Inspired by a similar thread on Soviet leaders, I thought I'd flip the premise. So with any POD after the inauguration of Harry S. Truman, what is the worst relatively plausible sequence of American Presidents until around 2000 (to hopefully avoid stepping into current politics). Lets try to avoid nuclear war as well, just to keep things interesting. I say the end goal is a more unstable America in any way of your choosing, with bonus points if you can get a secessionist movement off the ground (it doesn't have to succeed, which may be a bridge too far with 55 years, but a Plaid Cymru-style presence on a state and national level would be interesting).
Worst series of US Presidents 1945-2000ish
- Thread starter Mynock
- Start date
The thing is, it's really hard being a US president from around 1950 to around 1992. Presidents in that era had the sword of Damocles hanging over their head big time. Any judgments on their quality have to be made with that in mind. You're unlikely to see any actual fracturing in terms of secession until the Cold War is over.
Paradoxer
Banned
Also some president are arguably just pawns themselves and not always most influential or powerful person in country ironically. In Soviet Union premier/leader is. In US the president has to deal with so many third party elements and often on equal footing or even weak spot of negotiations.
The irony of being US president you can often more directly change or influence things in some foreign countries more then their own nation.
Lobbyist are basically the economic form of political coalition. So instead of bunch of political parties rallying together a bunch of wealthy or organizations with money basically do that behind close doors
Some names offhand:
Joseph McCarthy (reactionary)
<anyone who signed the Southern Manifesto> (racists)
Adlai Stevenson (ineffectual)
Sam Yorty (corrupt)
Spiro Agnew (corrupt)
Wilbur Mills (alcoholic)
Walter Mondale (ineffectual)
Joseph McCarthy (reactionary)
<anyone who signed the Southern Manifesto> (racists)
Adlai Stevenson (ineffectual)
Sam Yorty (corrupt)
Spiro Agnew (corrupt)
Wilbur Mills (alcoholic)
Walter Mondale (ineffectual)
I can certainly think of at least 1 ACTUAL former President who belongs on that list, but I won't commemt further due to wise board policy 🙃
[ Yeah, no politicians who've been active in the last 15 years or so; or else watch people get kicked and the thread get locked :/ ]
Harry Truman: Mediocre political hack, close associate of the notorious Boss Pendergast of Kansas City. Bungled US policy in China, resulting in Communist takeover of that country. Allowed the dominant US armed forces of 1945 to be reduced to near impotence, leading to near-disaster in Korea.
Dwight Eisenhower: "Celebrated general" whose only real talent was politicking. Pretty much of a do-nothing in office; he showed no leadership whatever on civil rights, or much of anything else. Enabled the Communist Castro to take over Cuba. Made two disastrous (by his own estimation) Supreme Court appointments.
John Kennedy: Spoiled playboy, elevated to high office by the money of his notoriously corrupt father. Joe paid for his entourage of expert flacks, procurers, and hatchetmen, which "glamorized" him while covering up his promiscuity and health problems. Continued Eisenhower's inaction on civil rights. Bungled Eisenhower's last-ditch attempt to salvage Cuba, allowed Khrushchev to bluff him in Berlin, nearly stumbled into nuclear war, and did stumble into Vietnam, having appointed McNamara to mismanage the war.
"Landslide Lyndon" Johnson: Notoriously corrupt Texas political hack. Doubled down on Kennedy's Vietnam folly, committing an enormous US army to suppressing guerrilla warfare while ignoring nearby enemy sanctuaries and supply lines. Massively expanded the US welfare state, with viciously corrosive effects on black family life.
Richard Nixon: Paranoid thug - the only President to be removed from office.
Gerald Ford: A well-meaning bumbler.
Jimmy Carter: Nearly ran the US economy into the ground, and enabled the overthrow of US allies by virulently anti-American forces.
Ronald Reagan: A senile ex-actor pretending to be President. Allowed rogue agents to illegally fund guerrilla armies.
Etc...
