The Presidents: #28

#28: Jimmy Carter
Term: January 20, 1977 - January 20, 1981
Grade: C-

I suppose this could be considered a controversial pick, as Jimmy Carter is near the bottom of the list for many people, especially those who lived through his term. However, I think this grade and ranking is defensible because a "C-" is still not a good grade, and because I don't think Carter's term was as bad as people think it was.

Many of the issues Carter faced were around before his presidency, and he certainly tried to fix them. Sure, he deserves to be criticized for his "Malaise" speech, and his handling of the Iran hostage crisis was not something to be proud of. Still, he was the last president to even try to reasonably handle the environment, he signed a bill that preserved a large portion of Alaska for posterity, and he deserves credit for the Camp David Accords. I suppose most of his grade is for effort, even if his execution was significantly off.

In the end, Carter's greatest failing was a general lack of ability to work with Congress. Reading Ted Kennedy's memoi, I got the feeling that Carter just didn't want to work with Congress. Had he been more understanding and more accommodating to Congress, he probably wouldn't have faced the challenge from Ted Kennedy in 1980, and might have been in a better position to handle the Reagan Revolution. I'm not sure that it would have prevented the mess of the Bush 43 Administration, but it might have helped.

The Presidents: The List

Here is the list of the Presidents, in order of my ranking.

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2. ??????
3. ??????
4. ??????
5. John F. Kennedy
6. ??????
7. ??????
8. ??????
9. ??????
10. ??????
11. ?????
12. ?????
13. ?????
14. ?????
15. ?????
16. ?????
17. ?????
18. ?????
19. ?????
20. John Adams
21. ?????
22. ?????
23. ?????
24. Benjamin Harrison
25. ?????
26. ?????
27. ?????
28. Jimmy Carter
29. ?????
30. ?????
31. ?????
32. ?????
33. ?????
34. ?????
35. ?????
38 (tie). Millard Fillmore
38 (tie). Franklin Pierce
38 (tie). James Buchanan
39. George W. Bush
40. Richard Nixon
Inc. James Garfield (Inc)
Inc. William H. Harrison (Inc)
N/A Barack Obama

The Presidents: #20

#20: John Adams
Term: March 4, 1797 - March 4, 1801
Grade: C

Grading the first four Presidents is a complicated task, considering who the Presidents are. Each one played a vital role in the founding of our country before they became President. It is hard to detach their roles during the Revolution and/or the Constitutional Convention from their administrations, all of which fail to live up to those other accomplishments.

Tonight I take on our 2nd President, arguably the most complicated President of the first four. Maybe I am far too influenced by reading John Adams fairly recently, and maybe I like Paul Giamatti too much as well. Still, I don't believe John Adams' administration is defined entirely by the reprehensible Alien and Sedition Acts.

True, he signed these bills into law, and deserves scorn for doing so. These laws are an embarrassment to our nation's history, and it is why he isn't ranked any higher. He doesn't deserve the entire blame for these acts, as they were passed by a very Anglo friendly Federalist Congress. Still, he was the President, and ultimate responsibility rests with him.

However, John Adams deserves credit for keeping us out of a very nasty war with Great Britain or (more likely) Napoleonic France. Getting involved in European politics at that time would have made us as independent as the Netherlands and the Kingdom of Naples, and would have ruined our great experiment in Independence. He also gets credit for keeping Alexander Hamilton and the high Federalists from taking over and establishing a bad precedent, quite possibly even extending to a military dictatorship.

By standing for the right path, he was despised by Jefferson and his Democrats, and by Hamilton and his Federalists. He wasn't very popular as he lost the election to Thomas Jefferson, and left Washington early and without pomp. Still, he left willfully and showed that we could peacefully transfer power to an opposing party. He wasn't exceptionally good, but he wasn't exceptionally bad. He was in the middle, and that is where John Adams belongs.

The Presidents: #24

#24: Benjamin Harrison
Term: March 4, 1889 to March 4, 1893
Grade: C

Benjamin Harrison sits in the middle of a group of Presidents who were neither extraordinarily good or bad. Starting with Chester A. Arthur, and ending with William McKinley, I must admit to knowing only very little about them. When I think about Benjamin Harrison (which is rarely ever), I usually think about The Simpsons song about mediocre presidents. It should be noted that Benjamin Harrison is so unremarkable as to not get mentioned in that song.

