American presidents who were war criminals

anonymoose

anonymoose

Classical Liberal
My rankings in order of number of civilians murdered

1. Abraham Lincoln
Allowed and approved of Sherman's March to the Sea.

2. Lyndon Johnson
Starting the Vietnam war under false pretenses... the Gulf of Tonkin "incident".

3. FDR
(see post 4)

4. Harry Truman
Could have forewarned Hirohito of what the atomic bomb was capable of by demonstrating it before
using it on innocent civilians and given H. a chance to surrender.

5.George W. Bush
Starting the Iraq operation under false pretenses

6. Barack Obama
Allowed his Sect. of State with zero foreign policy experience to convince him to politically destroy a
sovereign nation which is FUBARed to this day.

Dishonorable mention:

Dick Nixon
For pardoning reducing Lt. William Calley's sentence

Note: I rank Lincoln ahead of Johnson because we don't know accurately the number of vietnamese civilians Americans murdered
 
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anonymoose said:
My rankings in order of number of civilians murdered

1. Abraham Lincoln
Allowed and approved of Sherman's March to the Sea.

2. Lyndon Johnson
Starting the Vietnam war under false pretenses... the Gulf of Tonkin "incident".

3. Harry Truman
Could have forewarned Hirohito of what the atomic bomb was capable of by demonstrating it before
using it on innocent civilians and given H. a chance to surrender.

4 .George W. Bush
Starting the Iraq operation under false pretenses

5. Barack Obama
Allowed his Sect. of State with zero foreign policy experience to convince him to politically destroy a
sovereign nation which is FUBARed to this day.

6. Dick Nixon
For pardoning Lt. William Calley.

Note: I rank Lincoln ahead of Johnson because we don't know accurately the number of vietnamese civilians Americans murdered.
Click to expand...

I don't think Calley was pardoned. Nixon reduced his sentence.
 
Flash said:
I don't think Calley was pardoned. Nixon reduced his sentence.
Click to expand...

Ok, I'll take him off my list and give him a dishonorable mention.
If you can think of any other presidents that should make the list, it would be appreciated.
 
anonymoose said:
My rankings in order of number of civilians murdered

1. Abraham Lincoln
Allowed and approved of Sherman's March to the Sea.

2. Lyndon Johnson
Starting the Vietnam war under false pretenses... the Gulf of Tonkin "incident".

3. Harry Truman
Could have forewarned Hirohito of what the atomic bomb was capable of by demonstrating it before
using it on innocent civilians and given H. a chance to surrender.

4 .George W. Bush
Starting the Iraq operation under false pretenses

5. Barack Obama
Allowed his Sect. of State with zero foreign policy experience to convince him to politically destroy a
sovereign nation which is FUBARed to this day.

6. Dick Nixon
For pardoning Lt. William Calley.

Note: I rank Lincoln ahead of Johnson because we don't know accurately the number of vietnamese civilians Americans murdered.
Click to expand...

1) Strange that you exclude, FDR's approving of the fire bombing of numerous German and - especially - Japanese cities?
For instance, FAR more people died during the bombing of Tokyo on March 9/10 (Operation Meetinghouse) than died during either, nuclear bombing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Tokyo

Plus, most of those that died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki died instantaneously - without suffering at all.
Whereas, most that died in fire raids, died hideous deaths.
Through burning to death, impaled by flying debris in the hurricane-force winds or slow asphyxiation in their bunkers as the fires, burned off the oxygen from the air in the cities (and other ways).

The fire raids (of Germany and Japan) killed/maimed MASSIVELY, greater numbers of innocent people than did the nuking of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - combined.
Yet they did not end the war.
But just two, atomic bombs...did.

Plus, Japan military leaders were ordered to murder all of their prisoners if the Home Islands were invaded and/or conquered.
All of their lives - 120,000(?) might have been saved by the A bomb attacks.
https://www.theprisonerlist.com/order-to-kill-all-pows.html

2) And what about Obama's 'double-tap drone strikes'?
https://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/flr/vol69/iss1/7/
How were they not war crimes?

