Who were the worst American presidents? While it takes a rare combination of qualities such as strength of character, high principles, veracity, good judgment, and political skills to be considered the best of presidents, it takes a combination of persistent lying; failure to exercise good judgment; scandals; policies that weaken the country and hurt the economy; favoritism and cronyism; tax policy that enriches the elite while harming others; attacks on public institutions such as education, the arts, the environment, and a free and open media; and a general dereliction of duties, to be considered among the worst. The presidents listed below all shared some or more of those traits.