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From fumbling the Great Depression, to stealing millions from wounded veterans, to doing nothing while the country burnt to the ground. These are the WORST presidents in American history.
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00:00From chasing down runaway slaves, to stealing millions from wounded veterans, to doing nothing while the country burned to the
00:08ground.
00:09These are the 10 worst presidents in American history.
00:13And they're so bad, even I could do a better job.
00:16But first is Benjamin Harrison, who isn't exactly a household name.
00:21In fact, if you showed his face to 100 Americans, most would say, isn't that the guy from the Titanic?
00:27But he actually made a huge mark, mainly by wrecking the economy and then vanishing before he could take the
00:34blame.
00:35Because in 1890, Harrison signed the McKinley Tariff, jacking up tariffs to nearly 50%.
00:42The idea was to protect American businesses.
00:45But what actually happened was prices skyrocketed.
00:49Foreign trade collapsed.
00:51And farmers got absolutely smoked.
00:54And as if that wasn't enough, he burned through the entire federal surplus like a kid after his first paycheck.
01:02But the worst part?
01:03None of this came crashing down until after he left office.
01:08When the panic of 1893 devastated the economy and President Grover Cleveland was left dealing with the dumpster fire.
01:16No fair.
01:17But Harrison, he was long gone, chilling back in Indiana, writing books, and pretending like nothing happened.
01:26So no, Benjamin Harrison didn't commit crimes or start wars.
01:30He just played Django with the economy and walked away as it collapsed.
01:34But none of that was as bad as Millard Fillmore, who turned every citizen into a slave hunter.
01:42Because in 1850, the nation was divided over slavery, the South was loving it.
01:48The North, not so much.
01:50But the South was threatening to secede.
01:52So in an effort to compromise and preserve the Union, Fillmore signed the Fugitive Slave Act,
01:59legally requiring every U.S. citizen to assist in the capture of runaway slaves.
02:04In other words, if a slave showed up on your doorstep and you offered them a glass of water,
02:09it could land you in prison, even if you lived in a free state.
02:14That's nuts.
02:15But as you may have guessed, this backfired.
02:18Because normal people who never cared about slavery were suddenly like,
02:22Wait, what the f*** is going on?
02:25With abolitionist movements growing overnight,
02:28and more normies becoming radicalized by the day.
02:32So while Fillmore thought he was keeping the peace,
02:35he ended up pouring fuel on the fire,
02:37pushing the nation one step closer towards civil war.
02:42But that's not as embarrassing as this next president,
02:46William Henry Harrison,
02:47who holds the record for the shortest presidency in American history.
02:51Because in 1841, Harrison was 68 years old,
02:56one of the oldest presidents elected at the time.
02:59So to prove he still had energy for the job,
03:02he delivered the longest inauguration speech ever recorded,
03:06nearly two hours long.
03:08Man's out here with no coat, no hat, and no common sense.
03:12The old man just wanted to prove he still had it,
03:15a lot like your grandpa trying to do a kickflip on your skateboard.
03:19But a few weeks later, he came down with a bad cold that turned into pneumonia.
03:24For most of history, we thought it came from his crazy speech in the rain.
03:29But modern historians believe it was more likely typhoid
03:32from contaminated drinking water at the White House.
03:35Either way, 31 days after taking office,
03:39William Henry Harrison was dead.
03:42He didn't sign a single law or make one decision.
03:45Instead, he spent more time writing an inauguration speech
03:49than being an actual president.
03:51And to make matters worse,
03:53he triggered a constitutional crisis.
03:56Because at the time,
03:57nobody knew what happens after a president dies in office.
04:00It wasn't 100% clear if the vice president simply acted as president
04:05or became president outright.
04:08Thankfully, John Tyler stepped up and said,
04:10I'm president now.
04:11And everyone just kind of went along with it.
04:14But what was William Henry Harrison's legacy?
04:17No scandals?
04:18No war?
04:19No nothing?
04:20Just one epic speech and a short stay at the White House.
04:24If there were a Hall of Fame for how to completely blow
04:27a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,
04:29Harrison would be a first-ballot member.
04:31But at least he didn't, like,
04:33completely destroy America.
04:35Like Franklin Pierce,
04:36who, well, came pretty dang close.
04:39Because with his movie star good looks
04:41and smooth-talking speeches,
04:42Pierce became elected to deal with the whole slavery problem.
04:46But he quickly made one giant mistake.
04:49The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854.
04:53You see, back then,
04:54there was a bunch of unorganized land
04:56after the Louisiana Purchase.
04:58State lines were still being drawn.
05:00And the Kansas-Nebraska Act
05:02established the areas as U.S. territories.
05:05But it also stated that popular sovereignty
05:08would determine if slavery was allowed in each territory.
