1) Ronald Reagan - For winning the Cold War. No big deal.

2) James K. Polk - For not screwing around with Mexico in that border dispute, and also for brilliant negotiating with Britain over the Oregon territory, and getting all of that done in one term.

3) Theodore Roosevelt - For "speak softly but carry a big stick" foreign policy, social progressiveness, and being an overall badass. (He got shot in the chest by a would-be assassin in the middle of a speech. The bullet went 3 inches into his chest (it was slowed down by an eyeglass case and an extra copy of the speech). He refused medical attention and continued the speech.)

4) Calvin Coolidge - For his economic policy, social progressiveness, and his behavior while in office (cleaned up after the Harding administration and tended to keep his mouth shut)

5) Dwight D. Eisenhower - For presiding over one of the most prosperous times in American history and not backing down from the Soviets.

Woodrow Wilson founded the League of Nations
FDR did a whole hell of lot for us
TR did too - I love Progressivism
LBJ - Civil Rights
and whoever the first woman president is

okay 5 was a cop out

for 5 i say eisenhower

fuck polk the man was a conqueror and little else

1-Lincoln; 2-FDR 3-Grant; 4-Obama; 5-LBJ

1 - Lincoln -- Civil War. Enough said.

2 - Reagan -- For the Cold War, and for permanently redefining the American political discourse.

3 - Washington -- for not running a third time.

4 - TR -- for his foreign policy.

5 - James Monroe -- for the same reason.

Putin -- 3's interesting. Reasons?

Yeah word up gotta hand it to Washington.

And I kind of forgot Lincoln lol whoops. Sub him in for Ike.

"Lincoln Garfield Mckinley Kennedy dont have a fifth yet though I may before too long with the way things are going."

Nice veiled threat, there Siccy.

Grant was the one that presided over all those southern blacks getting elected and other wonderfully anachronistic Reconstruction oddities until Federal troops withdrew from the south right?

Or am I just making that up? Because if so I say that's pretty legit. Did he found the Freedmen's Bureau?

1 - Jefferson Davis.

Oops.

1 - George Washington

2 - FDR

3 - skips from 2 to 43

43 - Lincoln

44 - Obama

Oooh how about most hated Presidents of all time?

1. Andrew Jackson
2. Andrew Jackson
3. Andrew Jackson
4. Andrew Jackson
5. Andrew Jackson

"Putin -- 3's interesting. Reasons?"

Douglass said it best:

"To Grant more than any other man the Negro owes his enfranchisement and the Indians a humane policy. In the matter of the protection of the freedman from violence his moral courage surpassed that of his party."

Crushed the Klan at a time when Klan terrorism was at its peak. Implemented the Enforcement Acts. Established the DoJ. Presided over the only free & fair election in the South from the 1870s until the 1960s in 1872. Passed the Civil Rights Act of 1875, which would have precluded Jim Crow laws from ever being in force, but thanks to private enterprise & the Supreme Court that was not to be. Grant implemented the Quaker policy vis-a-vis the Indians, ending the Indian wars.

"1 - Jefferson Davis."

Yay slavery. GFY.

Yeah I thought so. In that case I throw Grant an honorable mention and offer Putin's choice my moral support.

Cool, thanks.

My two personal favorites:

Grover Cleveland, for his habit of urinating out of the Oval Office window.

Zachary Taylor, for never actually voting in an election.

True class of our nation's history.

George Washington
Abraham Lincoln
Ronald Reagan
Calvin Coolidge
James K Polk

At that point, 2WL, you should include JQA, for skinny dipping in the Potomac.

Lmao. Fuck that shit.

you have to admit thats ballsy tho

What is with all this Polk love?

It's as if we still believe in Manifest Destiny???

I suppose if we were all Chinese we would praise the takeover of Tibet as "natural" or something? Sheesh.

Looks like I missed Grant. Too bad there isn't an edit button.

It seems Republicans admire Presidents who sleep through their second term.

No threat. Just expressing my opinion on the best thing a president can do for his country.

Franklin D Roosevelt- Led the country through the most difficult period of foreign and economic crisis in its history. Built bridges throughout the world and was an incredible politician. Laid the groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement.

