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- smashthetv, on 02/16/2009, -6/+511. Martin Van Buren
2. William Henry Harrison
3. John Tyler
4. Millard Filmore
5. James Buchanan
6. Rutherford B. Hayes
7. Chester A. Arthur
8. William McKinley
9. Warren G. Harding
10. Herbert Hoover
***** you time.com. - Jericho6, on 02/16/2009, -0/+44The Van Buren Boys disagree with the inclusion of Martin Van Buren
- dizzythegreat, on 02/16/2009, -2/+38Hoover sucks.
...
http://www.instantrimshot.com - inactive, on 02/16/2009, -3/+36Martin Van Buren was the greatest President in this country's history. He faced a far worse economic contraction than Hoover or Roosevelt. He abolished the central bank (a process started under Jackson), cut spending and taxes and unemployment never went above 6%. His economic reforms led to this country's most prosperous period up until the 1860's. He also avoided two potential wars. http://www.independent.org/publications/tir/articl ...
This is probably why he is hated by most of the government's mainstream court historians. If you don't start a war or expand the government into everybody's lives then you are a bad President. - jkash23686, on 02/16/2009, -0/+29way to put 4 people in the thumbnail that aren't even talked about in the article.
- worseforwine, on 02/16/2009, -1/+23We are the mediocre Presidents! You won't find our faces on dollars or on cents!
There's Taylor, there's Tyler, There's Filmore and there's Hayes.
There's William Henry Harrison,
I died in thirty days! - EllimistX, on 02/16/2009, -0/+20So basically most of the 1800s is forgettable.
- momzilla54, on 02/16/2009, -0/+19Millard Fillmore is known by many precisely because he is the one you had to try extra hard to memorize.
- FriedTurkey, on 02/16/2009, -0/+14I think getting a blowjob from an intern will help people remember. Unless getting blowjobs from interns becomes commonplace. Then he will just be historically remembered as the first.
- asunesara, on 02/16/2009, -1/+15Cut the fluff TIME! (*note: numbered, not ranked)
1. Martin Van Buren – 8th president
“Van Buren was largely done in by an economic crisis brought on by banks offering easy credit while benefiting from little or no central regulation. (Sound familiar?) The President's extravagant lifestyle made him an easy scapegoat for political opponents, and the ensuing economic crisis overshadowed his deft handling of early sectional tensions.”
2. William Henry Harrison – 9th
Inaugural address, the lengthiest ever and one delivered in freezing temperatures without aide of a coat or a hat. Clocking in at almost two hours…also died of pneumonia after 30 days in office
3. John Tyler- 10th
“Tyler was so deeply unpopular during his presidency that all but one of his cabinet members resigned in protest when he vetoed a bill establishing a national bank. Shortly after, he was expelled from his own party and the House of Representatives tried to issue impeachment charges against him. Tyler, unable to recapture his own party's presidential nomination in 1845, left to support the nascent Confederate movement.”
4. Millard Fillmore – 13th
“Compromise of 1850, which tried to quell sectional concerns by setting the balance of slave states and free states after the Mexican-American War. Here he would prove to be on the wrong side of history, treating the conflict—as the New York Times famously observed—as a political, rather than a moral question. In his desperation to broker the act through, however, he ended up with legislation that united everyone only in their displeasure and did little to ameliorate the tensions that would eventually lead to civil war.”
5. James Buchanan – 15th
“Buchanan believed the best action to quell the threat of succession was no action at all. Sympathetic to the South, Buchanan supported the Dred Scott decision, and when Southern states stated their intention to withdraw from the Union, he called their actions illegal but said he had no authority to stop it.”
6. Rutherford B Hayes – 19th
Won the Electoral College but not that popular.
7. Chester A. Arthur-21st
“His political rise took place in the not-quite-squeaky-clean New York political machine, where he had a reputation for cronyism and allegedly demanded kickbacks from workers to support the Republican party. So he shocked many observers by becoming a reformer in office, ushering in the civil service commission to crack down on the rampant spoils system. Even Mark Twain said it would be "hard to better" his administration. But Arthur's do-gooder streak didn't particularly please other Republicans, and he became one of the few Presidents to fail to win his own party's nomination for re-election.”
8. William McKinley -25th
“Quick — which President is on the $500 bill? William McKinley, obviously. (And yes, they did make $500 bills for a while.)