Dwight Eisenhower: "Celebrated general" whose only real talent was politicking. Pretty much of a do-nothing in office; he showed no leadership whatever on civil rights, or much of anything else. Enabled the Communist Castro to take over Cuba. Made two disastrous (by his own estimation) Supreme Court appointments.
John Kennedy: Spoiled playboy, elevated to high office by the money of his notoriously corrupt father. Joe paid for his entourage of expert flacks, procurers, and hatchetmen, which "glamorized" him while covering up his promiscuity and health problems. Continued Eisenhower's inaction on civil rights. Bungled Eisenhower's last-ditch attempt to salvage Cuba, allowed Khrushchev to bluff him in Berlin, nearly stumbled into nuclear war, and did stumble into Vietnam, having appointed McNamara to mismanage the war.
"Landslide Lyndon" Johnson: Notoriously corrupt Texas political hack. Doubled down on Kennedy's Vietnam folly, committing an enormous US army to suppressing guerrilla warfare while ignoring nearby enemy sanctuaries and supply lines. Massively expanded the US welfare state, with viciously corrosive effects on black family life.
Richard Nixon: Paranoid thug - the only President to be removed from office.
Gerald Ford: A well-meaning bumbler.
Jimmy Carter: Nearly ran the US economy into the ground, and enabled the overthrow of US allies by virulently anti-American forces.
Ronald Reagan: A senile ex-actor pretending to be President. Allowed rogue agents to illegally fund guerrilla armies.
Etc...
Hard to do a complete list because you have to account for the 8 year itch as well as butterflies in the later years.
Strom Thurmond 1949-53
Joe McCarthy 1953-57
Fielding Wright 1957-61
J. Edgar Hoover 1961-69
George Wallace 1969-73
Nelson Rockefeller 1973-81
Paul R. Ehrlich 1981-89
Pat Buchanan 1989-97
Larry Flynt 1997-2005
Not very likely winners of course - and if the goal is an Ameriscrew I probably have too many getting re-elected. But it would fit the bill.
Strom Thurmond 1949-53
Joe McCarthy 1953-57
Fielding Wright 1957-61
J. Edgar Hoover 1961-69
George Wallace 1969-73
Nelson Rockefeller 1973-81
Paul R. Ehrlich 1981-89
Pat Buchanan 1989-97
Larry Flynt 1997-2005
Not very likely winners of course - and if the goal is an Ameriscrew I probably have too many getting re-elected. But it would fit the bill.
Initial thoughts:
1945-1949 John Bricker
1949-1953 Strom Thurmond
1953-1953 Bob Taft
1953-1957 Joe McCarthy
1957-1961 Averell Harriman
1961-1965 George Bender
1965-1969 George C. Wallace
1969-1973 Ronald Reagan
1973-1977 John Lindsay
1977-1981 Ronald Reagan
1981-1985 Walter Mondale
1985-1989 Alan Cranston
1989-1993 Donald Rumsfeld
1993-1997 Gene McCarthy
1997-1997 Lyndon LaRouche
1997-2001 Richard Lamm
2001-2005 Pat Buchanan
1945-1949 John Bricker
1949-1953 Strom Thurmond
1953-1953 Bob Taft
1953-1957 Joe McCarthy
1957-1961 Averell Harriman
1961-1965 George Bender
1965-1969 George C. Wallace
1969-1973 Ronald Reagan
1973-1977 John Lindsay
1977-1981 Ronald Reagan
1981-1985 Walter Mondale
1985-1989 Alan Cranston
1989-1993 Donald Rumsfeld
1993-1997 Gene McCarthy
1997-1997 Lyndon LaRouche
1997-2001 Richard Lamm
2001-2005 Pat Buchanan
I'll take a stab at a dystopian list -- with the understanding that this isn't exactly "plausible"
33. Harry Truman (D-MO), 1945-1949
Disliked at the time, history would come to remember Truman was one of the best presidents (at least by comparison) of the last 80 years.
