These embarrassing presidential moments are tough to stomach. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most questionable decisions and politically fraught moments that left permanent smears on the legacies of U.S. presidents.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00An unravelling of a presidency begins here?
00:02It begins right in this space.
00:04Welcome to WatchMojo, and today, we're counting down our picks for the most questionable decisions
00:09and politically fraught moments that left permanent smears on the legacies of U.S. presidents.
00:15120,000 Japanese and Japanese-Americans within four months were put into barracks.
00:23I mean, how does that happen?
00:2520. George W. Bush Mission Accomplished Speech
00:30In May 2003, six weeks after invading Iraq, President George W. Bush gave a speech in front
00:36of a Mission Accomplished banner declaring the end of major combat operations in the country.
00:41Major combat operations in Iraq have ended.
00:45In the Battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.
00:51However, the conflict was far from over.
00:53In many ways, it had only just begun.
00:55The war went on for another eight years,
00:57with the majority of deaths occurring after this speech.
01:00When the criticism began pouring in,
01:02the Bush administration claimed the banner was requested by the Navy.
01:06They then stated that Mission Accomplished only referred to the initial invasion, not the war.
01:11This incident echoed earlier misinformation by the Bush administration regarding Iraq's
01:16alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction,
01:18despite hardly any intelligence supporting such claims.
01:21What justifies everything is the removal of a threat.
01:25I mean, Saddam was saying weapons are no weapons,
01:27which would have been a threat had he remained in power.
01:3019. George Washington The Whiskey Rebellion
01:33In 1791, just two years into his presidency,
01:37George Washington's administration enacted what became known as the Whiskey Tax.
01:41Not anticipating the hostilities to follow, Congress passed the Excise Whiskey Tax of 1791.
01:48Its ripple effects would be far-reaching and incite violent division.
01:52Proposed by Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton,
01:55its aim was to generate revenue to tackle the national debt incurred during the Revolutionary
02:00War. This tax faced staunch opposition from small farmers, who deemed it unfair
02:05since they had to distill their grain into whiskey for easier transport and sale.
02:09The backlash quickly turned violent, with farmers refusing to pay and even attacking tax collectors.
02:15Pennsylvania farmers lashed out against collectors,
02:18tarring and feathering them in certain instances.
02:20In response, Washington personally led an army to quash the protests,
02:25but the rebels all fled and no conflict ensued. While Washington managed to suppress resistance
02:30to federal laws, the tax failed to achieve its goal and was repealed in 1802.
02:3618. Grover Cleveland Sex Scandal
02:39During the presidential elections of 1884, Democratic candidate Grover Cleveland was
02:45seen as a formidable option, earning voter support for his anti-corruption stance.
02:59However, in the lead-up to the election, allegations surfaced that Cleveland had
03:03fathered an illegitimate child with a widow named Maria Halpin. Halpin claimed that Cleveland
03:09sexually assaulted her, then had her committed to an insane asylum, and put their child up for
03:15adoption. When the scandal became public, Cleveland admitted to paying Halpin child support.
03:30His opponents seized upon the controversy, creating the chant,
03:33Ma Ma Where's My Pa?, which dogged Cleveland's campaign. Despite the shocking sex scandal,
03:39Cleveland's supporters remained loyal, helping him secure a narrow victory at the polls.
03:4417. George H.W. Bush No New Taxes
03:49By now, voters have grown accustomed to politicians failing to fulfill their campaign promises.
03:54But when a candidate centers their campaign around a key issue,
03:57they should probably expect to be held accountable.
04:00That was precisely the case with President George H.W. Bush. Throughout his 1988 campaign,
04:17Bush consistently pledged not to introduce any new taxes if elected.
04:21He emphasized this commitment at the Republican National Convention, stating,
04:30Well, guess what? There were, in fact, several new taxes. Bush's backtrack on this promise lost
04:38him the support of many within his party, and became a focal point of the 1992 election,
04:43where Bill Clinton successfully portrayed him as untrustworthy.
