Who is known as the most violent President in the recent (50y) history of the United States?

7 comments

1. Like, in his personal life? or thought the usage of military action?

2. In the last 50 years they are all pretty non-violent on a personal level. Trump encouraged violence by others, does that count?

   Jimmy Carter actually served on submarines in the Navy but I don’t know if he saw any combat and he’s more known as a peace maker and humanitarian. Nixon served in WW2 but I don’t think he was ever in frontline combat. Nixon was responsible for a lot of violence in Vietnam, though.

   Reagan famously did his military service in the U.S. producing training films and selling war bonds, although that was due to poor eyesight that disqualified him from service overseas.

   Oh, wait, George H.W. Bush is the most *personally* violent! He was one of the youngest aviators in the Navy in WW2 and flew 58 bombing missions in the Pacific. And then later he headed the CIA when it actively supported violent right-wing military dictatorships in Latin America. He also took the U.S. to war.

   But then what about his son George W. Bush, who took the U.S. to war twice without an exit strategy?

   I guess you’ll have to clarify what you mean by violent. But for indirect violence I’ll go with Nixon; for direct personal violence I’ll go with George H.W. Bush and his bombing missions.

3. Bush Sr.

   Flew 58 combat missions in WWII as a dive bomber pilot.

4. Ford was a star college football player…. Football in the 1930’s was pretty violent.

   Edit: Since your edit is about military use in the past 50 years, the answer is: Bush 43, followed by Obama, followed by Bush 41.

   You should rephrase the question since “violent” doesn’t really make sense. Just ask what president deployed the military the most in the past 50 years.

5. Nixon’s extension of Vietnam was pretty gross, especially when you add in the war crimes in Laos and Cambodia.

   Dubya’s entrance into Afghanistan was nearly as costly on a human scale.

6. In terms of ordering military action? Nixon and George W. On a domestic policy front? Arguably Reagan with the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984.

7. Past 50 years? That’s 1972 to 2022. That’s a little late for Nixon’s surge in Vietnam, so George W Bush is probably the obvious answer