34. Strom Thurmond (DX-SC), 1949-1953
Thanks to a strong run from Henry Wallace, Storm Thurmond was able to make a strong enough run at the presidency that the election was thrown to the House, where Republicans made a deal with Southern Democrats to elect Strom Thurmond and Earl Warren. As president, Thurmond was a radical segregationist and refused to intervene in the Race Riots of 1951.
35. Robert Taft (R-OH), 1953
Robert Taft was in office for just 7 months and made little impact on history.
36. Richard Nixon (R-CA), 1953-1957
Richard Nixon came to power upon the death of President Robert Taft. He stalled efforts to pass civil rights legislation and made the first serious commitment of American military personnel to Vietnam.
37. Orval Faubus (D-AR), 1957-1962
Orval Faubus won the Democratic nomination as the Democratic Party continued to drift toward Southern politicians, stoking the fears of Southern whites and broadening the message to attract blue collar white voters in the Midwest. Faubus was elected in 1956, narrowly defeating Richard Nixon, and then reelected in 1960.
38. Gaylord Nelson (D-WI), 1962-1965
Gaylord Nelson's morals may have been in the right place, but his efforts failed dramatically. Unable to get civil rights legislation through the Congress, Nelson was humiliated at the Democratic convention when the party turned instead to Senate Leader Lyndon Johnson, who went on to lose the general election to Barry Goldwater.
39. Barry Goldwater (R-AZ), 1965-1973
Barry Goldwater may have presided over economic prosperity in his first term, but his second term was marred by the heightened ground operations in Vietnam and Cambodia. He left office deeply unpopular, and his veto of the modest Civil Rights Act of 1972 is a stain on his legacy.
40. George Wallace (D-AL), 1973-1977
Enough said, I feel like.
41. Richard Nixon (R-CA), 1977-1981
President Richard Nixon returned to office in 1976, appealing to the moderate instincts of voters who felt civil rights legislation was due. His signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1978 was transformational to American society. But he expended all his political capital on it, and his legacy was marred by his decision to choose John Connally as his successor.
42. John Connally (R-TX), 1981-1987
John Connally's presidency was off to a great start - if you were of a nationalist mindset. His invasion and occupation of Panama to "save the Canal" won much favor with the American people. A booming economy brought him a landslide reelection, but his political legacy was badly damaged by the Willard Affair, when his White House Chief of Staff was convicted of taking bribes (named after the hotel where the bribe was made). Connally was eventually impeached and removed from office for perjury and obstruction of justice when he denied knowing about the bribe and tried to hinder the investigation.
43. Donald Rumsfeld (R-IL), 1987-1989
Donald Rumsfeld's ascendancy to the presidency came quickly after the Willard Affair. He did little to repair a fractured nation and his lack of meaningful legislative achievements is a blight on his record. He's most known for the invasion of Grenada - an attempt to curry national favor just before the 1988 election. He was unsuccessful.
44. Jerry Brown (D-CA), 1989-1997
Jerry Brown's complicated legacy perplexes historians to this day. He cut taxes and trimmed federal bureaucracy, appointed fair-minded judges, and saved the Midwest's manufacturing economy by rejecting the Atlantic Partnership Agreement - a trade proposal between the North American nations. Yet, his steep budget cuts to agencies like HUD were catastrophic to many working class Americans. Nonetheless, he was popular enough to become the only Democrat since Roosevelt to serve two full terms in office.
45. Dick Cheney (R-WY), 1997-2002
Dick Cheney's election to the White House marked a return to big military spending and a flexing of the national muscles. His invasion of Iraq was controversial, but after a string of terrorist attacks in 1999 and 2000, Cheney used the war as proof that he'd been right about the threat of the Middle East. His landslide reelection gave him the mandate to expand the war effort into Pakistan and Afghanistan. His popularity turned when he announced the reinstatement of the national draft in 2002. It was shortly after this announcement that the father of a soldier killed in Iraq assassinated Cheney in 2002.
46. Newt Gingrich (R-GA), 2002-2005
After becoming president, Gingrich gained some favor by walking back the Cheney administration's draft policy, but it was quickly squandered when an extramarital affair revealed that Gingrich was using taxpayer dollars to cheat on his wife and buy her expensive gifts. It cost him reelection, but as a lame duck president he set a timetable for withdrawal from the Cheney Wars.
