Toughest US presidents and least tough ones

[Eja117]

http://coedmagazine.com/2009/03/20/top-5-toughest-presidents/

http://rooktopia.wordpress.com/2007/08/21/top-10-most-badass-us-presidents/

I coulda SWORN I read something about this here. But here are the general nominees


1.  Jackson. His psychotic toughness is legendary and universally agreed on.  Scares us 200 years later.  Makes the rest of the list combined look like a bunch of Dalai Llamas. The aliens still aren't sure if the time is right to attack due to the actions of this one man.

2. Teddy Roosevelt. Mighta been dumb enough to try to fight Jackson. Was a sickly child who shook it off.

3. George H W Bush...jumped out of a burning plane at age 16 or so with bullets flying by his head. Liked it so much he did it again for his 85th birthday. Wife said she was unimpressed because the jump wasn't perfect

4. Washington...Fought in some pretty nasty conditions in the Revolution and French and Indian war. Must have done something right because far from mutinying after Valley Forge his soldiers offered him dictator for life status...and he turned it down

5. Gerald Ford...All American football player at Michigan

6. James Madison...was 5ft 4 and like 90 pounds, but when the British attacked DC he ran off on a horse and became the last commander in Chief to give orders in the field while Dolly evacuated the White House and ensured the only thing the Brits got was the huge meal she had been cooking that day

7. Hillary Clinton...as Secretary of State goes to Pakistan and tells them if they don't like drone attacks that just too darn bad cause we don't care. "Someone in Pakistan knows where Bin Laden is".

8. Eleanor Roosevelt. 

9. FDR Was married to Eleanor Roosevelt. Decided polio shouldn't be that big a deal in winning 4 elections.

10.  Lincoln.  Tallest president. Tough wrestler. Stated the election that made him happiest was when his neighbors elected him captain of the local militia.

11. Swam several miles dragging a crew man by hi strap in his teeth with a messed up back


Least tough presidents.

1. Obama.  Invited a buddy, Biden, and a cop for a beer. Had it in dress clothes outside with silver bowls of nuts and pretzels. Vice president drank a non-alcho beer and Obama declined to viciously make fun of him for it. Stated it was gentlemen agreeing to disagree. Andrew Jackson's ghost was so disgusted he peed in the Buckler beer.

2. Thomas Jefferson. Preached equality while forcing 8 year olds to work making nails in his nailery and kept notes on their efficiency. Wouldn't admit to an affair with a slave which produced multiple kids. Wouldn't free her or the kids (but taught them to read!). Enjoyed the good life and ran his manor into the ground. Left his slave to deal with the Brits when they came to his house. The slave took the heat showing far more backbone than he did. Neck and neck with Jackson for biggest presidential jerk.

3. Dick Cheney.  6 draft deferments and way too much fried food

4. George W Bush.  Learned to fly a jet but got into Air National Guard with the lowest possible scores when it was impossible to get in with the highest scores. Might not have showed up and was let out early to help his father campaign.  what the heck?

5. Carter.   I give him credit for being a farmer and living his values of extreme pacifism. Makes Lord Neville Chamberline look like a tough negotiator.

6.   Reagan. Was never a soldier. Played one on TV.

7. Taft Got stuck in a bathtub

8. William Henry Harrison. Died after 30 days in office from a cold

[arambone]

pretty dumm. Nothing tough about drone-slaughtering thousands of innocents from comfy chairs in florida. Creating millions of unnecessary enemies with terror strikes sure helps ensure high military budgets though.

Ghwb left his co-pilot trapped in the plane, because he was so scared he forgot to push the eject button for his co-pilot.

Being tough is going up against entrenched, corrupt interests, and standing up to the joint chiefs of staff when they want to blow up US citizens and blame it on castro to start a war.
Google operation northwoods.

[fairweatherfan]

Toughest list is missing Eisenhower.  Won WWII then told off the military-industrial complex on his way out of office (not that anybody listened  ).  Probably our last true fiscal conservative as President.

[arambone]

it would have been tougher if ike had spoke out while he was still in office, instead of on his way out the door.
Then again, being quiet while in office might have  saved his life.

Obama and romney, not a spine between them. Just like the powers that be like it.

[Finkelskyhook]

I would say that somebody who brought the Soviets to their knees without firing a shot is pretty tough.

Ronald Reagan

[Bahku]

Toughest: Lincoln, Teddy R., JFK, Reagan.

