Today is Presidents' Day in the United States, and I've been seeing articles (such as this one from CSPAN:) which rank the US Presidents. That article doesn't actually have the list--but you can find it at several others at this Wikipedia article.
In that spirit, here's my own ranking of US Presidents, at least as of today:
A
1. Abraham Lincoln
2. George Washington
3. Franklin Delano Roosevelt
4. Theodore Roosevelt
5. Thomas Jefferson
These first five are pretty standard on the lists. They're the Rushmores, plus FDR. The first four permanently, majorly, changed the course of the nation for the better. Jefferson may be the least of the five, but he's still deserving.
6. James Monroe
I'm thinking Monroe may be the most overlooked of US Presidents. But consider--his presidency is termed "the era of good feelings," he was unanimously re-elected, and with the Monroe Doctrine, he basically asserted American supremacy and support for American ideals of democracy and freedom over the entire western hemisphere. Slavery was not as divisive of a topic as it had been and would become, thanks largely to the Missouri Compromise (though it could be argued that any delay of resolution was a bad thing), turmoil in Europe had largely abated after the chaos which followed the French Revolution, and circumstances were such that the restoration of the gospel--the First Vision and Moroni's first visits to Joseph Smith--occurred under his administration. He was also the last US President who could be considered a founding father, having served with distinction in the Revolutionary War under George Washington. He was also the third of three full two-term presidents, the only time (so far) that this has happened. The only downside is that he may fly just a tad under the radar when ranking the relative greatness of US Presidents.
7. Ronald Reagan
If there were to be a sixth head on Rushmore (after FDR), Reagan would be it. The lion's share of the credit for ending the half-century Cold War belongs to him. Perhaps people have a natural bias toward the president of their childhood, but I doubt it. (Look where I put Carter). Following his administration, miracles of freedom began breaking out around the world--Poland, the Berlin Wall, Eastern Europe, South Africa, the fall of the USSR, the Tiananmen square demonstrations, and elsewhere were largely due to his influence and vision.
8. Andrew Jackson
9. Dwight D. Eisenhower
I'd say this is about the line for great Presidents--separating the A's from the B's, if you will. Jackson enacted some cruel policies towards Native Americans and Ike kept a low profile, but they both impacted the country in major ways.
B
10. James Madison
11. George W. Bush
He's been taking a rap lately--the recent CSPAN poll has him at #36--but he was held in much higher esteem before. His policies, however, were based on principles like "The liberty we prize is not America's gift to the world, it is God's gift to humanity," and the idea--occasioned by the 9/11 attacks--that since we were vulnerable to groups with comparatively little power, it was essential to remove those threats using freedom and democracy as the antidote. Has it worked? It's debatable. Half a century from now, conventional wisdom may still have him about where they have him now, or they may put him where I've put him.
12. Harry S Truman
Here's an example of a President whose popularity has increased. Viscerated during his Presidency (as were Lincoln and George W. Bush), the CSPAN poll now ranks him at #5. While I think that's a bit high, the man did seem to take responsibility for his actions ("The Buck Stops Here") and was a man of integrity. He deserves some recognition.
13. John Adams
The last of the first five Presidents. Pretty cool that the first US Presidents all rank among its best. It lays a good foundation.
14. James K. Polk
Manifest Destiny, Westward Expansion, the Mexican War. While his policies may have come at the expense of some, they were to the benefit of the US as a whole. For a one-term President, he accomplished quite a bit.
15. Bill Clinton
Yeah, I'm surprised he's this high, too. Still, the '90s were a time of relative prosperity in this country; he was President at the time, so he gets the credit.
16. Lyndon B. Johnson
Took the country in new and interesting ways. The Presidency took its toll on him, though. That was a tough era (1963-1969) to be the President.
17. Woodrow Wilson
Some would rank him higher, but my perception, I suppose, is somewhat colored by the analysis of my former high school history/government teacher/current US Congressman, Rob Bishop, who once described him (as I recall) as "a weenie." Former Utah Congressman Wayne Owens got worse.
