Top 10 Biggest Blunders by American Presidents

James Buchanan did not do enough to oppose efforts by Southern states to secede from the Union before the Civil War ***

Andrew Johnsons decision just after the Civil War to side with Southern whites and oppose improvements in justice for Southern blacks beyond abolishing slavery ***

Lyndon Johnson for allowing the Vietnam War to intensify ***

Woodrow Wilsons refusal to compromise on the Treaty of Versailles after World War I ***

Richard Nixons involvement in the Watergate cover-up ***

James Madisons failure to keep the United States out of the War of 1812 with Britain ***

Thomas Jeffersons Embargo Act of 1807, a self-imposed prohibition on trade with Europe during the Napoleonic Wars ***

John F. Kennedy allowing the Bay of Pigs Invasion that led to the Cuban Missile Crisis ***

Ronald Reagan and the Iran-Contra Affair, the effort to sell arms to Iran and use the money to finance an armed anti-communist group in Nicaragua ***

Bill Clintons Monica Lewinsky scandal distracted America in the era of mass media, but it affected Clintons presidency more than it did American history and the public ***