04:47This ultimately contributed to his re-election defeat.
04:5116. Thomas Jefferson, The Embargo Act During the Napoleonic Wars,
04:56America sought to remain neutral, resisting pressure from Britain and France to join the
05:01conflict. When the British began forcing U.S. sailors to join their navy, President Thomas
05:13Jefferson decided to sign the Embargo Act of 1807, which halted all American exports abroad.
05:20Jefferson hoped this would pressure Britain and France to respect American neutrality.
05:24Instead, this strategy backfired as the act negatively affected the U.S. economy,
05:29leading to widespread smuggling and protests, especially in the New England region.
05:38This was particularly damaging for America, which was a relatively new nation at the time.
05:43Faced with growing opposition, Jefferson quietly repealed the act in the last days of his
05:47presidency.
05:4815. Woodrow Wilson, The Espionage Act and Sedition Act
05:54America's entry into World War I in April 1917, after nearly three years of neutrality,
06:00was met with significant domestic dissent. To suppress this opposition, President Woodrow
06:05Wilson signed two laws, the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918.
06:11The most memorable provisions of the Espionage Act regulated anti-war speech and made it a
06:19federal offense to say or do or publish things that would interfere with the war effort.
06:24The Espionage Act originally aimed to crack down on actual espionage by penalizing interference
06:30in foreign policy and military operations. However, the Sedition Act greatly expanded
06:36its scope, prohibiting disloyal speech against the U.S. government, which seems to violate
06:41the Constitution's free speech protections. These acts resulted in widespread prosecutions
06:46targeting socialists and pacifists, including notable figures like Eugene V. Debs.
07:01The Sedition Act was ultimately repealed in 1920, but the Espionage Act remains in effect
07:06today.
07:0714. John Adams, The Alien and Sedition Acts
07:12Woodrow Wilson wasn't the only president to suppress dissent against the government.
07:16Back in 1798, President John Adams enacted four laws called the Alien and Sedition Acts,
07:22amid concerns of an imminent war with France.
07:41These acts targeted immigrants and political dissidents,
07:44who Adams feared would side with France in the event of war.
07:48Among the four laws, three were Alien Acts, which toughened the citizenship process for
07:53immigrants and allowed their deportation if deemed dangerous. The fourth, a Sedition Act,
07:58punished anyone spreading false and malicious statements about the government.
08:02Naturally, these acts faced strong public opposition, sparking protests nationwide.
08:19This backlash provided leverage for Adams' opponent, Thomas Jefferson,
08:23who successfully capitalized on it and won the presidential election in 1800.
08:32Abraham Lincoln's assassination left Andrew Johnson with the task of reintegrating
08:37former Confederate states and previously enslaved people into the United States.
08:42Johnson wanted the post-war South treated leniently.
08:46As for the fate of freed slaves, he wanted that left up to the states.
08:50Johnson's Reconstruction policies favored leniency towards the rebels,
08:55allowing them to easily rejoin the Union and uphold a system that was essentially still slavery.
09:00These policies enraged Congress, which passed laws to counter them,
09:05kicking off a bitter struggle with the president.
09:07In August 1867, Johnson fired Secretary of War Edward Stanton in violation of the Tenure of
09:14Office Act. The following year, Congress impeached Johnson, making him the first
09:19president to face such a resolution. Finally, the bad blood spilled over.
09:23The president was impeached and escaped removal from office by just one vote.
09:28Although he was narrowly acquitted by the Senate, Johnson's presidency was
09:33severely weakened and he failed to win the Democratic nomination in 1868.
09:3812. JAMES BUCHANAN – HIS ENTIRE PRESIDENCY
09:42James Buchanan's single term as president occurred in the mid-19th century. Since then,
09:47many successors have come and gone, yet several historians still consider him
09:52the worst president in U.S. history.
09:59the slave-holding South exacerbated long-simmering tensions.
