Conclusion

Abstract

We have identified ten bad presidents with a reasonable degree of confidence and examined the case that George W. Bush too can be classified in this category. We have been able to classify bad presidents into two categories, keeping in mind the possibility of a third. In both cases of badness, some tipping point (a single action or cluster of actions) forms the basis for inclusion into the category. Sometimes, these tipping points are actions that later led to disastrous consequences for the nation, such as Fillmore’s support for the Compromise of 1850 and Coolidge’s economic policies. But sometimes they were willful decisions in which the consequences were already clear such as with Andrew Johnson’s vetoes. The tipping point of some presidents was actions deliberately undertaken by stealth such as Buchanan’s endorsement of the as yet unannounced Dred Scott decision and Nixon’s actions after the Watergate decision (see table 13.1).