Even better; a peacemaker, who never sold arms or money to terror for hostages, who told the American people what he thought they needed to hear, rather than what he thought would just make them feel good. Underrated, that; the idea that a President, in this ratings/poll/market supremacy age, should tell you what he thinks, rather than confirm what he's been told the citizenry thinks. I wonder; how different Roosevelt's December 8, 1941 speech would have been had it been given in the Age of the make-up sessioned, speechwriter-massaged, teleprompted, focus-grouped, Gallup-polled, lets-get-some-reaction-from-our-panel-of-"experts" Presidential address?
Despite not having the benefit of a war in the Middle East blowing up OPEC's quotas, he had a better per year growth rate than Ronald Reagan. Say what you will about his wildly mixed foreign policy, the man knew how to grow the economy.
That is harsh. I wouldn't rank Clinton as a GREAT President, but he was pretty darned good. The absurdly partisan impeachment will not be held against him. He'll be more remembered for getting America's fiscal house in order (just before George Bush turned America into North Brazil).
I'll vote for Tricky Dick Nixon. Of all the former presidents, he was the best informed when it came to international affairs. Not only that, he did not request secret service protection even though he was one paronoid SOB. History will judge him kindly. The jury is still out on Clinton.
Seconded. Possibly the greatest moment in the civil rights movement was the asasination of JFK. LBJ really changed America.
Carter? - double digit inflation is bad whether in Argentina or the US. Johnson? - Vietnam anyone? Clinton? - not a bad president, but during his admin the economy looked alarmingly similar to that of Coolidge. I'll stick with Washington. After reading the Hamilton biography my admiration has grown tremendously. Plus he got his holiday taken away from him (for all practical purposes)
How about Grover Cleveland? He had to deal with tough times, and he was strong and implemented good policies.
It's friggin George Washington. He can be everyone's consensus best president EVER and would still probably be underrated. But for the purpose of this discussion: Truman
Truman was a great guy, but he never really had a chance to do much from a legislative standpoint - he was widely regarded as a throwaway when he took over from FDR, and had to deal with a hostile GOP-controlled Congress in his second term. That said, there were at least two shining moments in his presidency - the recognition of Israel and the desegregation of the military, laying the ground for later civil rights legislation.
If they named the capital city plus a nice western state after you, then you probably don't qualify. On the other hand, if all they named after you is a place like Cleveland, no matter how bad a president you might have been, you are still underrated.
In this type of discussion I always have to stick up for Grant. The guys who worked for him were busy stealing everything that wasn't nailed down and that's prtty much what people remember, and maybe that's fair. He was terrible about trusting the wrong people his whole life, and ended up completely broke for the same reason. But what his pals were able to shop lift was a drop in the bucket compared to the successful economic and international relations and reconstruction stuff that went on. After two terms he left office with America positively buzzing with prosperity, and with our prestige abroad at an all-time high. Everybody still loved the guy.
I don't happen to think that it is the job of the president to tell us what we want to hear. His job is to tell us how things are and to take steps to improve them. By your criteria Bush II is pretty much the best president ever because all he does is blow smoke up our asses about how wonderful things are. He leaves it to his underlings to scare the crap out of us so that he can comfort us, thus engendering all sorts of warm and fuzzy feelings toward him. Spare me.
That is, if half the nation doesn't count as everybody. Grant's crowning achievement may have been to give the lie to Dean Wormer's conviction that "fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life."
Perhaps should be revised to say that half the country that could vote loved the guy. Still, an odd spin on one of the most corrupt administrations in our history.
I am certainly not an expert in US history, but if someone can make an argument that Grant was the most underrated president, then I am also looking forward to hear the arguments in favor of Harding and Hoover.
Even though he has a national holiday for him Abraham Lincoln could not receive too much adulation, IMO. Everyone knows of his humble beginnings but in addition to that, he was so underrated he never won an election that amounted to much until the presidency. His goal of freeing the slaves was visionary but he also had a very firm view as to how the Reconstruction should proceed. In my view, civil rights would have been advanced far more than they were had he not been assassinated. Plus, have you ever read about his wife, or seen pictures of her. The man had to have some amazing character to put up with all that. But of course he had to look at himself in the mirror as well which adds all the more to his nomination here.
Since you're wife is supposedly a teacher, you should ask to borrow one of her dictionaries to look up "underrated." Really, you seem like a nice guy and all, but this answer is just ridiculous. It's like saying that Maradona is an underrated footballer just because he was really, really good.
James K. Polk. They Might Be Giants recorded a song about him. If that isn't a ringing endorsement then nothing is.
in the words of the crazy Georgian "I wish dueling was still legal!" seriously.. pick up an actual history book that examines the mans life.You will learn that the myth of him being a drunk is exactly that. It was started by a rival in the civil war and followed Grant from there on.Also before you make comments about the mans intellect I would suggest you read some of his writings.. I wouldnt say that Grant is the most underrated President.. but he is deffinitly the least understood and most falsely slandered. heres a quote on Grants drinking you will find more historians on this side then the side saying he was a drunk... did Grant drink ?of course, and at some low points he did had his lapses as many men do.But their is no evidence that he was drunk through the war and his presidency.