10:04This is due to his apparent indifference to the impending civil war. After his inauguration,
10:10Buchanan viewed slavery as an issue of little importance. Instead of trying to lessen the
10:15rift between the North and the South, Buchanan believed he shouldn't interfere in states' issues.
10:20He feared that if you handled the issue of slavery too robustly,
10:29that it would create what he believed would be the end of the Union, secession.
10:35He had pledged not to run for a second term, and during the lame-duck period between his
10:40successors' election and inauguration, Southern states began to secede. Buchanan essentially
10:45crossed his arms and watched them leave, his incompetence inevitably resulting in the Civil
10:51War.
10:55President Warren G. Harding was in office for only two years before his untimely death,
11:00but in that little time, he was involved in one of the most shocking political scandals ever.
11:05The Teapot Dome scandal was probably the most significant presidential scandal
11:11in American history in the 20th century, up until Watergate.
11:16Following his inauguration in 1921, Harding placed his close friends in high-ranking positions,
11:22including Albert B. Fall, whom he appointed as Interior Secretary.
11:27Harding gave Fall control over three naval oil fields,
11:30whose drilling rights the Secretary then leased to private oil companies in exchange for bribes.
11:36This shady deal was first reported in April 1922, resulting in a Senate investigation.
11:42Congress ordered President Harding to scrap the oil leases. The Supreme Court ruled the
11:47leases fraudulent and said Harding's transfer of authority from the Navy to Interior was illegal.
11:54At the time of his death in August 1923, Harding was beloved among the American public,
12:00but as the details of this investigation surfaced, his reputation was effectively tarnished.
12:05Number 10. Donald Trump, convicted of felony crimes.
12:09Before Donald Trump's election in 2016, 44 individuals had served as President of the
12:14United States. Yet in 2024, he made history as the first one to be convicted of a crime.
12:20The stunning verdict was delivered by a Manhattan jury of seven men and five women,
12:25who deliberated for two days, making Mr. Trump the first former American president
12:30to be convicted of a crime.
12:32The landmark case stemmed from hush money payments Trump made to adult film star Stormy
12:37Daniels to keep their alleged sexual encounter under wraps. The prosecution argued that Trump
12:42falsified business records to conceal these payments, a felony under New York law. The
12:48trial became a media spectacle and concluded with the jury finding Trump guilty on all 34 counts.
12:54This case was one of several criminal charges Trump faced, including his alleged involvement
12:58in the January 6th insurrection, aimed at overturning the 2020 election, which he lost
13:04to Joe Biden.
13:19Number 9. Bill Clinton, the Lewinsky scandal and impeachment.
13:23More than a century after Andrew Johnson's impeachment in 1868,
13:27Bill Clinton became the second U.S. president to be impeached by Congress in 1998.
13:32When the dust had cleared, the House, voting almost strictly along party lines,
13:36sent two articles of impeachment on for trial in the Senate.
13:39Clinton's impeachment was related to an extramarital affair he had with White
13:42House intern Monica Lewinsky. Lewinsky confided in her colleague Linda Tripp,
13:47who secretly recorded their conversations and handed the tapes to an independent counsel,
13:52which was already investigating Clinton on other matters.
13:55The ensuing scandal eventually led to his impeachment by the House of Representatives
13:59on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice, as he had lied under oath about the affair.
14:05I want the American people to know today that I am still committed
14:10to working with people of good faith and goodwill of both parties to do what's best for our country.
14:16Though Clinton was ultimately acquitted by the Senate,
14:18the scandal left a lasting stain on his legacy.
14:22Number 8. John F. Kennedy – The Bay of Pigs Invasion
14:25In early 1960, President Dwight Eisenhower approved a CIA plan to overthrow Cuban leader
14:31Fidel Castro. That plan was not executed until the following year, after John F. Kennedy took office.
14:38On April 16th, Kennedy reluctantly agreed to the plan, with one major exception.
14:44If the operation foundered for the Cuban exiles, the U.S. military would not intervene.
