Most Underrated US Presidents From Before 1900?

[KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!]

Aside from James Polk of course. Surely, he would dominate this (not kidding).

[horseface]

Grover Cleveland just cause he's the only guy to lose re-election but come back and win again.

[Cyno]

Polk was pretty much one of the only noteworthy 10's presidents besides Lincoln. Mostly because most of them were really lousy presidents for one reason or another.

[cabbageboy]

Cleveland had a real bad 2nd term though including the Panic of 1893 so I dunno if I'd call him underrated. Could I make any argument for Ulysses S. Grant since Polk is off the board? Sure, his administration was corrupt as all get out but at least he managed to keep the lid on the garbage can in terms of Reconstruction. Grant is usually considered marginal as a president (great general though) but look at what came before him (Andrew Johnson) and what came after him for a while (Hayes, Arthur) and he doesn't look so bad.

[BlackoutCreature]

I feel John Tyler should get more credit then he does for helping the country recover from the disaster that was the administration of Quentin Trembley III. Who knows how many young men we might have lost in a bloody, pointless war against pancakes if it wasn't for Tyler's diligence.

[2 time pro bowler Fred Dryer]

Dec 9, 2018 19:14:03 GMT -5 BlackoutCreature said:

I feel John Tyler should get more credit then he does for helping the country recover from the disaster that was the administration of Quentin Trembley III. Who knows how many young men we might have lost in a bloody, pointless war against pancakes if it wasn't for Tyler's diligence.

Tyler still has living Grandchildren! He deserves respect for having great genes and strong swimmers, if nothing else.

[horseface]

Dec 9, 2018 18:36:01 GMT -5 cabbageboy said:

Cleveland had a real bad 2nd term though including the Panic of 1893 so I dunno if I'd call him underrated. Could I make any argument for Ulysses S. Grant since Polk is off the board? Sure, his administration was corrupt as all get out but at least he managed to keep the lid on the garbage can in terms of Reconstruction. Grant is usually considered marginal as a president (great general though) but look at what came before him (Andrew Johnson) and what came after him for a while (Hayes, Arthur) and he doesn't look so bad.

Nothing about how he actually did lol just about managing to win again. 

[Natural Born Farmer]

Abraham Lincoln’s achievements seriously might be kind of understated. Also Thomas Jefferson, full endorsement of slavery set aside, was maybe the all time great politician.

[Cyno]

The interesting thing with Cleveland is that he won the popular vote of the election he lost against Ben Harrison. Just that he lost the electoral vote (Harrison won very close races in New York and Indiana, which swung the electoral vote in his favor). The next time he ran, he had decisive victories in both the electoral and popular votes.

[Bob Schlapowitz]

Rutherford B. Hayes

[Jumpin' Jesse Walsh]

Ulysses S. Grant.

No particular reason, really. I just like that we've had a president named Ulysses.

[mattperiolat]

The two Gs. Grant and Garfield. Grant killed the KKK until revival in the 20s and was respected as being scrupulously honest, even if not everyone who worked with him was. Very underrated stabilizing post Civil War President. Garfield will remain history’s great what if. He had ideas for civil rights in the 1880s, just 20 years after the Civil War. It was unfortunately all cut off by an assassin’s bullet and botched care after the shooting.

[Jazzman]

I'm throwing John Adams into the ring here, if only because he made the single most important and crucial political appointment in this country's history by appointing John Marshall to the Supreme Court. No president ever did more to sure up our current democratic structure than this move.

[mattperiolat]

Dec 9, 2018 22:45:40 GMT -5 Jazzman said:

I'm throwing John Adams into the ring here, if only because he made the single most important and crucial political appointment in this country's history by appointing John Marshall to the Supreme Court. No president ever did more to sure up our current democratic structure than this move.

*coughs*XYZ Affair*coughs* To say nothing of his challenges to 1A because he didn’t like the press.

[Tiger Millionaire]

Samuel Tilden.

[Manute Bol]

William Henry Harrison.

[Jazzman]

Dec 9, 2018 22:48:26 GMT -5 mattperiolat said:

Dec 9, 2018 22:45:40 GMT -5 Jazzman said:

I'm throwing John Adams into the ring here, if only because he made the single most important and crucial political appointment in this country's history by appointing John Marshall to the Supreme Court. No president ever did more to sure up our current democratic structure than this move.

*coughs*XYZ Affair*coughs* To say nothing of his challenges to 1A because he didn’t like the press.

Look, I understand the negatives, but everyone vilifies the guy for that stuff while forgetting HE APPOINTED THE GUY THAT GAVE THE SUPREME COURT POWER. Without Judicial Review, the constitutional democracy we have doesn't exist. That alone makes him one of the most important presidents in American history, but now everyone thinks he sucks because of the stuff you mention.

[Cyno]

Dec 9, 2018 22:43:28 GMT -5 mattperiolat said:

The two Gs. Grant and Garfield. Grant killed the KKK until revival in the 20s and was respected as being scrupulously honest, even if not everyone who worked with him was. Very underrated stabilizing post Civil War President. Garfield will remain history’s great what if. He had ideas for civil rights in the 1880s, just 20 years after the Civil War. It was unfortunately all cut off by an assassin’s bullet and botched care after the shooting.

Grant was a great leader and one of the greatest generals in our country's history, just with really poor judgment in advisors. And IIRC, he was a drunk, too, which didn't help things much.

But yeah, his cabinet was horribly corrupt, but he himself wasn't. They just took advantage of his shortcomings. Unlike the Harding administration which was just crooked from the top down.

[Deleted]

Dec 9, 2018 17:42:51 GMT -5 KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! said:

Aside from James Polk of course.

Come on. You can't say the name of the guy I was coming in here to say IN THE FIRST POST.

[Push R Truth]

My favorite local trout stream is named after Buchanan

That's about the only good thing i've ever heard about the guy.

But hey, I like trout fishing!