20 Presidential Mistakes to Put Things in Perspective a Little

‘Reaganomics’
20 Presidential Mistakes to Put Things in Perspective a Little
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Well. Boy. Ah, jeez. It’s a really bad time for presidents, isn’t it? Like, they just really, really suck right now. They’re making terrible decisions, dividing nations, straight-up disappearing folks, possibly covering up catastrophic health scandals and definitely covering up any number of sex scandals. 

Yep, certain presidents are extremely unawesome. We’re not naming names, but like, you know the ones.

Not to downplay our ludicrously terrible historical moment, but it may be lukewarm comfort to know that even history’s most revered presidents weren’t immune to mistakes. Like, at least he’s not fraudulently declaring war? Yet? Or getting a famously ruinous system of economics named after him? Yet?

That’s why user Strange_Juice2778 asked r/AskReddit, “What is the worst mistake a U.S. president has ever made?” Spoiler: lots of Eisenhower.

checkout_is_11 . 21d ago It's a tie. Riding in a convertible and a night at the theatre
smr312 . 21d ago Reaganomics
garprice05 . 21d ago Obama wore a tan suit
katzrc . 21d ago Telecom Act of 1996. It's why media is fucked.
Reduserful 6 redsixerfan . 21d ago Both Clinton and Bush not acting on threats of Al Qaeda.
I_might_be_weasel . 21d ago Andrew Johnson really needed to deal with the former Confederates better.
NinjaBluefyre10001 . 21d ago Supporting the Banana Republics come to mind. Thanks, Eisenhower.
ParticularLower7558 e 21d ago Ford pardoning Nixon. If he'd lit the justice system work, we wouldn't be in the mess we are in now.
Classic_Advisor9030 . 21d ago Nixon taping all his Oval Office conversations and then lying, denying if,, and saying that they don't exist!
ruthlesssunraylash . 21d ago The handling of Hurricane Katrina, really showed a lack of preparation and empathy for the people affected
Futurenazgul . 21d ago Harrison's inaugural speech led to his death by pneumonia. Не died within 30 days of taking office. Maybe not the worst choicr for the nation, but worst for the president himself.
zusia . 21d ago I think McKinley blaming Spain for the explosion on the Maine battleship was a pretty big oopsie that started a war and led to the US acquiring Spanish colonial territories.
flatulent-poodle . 21d ago Herbert Hoover enacted some misguided economic reforms aimed at strengthening America, including the Smoot-Hawley tariffs act which, arguably, led to the Great Depression.
Plastic_Blood1782 . 21d ago Buchanan letting the South secede and doing effectively nothing during the last 4 months of his presidency waiting for Lincoln to take over and inherit the biggest mess in American history
Hrekires . 21d ago Eisenhower and JFK committing troops to Vietnam in the belief of the domino theory that allowing a communist Vietnam would lead to the reds taking over the entire world.
PhilaRambo . 21d ago Eisenhower refusing to meet with Fidel Castro. The administration refusing to acknowledge Castro as leader created an enemy instead of an ally. Massive failure in foreign policy, sending Cuba into the arms of the Soviets. Kennedy refused to reverse course. It's a massive failure to this very day.
Ted_Rid 21d ago Not enough Woodrow Wilson here. This one's not strictly his fault but he was stricken by the Spanish Flu and unable to argue for a more even- handed Treaty of Versailles, leaving the French to push their vengeful agenda of billions in reparations from Germany. And we all know how that ended. His doctor had lied about Wilson's condition, when the more prudent approach would've been to request for talks to pause until he was fully healthy again.
blufin 21d ago In recent times George W Bush and the Iraq/Afghanistan wars. Not only a foreign policy disaster but a humanitarian, political, military and economic one as well. While the US was engaged in the never ending war, China built up its economic power, expanded in Africa, Latin America and Asia and locked in valuable natural resources. The US lost much of its moral global leadership, its soft power diminished, terrorism exploded, and trillions of dollars were wasted. It also made military intervention on a massive scale politically impossible, so now Ukraine is suffering for it.
20d ago cetacean-sensation I don't know if it counts as a mistake since it was very intentional, but FDR putting 120,000 Japanese people in internment camps during WWII. I would like to see him as one of the greatest presidents we've had, but his blatant racism towards Japanese people really puts a damper on that idea.
ScornThreadDotExe 21d ago Andrew Jackson greenlighted the trail of tears and its execution took place under Martin Van Buren. For intentions being bad and the act itself being so evil it ranks extremely high on the list of worst acts by two presidents.

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