14:50On April 17th, 1961, over 1,400 Cuban exiles, who had been trained by the U.S.,
14:57landed at the Bay of Pigs to launch a full-scale invasion. However, their attempt was dead on
15:02arrival. The insurgents on the ground were met with unexpected resistance by Castro's forces
15:07and were easily overpowered, especially after Kennedy withheld further air support.
15:12Within three days, they had all surrendered.
15:29The fiasco became a significant embarrassment for Kennedy, undermining his credibility in
15:34the international community and escalating Cold War tensions.
15:38Number 7. Herbert Hoover – Mexican Repatriation
15:42Shortly after Herbert Hoover took office in 1929, the U.S. stock market crashed,
15:47which sparked the Great Depression. Hoover's strategy to tackle this economic disaster
15:51was to blame Mexicans in the U.S., accusing them of taking American jobs. As a result,
15:57his administration oversaw the deportation of up to 1.8 million people to Mexico,
16:02many of whom were actually U.S. citizens.
16:05Increasingly important is the 60 percent or more of American citizens of Mexican descent.
16:12In other words, what occurred here was unconstitutional deportation.
16:18Known as the Mexican Repatriation, this scheme was carried out through raids,
16:22roundups, and pressure tactics that forced many individuals to leave voluntarily.
16:27Unsurprisingly, this did nothing to ease the Great Depression, which ended up contributing
16:31to Hoover's defeat in the next election. In 2005, the state of California formally apologized
16:37for its role in the repatriation. The state of California went on to issue a formal apology for
16:43its role in the expulsions and built a memorial in downtown Los Angeles to commemorate the victims.
16:49Number 6. Lyndon B. Johnson – Escalating the Vietnam War
16:53When Lyndon B. Johnson became president in 1963 following JFK's assassination,
16:58the Vietnam War had already been raging for nearly a decade. At first,
17:03American involvement was fairly limited, but this changed dramatically under Johnson.
17:07The turning point was the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964,
17:11where North Vietnamese forces supposedly attacked U.S. Navy ships.
17:15Johnson would use this incident to acquire the power to make war in Vietnam
17:20whenever and however he would choose. Although this attack was later disproven,
17:25it led to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which gave Johnson authority to escalate
17:29U.S. military actions in Vietnam. By 1967, there were over 500,000 American troops in Vietnam,
17:36many of whom lost their lives. Johnson's escalation of the war became highly unpopular in the U.S.,
17:42sparking nationwide protests and resulting in his decision not to seek re-election.
17:55Number 5. Ronald Reagan – Iran-Contra Affair
18:01In 1986, Ronald Reagan and several of his administration officials became embroiled
18:06in a notorious political scandal. They had secretly orchestrated the sale of weapons to Iran,
18:12which was under an arms embargo, to secure the release of seven American hostages.
18:17The profits from this sale were then illegally diverted to fund Contra rebels in Nicaragua,
18:22who were fighting the leftist Sandinista government.
18:34This was in direct violation of a congressional amendment that banned American aid to the group.
18:40When the affair was exposed, it became a major embarrassment for Reagan,
18:44raising concerns about his administration's integrity and oversight. Around the same time,
18:49Reagan also faced criticism for his delayed response to the AIDS epidemic,
18:54which had already been a significant crisis for years.
18:57At the time, many leaders were accused of ignoring the crisis because it was deemed a gay disease.
19:03President Reagan didn't give his first major speech on AIDS until 1987.
19:08Number 4. Franklin Pierce – The Kansas-Nebraska Act
19:12Franklin Pierce, a one-term president, is often ranked among the worst and most
19:16forgettable leaders in U.S. history. Pierce's administration is largely remembered for passing
19:21the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854. This act created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska and allowed
19:29settlers to decide on the legality of slavery through voting.
