Who are the top 3 most underrated and underrated presidents?

[JohnLocke]

My picks, in order (1 being most over- or underrated, and so forth).

Underrated
1. James K. Polk (1845-49)
2. Jimmy Carter (1977-81)
3. Richard Nixon (1969-74)
Honorable mention: Chester A. Arthur (1881-85)

Overrated
1. Reagan, Ronald (1981-89)
2. John Adams (1797-1801)
3. Andrew Jackson (1829-37)
Honorable mention: Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-69)

[Bronco69]

1. In the overrated category you forgot

bushII*

[JohnLocke]

2. I'm leaving out Clinton and Dubya. Too soon to tell, really.

[Snow]

3. Polk??!! Butbutbutbut - the Mexican War???? n/t

[Radical Activist]

7. Polk umm...yeah

Anyone who lies to start a war is on my shit list right now and that includes Polk.

overrated is Reagan

I agree with another poster that Madison is underrated.

I think all Presidents are assigned to much importance and attention so I can't think of any more.

[Delano]

4. Disagree about Carter.

A fine gentleman, and a class act, but he was a very ineffective and uninspiring leader. His total inaction after the choppers crashed in Iran was an embarrassment. There may have been an "October Surprise", but if he had made a real show of force to try and get those people out, he still would have won the election. His demeanor in speaking to the nation during the crisis was like a defeated man, rather than a stern and righteous indignation.

The presidency is about more than just executing policy. The president is expected to be a spiritual leader in the sense of easing people's fears and encouraging them that we as a nation can do the things that need doing at that point in time. He failed utterly in this, and Reagan, though a failure as an executive, was a smashing success at this form of communication.

I'm grateful that Clinton also had "it".

Bush does not, but the lapdog press has done good job of making it ALMOST seem like he's got it. (takes a lot of skillful editing and parsing, though)

I still think the jury is out on Kerry...


PS I agree entirely on Nixon too. He was a hundred times better than Bush.

[theoceansnerves]

5. ugh

everything i've read about andrew jackson is fucking horrible.

[Fenris]

6. Polk? I think not.

The Election of Manifest Destiny and the Mexican War damn him, in my opinion. That man was a pure imperialist.

Overrated:

Thomas Jefferson - The "Father of Manifest Destiny" and by default the father of American imperialism.

Ronald Reagan - Although it should be noted that he is only overrated by people who are conservative or uninformed.

John Kennedy - And I say that only because I do not think he was as great as the myth portrays him as. I think his brother would have made a much better President had he lived.

Underrated:

James Madison - One of the chief architects of the Constitution and as strong believer in the separation of church and state.

[patriotvoice]

8. Check that subject line: "underrated and underrated" ?

Underrated:
Polk
Truman
Eisenhower

Overrated:
Adams, John (1797-1801)
Jackson
Reagan

[Wwagsthedog]

9. Lets see

Overrated (among others)
Polk started the Mexican war on false pretenses -
Truman dropped the only 2 A bombs on an otherwise defeated enemy -
Eisenhower presided over the 1953 Iranian coup and the beginnings
of the Vietnam fiasco. Yes, the interstate highway was on his watch

Underrated
JQA, Less people seemed to get the shaft on his watch
WHH & JAG died soon enough not to screw things up

[patriotvoice]

11. "underrated" meant "receiving less criticism & acclaim than they deserve"

Polk, Truman, and Eisenhower are all very "shadowy" Presidents, and I think that they should be presented in much more critical light. By "shadowy," I mean that their actions aren't critically scrutinized by students; they're brushed over as if they did nothing.

I was not implying that "underrated" meant "without tarnish" or "above reproach." I am especially disgusted by Truman, who ordered the burning of our beloved family's shadows into stone; he made unnecessary examples of Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

[JohnLocke]

10. Kick (nt).

[Darranar]

12. Hmm...

These aren't necessarily the MOST of either category, I wrote them down as they came to me...

Underrated:
Jimmy Carter: A relatively excellent president when it came to foreign policy.

Overrated:
Ronald Reagan: Do I really need to explain?
John F. Kennedy: Vietnam, Cuba, and a few other foreign policy actions during his presidency.
I'd include the current War Criminal-in-Chief, but he isn't really president.

On edit: A few other comments, keeping within the twentieth century and beyond:

Richard Nixon was a mass murderer, but frankly that's quite common among US presidents...

Lyndon Johnson doesn't really get much acclaim; I think he deserves some for his economic reforms, though Vietnam was an idiotic mistake...

[Deja Q]

13. Okey dokey

Underrated:

Kennedy (1961-(the first of many heroes murdered by right wing fanatics))
Carter (1977-1981)
Nixon (1968-1974) Okay, given the political climate it makes sense that only Nixon could go to China and not be branded a commie filthy traitor or anything. x(

Overrated:
Reagan (1981-89)
Bush II (2001-2005, we highly hope)
Clinton (1993-2001)