Who is the most evil president in US history?

33 comments

1. It’s gotta be Andrew Jackson, right? Like, he genocided the native Americans to the extent that even the Supreme Court was like “hold up.”

   Wilson’s a close second I think.

2. Woodrow Wilson. Insanely racist even for his own time.

3. Donald Trump

   He was happy to destroy the Republic to assuage his ego, and he’s not done trying

4. Andrew Jackson gets my vote.

5. Woodrow Wilson. Not *just* because he was racist even compared to his contemporaries, and not *just* because he was a hardcore supporter of eugenics and forced sterilization, but also because he wanted to basically turn the USA into a fascist autocracy. He said on many occasions that he did not care to be bound by the US Constitution.

6. Probably Andrew Jackson.

   His campaign against the Native American civilization through the south was brutal.

   The main reason he and Davy Crockett disliked each other so much. Crockett served under Jackson during the Creek War campaign and found him to be beyond contemptible.

   Crockett spent most of the Creek War working as a scout and wild game hunter, but he was also present when future president Andrew Jackson—then the commander of Tennessee’s militia—led his volunteers in the slaughter of some 200 Red Sticks at the Creek village of Tallushatchee.

7. Anyone who says Bush or Trump obviously haven’t read enough about Wilson or Jackson.

8. There is an interesting “spectrum of evil” here. On one hand, my first vote would also have been for Jackson, who was personally evil and hugely racist in profound ways that still have reverberations today. On the other hand, the dynamic of evil is much changed and the point about #45 being willing to recruit every soft-headed window licker anywhere to destroy the Republic for his own ego is well taken. So maybe “personalized evil” on one hand and “institutionalized evil” on the other might be useful guides.

   I mean, by my lights, both Coolidge and Hoover were shoddy do-nothings who let a bunch of robber barons sack the treasury and immiserate millions.

9. I guess Andrew Jackson, in terms of crimes against humanity.

   Exterminate the Cherokee to open up more land for slave-holding plantations. Pretty fuckin terrible even by historical standards.

   I’m happy to see nobody so far has nominated Truman for dropping A-bombs. Usually reddit loves to dryhump that episode of history for all it’s worth.

10. Andrew Jackson. The trail of tears.

11. Woodrow Wilson or FDR.

    People have given a good rundown of Wilson so I will let that sit.

    The fact that we have FDR memorials and that he is widely lauded is absolutely insane. He was extremely dictatorial and dedicated to expanding executive power and steamrolling the legislature and judiciary. We was an anti-Semite, and an admirer for fascists, and if some figures had been a little more persuasive probably could have been turned into one himself. Also, ya know, concentration camps in America. Not to mention, economic policy that savagely curtailed the economy in perpetuity.

12. Woodrow Wilson. He literally changed America for the worst. Generally, “great” presidents tend to be terrible ones in reality.

13. All the problems of the 20th century go back to Woodrow Wilson

14. Woodrow Wilson for allowing the start of the Federal Reserve! Our nation was founded on the principle of not having a central bank.

15. Andrew Jackson imo

16. Everyone saying the obvious ones so I’ll throw out Grover Cleveland.

    Raped a woman, covered it up when she had his kid by having the child removed from her and had her arrested and placed in a psych ward.

    Also his best friend died relatively young with young children. Cleveland saw his then less than 10 year old daughter and decided he was going to marry her. They married as soon as she turned 18. He was 45

17. This thread makes me sad/mad at our history, so much evil. But I have to agree with most, Andrew Jackson is top of my list.

18. All the the people saying Trump or Bush probably haven’t read a history book since high school, if then.

19. All of them, especially the postwar ones. They’re all warmongering lunatics.

20. Andrew Jackson

21. Andrew Jackson definitely comes to mind

22. Probably Andy Jackson. To be fair, though, he did keep his campaign promises. He said that if he was elected, he’d kill a bunch of Indians, and that’s exactly what he did.

23. James Buchanan? Maybe the civil war would have happened any way, but he didn’t do much to prevent it

24. Gotta be Andrew Jackson. Staunchly pro-slavery led several attacks on Appalachian native Americans, and facilitated the Indian removal act. But dont think his cruelty didnt extemd to white people: He made it a lot harder for people to buy land from the government and thus, you know, own private property. He also had this feud with John Calhoun because he called Jacksons friend, who was a girl but not his girldriend or wofe, a whore. One of Jacksons last statements was “I should have hanged John Calhoun”. He also almost ruined relations with France, then our greatest ally, demanding reparations for a conflict years ago, which he later had to recant. Thomas Jefferson once walked in on him in his office screaming and stomping around his office like a bull. Just a weird paychopath.

25. Surprised nobody’s throwing the name Andrew Johnson out here. Man pretty much nullified the abolition of slavery through the disastrous Reconstruction movement that just led increased racial tensions in the south and a southern economy that couldn’t evolve for decades. Throw in the fact he never really understood the constitution and was impeached, and he’s easily amongst the worst.

26. Woodrow Wilson

    He’s a big reason things like lost cause revisionism caught on and was an objectively terrible historian.

27. Most? IDK; you don’t get to be president without dirty hands, and I haven’t seen a president yet I care for.

28. James Buchanan and Andrew Johnson. No one else comes even remotely close.

29. It might be a 45 way tie between everyone who isn’t Jimmy Carter.

    But I’m going with one of the following: Teddy Roosovelt (arch-bigot of his day), Reagan (first president to ignore an epidemic, creator of most of the US’s current crisises), Bush Jr, and Trump (is at least ineffectual).

30. As a history-ignorant American, I love coming here for history lessons.

31. Donald Trump. He did more to undermine our progress as a country than any other president.

32. I will do two measures. Moral and contemporary.

    There are some things that are morally bad regardless of when it took place. 100 years ago, 1,000 year ago and so on.

    I am saying that morally, Andrew Jackson was probably the worst with Woodrow Wilson as a close second.

    Contemporary, Trump, hands down. He tried to overthrow our government and abused his powers a lot in office for his own personal gain. While I am sure most presidents did that to some extent, he took it to a whole new level.

33. Lil donnie trump. No reason needed