Harding, Coolidge) and you are an abject failure.

Examining his deeds, there is no conclusion to draw other than FDR was an utterly contemptible man. There is no justification to be made for his complete disregard for people's natural rights (American and otherwise).

Open your freaking minds.

Always tough to say who exactly was the greatest. Though the president credited with the following message belongs amongst the best. Certainly a far better president than his partymate FDR:

"When we consider that the theory of our institutions guarantees to every citizen the full enjoyment of all the fruits of his industry and enterprise, with only such deduction as may be his share toward the careful and economical maintenance of the Government which protects him, it is plain that the exaction of more than this is indefensible extortion and a culpable betrayal of American fairness and justice ... The public Treasury, which should only exist as a conduit conveying the people's tribute to its legitimate objects of expenditure, becomes a hoarding place for money needlessly withdrawn from trade and the people's use, thus crippling our national energies, suspending our country's development, preventing investment in productive enterprise, threatening financial disturbance, and inviting schemes of public plunder."

just because FDR is overrated as the goat doesnt mean he isnt top 5

OK. He's extremely overrated and doesn't belong in the top 5.

Glad we got that settled.

lol @ u

List your top 5:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Like any other President at the time wouldn't have done this, when the alternative was WWIII immediately on the heels of WWII, when the Soviets had a significant advantage in infantry and armor.

FYP. Pretending that the 1929 crash and subsequent Depression was not directly tied to the way the 20s were managed is to significantly revise the entire record.

I'm not going to say he's the best .... but I've always thought James Polk is underrated and I don't think he's been mentioned in this thread at all.

To make my point more clearly, I'll list 5 that were just plain better than FDR (in no particular order):

1. Washington
2. Cleveland
3. Jefferson
4. Eisenhower
5. Jackson

Versus the US advantage in air power and A-bombs. I think we all know who wins that match-up.

What's not common knowledge is how badly FDR misjudged the Soviet Union both before and during the war. Truman understood them much better and it was rather lucky for the US that FDR exited the scene before the war ended leaving Harry to deal with the USSR instead.

Nor were FDR's view on how to fight WWII very good. He was however, wise enough not to interfere too much with those who knew how to prosecute the war.

(and FDR + LBJ)

Truman was confronted with a plan for a preemptive strike against the Soviets using said air power and atomic weaponry and turned it down. Genocide was not a reasonable policy alternative, even for a President as hawkish as Truman.