18. John F. Kennedy
The CSPAN poll ranks him at #6. OVER-RATED.
Nah, he had a vision, he accomplished some things, he set some things in motion, but if he was going to live up to his promise, he died before it happened. But he had nearly three years. By that time, Polk had already accomplished more of his objectives.
19. Richard M. Nixon
I'll still let JFK beat Nixon, though, just like he did in 1960. Just barely. The guy was racking up some impressive, notable achievements--the electoral map for his re-election in 1972 was nearly all red--but then he goes and tarnishes it all with Watergate. Still, comparing the good with the bad, I say he still comes out on the side of good presidents, overall.
20. Grover Cleveland
21. George H. W. Bush
Rode Reagan's success. Wisely didn't rock the boat--but a lot of the credit for what went on during his term goes to his predecessor.
22. William McKinley
Spanish-American War. Overall a plus for the US. I guess.
23. John Quincy Adams
He may have gotten in on a corrupt bargain, but he was as dedicated a civil servant as the country has had in the Presidency.
24. Calvin Coolidge
That's about it with the "good" presidents--the B's. Now we drop into the C's--overall not bad, but not really good, either. Ciphers.
C
25. Barack Obama
So far so good, I suppose. C+. I expect his ranking will change in the future, but he hasn't even been in a month yet, and he's already 6 ahead of WH Harrison, who, as a President, is probably about as big a cipher as we'll get.
26. Gerald Ford
By all accounts, a decent man. Not much else to say about him, though.
27. Rutherford B. Hayes
28. William Howard Taft
29. Benjamin Harrison
30. James A. Garfield
Garfield beats WH Harrison just because he was in for a few months longer.
31. William Henry Harrison
D
32. Chester Arthur
The first of the overall "bad" Presidents--the D's. Arthur himself wasn't too corrupt, I don't think, and he achieved a reform or two, but he was up to his neck in corruption.
33. Ulysses S. Grant
Grant. Perhaps the most difficult to rank President of them all. Quite possibly a great man--in another capacity. The only President to serve a full two consecutive terms between Jackson and Wilson--a 76-year stretch. Resolute, stubborn, and up to his eyeballs in corruption. Still, enough of a notable figure that he stands near the top of "bad" presidents.
34. Herbert C. Hoover
Come on, the Depression really wasn't his fault, though he got the blame. Still, it was bad enough. We'll put him next on the list of "bad" presidents.
35. Millard Fillmore
Why so low? I don't hate Fillmore. But the whole Taylor-Fillmore-Pierce era was filled with the downward trend toward the Civil War. He's probably the most unnamed of the so-called "no-name" Presidents--but he did help Utah become a territory, so I'll give him some props for that.
36. Zachary Taylor
37. Franklin Pierce
38. Jimmy Carter
"He's History's Greatest Monster!"--The Simpsons. Not quite, but he didn't make for a very good President. He did appear to have more moral character than Clinton, and may have managed a thing or two in the Middle East--but the number of things he botched far outnumbers the things he did well. His dark night provided the contrast for Reagan's "Morning Again in America."
F
39. John Tyler
And these last five get the F's. Their excoriation has been pretty universal and has stood the test of time. I once read that Tyler complained that the only people who had ever loved him were his children.
40. Warren G. Harding
If Arthur was up to his neck in corruption, and Grant was up to his eyeballs, Harding was scuba diving.
41. Martin Van Buren
Martin Van Ruin was his epithet during his lifetime. And yes, his infamous "Your cause is just, but I can do nothing for you" statement to Joseph Smith biases me against him somewhat.
42. Andrew Johnson
43. James Buchanan
Not only did he bring on the Civil War, but he sent the US Army out against the Mormons. Again, personal bias, but the CSPAN poll also ranks him dead last, so I'm not alone.
Isn't it interesting, by the way, that Lincoln--#1--comes between the last and second-to-last ranked Presidents? Most of the Presidents surrounding Lincoln come in with fairly low grades.
Anyway, so that was a little exercise in Presidential Rankings for Presidents' Day. Feel free to make your own list.
Monday, February 16, 2009
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