Long before there was such a thing as social media, politicians had disagreements about a host of topics with some of them getting a little too personal; This animosity doesn’t stop with the President of the United States as they also have had arguments with everyone from Congress, the press, and even people in their own party.

That said, there have been a few times in America’s history when the top Heads of State have gone from voicing their displeasure to down right despising one another.

From ideological differences to alleged sleights to xenophobia to a clash of egos, the following entries are examples of U.S. Presidents having a very low approval of their predecessors and or successors.

#6. Ulysses Grant vs. Andrew Johnson

After spending the last several years battling in a bloody Civil War, the United States needed to bring itself together again and thus began the period that’s cleverly known as ‘The Reconstruction Era’.

Andrew Johnson, the president in charge after the assassination of his Abraham Lincoln, was now in charge during one of America’s most crucial points in it’s history and to say he bungled it up would be putting it likely as his time in office was so bad that he became the first POTUS to face impeachment, but was acquitted by one vote and this lead to Civil War Hero and Military General, Ulysses Grant to run and capture the presidency in the election of 1868.

While he was initially in support of Johnson in the early stages, Grant disapproved of Johnson violating the recently passed Tenure of Office Act and believed the actions that were made to keep the Union together shouldn’t go in vain just to have things go back to the way they were.

Johnson apparently didn’t take kindly to this and in response, he flat out refused to attend Grant’s inauguration…Not the last time will be saying that on this list.

#5. Andrew Jackson vs. John Quincy Adams

About 40 years before Andrew Johnson refused to show up for his successors swearing in ceremony, another out going president gave the exact same courtesy to the next president elect.

Back in 1824, a four way race for the presidency included John Quincy Adams as well as Andrew Jackson and long story short, Adams won the election despite coming in second place in both the electoral and popular vote total.

Jackson took this about as well as you’d expect and decried the whole thing as a “Corrupt Bargain” between Adams and Henry Clay, the then Speaker of the House; By the next election ‘Old Hickory‘ was gearing up for a rematch but this time as the candidate for the newly created Democratic Party.

The election of 1828 was notorious for it’s mudslinging with neither side holding back when it came to bringing up charges. Ultimately, Quincy Adams refused to attend the inauguration with himself and members of his staff having to run out the backdoor when a large crowd of Jackson supporters stormed the White House to overturn the election results…Oh no wait wrong election, instead they stormed the building to celebrate with the newly elected president.

#4. Herbert Hoover vs. Franklin Roosevelt

The idea of two wealthy men running for president sounds like an anathema to what modern day Americans would want as their candidates but in 1932, that’s exactly what the people got between Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt.

With America gripped by the Great Depression by the late 1920’s and early 1930’s, incumbent president Hoover has been trying and failing to course correct the problems and this leaves him wide open for criticism and FDR is more than happy to fire off broadside after broadside.

In addition to criticizing Hoover’s efforts in dealing with the Depression, Roosevelt takes umbrage with the president calling him a “Chameleon in Plaid” and responsed by calling the president of the United States an old timey equivalent of a scared overweight cockless cock.

Even after Roosevelt’s victory in the election, both men would continue rag on each other with FDR never missing an oppertunity to connect Hoover’s name to the Great Depression while Hoover took any chance he could to slander Roosevelt especially as a recurring guest at the Republican National Convention.

#3. Donald Trump vs. Barack Obama

Whether his calling out Bill Clinton for sexual misconduct, criticizing George Bush’s decision to invade Iraq or slamming Joe Biden for seemingly everything…Donald Trump hasn’t had any favorable words for America’s modern presidents with his biggest target being the 44th President, Barack Obama.

The trouble supposedly started when Obama won the Democratic Party’s nomination for president in 2008 and later won the presidency; Trump who had been a Democrat and supported Hillary Clinton in ’08 soon became a Republican but also a leading voice in the Birtherism Movement which questioned Obama’s legitimacy as native born citizen.

This would get brought again when during a White House Dinner in 2011, Obama humiliated Trump with jokes that allegdely spurred the former TV reality star to run for president in 2016 which he won.

Upon winning and then losing the oval office, Trump’s comments towards Obama persisted even to this day with even Michelle Obama (Barack’s wife) mentioning in her memoir “Becoming” that she never forgave Trump for his mean spirited comments.

#2. Thomas Jefferson vs. John Adams

The bad blood between founding fathers: Thomas Jefferson and John Adams is legendary with their differences towards government soon turning nasty when it came to the presidential elections.

In the first ever contested election in 1796, Adams and the Federalist along with Jefferson and his Democratic Republicans were attacking each others support of Great Britain and France while Jefferson was being called out for being an alleged Atheist.

After four years of working together, Jefferson supporters called out Adams for his failures as president while also mocking him for his body shape, Adam supporters struck back by alleging that Jefferson was still an atheist but also the lovechild of a Indian and a person of African American and European ancestry.

Jefferson would go on to win the 1800 election with Adams setting the precedent for future presidents to not attend his successor’s inauguration, however it is worth noting that both men would rekindle their friendship before dying on the same day on July 4th 1826.

#1. Theodore Roosevelt vs. William Howard Taft

How bad does two men’s hatred have to be to split a political party and punch a massive hole in said party’s winning streak? If you’re Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft turns out it’s quite bad.

After hand picking his friend to be the next President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt was certainly delighted to see his protégé and Secretary of War, William Howard Taft become the new commander-in-chief in 1908, well he was…Until Taft’s policies leaned more conservative than progressive.

This angered Roosevelt to the point where he challenged his old friend for the GOP’s Presidential nomination which TR lost thanks to the conservatives having control of the convention; Refusing to accept defeat, Roosevelt decided to start a brand new party refered to as ‘The Bull Moose Party‘ and challenged Taft for the presidency in the election of 1912 alongside Democratic Party candidate, Woodrow Wilson and Socialist Party candidate, Eugene Debs.

The election was mostly centered on the bad blood between Taft and Roosevelt with the latter questioning the president’s intelligence and the former claiming that Roosevelt would lead the U.S. down a path to socialism and anarchy similar to France during the French Revolution.

While Roosevelt left Taft in third place come election day, his egotistic run for the oval office ultimately costed the Republicans the White House with Wilson becoming the first Democrat since the late 19th Century to be elected president.

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