05:12In other words,
05:13the new settlers would vote on it,
05:15reversing the long-standing Missouri Compromise,
05:18which banned it above a certain line.
05:20So what was the result?
05:22Pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces flooded Kansas
05:26with rifles, torches, and angry mobs.
05:30The territory quickly descended into chaos and bloodshed.
05:35Houses were burned,
05:37families slaughtered,
05:38and the five-year bloodbath was nicknamed Bleeding Kansas.
05:43So what did Franklin Pierce do to stop it?
05:46Pretty much nothing.
05:47In fact, he backed the pro-slavery side,
05:51which formed an illegitimate government
05:53through voter fraud and violence.
05:55He even sent in federal troops
05:58to stabilize the new government.
06:00Pretty crazy times.
06:02Because instead of calming tensions
06:04between the North and South,
06:06Pierce accelerated the nation's march
06:08towards civil war.
06:10But this next terrible president
06:12is one you might not expect.
06:15And that's Woodrow Wilson,
06:17who's known for his lofty ideals
06:19like championing the League of Nations
06:21and making the world safe for democracy.
06:24And hey, he did some pretty good stuff,
06:26like lead us through World War I.
06:28But here's the problem.
06:30Back at home,
06:31he levied some of the worst attacks
06:33on American freedoms in U.S. history.
06:36During World War I,
06:38he signed the Espionage Act and Sedition Act,
06:41making it a crime to criticize the government,
06:45the military,
06:45or even the flag.
06:47And hey,
06:48I love America just as much as the next guy.
06:50I'm a friggin' bald eagle.
06:52But this was downright crazy.
06:55Because under his administration,
06:58over 2,000 Americans were prosecuted,
07:01like journalists,
07:02union leaders,
07:03and everyday citizens
07:05who dared to speak their minds.
07:07Free speech,
07:08you know,
07:09the bedrock of American democracy,
07:11was crushed under the weight
07:12of wartime paranoia.
07:14But Wilson thought it was totally worth it.
07:17Because after World War I,
07:19he pushed for the League of Nations,
07:21the first worldwide intergovernmental organization
07:25designed to maintain world peace.
07:27But there was one little problem.
07:29It was rejected by the U.S. Senate,
07:32out of fear that it would drag America
07:34into European wars.
07:36He couldn't believe it.
07:37But here's the funny part.
07:40The League of Nations still ended up happening
07:42with 63 other countries,
07:44just without the U.S.
07:46So Wilson was left crying outside the club.
07:50And to cap it all off,
07:52he punished Germany so severely
07:54after World War I
07:55with the Treaty of Versailles
07:56that it sowed the seeds for World War II.
08:00In the end,
08:01Wilson became a prisoner of his own ego,
08:04a man so obsessed with his vision,
08:06he refused to bend,
08:08causing chaos at home and abroad.
08:10And Wilson's presidency
08:12had some eerily similar parallels
08:15to this next guy,
08:16George W. Bush,
08:18who entered the White House
08:19with a handshake and a smirk,
08:21until history threw him every disaster
08:24short of a meteor strike.
08:26First, 9-11.
08:28And to his credit,
08:30Bush brought the whole country together
08:31for about six months.
08:34But what followed
08:35reshaped the entire world,
08:38pretty much for the worse.
08:40First came the decision
08:41to invade Iraq,
08:42based on bad intelligence
08:44that Saddam Hussein
08:45possessed weapons of mass destruction.
08:48Turns out,
08:49he didn't.
08:50But by then,
08:52the U.S. was locked
08:53into a trillion-dollar war
08:54that cost over 4,400 American lives,
08:57wounded tens of thousands more,
08:59and destabilized the Middle East
09:02for decades.
09:03Thanks for your service.
09:05But like Woodrow Wilson,
09:06Bush gutted the civil liberties
09:09of Americans at home
09:10by passing the Patriot Act
09:12in October of 2001,
09:14which dramatically expanded
09:16surveillance powers
09:17of the federal government,
09:19allowing the NSA and FBI
09:21to surveil U.S. citizens
09:23without a warrant.
09:25Hey, is this thing recording me?
09:27So, although you can argue
09:29this was necessary at the time,
09:31many of these powers
09:32still exist today.
09:33I don't think these guys
09:35would be too happy
09:37about a surveillance state.
09:38Then came Hurricane Katrina.
09:41Where the levees broke,
09:43New Orleans flooded,
09:44and the federal government's response was,
09:46we're working on it.
09:48Because as people
09:49were left stranded on rooftops,
09:51the government set up
09:52the Louisiana Superdome
09:54as the shelter of last resort.
09:56But when 30,000 people showed up,
09:59it turned out to be a nightmare.
10:01The roof was damaged,
10:03the power failed,
10:04and toilets overflowed.
