Top 10 presidential blunders in history

[2M]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/02/18/pre....ap/index.html

1. James Buchanan - failing to avert the civil war

2. Andrew Johnson - side with Southern whites and oppose improvements in justice for Southern blacks beyond abolishing slavery

3. Lyndon Johnson - escalating the Vietnam War

4: Woodrow Wilson's refusal to compromise on the Treaty of Versailles after World War I.

5: Richard Nixon's involvement in the Watergate cover-up.

6: James Madison's failure to keep the United States out of the War of 1812 with Britain.

7: Thomas Jefferson's Embargo Act of 1807, a self-imposed prohibition on trade with Europe during the Napoleonic Wars.

8: John F. Kennedy allowing the Bay of Pigs Invasion that led to the Cuban Missile Crisis.

9: Ronald Reagan and the Iran-Contra Affair, the effort to sell arms to Iran and use the money to finance an armed anti-communist group in Nicaragua.

10. Bill Clinton & Monica

[Westley]

Interesting - eight were blunders for the nation. Watergate and Monica were really personal blunders - they didn't have any direct influence on the country. Not sure they can't come up with something a little bit more relevant as a blunder.

[Westley]

Also, five were in the last 50 years, seems like there's a little bias there.

[2M]

I agree.

Most of these published surveys are heavily biased towards what people can remember.

[Sew Lining]

1. Disagree - By Buchanon's Presidency the Civil War was unavoidable
2. Perhaps. I need to learn more.
3. Disagree - Vietnam was a just war that was winnable.
4. Disagree - France screwed Wilson - France wanted to humiliate Germany. Wilson handled it poorly in the US by alienating the Senate - perhaps the Senate shares some (maybe most - not sure) of the blame. Most of the blame rests w/ France - terms of the ToV set the stage for WW2.
5. Agree
6. Not sure - I need to learn more.
7. Not sure - I need to learn more.
8. Bay of Pigs didn't lead to the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Cuban Missile Crisis occurred b/c the Soviets wanted to park nukes in our backyard, period.
9. Mixed on this one - From what little I know, it seems to me that laws were broken for a noble purpose. I need to learn more b/c at the time I didn't pay too much attention to politics.
10. Disagree sort of - it was the perjury that was the blunder. But you don't get the purjury w/o the original offense.

All in all I'm not too impressed with the list.

[Gandalf]

Originally Posted by Sew Lining

8. Bay of Pigs didn't lead to the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Cuban Missile Crisis occurred b/c the Soviets wanted to park nukes in our backyard, period.

Agree with Sew Lining that this cause and effect is too much of a stretch. Bay of Pigs might still be one of the top 10 blunders.