Abraham Lincoln- Guided the country through the greatest crisis it had ever seen. If he had lived the gains of the civil rights movement could have been realized decades earlier.

George Washington- Was an essential unifying force that allowed the federal government to survive its infancy. Created the office of the President and gave added prestige and legitimacy to the new government under the Constitution.

Lyndon Baines Johnson- People want to say Kennedy, LBJ was the man who made Kennedy's vision come to life. One of the greatest politicians in this country's history. Unfortunately the war he inherited and by his account never wanted, if it wasn't for Vietnam he would be on money

Theodore Roosevelt- Took on trusts, helped pass several progressive measures, helped work toward capital labor understanding (although this is surely overstated), Panama Canal, and the birth of America as an international power.

Why i didn't pick other popular ones-

Kennedy- Foreign policy was an abysmal failure, nearly parcipitated nuclear annihilation, bowed too much to the hawks in Vietnam, causing a disastrous decade long war, most of his policies were accomplished by the coalition building of LBJ.

Jefferson- Louisiana Purchase nearly got him on this list but the rest of his foreign policy was either disastrous or flawed. His assaults on the independence of the judiciary, muddied indian policy, and affinity to ignoring his own beliefs on civil liberties are also troubling.

Adams- His one term limited him, although he was important in keeping the US out of war, rebuilding relations with Great Britain and other European powers, but his attacks on civil liberties are a killer

Regan- Was important for the attitude he brought to the presidency and to America as well as taking the US out of economic turmoil. His legacy is tarnished however by a multitude of scandals and the soaring debt that took place in his administration.

No Grant from me because he couldn't control his subordinates and for the multitude of scandals that rocked his administration, but i think he is an underrated president for sure.

"Woodrow Wilson founded the League of Nations"

But couldn't get his own country to join!

^Wow...how can you hate Lincoln that much? :/

Or Obama, for that matter--

I don't care how badly you hate them, we've had FAR worse Presidents than either Bush or Obama...

Anyway, my Top 5:

Honorable Mentions: JFK and Reagan (I put them both together here because, really, they're Heroes of Their Parties--if you're a Democrat, like me, you probably love Kennedy, and if you're a Republican, you probably love Reagan the same way...but if you're in the OTHER party, you may very well see Kennedy NOT as a brilliant young leader and symbol of hope and vision, but as a scandalous playboy, or see Reagan NOT as the man who won the Cold War, but the man who had the Iran Contra Scandal, AIDS/anti-gay hysteria on his watch, and so on...*I* love Kennedy, and while I don't agree with him all the way at all, I can appreciate what a great leader and a great orator Reagan was...so they're here together, as Unofficial #6's, pick your side, and you pick your hero, Kennedy or Reagan.) :)

5. Washington (Father of Our Country)
4. Jefferson (For his ideals, the Louisiana Purchase, and other things...)
3. TR (Teddy Roosevelt--The Greatest Action Hero ever to be president!) :D
2. Lincoln (Alongside JFK and MLK, America's Greatest Martyr...enough said...)
1. FDR (I give the nod over Lincoln for the sheer length of his term and the fact he tackled not one but two of the biggest crises of the 20th century, the Great Depression and WWII, while fostering probably the greatest leader-to-leader, nation-to-nation friendship and alliance in modern history with Churchill and the UK, and making the US into a superpower, ALL while having a crippling illness he couldn't speak of, no less...his worst misstep is, easily, the Japanese-American Internment Camps, and it IS a bad, black mark...but all great leaders have their bad moments, and especially given the high feelings and hysteria of the time after Pearl Harbor...we shouldn't excuse FDR, but we can at least understand the decision--Good Times WERE Here Again with FDR, the greatest leader we've ever had, and one of the best in world history!)

And, last and quite possibly least in some people's eyes...

Most Controversial...

(Do I even need to SAY who?)

NIXON! :D

On the one hand, a brilliant politician and a man who did some great things...
On the other, a man who had hands-down the murkiest, most criminal administration ever.

The post-civil war historical revisionists (Klan symps, Lost Causers) have successfully savaged Grant so accusations of 'corruption' stuck with him despite the fact that most of them were either cases from the Johnson administration which Grant prosecuted, or were cases Grant became aware of and squashed vigorously.