America's worst presidents

The Republican performance in this week's midterm elections has led many commentators to describe Bush as the most disastrous leader in US history. But what about the competition? We asked the experts to cast their votes

Published: 11 November 2006

George W Bush: chosen by Owen Dudley Edwards

The question "who is the worst US president" is something I have thought long and hard about and the answer is very simple: it is the incumbent president. I had previously thought that Nixon was the worst and there were other candidates such as Warren Harding - but they all pale in comparison to Bush. He has displaced all his predecessors. Nobody has been quite as appalling.

Immediately after 9/11, he went running like a rat. Every other president would have behaved differently. Theodore Roosevelt had several bullets shot into him in 1912 but he insisted on speaking. Ronald Reagan made jokes after he was shot in an assassination attempt. The whole point of a president is that it is his duty to rally the country in times of adversity. But Bush went into hiding. Then there was Osama bin Laden, who had actually been on the payroll of the CIA. What the situation needed was the clearest statement in relation to why this was the case and when they stopped payments and how this would never happen again.

In terms of the war, this demonstrated the very worst morality. There was an ongoing investigation under the United Nations at the time he went into Iraq. This didn't stop the US - he went in while Hans Blix, the UN's chief weapons inspector, was still investigating.

That war was illegal and anyone attempting to defend him must recognise this. He has not redeemed himself in any way since. His statements are intellectually contemptible and morally banal. And as a Christian, I find it intolerable that he constantly prostitutes Christianity. Even most recently, in order to prove he was not a fool, he proclaimed himself a liar. What kind of a president is that? The office has never been lowered to such levels of disrepute.

Bush has shown himself to be a hypocrite and a coward. He has undone a great deal of good work for US inhabitants. He has shown himself to be a man who is more anxious with the profit of his power than the long-term benefits to his people. After an excellent record from US presidents comes this wretched man. These are the lowest depths to which the presidency has plunged.

Owen Dudley Edwards is a historian and author and former Reader in American History at the University of Edinburgh

Calvin Coolidge - chosen by William Shawcross

The amazing thing about America is how many presidents have been good, not how many have been terrible. Never underestimate America or its leaders.

Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan were all dismissed at the time - but all made huge contributions to the West's security, and above all Europe. To dismiss George Bush as the worst is as absurd as it is fashionable. Afghanistan is still fragile but it is a far better place for the majority of its people than it was under the Taliban, whom Bush (and Blair) ousted.

Bush had the courage, which always failed Bill Clinton, to deal with Saddam Hussein. If that had happened in the early Nineties, Iraq and the world would have been a better place. Clinton himself, a president who had great potential which he never realised, declared in 1998 that the West must confront Saddam then. But he still failed to do it.

Of course there have been dire mistakes made since the overthrow of Saddam in 2003. Perhaps above all we underestimated the vicious, nihilistic brutality of Islamist rage.

But, notwithstanding the present horror, Iraqis I know say they still have a chance to build a decent future for their children, which they never had under Saddam and his vicious, psychopath sons. If Bush can persevere and enable Iraqis to defeat Islamist totalitarianism, he will be remembered as a great president.

Jimmy Carter was probably the most disappointing post-war president, but probably Calvin Coolidge has even less to show for his time.

William Shawcross is a historian and author of Allies - Why the West had to remove Saddam

George W Bush - chosen by Antony Beevor

Bush has been a completely disastrous president. The whole of his strategy - if you can give it that word, which I don't think you can - has been based on completely false historical parallels.

Part of the problem was the fact that the neocons were part of the Vietnam generation. The idea behind Vietnam was the domino theory, in which they believed that Communism would spread from country to country.

In the case of Iraq, they wanted to have a reverse domino effect. They decided that by planting democracy in Iraq it would spread across the region in one fell swoop. That was based on total ignorance.

My biggest concern about Bush came on 12 September 2001, a day after 9/11. Bush appeared on television and compared the incident to Pearl Harbour. That's when it became clear that he was going to fight state on state rather than treat terrorism as it should be treated, in the hands of the police and special forces.

In my view, Bush ranks among the most disastrous of US presidents, certainly in the 20th century. What is his legacy? It will quite simply be that he brought about a counterproductive and disastrous war. The paradox is that it was a hugely victorious war in military terms. But I don't think any coalition force has ever lost the peace so quickly.

His fundamental mistake was to allow ideology to overtake sense. He has shown a total refusal to listen to expert advice, which is also very arrogant. From now on he is going to be a non-president - but the long-term effects of his presidency will almost certainly prove deeply alarming.