10:06Which just stinks.
10:08The whole fiasco
10:10reeked of government inefficiency,
10:12and Bush was the poster child.
10:15So not only was Bush
10:17messing things up back then,
10:18but Americans are still living
10:21with the consequences today.
10:22But speaking of messing stuff up,
10:25after Abraham Lincoln
10:27was assassinated,
10:28America needed a steady hand
10:30to unite the country.
10:32Instead,
10:33it got Andrew Johnson,
10:35a former slaveholder
10:36from Tennessee
10:37who, believe it or not,
10:39didn't exactly believe
10:40in racial equality.
10:42He vetoed
10:43the Civil Rights Act of 1866,
10:46which would grant citizenship
10:47and basic rights
10:48to formerly enslaved people.
10:50Things like
10:51the right to make contracts,
10:52own property,
10:54and be treated equally
10:55under the law.
10:57What the heck, man?
10:58But Congress
11:00wasn't having it.
11:01They overrode his veto
11:03and pushed through
11:04the 14th Amendment,
11:06locking those rights
11:07into the Constitution.
11:09But Johnson
11:10didn't back down.
11:11He found other ways
11:13to prop up the South,
11:14like issuing mass pardons
11:16to tens of thousands
11:17of Confederates.
11:18Because, uh,
11:19it's kind of a big deal
11:20when you take up arms
11:21against the United States,
11:23most governments
11:24would throw you in jail
11:24or hang you for treason.
11:26But Johnson
11:27restored their rights
11:29and let them retake
11:30power in the South.
11:31His logic?
11:32We shouldn't kick
11:33the losers
11:34while they're down.
11:35But as you might have guessed,
11:37his plan backfired.
11:39Because this started
11:40the Jim Crow era,
11:41created fertile ground
11:43for the Ku Klux Klan,
11:44and stoked racial tensions
11:46nationwide.
11:48In Congress's eyes,
11:50Johnson had basically
11:51undone the point
11:52of winning the whole
11:53Civil War.
11:54So, they impeached him.
11:56The first presidential impeachment
11:58in U.S. history,
11:59where Johnson faced trial
12:01in the Senate
12:02and survived conviction
12:04by just one vote.
12:06Phew, that was close.
12:08As you can tell,
12:10post-Civil War America
12:11was crazy.
12:12We needed a leader
12:13to rise above the hate
12:14and pull the country forward.
12:16Instead,
12:17Johnson doubled down
12:19on division.
12:21But if you thought
12:22that was bad,
12:24get ready for
12:24Herbert Hoover,
12:26who promised Americans
12:27a chicken in every pot
12:29and a car in every garage.
12:31And honestly,
12:33people believed him.
12:34Because on paper,
12:36Hoover had a glittering resume,
12:38self-made millionaire,
12:40humanitarian,
12:41and a respected public servant.
12:44This guy was going to
12:45usher America
12:46into a new golden age.
12:48Until the Great Depression hit.
12:51Just months into his term,
12:53the stock market crashed
12:54and Hoover froze.
12:56As a staunch capitalist,
12:59he believed the government
13:00intervention would only
13:01make things worse.
13:03So, he sat back
13:04and let private charities
13:05and local governments
13:07handle the crisis.
13:08The results?
13:09Banks collapsed.
13:11Businesses shuddered.
13:13And unemployment
13:14soared to 25%.
13:17I'm going broke
13:18out here, man!
13:19But the final blow
13:21came in 1932
13:22with the Bonus Army Protest,
13:25where 15,000
13:26World War I veterans
13:27marched peacefully
13:29on Washington, D.C.,
13:30demanding early payment
13:32of bonuses
13:33they were promised,
13:34money they desperately
13:35needed to survive.
13:37And Hoover's response?
13:39He sent in the U.S. Army.
13:42Led by General Douglas MacArthur,
13:45federal troops used tear gas,
13:46tanks,
13:47and bayonets
13:48to violently clear
13:49the encampment.
13:50And when photographs
13:52of assaulted veterans
13:53hit the front page
13:54of newspapers
13:55across America,
13:56it was game over.
13:59Hoover's legacy
14:00was sealed.
14:01Not as a helper,
14:03but as a cold,
14:04clueless man
14:05who fumbled
14:06the Great Depression
14:07and turned tanks
14:08against our own veterans.
14:10No list of terrible presidents
14:13would be complete
14:13without the guy
14:14who watched the Civil War
14:16unfold from the front row
14:17and did nothing.
14:19An event so devastating,
14:21it almost killed
14:22the country forever.
14:24When James Buchanan
14:25took office in 1857,
14:28the nation was already
14:29tearing at the seams
14:30over slavery.
14:31He had a choice.
14:33Take action and lead
14:35or do nothing.