McKinley brought the country to war with Spain in 1898 as Pulitzer and Hearst's "yellow journalism" juiced the nation's appetite for a fight. America's claim to Puerto Rico and Guantanamo Bay count among the war's legacies.” Assassinated
9. Warren G. Harding – 29th
“In office Harding appointed a slew of corrupt officials, prompting the Teapot Dome bribery scandal which sent a Cabinet secretary to prison for the first time. An accused adulterer, Harding was the subject of a best-selling memoir from a woman claiming to be his mistress and mother of his illegitimate daughter.”
10. Herbert Hoover – 31st
“The 31st President is best remembered for his disastrous response to the stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression, poo-pooing government intervention in favor of self-reliance as millions suffered. The nickname for shantytowns that cropped up all over the country — Hoovervilles— left little doubt as to who was blamed for the crisis. Hoover's popularity wasn't helped by his continued support for Prohibition, prompting jeering chants of "We want beer!" from fans at one baseball game. Hoover took a pounding from Franklin Roosevelt and was unceremoniously booted from the White House, though his reputation improved over the next 30 years as he worked to address famine and took on other charitable pursuits” - snareguy17, on 02/16/2009, -0/+12Dugg for providing your own rimshot.
- j01101010, on 02/16/2009, -1/+12You'd have to be in denial to have forgotten him already...
- GenghisRon, on 02/16/2009, -0/+11We are the adequate, forgettable, occasionally regrettable, caretaker presidents of the U...S...A!!
- inactive, on 02/16/2009, -0/+11Hoover passed the largest tax hike in this country's history up until that time. He tried to hold up wages and prices which led to unemployment. He dramatically increased spending and ran a huge deficits. In fact Rex Tugwell, an advisor under FDR, said that FDR just continued most of the policies Hoover had already put in place.
Lets also never forget what caused the Great Depression, the Federal Reserve System: http://www.usagold.com/gildedopinion/greenspan.htm - visionsofhoff, on 02/16/2009, -1/+11Why is McCain in the thumbnail? Or is this from the future?
- Nickolassc, on 02/16/2009, -0/+9Warren G. is gangsta. How could someone forget a pimp like him?
Read the short segment on him. He apparently invented the word normalcy. He also preferred poker, socializing and, it was said, womanizing to working.
That's a true G. "And that's where we get the term" - internetisscary, on 02/16/2009, -1/+10I just tip my cap to Grover for getting elected twice.
- winter360, on 02/16/2009, -3/+11forgettable not worst
- UndeadZmobie, on 02/17/2009, -0/+7...He named the 3 Presidents featured in the thumbnail, starting from the top left and going clockwise?
- Lochie, on 02/16/2009, -1/+8http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL779xvxwA8#t=1m34s
- danconia, on 02/16/2009, -0/+6From Wikipedia:
"After his successful election in November 1928, Hoover entered office with a plan for reform of the nation's regulatory system. A dedicated Progressive and Reformer, Hoover saw the presidency as a vehicle for improving the conditions of all Americans by regulation and by encouraging volunteerism. Long before he entered politics he denounced laissez-faire thinking.[18] As Commerce Secretary he had taken an active pro-regulation stance. As President, he helped push tariff and farm subsidy bills through Congress." - Wacer, on 02/16/2009, -1/+7Maybe they should have included Woodrow Wilson for passing the Federal Reserve Act that is bankrupting the nation.
- GalacticXenu, on 02/17/2009, -0/+6That really is the truth, because an unmemorable president is one who really doesn't do anything--and to be remembered, you basically have to start a war or expand the government.
Well, you could shrink the government as well, but almost no one ever does that. Hah! - eslegaspi, on 02/16/2009, -1/+7John Tyler vetoed a bill establishing a national bank.
i'd take him off the list just for that!
James Buchanan followed the Constitution...
same goes for him. - DreamVsPs2, on 02/16/2009, -0/+6never heard of them ......
- tinkafoo, on 02/16/2009, -1/+6James Buchanan can't be unforgettable if he is the worst we've ever had.
(Yes, worse than Bush, believe it or not.) - Terasiel, on 02/16/2009, -0/+5Buried for Hoover being forgettable. I forgot we had a Tyler, Fillmore and Arthur; but how many people knew Coolidge was a president?
- Barackalypse, on 02/16/2009, -0/+5That generally means they did the job they were supposed to do. History tends to remember tyrants and hero's, both of which tend to overstep the rules to achieve their goals.
