Bloggers Select The 20 Worst Figures In American History

by John Hawkins | August 4, 2003 12:25 am

Out of all the gangsters, serial killers, mass murders, incompetent & crooked politicians, spies, traitors, and ultra left-wing kooks in all of American history — have you ever wondered who the worst of the worst were? Well, we here at RWN wondered about that too and that’s why we decided to email more than a hundred bloggers to get their opinions & 39 replied.

All bloggers were allowed to make anywhere from 1-20 selections. Rank was determined simply by the number of votes received. Also, it’s worth keeping in mind that this was a fairly conservative group of bloggers and their selections reflected that. Also, I made a decision to combine the votes given to the Rosenbergs and Julius Rosenberg into one group since most people associate the two of them together. Some people may disagree with that decision, but I thought it was the best way to go.

Well that’s enough about the rules — without further adieu, the worst figures in American history are as follows…(Cont[1])

***Update***: Here’s my list…

Aldrich Ames
Benedict Arnold
John Wilkes Booth
Ted Bundy
Aaron Burr

Al Capone
Jimmy Carter
Noam Chomsky
Jeffrey Dahmer
Eric Harris & Dylan Klebold

Alger Hiss
Lyndon Johnson
Jim Jones
Ted Kaczynski
Henry Lee Lucas & Ottis Toole

Charles Manson
Timothy McVeigh
Madeline Murray O’Haire
The Rosenbergs
John Walker

***Update #2***: Just to clear something up, John Walker Lindh & John Walker are two different people. John Walker Lindh fought with the Taliban in Afghanistan and John Walker was a spy for the KGB who was busted in 1985.

***Update #3***: Just a few comments on the selections. Bill & Hill didn’t make my list and wouldn’t have made it if I went fifty deep. I don’t care for either of them, but there were a lot of mediocre Presidents in the 19th century comparable to the Clintons. Because of that, I don’t think they did enough to merit a selection.

Byrd, Sharpton, & Walker Lindh, wouldn’t have done enough to make a top 50 of mine either. McCarthy might have made my list of the 100 greatest Americans, despite all of his flaws, because of the important work he did in fighting against Communism in his day.

FDR was a tough call for me because he really did permanent and lasting damage to our country with his social programs. On the other hand, he was a great leader in WW2. Take away the social programs and he’s a top ten greatest American for me, take away his leadership in WW2 and he’s one of the top 10 worst Americans, so to me, they just cancel each other out.

I decided to include the Columbine killers not only because of the number people they killed, but because they spawned so many imitators. I was also surprised Jim Jones didn’t make the list and that Aaron Burr didn’t rank higher.

Last but not least, Jimmy Carter and Lyndon Johnson are not evil, unpatriotic, bad men, etc. However, each them did massive damage to our country. They were definitely the two worst Presidents of the last century and perhaps the two worst Presidents our country has ever had.

Now some people may say (Allison Kaplan Sommer[2] for example) that it’s not fair to put those men on a list with men with Charles Manson & the Columbine killers. Hey, better to take the serial killers off the list than Carter & Johnson. Carter did such a lousy job as President that some people even thought America was done as a super power & even if you didn’t count Johnson’s social programs against him, he would deserve high placement on the list just for how he botched Vietnam. Both of them definitely deserved to make the list.

PS: Two women did make the list this time & my own list had two women on it. So I guess I don’t have to worry about any sexism charges this time[3] eh?

***Update #4***: Michele Catalano[4] has convinced me to do something I was thinking about doing anyway. Next Tuesday, look for this same article — with left-wing bloggers participating =)

***Update #5***: There may be two women on the list, but according to Meryl Yourish[5], it’s still sexist =D

Endnotes:
  1. Cont: https://rightwingnews1.wpenginepowered.com/special/worstfigures.php
  2. Allison Kaplan Sommer: http://allisonkaplansommer.blogmosis.com/history/013892.html#013892
  3. this time: https://rightwingnews1.wpenginepowered.com/archives/week_2003_07_20.PHP#0011552
  4. Michele Catalano: http://asmallvictory.net/archives/004137.html#004137
  5. Meryl Yourish: http://www.yourish.com/archives/2003/aug3-9_2003.html#2003080501

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