Least: Carter, Clinton, Obama.

[Eja117]

I would say that somebody who brought the Soviets to their knees without firing a shot is pretty tough.

Ronald Reagan

I guess calling them evil to their face was pretty tough on second thought

[CeltsAcumen]

Andrew Jackson.  He shot someone
Teddy Roosevelt

[nickagneta]

Didn't Kennedy stare down the Soviets with the end result being nuclear Armageddon which most people in the know now claim came closer to happening than people realize? Wasn't he also a major war hero? Did he not also screw with the mob at the height of their power?

That stuff takes a set of balls. How can he not be considered one of the toughest Presidents ever.

[Bahku]

Didn't Kennedy stare down the Soviets with the end result being nuclear Armageddon which most people in the know now claim came closer to happening than people realize? Wasn't he also a major war hero? Did he not also screw with the mob at the height of their power?

That stuff takes a set of balls. How can he not be considered one of the toughest Presidents ever.

Yeah, The whole PT-109 saga was about as tough as anything a guy could go through, and he paid for it from then on with excruciating back pain.

His superhuman abilities were almost solely responsible for getting those men (and himself) rescued. It was a story that absolutely thrilled me as a kid, and one of the most-read books in my library to this day.

Not sure why I tend to separate him from that at times, (probably his promiscuous lifestyle while in the White House), but he was truly an amazing human being.

I ammend my list, and TP for the reminder, Nick.

[Eja117]

Didn't Kennedy stare down the Soviets with the end result being nuclear Armageddon which most people in the know now claim came closer to happening than people realize? Wasn't he also a major war hero? Did he not also screw with the mob at the height of their power?

That stuff takes a set of balls. How can he not be considered one of the toughest Presidents ever.

I added him in at 11. I was hesitant initially because it seems difficult to discern the truth with JFK due to the whole Kennedy cartel thing. They owned the newspapers. They owned judges. They owned the mod. They owned everything. Credit for staring down Soviets.

[fairweatherfan]

Didn't Kennedy stare down the Soviets with the end result being nuclear Armageddon which most people in the know now claim came closer to happening than people realize? Wasn't he also a major war hero? Did he not also screw with the mob at the height of their power?

That stuff takes a set of balls. How can he not be considered one of the toughest Presidents ever.

I added him in at 11. I was hesitant initially because it seems difficult to discern the truth with JFK due to the whole Kennedy cartel thing. They owned the newspapers. They owned judges. They owned the mod. They owned everything. Credit for staring down Soviets.

Aren't mob guys known for being pretty tough? 

Dark horse contender - John Quincy Adams kept a pet alligator in the White House and swam nude across the Potomac every morning.  Also apparently wrote extensively about the art of having sex outdoors in the winter 

[fairweatherfan06]

Obama he's black and he's president in a country with this racial history.  (Also some dead Somali pirates, Osama Bin Laden and Omar Khadefi might disagree with you)

Agree with most others also Jimmy Carter commissioned the Delta Force it was his idea he NEVER gets credit for that still in use all over the world fighting terror.

Either Roosevelt, LBJ (got Civil Rights act passed and he was a southerner from Texas looked at as a traitor)

Andrew Jackson was quite possibly a sociopath, but yeah a tough SOB.

James Madison was president during war of 1812 and when Washington was invaded took some cajones to handle.


Weak Links;

Clinton, W, Ulysses Grant ( useless drunk that caved to the south and paved the way for Jim Crow), and Grover Cleveland caving to banking industry helped usher in Great Depression.

[fairweatherfan]

Also, here's my other favorite Andrew Jackson story:

In 1806, a man named Dickinson got into a dispute with Jackson and said some public things disrespecting him and his wife.  Dickinson was known as one of the best shots in Tennessee, but Jackson challenged him to a duel anyway.

Everybody got one shot in a duel, and Jackson let Dickinson take his first.  The bullet hit him an inch from the heart but Jackson, despite his boots filling up with blood, stayed standing and aimed his gun. 

Dickinson ran away, but was forced back to the line because Jackson was entitled to essentially a free shot now.  He crossed his arms over his heart to try and save his life.  But Jackson instead aimed carefully...and shot him in the crotch.  Dickinson died later from the injury, and Jackson lived 39 more years with the bullet lodged in his chest. 

Now that is a badass.

[RebusRankin]

How do Hilary and Elinor make the list as they're not presidents?

I'd say Jackson but Lincoln and TDR have to be close behind.