Worst Americans Options

[*kryogenix*]

Who do you believe are the worst Americans of all time?

Be prepared to defend your choices! I'm expecting a lot of "George W. Bush for being a stupid dum dum head," so make sure you can stay and defend your choices.

This is not a concrete list (actually, I'm going to pick some controversial figures for the sake of debate) but here, in no particular order:

FDR- For pretty much becoming a dictator during WWII, not to mention mishandling it.
Nathan Bedford Forrest- For starting the KKK.
Joe McCarthy- For his overzealous crusade against Communism.
U.S. Grant- For being a terribly ineffective president, especially after the Civil War.
Robert McNamara- For mishandling the Vietnam War.
Malcolm X- For undoing what MLK JR III did by supporting violent miltantism.

I can't think of any more bad Americans at the moment, but I'll let you guys have a go.

[ComradeRed]

FDR's plans caused a hell of a lot of trouble down the line. Here's an official 1973 Senate Report: http://www.freedomsite.net/93-549.htm

Since March 9, 1933, the United States has been in a state of declared national emergency. In fact, there are now in effect four presidentially-proclaimed states of national emergency: In addition to the national emergency declared by President Roosevelt in 1933, there are also the national emergency proclaimed by President Truman on December 16, 1950, during the Korean conflict, and the states of national emergency declared by President Nixon on March 23, 1970, and August 15, 1971.

These proclamations give force to 470 provisions of Federal law. These hundreds of statutes delegate to the President extraordinary powers, ordinarily exercised by the Congress, which affect the lives of American citizens in a host of all-encompassing manners. This vast range of powers, taken together, confer enough authority to rule the country without reference to normal Constitutional processes.

Under the powers delegated by these statutes, the President may: seize property; organize and control the means of production; seize commodities; assign military forces abroad; institute martial law; seize and control all transportation and communication; regulate the operation of private enterprise; restrict travel; and, in a plethora of particular ways, control the lives of all American citizens.

FDR killed and imprisoned people for political advantage and threatened to undermine the most important Constitutional protections of rights through schemes like court packing.

FDR's "reforms" prolonged the Depression (the only thing FDR did differently from Hoover was in lowering the tariff, probably a good thing--Hoover himself was a supporter of big government, as can be seen in his own campaign slogan "A chicken in every pot and a car in every garage"). FDR's economic policies were based on the erroneous assumption that unemployment and inflation were inversely related. (Anyone who believes this can look to the 1970s, where higher inflation led to high unemployment, not lower employment) so the Depression ended in spite of, not because of, FDR's policies.

Depressions (which occur when demand doesn't align with supply) always end naturally. As warehouses sit with unsold goods, companies lower their prices and wages so eventually the economy returns to the original level of output (albeit with lower prices). As workers become unemployed, they become willing to work for lower wages so eventually they all have a job again (albeit at a lower wage). The fact that FDR ended the Depression in what? 10 years?--is not impressive at all, but in fact shows that his New Deal policies were probably a failure.