Worst Presidents: James Buchanan (1857-1861)

Buchanan was right! "the Constitution gave him no power to act against would-be seceders." The United States Constitution was ratified as a VOLUNTARY union of states. The framers recognized the right of states to leave the union if they so chose. Lincoln acted illegally by compelling the states to remain in the union by doing something no other US President has done; waging war against American citizens. Lincoln should have been at the top of this dubious and liberal slanted list of Presidents. US News is a liberal rag anyway.

Stonewall Jackson of VA 11:23AM February 22, 2012

where the hell is W. Bush. I thought for sure he was number 1

treyt of AK 11:15AM February 20, 2012

Honestly, he should probably be third on the list with Andrew Johnson at number one and Jimmy Carter in second. Disappointed that this list is clearly discriminatory against the pre-Civil War-era presidents. I'm sure that every person in the country- and yes I do mean EVERY single person in the country- would include atleast one post-Civil War-era president in the list that isn't already (including the people that developed this falsified list.) However, many people would put George W. Bush in the top three when he clearly had some successes and really wasn't much worse by any means than Obama. The fact does remain though, that many of the more modern presidents' errors can be overshadowed by a few key things such as their efforts during a war time or helping to lower the budget deficit simply because they weren't president during a war time or a recession or depression. Only Time will be able to tell which presidents truly had the worst affect on the U.S. as a whole. For one, even though I do not question why Nixon is on the list, he certainly does not deserve to be, all things considered. After all, Nixon probably had some of the best foreign policy skills and beliefs of all the presidents; this is one of the most important attributes that a president can have considering the fact that there is clearly never a right way to try to fix the economy and foreign policy is one of the most delicate responsibilities of the U.S. government. Our first president wasn't so great himself, he refused to shake hands with citizens and was clearly a sinner as a man since he thought of himself in the same way he is represented in his general on the horse statue- in a godly manner. Why don't we just throw Van Buren under the bus since he was president during such hard economic times? Well, this situation was a result of the collapse of a national bank and some of the policies that Andrew Jackson set in place. In addition, he was extremely influential in creating the (original) Democratic party, which- in my opinion- was the best party in our nations history when combined with the Jeffersonian Democratic beliefs. So then shouldn't Andrew Jackson be on this list? Obviously not. Actually, I discredit any historian that isn't favorable of him. He was a genuine president with much charisma that fought as hard as he could for what seemed to be truly in the interest of the people. Plus, he did manage to take down the monopoly-like federal banking system and be the ONLY president to run a debt-free nation. That's right, the only time the U.S. hasn't been in debt is when he was president. In sum, this is not an entirely useful list and it was probably created in a way they thought would be as neutral as possible, especially when considering recent presidents. But the real fact of the matter is, there is no such thing as a president that is a complete success or an entire failure. The true feat of a successful president is the ability to create a nation of followers.

Ryan of IL 5:03AM December 16, 2011

Carter should be number one on all lists!!!

jake of NY 1:44PM November 11, 2011