Top Ten Best and Worst Presidents in U.S. History

In honor of President’s Day, my personal list of best and worst American presidents.

Top 10 Best (Most Effective) Presidents

10. James Madison (Democratic-Republican, 1809-1817)

Arguably the smartest man to ever hold the office of President, Madison was president at the time of the War of 1812, during which the British army captured and burned Washington as well as the White House. Through it all, Madison held the government together and immediately began to rebuild the city. Unlike John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, Madison did not try to shut down the opposing Federalist Party but allowed total free speech throughout his time in office.

9. Chester A. Arthur (Republican, 1881-1885)

No one really expected Arthur to become president and few remember him today. Yet, Arthur turned out to be a fairly effective leader for the time. Coming to office after the assassination of James Garfield, Arthur used the opportunity to try and remake himself. Originally the product of a corrupt New York political machine, Arthur surprised everyone by pushing for Civil Service reform. This eventually resulted in the Pendleton Act, which required those seeking government jobs to pass written exams before they could take office, rather than simply being appointed. Under Arthur, the U.S. also began to modernize its Navy which had not had much attention since the Civil War. Because of this, America was able to have a new fleet by the time of the Spanish American War and win several quick victories over the Spanish navy.

8. George Herbert Walker Bush (Republican, 1989-1992)

Often overshadowed by the larger than life personalities of his predecessor Ronald Reagan and successor Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush was still one of the more effective presidents the U.S. has had. Bringing to the office a wealth of political experience, Bush presided over the final collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and received praise from other foreign leaders for his business like demeanor. Bush also expertly managed the Gulf War in 1991, bringing it to an end after only three weeks with all political objectives met and minimal casualties. Finally, in terms of domestic policy, Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990 allowing for increased rights and educational opportunities that many continue to benefit from to this day. Despite the fact that he broke his campaign pledge not to raise taxes, historians now believe that the 1990 budget deal actually set up the economic boom of the later enjoyed during the Clinton Administration.

7. John F. Kennedy (Democrat, 1961-1963)

Although he had been rather open about wanting to be president and campaigned for it continuously from 1953 until he won it in 1960, Kennedy turned out to be a fairly decent leader. Early in his term he called for a vast expansion of NASA and for Americans to go to the Moon before the end of the decade. While he did have political failures like the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, under Kennedy, America still projected an image of strength in other nations. Most importantly, Kennedy was the first president to come out in favor of Civil Rights legislation which was later passed under Lyndon Johnson.

6. Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democrat, 1933-1945)

One of the most controversial men on this list, Roosevelt came to office at a time when the nation was in the midst of an economic depression. While historians still debate the impact of Roosevelt's New Deal, it cannot be argued that whatever their failings, his programs gave millions of Americans jobs and led to the improvement of the nation's infrastructure with construction of new roads, forest trails, bridges and hydroelectric dams that brought power to even the most remote parts of the country. While a plan to add new justices to the Supreme Court badly backfired, Roosevelt still remained a powerful political force throughout the 1930s. Even before America entered World War II, Roosevelt was already supporting England and China with arms and supplies. Roosevelt also made a point of appointing experienced politicians to important posts in the Navy and War Departments, even if they were members of the Republican Party. When the war began, he carefully oversaw economic and war policies and stayed in constant communication with other foreign leaders, ensuring that America would be seen as major player on the world stage

5. George Washington (Federalist, 1789-1797)

As President, Washington set up the financial system we have today, thereby ensuring that all states in the Union would be forever committed to investing in the Federal government. More importantly, Washington spent his term in office defining the power and tradition of the American President – and setting important limits for that office.

4. Abraham Lincoln (Republican, 1861-1865)

The country was in a state of war from his first day in office to his last, but Lincoln, with little formal education, used guile and political pressure, often at the expense of civil liberties, to get through the war and make everyone from local farmers to Union generals do exactly what he wanted. As a result, he accomplished the nearly impossible task of keeping the nation together through the most divisive event in American history. 

3. Harry Truman (Democrat, 1945-1953)

Truman made some of the most momentous decisions of our time, from dropping the bomb, to confronting hostile unions, to proactively integrating the U.S. military, to containing Soviet and Chinese communists. A high school graduate who couldn’t afford college, Truman presided adeptly during radically changing times – all the while remaining, by all accounts, modest and well-grounded.

2. Theodore Roosevelt (Republican, 1901-1909)

Roosevelt went after corporate monopolies, sought equal rights for major unions, and passed the Pure Food and Drug Act. Overseas, he helped finish the Panama Canal, and sent the Great White Fleet around the world to solidify the image of American strength. All of this made him the first modern president to set America on course to be a superpower.

1. James K. Polk (Democrat, 1845-1849)

To this day, Polk remains the only president to accomplish all of his foreign and domestic goals in a single term. He also led the U.S. through a war with Mexico which added thousands of miles to the country, and helped settle boundary disputes which allowed settlement in the Pacific Northwest.

Top 10 Worst (Most Detrimental) Presidents

10. Andrew Jackson (Democrat, 1829-1837)

One of the most powerful political leaders of the era, Jackson was the first president to appeal to newly enfranchised poor and middle class white voters, winning election by a wide margin in 1828. Though Jackson had proven himself a charismatic military leader, he was a poor day to day manager once he became president, relying more on an unofficial “kitchen cabinet” of political friends than on his real cabinet. In addition to his horrible treatment of Indians and support of the Indian Removal Act which lead to the Trail of Tears, Jackson spent much of his first term pointlessly defending his Secretary of War against overwhelming public criticism for having an affair. Jackson even angrily fired his entire cabinet over the issue. While this heavy handed approach worked later on when South Carolina threatened to secede in 1832, it also lead to the resignation of his Vice President John C. Calhoun. Jackson was reelected largely on the promise of crushing the too-powerful Bank of the United States. He did manage to close the bank by the end of his term, but in doing so, senselessly laid the groundwork for the economic downturn of 1837. 