19:32Pierce signed into law the Kansas-Nebraska Act, allowing voters in the Kansas and Nebraska
19:38territories to decide whether to allow slavery within their borders, negating the earlier Missouri
19:45Compromise. Though it was intended to reduce tensions over slavery, the bill backfired,
19:50instead reigniting fierce debates around it. Pro- and anti-slavery settlers rushed to Kansas,
19:56hoping to outnumber each other and sway the vote. This led to violent clashes between the two sides,
20:02known as Bleeding Kansas. Instead of uniting the country, the Kansas-Nebraska Act only
20:07deepened divisions, stoking the fires that culminated in the Civil War.
20:12He thought making concessions to Southerners was what was necessary to preserve the Union.
20:19Number 3. Richard Nixon, the Watergate scandal, and resignation. Few things are as humiliating
20:25for a U.S. president as resigning from office. Richard Nixon was the first to experience this
20:31due to his involvement in the Watergate scandal. We have a mystery story out of Washington. Five
20:36people have been arrested and charged with breaking into the headquarters of the Democratic
20:39National Committee in the middle of the night. Nixon was largely popular during his first term,
20:44but to ensure his reelection in 1972, his administration and campaign orchestrated
20:49the wiretapping of the Democratic Party headquarters. However, the men sent to do
20:54the job were caught red-handed and eventually linked to Nixon's campaign. Desperate to hide
20:59his administration's involvement, Nixon tried to obstruct the investigation. This was revealed
21:04by his own taped recordings, leading him to resign rather than face impeachment.
21:09Therefore, I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow.
21:14Ironically, Nixon had already secured re-election in one of the largest landslides in history,
21:20which made the whole fiasco pointless. Number 2. Franklin D. Roosevelt,
21:25internment of Japanese Americans. Following Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor,
21:30public opinion in the U.S. slowly began to turn against Japanese Americans. To address fears of
21:36further Japanese attacks or sabotage, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066.
21:43Motivated by vocal outcries from politicians and military officials,
21:47FDR signed Executive Order 9066, empowering the U.S. Army to designate areas from which
21:55any or all persons may be excluded. This order allowed the U.S. government to
21:59forcibly remove and relocate people of Japanese descent to internment camps. As a result,
22:05about 120,000 Japanese Americans, many of them U.S. citizens, were uprooted from their homes
22:11and forced to live under harsh conditions, simply due to baseless fears of espionage.
22:17Years later, the Ronald Reagan administration officially apologized to the former detainees
22:22for this grave injustice, and paid $20,000 in reparations to each survivor. It would take over
22:2840 years before President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, paying reparations to
22:36each victim of internment. Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the
22:41bell to get notified about our latest videos. You have the option to be notified for occasional
22:46videos or all of them. If you're on your phone, make sure you go into settings and switch on your
22:50notifications. Number 1. Andrew Jackson, the Trail of Tears. In the early 1800s, tensions
23:00ran high between Native Americans and white settlers over the ownership of indigenous lands
23:05in the South, which were ideal for cotton farming. The U.S. government signed a treaty
23:10that guaranteed that Cherokee land would be off-limits to white settlers forever.
23:16These settlers found a powerful ally in President Andrew Jackson. In 1830, Jackson signed the Indian
23:22Removal Act, authorizing the forceful displacement of indigenous tribes from their ancestral lands.
23:28Between 1830 and 1850, about 60,000 Native Americans were removed from their homes and
23:35marched over a thousand miles to designated Indian territory across the Mississippi River.
23:41Thousands of Native Americans were pulled from their homes in Georgia and other states across
23:46the South. Many were shackled in chains and forced to walk, at gunpoint, more than 1,000 miles west.
23:54Referred to as the Trail of Tears, this journey was brutal and left thousands dead from disease,
24:00exposure, and starvation. Today, many scholars view it as an act of genocide and ethnic cleansing
24:06against Native Americans. Which of these appalling moments left you shaking your head in disbelief?
24:12Let us know in the comments below.
24:14I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.
24:20Did you enjoy this video? Check out these other clips from WatchMojo,
24:23and be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.