47. John Murtha (D-PA), 2005-2009
Distraught over the state of the nation, Americans turned to Speaker of the House John Murtha, who seemed to be a steady enough hand. He brought the troops home from the Middle East, repaired America's image abroad, and passed a wildly massive infrastructure bill that jumpstarted the nation's economy. But shortly after his inauguration in 2009, rumors of corruption began to trickle out. In August, news broke that Murtha had knowingly authorized his campaign to take illegal contributions and that he'd illegally handled funds in his Inaugural Committee. As the House drew up articles of impeachment, Murtha had a stroke and died in office.
48. John Edwards (D-NC), 2009-2013
John Edwards was a Southern Populist and thought to be the future of the Democratic Party. But, like Newt Gingrich before him, a series of extramarital affairs hindered his ability to win reelection. Though he passed the most progressive healthcare legislation the country had seen yet, it was not enough to overcome the image that he was cheating on his wife, who was dying of cancer.
33. Harry Truman (D-MO), 1945-1949
Disliked at the time, history would come to remember Truman was one of the best presidents (at least by comparison) of the last 80 years.
34. Strom Thurmond (DX-SC), 1949-1953
Thanks to a strong run from Henry Wallace, Storm Thurmond was able to make a strong enough run at the presidency that the election was thrown to the House, where Republicans made a deal with Southern Democrats to elect Strom Thurmond and Earl Warren. As president, Thurmond was a radical segregationist and refused to intervene in the Race Riots of 1951.
35. Robert Taft (R-OH), 1953
Robert Taft was in office for just 7 months and made little impact on history.
36. Richard Nixon (R-CA), 1953-1957
Richard Nixon came to power upon the death of President Robert Taft. He stalled efforts to pass civil rights legislation and made the first serious commitment of American military personnel to Vietnam.
37. Orval Faubus (D-AR), 1957-1962
Orval Faubus won the Democratic nomination as the Democratic Party continued to drift toward Southern politicians, stoking the fears of Southern whites and broadening the message to attract blue collar white voters in the Midwest. Faubus was elected in 1956, narrowly defeating Richard Nixon, and then reelected in 1960.
38. Gaylord Nelson (D-WI), 1962-1965
Gaylord Nelson's morals may have been in the right place, but his efforts failed dramatically. Unable to get civil rights legislation through the Congress, Nelson was humiliated at the Democratic convention when the party turned instead to Senate Leader Lyndon Johnson, who went on to lose the general election to Barry Goldwater.
39. Barry Goldwater (R-AZ), 1965-1973
Barry Goldwater may have presided over economic prosperity in his first term, but his second term was marred by the heightened ground operations in Vietnam and Cambodia. He left office deeply unpopular, and his veto of the modest Civil Rights Act of 1972 is a stain on his legacy.
40. George Wallace (D-AL), 1973-1977
Enough said, I feel like.
41. Richard Nixon (R-CA), 1977-1981
President Richard Nixon returned to office in 1976, appealing to the moderate instincts of voters who felt civil rights legislation was due. His signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1978 was transformational to American society. But he expended all his political capital on it, and his legacy was marred by his decision to choose John Connally as his successor.
42. John Connally (R-TX), 1981-1987
John Connally's presidency was off to a great start - if you were of a nationalist mindset. His invasion and occupation of Panama to "save the Canal" won much favor with the American people. A booming economy brought him a landslide reelection, but his political legacy was badly damaged by the Willard Affair, when his White House Chief of Staff was convicted of taking bribes (named after the hotel where the bribe was made). Connally was eventually impeached and removed from office for perjury and obstruction of justice when he denied knowing about the bribe and tried to hinder the investigation.
43. Donald Rumsfeld (R-IL), 1987-1989
Donald Rumsfeld's ascendancy to the presidency came quickly after the Willard Affair. He did little to repair a fractured nation and his lack of meaningful legislative achievements is a blight on his record. He's most known for the invasion of Grenada - an attempt to curry national favor just before the 1988 election. He was unsuccessful.
