Blunder Boss

Just in time for President's Day, James Buchanan has received the dubious honor of making the biggest blunder in presidential history for failing to avert the Civil War, according to a survey of presidential historians organized by the University of Louisville.

The second worst mistake, according to the survey, was Andrew Johnson's decision just after the Civil War to side with Southern whites and oppose improvements in justice for Southern blacks beyond abolishing slavery.

Lyndon Johnson earned the No. 3 spot by allowing the Vietnam War to intensify.

The rest of the top 10 blunders:

(4.) Woodrow Wilson's refusal to compromise on the Treaty of Versailles after World War I.

(5.) Richard Nixon's involvement in the Watergate cover-up.

(6.) James Madison's failure to keep the U.S. out of the War of 1812 with Britain.

(7.) Thomas Jefferson's Embargo Act of 1807, a self-imposed prohibition on trade with Europe during the Napoleonic Wars.

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

(9.) 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.

10. Bill Clinton's relationship with intern Monica Lewinsky.

Why did the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal rank so low?

Many scholars said it belonged at No. 10, because it probably affected Clinton's presidency more than it did American history and the public.

Agreed.