- GodsTwin, on 02/17/2009, -0/+5Yeah, well, uh.. you know uh, you didn't hear from me, but, uh, the Van Buren Boys - they never hassle their own kind.
- patparazzi, on 02/16/2009, -0/+5History just keep repeating it self!
- exboxer, on 02/16/2009, -0/+4http://www.sadtrombone.com/
- inactive, on 02/16/2009, -2/+6I see you have learned history through the government controlled school system and the mainstream media. Look at the actual facts not what you have been told.
- PactumServa, on 02/16/2009, -0/+4Clinton has nothing on JFK in that regard. If it becomes commonplace, JFK will be remembered for having done it with class with Marilyn Monroe.
- IAmTheGuy, on 02/16/2009, -0/+4I also disagree with the inclusion of MVB. Very few people may know a single thing he did in office, but most people know him for his awesome name and killer sideburns.
- Maynza, on 02/16/2009, -0/+4Really surprised to not see Franklin Pierce on there, the only reason I know who he is, is because he is the only president from New Hampshire.
- converge, on 02/16/2009, -0/+4Do you know the secret sign?
- Phernoree, on 02/16/2009, -1/+5"*Hoover is* best remembered for his disastrous response to the stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression, poo-pooing government intervention in favor of self-reliance as millions suffered." - WRONG
TRUTH: To avoid the depression, Hoover enacted "propped-up wage rates, massive public works, heavy federal deficits, huge federal loans to shaky businesses, unemployment relief, inflationary monetary policies, etc."Hoover also signed off on the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, the Federal Home Loan Bank Act and Smoot-Hawley Tariff; attempted to shut down the banks; and signed one of the biggest tax increases in U.S. history, raising the top income tax rate from 25% to 63%, doubling the estate tax and increasing corporate taxes by about 15%. In fact, it is uncommonly known that FDR loudly attacked Hoover for spending too much and ran against him on a small-government platform, promising to cut government, taxes and tariffs, preserve sound money, and allow for the liquidation of bad assets."
Hoover was an interventionist. - Gerz1219, on 02/16/2009, -0/+4On the other hand, Jackson did completely eliminate the national debt and his strong foreign policy helped establish U.S. hegemony over North America. Do we judge a president based on whether their actions were moral, or whether they were good for America? By the latter standard, Jackson can't be considered a failed president. He did exactly what he intended to do, and his policies made America stronger, even if his actions towards the Native Americans were reprehensible.
Bush and Buchanan are interesting cases in that their actions were both immoral *and* disastrous for the Union, which is a distinction held by very few presidents. - MrTito, on 02/16/2009, -0/+4Grover Cleveland was elected twice to two nonconsecutive terms, which makes him America's 22nd (1885-1889) and 24th (1893-1897) president.
- inactive, on 02/16/2009, -2/+6I guess if you don't start a war or destroy the Constitution then you are a bad President.
- jeremymccurdy, on 02/17/2009, -0/+4Also white knuckled Fallout geeks who try and maim anyone who mentions Bethesda.
- DevilInPgh, on 02/17/2009, -0/+4I got spanked by Grover Cleveland on two nonconsecutive occasions!
- petebot, on 02/16/2009, -0/+3I rememeber ed him because of his silly name. and Mallard Fillmore.
- ChiliMac, on 02/16/2009, -0/+3Anyone else think Millard Fillmore looks like Jimmy Johnson?
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article ...
http://images.dawgsports.com/images/admin/Jimmy_Jo ... - lennybird, on 02/17/2009, -0/+3Dugg for coincidentally (or not) being snareguy17.
- jaydotcole, on 02/16/2009, -1/+4I hate that you got it up while I was waiting to sign in. DAMN
- Stirk, on 02/16/2009, -0/+3Martin Van Buren
Number 8
For a one term shot as chief of state... - borschwanger, on 02/17/2009, -0/+3theres an elementary school by me named after him. plus hes one of four presidents that have the same first and last initials. calvin coolidge, herbert hoover, woodrow wilson, and ronald reagan
- Gosunkugi, on 02/17/2009, -0/+3I always remembered Coolidge just because as a kid I thought he had the most awesome name of any president. It alliterated and had the word "cool" in it and everything!
Now I mostly remember him for the awesome "you lose" anecdote. Still more forgettable than Hoover, though. - ileftfark, on 02/16/2009, -0/+3He was the original "Regulator".
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