Antony Beevor is a historian and author. His books include Berlin - The Downfall 1945 and Stalingrad

George W Bush - chosen by A C Grayling

Bush certainly is the worst president since the start of the 20th century. Before then, there was very little that US presidents could do. They did not have the same influence in world affairs that they have today. So since the start of the 20th century is the only basis for comparison. The first reason for Bush being the worst US president is his insensitivity and his ignorance. Before he became president he was asked questions such as what is the capital of Sweden - and he showed that he was very, very poorly prepared.

Straight away, his administration ratcheted back on a series of important matters such as the Kyoto protocol and a number of other multilateral agreements. The Iraq situation had nothing to do with international terrorism. They wanted to go in and they were looking for any excuse to do so. As president, Bush must carry the can. In relation to the fact that they went into Iraq?

Big question mark. And the fact that they went in with too few troops? Big mistake.

The Bush administration has destabilised and polarised the world and made a difficult international situation much worse. They have done this through ignorance, lack of forethought, insensitivity and by not listening to their allies. The world is a worse place today than it was on 12 September 2001.

I have actually met Al Gore in person and he was very intelligent, a thinking man but not very telegenic which of course is why he lost. This would be a very different world in which fewer people had died if Bush had not been made president. The people behind Bush are the brains and driving force of his administration - the departure of Rumsfeld leaves Bush in a very exposed position. He is quite clearly the most unpopular president in history. The legacy that he leaves behind is a big clean up which will be a long-term job. History will look back on Bush as the buffoon president of US politics.

A C Grayling is professor of philosophy at Birkbeck College, University of London

Herbert Hoover - chosen by Stefan Halper

The US has had a number of presidents who in various ways were unsuited to their era. There was Herbert Hoover, who was unable to grasp the dimensions of the Depression, and his willingness to engage in national resources was also very limited.

My parents' generation certainly regarded Hoover as a perfectly horrible president. He created enormous difficulties for people. Veterans returning from the First World War were housed in shanty towns that became known as Hoovervilles, and when they protested about this he brought in the army.

Andrew Johnson, Lincoln's successor, was also particularly useless at trying to find common ground in resolving the differences in the conflict between the states.

Any number of people thought John F Kennedy was a poor president. He had a difficult struggle with the Russians and I don't know if any of his major programmes came through as full legislation. But his saving grace was the provision of a spiritual core, his global mission and aspiration to provide freedom to people all over the world.

My view on Bush is that as president he does not have a distinguished legislative record. He has achieved big tax reforms but not in social security or in health. He has presided over a period in which America's approval has been diminished. He has had difficulties in articulating the reasons behind his foreign policies, and has lost popularity over Iraq.

But I would caution people against making a flat judgement against Bush. People's views can be revised with the passing of time. In retrospect, it could be that President Bush's identity is linked to his need to stand up to what he thought was a radical hostile strain that was threatening the West.

It is easy for people to make strong emotional comments and to say, "Bush is the worst president that the US has ever known and ever will know", but that would be pretty short- sighted. That would be ignoring the lessons of history.

Stefan Halper is senior fellow at the Centre of International Studies and senior research fellow at Magdalene College, Cambridge

Jimmy Carter - chosen by Andrew Roberts

Carter was the worst US president, there is no question of that. I can't imagine how anyone can possibly think of citing anyone else. He brought America to its lowest ebb in the most disastrous decade to have struck America.

Fortunately, he was followed by one of the three best US presidents, Ronald Reagan, who was probably the best, along with the two Roosevelts. I don't believe there has been any speculation that Bush is the worst president, certainly not among ordinary American people.

It is only among the blabbering liberal media that there has been such speculation. Ordinary people appreciate the key fact that with something like 9/11 you have to fight back. His legacy as a result of this will be impressive. People who look at the situation on a historical basis will see that he overthrew Saddam Hussein with the loss of 2,000 men. You would get that on a bad weekend on the Western Front in the First World War. It was a glorious victory.

As long as America stays the course it will win. The real danger is that it will wind up electing a different route.

Andrew Roberts is a historian and biographer. His latest book, A History of the English-Speaking People Since 1900, was praised by President Bush, who told ABC Television's This Week programme on 22 October: "It's a great book"

George W Bush: chosen by Owen Dudley Edwards

The question "who is the worst US president" is something I have thought long and hard about and the answer is very simple: it is the incumbent president. I had previously thought that Nixon was the worst and there were other candidates such as Warren Harding - but they all pale in comparison to Bush. He has displaced all his predecessors. Nobody has been quite as appalling.