General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The Verdict is in: Guess Who's The Worst President in US History? -- Guess who? [View all]LeftishBrit
(41,203 posts)but the worst in history? Not sure. I think Reagan may be the worst in recent history; and if he had not been president, Dubya might never have got to be president in the first place.
Long-term, one has to consider several from the 19th century. People tend here to refer to James Buchanan and his failure to prevent civil war, but his predecessors Fillmore and Pierce weren't great either, and their policies undoubtedly contributed to the decline of the country toward war. Both accepted slavery, and Fillmore ended up running for a far-right party, the 'Know-Nothings'. Another president, John Tyler, ended his political career as a member of the Confederate Congress (a former president becoming an active enemy of his country is really going a bit far). Earlier still, there was Andrew Jackson and that little matter of genocide.
In the UK, I'd put Thatcher the Evil One as the worst recent PM, but once again there were plenty of bad ones earlier on!