44. Jerry Brown (D-CA), 1989-1997
Jerry Brown's complicated legacy perplexes historians to this day. He cut taxes and trimmed federal bureaucracy, appointed fair-minded judges, and saved the Midwest's manufacturing economy by rejecting the Atlantic Partnership Agreement - a trade proposal between the North American nations. Yet, his steep budget cuts to agencies like HUD were catastrophic to many working class Americans. Nonetheless, he was popular enough to become the only Democrat since Roosevelt to serve two full terms in office.
45. Dick Cheney (R-WY), 1997-2002
Dick Cheney's election to the White House marked a return to big military spending and a flexing of the national muscles. His invasion of Iraq was controversial, but after a string of terrorist attacks in 1999 and 2000, Cheney used the war as proof that he'd been right about the threat of the Middle East. His landslide reelection gave him the mandate to expand the war effort into Pakistan and Afghanistan. His popularity turned when he announced the reinstatement of the national draft in 2002. It was shortly after this announcement that the father of a soldier killed in Iraq assassinated Cheney in 2002.
46. Newt Gingrich (R-GA), 2002-2005
After becoming president, Gingrich gained some favor by walking back the Cheney administration's draft policy, but it was quickly squandered when an extramarital affair revealed that Gingrich was using taxpayer dollars to cheat on his wife and buy her expensive gifts. It cost him reelection, but as a lame duck president he set a timetable for withdrawal from the Cheney Wars.
47. John Murtha (D-PA), 2005-2009
Distraught over the state of the nation, Americans turned to Speaker of the House John Murtha, who seemed to be a steady enough hand. He brought the troops home from the Middle East, repaired America's image abroad, and passed a wildly massive infrastructure bill that jumpstarted the nation's economy. But shortly after his inauguration in 2009, rumors of corruption began to trickle out. In August, news broke that Murtha had knowingly authorized his campaign to take illegal contributions and that he'd illegally handled funds in his Inaugural Committee. As the House drew up articles of impeachment, Murtha had a stroke and died in office.
48. John Edwards (D-NC), 2009-2013
John Edwards was a Southern Populist and thought to be the future of the Democratic Party. But, like Newt Gingrich before him, a series of extramarital affairs hindered his ability to win reelection. Though he passed the most progressive healthcare legislation the country had seen yet, it was not enough to overcome the image that he was cheating on his wife, who was dying of cancer.
marktaha
Banned
Truman a great President- one of my favourites. Eisenhower most successful in his.aims.Reagan last great President- we won the Cold War. You seem to be criticising from Left and Right at once. I regard Carter as easily the worst. Are there any Presidents you do approve of?
marktaha
Banned
Would Harriman have been that bad? I'd have cast a protest vote for Buchanan in 2000.
I think he was trying to be a Devil's Advocate and saying that you could theoretically argue that all of the OTL Presidents from 1945 to 2000 could be viewed as horrible.
Reagan ballooned the federal deficit while cutting taxes for the rich and slashing social programs. Not to mention the crackdown on civil liberties and mass incarceration caused by the war on drugs. Reagan was many things as president but great isn't one of them.
I took it as more of a tongue in cheek - make it the actual presidents. Listing their shortcomings was just a way to elaborate on why they "would have" sucked.
I don't think so, but a quick glance at his Wikipedia page indicated that he had unknowingly accepted a bugged gift, was accused of being a communist, and had an insignificant career as Governor of New York. So I just assumed he wouldn't do much but expected to be commended all the same.
When I revise the list, I may put someone like Albert Chandler in his place. I was going for somewhat plausible and/or actual candidates at that year's conventions.
Except for LaRouche of course ; ) He was impeached and removed within a year.
Buchanan, imo, is like one of those super villains whom would be terrifying if they had any real power. The only thing I like about him was his interview in the Hunter S. Thompson documentary , "Gonzo".
Only in otl would someone like Pat Buchanan be friends with someone like Hunter S. Thompson.
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