14:37Instead,
14:38he chose door number three
14:39and let the Supreme Court
14:41handle it,
14:42which led to the infamous
14:43Dred Scott decision
14:45that said black Americans
14:47could never be citizens.
14:48And Buchanan
14:49celebrated.
14:51The debate was over
14:53in his mind.
14:54He even pressured
14:55justices behind the scenes
14:57to make a sweeping
14:58pro-slavery ruling,
14:59thinking this would settle
15:01the issue once and for all.
15:03Spoiler alert,
15:04it didn't.
15:06Instead,
15:07it lit a fire
15:08under the North.
15:09And three years later,
15:11Abraham Lincoln,
15:12who opposed
15:13the expansion of slavery,
15:14won the presidency
15:16without a single
15:17Southern electoral vote.
15:19Nice work,
15:19top hat.
15:21The South panicked.
15:23With no more
15:23national power,
15:25Southern states
15:25began seceding
15:26from the Union
15:27before Lincoln took office.
15:29And Buchanan,
15:30who was still president,
15:32insisted that
15:32secession was illegal,
15:34but also claimed
15:35the federal government
15:36had no authority
15:37to stop it.
15:38Thanks for nothing, dude.
15:40By the time
15:41Buchanan left office,
15:43seven states were gone.
15:45Federal forts
15:46had been seized,
15:47and America
15:48was free-falling
15:49into civil war.
15:51Buchanan's legacy
15:52isn't defined
15:53by scandal
15:54or one bad law.
15:55It's defined
15:57by his failure
15:57to act
15:58when the nation's
15:59very survival
16:00was at stake.
16:02Sheesh,
16:03I mean,
16:03it couldn't possibly
16:04get any worse
16:04than that,
16:05right?
16:07Well,
16:07believe it or not,
16:08it does.
16:09Because this
16:10is the worst president
16:12in U.S. history.
16:13His name
16:14is Warren G.
16:16Harding,
16:16a man so unqualified
16:18for the job,
16:19he even admits it.
16:21Harding once
16:22privately said,
16:23I am not fit
16:25for this office
16:25and should never
16:27have been here.
16:28And he wasn't wrong,
16:30because Harding ran
16:31on returning America
16:32to normalcy.
16:34Instead,
16:35he delivered
16:36the most corrupt
16:37administration
16:37of all time,
16:39stacking his cabinet
16:40with the Ohio gang,
16:42a crew of poker buddies,
16:44party friends,
16:45and political cronies
16:46who looted the government
16:47like a bank robbery.
16:49Take the Teapot Dome scandal,
16:51where his secretary
16:52of the interior
16:53secretly leased
16:54federal oil reserves
16:55to private companies
16:56in exchange for bribes.
16:59Bad?
17:00Oh, you bet.
17:01But not as bad
17:02as the head
17:03of the Veterans Bureau,
17:04who embezzled millions
17:06meant for wounded soldiers.
17:08Or his attorney general,
17:10who allegedly
17:11took kickbacks
17:12to look the other way
17:13while criminals
17:14ran wild
17:15during Prohibition.
17:17And while all
17:18of this was happening,
17:19Harding spent his days
17:20golfing,
17:21gambling,
17:22and drinking,
17:23which was illegal
17:25during the Prohibition,
17:26by the way.
17:27He even had multiple affairs
17:29while in office.
17:31This dude's the worst.
17:33Harding even admitted,
17:35I have no trouble
17:36with my enemies.
17:37I can take care
17:37of my enemies
17:38in a fight.
17:39But my damn friends,
17:40they're the ones
17:41that keep me
17:41walking the floor
17:42at night.
17:44And maybe the guild
17:45started eating away
17:46at him
17:46because Warren G.
17:48Harding died
17:48of a heart attack
17:49in 1923,
17:51mid-scandal,
17:53leaving the country
17:53shocked at the rot
17:55inside his administration.
17:57Harding's presidency
17:58didn't just damage
17:59trust in government,
18:01it shattered it.
18:02But hey,
18:04maybe that was a good thing,
18:05because today,
18:06we're still skeptical
18:07of political corruption,
18:09even with it happening
18:10in front of our faces.
18:12How's that stock
18:13portfolio going up?
18:14But there you have it,
18:16the worst presidents
18:17in American history.
18:19Not only did they stink
18:20at their jobs,
18:21they nearly broke
18:22the country.
18:23But if you thought
18:24their legacies were dark,
18:26wait until you hear
18:27how they died.
18:28One choked on cherries,
18:30another dropped dead
18:32from a stroke.
18:33And yeah,
18:34one got assassinated
18:36in broad daylight.
18:37This is how every president
18:39died in their last words.
18:41So,
18:42click this video right here,
18:43because this one's over.
18:44And trust me,
18:46it only gets crazier.
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