9. John Quincy Adams (Democratic-Republican, 1825-1829)

 Although an intelligent man and veteran politician, Adams won the presidency under a cloud of controversy. Failing to win the popular vote, getting a majority  of the Electoral College by a razor thin margin in the House of Representatives. Adams supporters also appear to have made an agreement, later called the "Corrupt Bargain," with Speaker of the House Henry Clay, who was immediately appointed Secretary of State. Considering himself to be above petty politics, Adams rejected the support of either party and this coupled with his unfriendly nature prevented him from any major accomplishments by the end of his single term in 1828.

8. Franklin Pierce (Democrat, 1853-1857) 

Pierce’s presidency was doomed from the start. Just weeks after being elected president, his 11 year old son was killed in a train wreck and Pierce sank into a depression and lost interest in the office. Pierce’s Vice President William King died several weeks later from an illness. Pierce was a weak administrator, hiring inexperienced men for his cabinet and allowing himself to be bullied. After pressure from Senator Stephen A. Douglas, Pierce signed the Kansas-Nebraska Act which allowed for slavery to  be voted on in the individual territories and open the floodgates for widespread violence and social upheaval between opposing extremists in the slavery issue for years. Pierce did open Japan to trade, but bet most of his political capital on buying Spanish held Cuba in secret, and when the scheme came to light it led to embarrassment and a loss of what little credibility he had left.

7. Warren G. Harding (Republican, 1921-1923)

Harding never seemed to embrace the office of the president, and often actually did as little as possible. He rarely put in a full day’s work, often complained about dissatisfaction with his job, and, during Prohibition, drank bootlegger whiskey in the back room of the White House. After his death in 1923, the emergence of the Teapot Dome Scandal forever tarnished his presidency.

6. Lyndon Johnson (Democrat, 1963-1969)

While Johnson was successful in helping pass Civil Rights legislation, most of his potentially productive days were consumed with the confusing and intricate machinations of the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Johnson’s failure to assert a clear policy of management for Vietnam actually lengthened the conflict, costing thousands of additional American lives and preventing Johnson from any further significant achievements.

5. Ulysses S Grant (Republican, 1869-1877)

One of America’s best generals, Grant proved himself one of its worst presidents. Without Lincoln’s gifts for guile and keen perception in maintaining order among his advisors, Grant unwittingly allowed corruption and incompetence to overwhelm his presidency for eight long years. While Grant himself was never charged or officially connected to any scandal, indictments of members of his cabinet caused a financial panic, and several other scandals that led to the near crippling of his administration.

4. Jimmy Carter (Democrat, 1977-1981)

Elected to office in the aftershock of the Watergate Scandal, Carter ran on a platform as a candidate who would be open and honest with the American people. However, his presidency was soon damaged by a slow economy and gasoline crisis. While Carter laid off White House employees and added solar panels, he seemed powerless to fix the larger ongoing problems. In a televised address to the country he said that the American people had lost faith in themselves and were in the midst of a “crisis of confidence.” The speech was meant to reassure, but was received as a petty scolding by the majority of viewers and Carter’s popularity plummeted. In foreign affairs Carter did manage to have some success. He returned the Panama Canal to Panama and got Israel and Egypt to sign the Camp David Accords. However, these victories were more than offset by the seizing of the American Embassy and taking 52 American hostages in 1979 in Iran. As negotiations lengthened to months and then a full year, Carter’s unwillingness to use military force to free the hostages made him appear weak and indecisive. Carter’s political fate was sealed when a poorly planned helicopter rescue operation was finally approved only to fail when two choppers and transport plane collided an crashed in a sandstorm before ever reaching the embassy. Because of these well publicized failures, Carter lost in a landslide to Ronald Reagan in 1980.    

 

3. Woodrow Wilson (Democrat, 1912-1921)

An inflexible academic at heart, Wilson got several domestic bills passed but proved incapable of working productively with others. Because of his complete alienation of all political opposition, his major push for U.S. membership in the League of Nations failed. Wilson’s attitudes on race did not help either - during his presidency, Wilson segregated government offices that had previously been integrated, and set racial equality back by decades.

2. Andrew Johnson (Democrat, 1865-1869)

Likely no man could have easily followed Abraham Lincoln as president, but Johnson proved particularly ill-suited for the job. Only made Vice President in the election of 1864 to draw southern Democrats to the Republican Party, Johnson cared little for making political friends. On coming to office, Johnson believed he would be doing what Lincoln wanted in allowing former Confederate states to return to the Union as quickly as possible. However, this went against a small but powerful minority of "Radical" Republicans in Congress who wanted to punish the South for the war. Johnson repeatedly vetoed Reconstruction laws including the 14^th Amendment granting blacks citizenship and the 15^th Amendment granting blacks the right to vote. These became law anyway when Congress passed them with enough votes to not need his approval. Things finally came to a head when Johnson fired Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, after Congress had passed a law expressly forbidding the firing of any cabinet officials without their approval. This so enraged Republicans that Johnson became the first president in the nation’s history to be impeached.  He was eventually spared removal from office by one single vote and was forced to sit out the rest of his term unproductively.

1. James Buchannan (Democrat, 1856-1861)

Despite his extensive government service, Buchannan did nothing to stop the deteriorating situation between North and South. Instead, he watched helplessly as state after state left the Union in 1860-1861, and seemed only to want to hand the situation off to his successor.