Comments Elsewhere

Aeon,

But is the standard being employed here “Which President did the least damage,” or “Which President did the least damage in proportion to the damage he could have inflicted if he’d had a mind to?” Because if it’s the relative standard rather than the absolute standard, then it seems like the Cold War Presidents are the obvious winners. After all, any one of them could have incinerated most of the world’s population by authorizing a full-scale nuclear war, if he’d had a mind to. But none of them did, in the end. Can’t say that makes me too enthusiastic about the “winners,” though.