And others:
https://www.thetoptens.com/leaders/u-s-presidents-accused-war-crimes/
https://madisonvfp.org/war-criminals-obama-trump-every-president-since-wwii-a-few-reasons-why/
https://www.grunge.com/139912/actual-war-crimes-the-us-has-totally-gotten-away-with/


But...whatever.
It's your list.
 
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McRocket said:
Strange that you exclude, FDR's approving of the fire bombing of numerous German and - especially - Japanese cities?

For instance, FAR more people died during the bombing of Tokyo on March 9/10 (Operation Meetinghouse) than died during either, nuclear bombing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Tokyo

Whatever.
Click to expand...

Like I said earlier:
anonymoose said:
If you can think of any other presidents that should make the list, it would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Where on that list do you think FDR belongs?
I will edit it.
 
anonymoose said:
Like I said earlier:
Where on that list do you think FDR belongs?
I will edit it.
Click to expand...

I had not read any other posts when i replied to your OP.

If you are making the list based on number of innocent civilians killed?
It would have to be FDR and the bombing of German/Japanese cities as - I would assume - more died in those raids.
In total - that America participated in.
Some where flown just by the British - I believe - over Germany.

JFK did the Bay of Pigs.
And he started the entire Vietnam War.
Though Johnson went NUTS with it.

Hard to tell.
 
lyndon johnson did not start the vietnam war, though he did greatly expand it.

I'd also put Bill Clinton in the top 5 simply due to his depraved indifference to Iraqi civilian deaths

Andrew Jackson probably deserves a very dishonorable mention for the Indian removal act
 
anonymoose said:
My rankings in order of number of civilians murdered

1. Abraham Lincoln
Allowed and approved of Sherman's March to the Sea.

2. Lyndon Johnson
Starting the Vietnam war under false pretenses... the Gulf of Tonkin "incident".

3. FDR
(see post 4)

4. Harry Truman
Could have forewarned Hirohito of what the atomic bomb was capable of by demonstrating it before
using it on innocent civilians and given H. a chance to surrender.

5.George W. Bush
Starting the Iraq operation under false pretenses

6. Barack Obama
Allowed his Sect. of State with zero foreign policy experience to convince him to politically destroy a
sovereign nation which is FUBARed to this day.

Dishonorable mention:

Dick Nixon
For pardoning reducing Lt. William Calley's sentence

Note: I rank Lincoln ahead of Johnson because we don't know accurately the number of vietnamese civilians Americans murdered
Click to expand...

Lyndon Johnson did not start the war in Viet Nam.
 
floridafan said:
The actual beginning of this war was in 1954 or 1955. .
Click to expand...

That was the war of indpendence from France. No overt military action by the U.S. before the Gulf of Tonkin incident.
Johnson started the u.s. War of Aggression against Vietnam.

While doubts regarding the perceived second attack have been expressed since 1964, it was not until years later that it was shown conclusively never to have happened
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_incident
 
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SmarterthanYou said:
Kennedy started it, not johnson.
Click to expand...

While U.S. President John F. Kennedy had originally supported the policy of sending military advisers to Diem, he had begun to alter his thinking by September 1963,[17] because of what he perceived to be the ineptitude of the Saigon government and its inability and unwillingness to make needed reforms (which led to a U.S.-supported coup which resulted in the death of Diem). Shortly before Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963, he had begun a limited withdrawal of 1,000 U.S. forces before the end of 1963.[18]
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_incident
 
Street Glider said:
The Vietnam War started eight years before Johnson took office...

https://www.britannica.com/event/Vietnam-War
Click to expand...

While you are absolutely correct, prior to the Gulf of Tokin incident there were about 19,000 US troops in Vietnam. Their job was to train and advise the South Vietnamese army on how to fight the North Vietnam army. LBJ used the Gulf of Tonkin as an excuse to broaden the war. That was the beginning of major US combat operations and technically the start of the war.
 
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