Still, unlike some of the lesser known Presidents*, at least Harrison doesn't seem to have done much harm, and actually was party to a few good things. He signed the law that made Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks (although did little to preserve them), and also signed the Sherman Antitrust law (while not really pursuing cases). He fought (and lost) for civil rights in a time when it was not very popular. He believed in reform of the civil service, although didn't seem too prepared to defend it. If signing bills and not executing them effectively were a criteria, he probably would be much higher on this list.

Ultimately, he was taken down by the expensive nature of high tariffs and by the Homestead strike debacle. He lost to Grover Cleveland, the man he beat in the Electoral College in 1888. Thus, he became the only President to lose to the previous incumbent. I suppose being the clunky part of a unique Presidential story is a fitting legacy for him.

*See 1850-1861 for more information

The Presidents: #5

#5 John F. Kennedy
Term: January 20, 1961 to November 22, 1963
Grade: B+

John F. Kennedy is one probably the hardest President to place in a ranked list. This isn't due to a lack of talent, or a lack of achievements relative to his length of term. It isn't because of an inconsistent record, or an immensely complex personality. The wildcard nature of his ranking is due to one question. What If?

What if Lee Harvey Oswald doesn't make it to that window at the book depository? What if he takes a completely different path on Vietnam What if civil rights legislation dies on the vine?

Had he lived to see January 20, 1969, it is very possible he would deserve to be much lower on this list. The scandals and failures of second terms have tarnished the legacy of many Presidents. It is possible he would have decided upon a similar path in Vietnam. You can almost hear the chants of "Hey, Hey JFK, how many kids did you kill today?"

However, he might also have charted a new course for US foreign policy. The disaster that was Vietnam might have been averted, and the real problems on the domestic front might have been tackled better than they were. Best of all, it might have prevented a Nixon presidency.

Obviously this kind of hypothetical history is not very productive. Kennedy did die, and his death makes it harder to realistically assess his presidency. If I were to rebuild this list from scratch five times over, I would not be surprised if Kennedy ended up anywhere between 20 and 5 on it, depending on my mood.

In that case, why is he at the top of his potential range on the list? I suppose I am in an idealistic mood. His presidency in a way stands for the American experiment, in that its work is never finished. His words and his spirit are the guiding light of our perpetual effort to perfect our union, even if his accomplishments (save for one) don't exactly measure up to that ideal.

But putting aside abstract ideas of progress and inspiration, he deserves credit for the resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Had a president such as George W. Bush been in office during a time of such peril, I doubt I would be here writing this blog. It was a particularly precarious tightrope walk, even for a job that is nothing but tightrope walking. During those tense 13 days, he showed what it means to be a President, and why in a democracy the military must answer to the President, and not the other way around.

Up Next: Back to the bottom of the class with our last F-club member
Then: What do William Daniels, Paul Giamatti, and Billy Crystal have in common?

Note: Starting with this post, I will be filling out the list of Presidents in a non-linear fashion. I am doing this partially to shake things up, and partially because slogging through the Gilded Age Presidencies at once probably means I would not get this done. The one exception to this are the top 4, which will be released in order. I hope to be getting roughly 3 of these up a week, until February 12, 2010, when #1 will be unveiled. I bet you can't guess who that might be.

Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday will be the days to look for new posts, with the exception of Feb 7 - 12, which will be nightly. Expect no posts on Thanksgiving or Christmas Eve, but expect a bonus post on January 20, which will be a one year review of the Obama Presidency.

The Presidents: #38a, b, and c

#38a: Millard Fillmore
Term: July 9, 1850 - March 4, 1853
Grade: F


#38b: Franklin Pierce
Term: March 4, 1853 - March 4, 1857
Grade: F


#38c: James Buchanan
Term: March 4, 1857 - March 4, 1861
Grade: F

These Presidents deserve are all so very equally bad, they deserve to be recorded as a trio. They presided over one of our nations worst decades, a decade in which the unanswered question of slavery festered and grew until it split the country and plunged us into war. None of them seemed able to comprehend the major changes which were taking place as the country moved forward in its move westward and its industrialization. Although it is unlikely that anything could have been done to avoid the horrible war of the next decade, their actions certainly made it more inevitable. Whether openly antagonizing the north, such as Pierce, or trying to come to a compromise every party hated, such as Buchanan, these Presidents just did not succeed.

Fillmore helped divide the Whig party and divide the Wilmot Proviso, while doing nothing to answer the tough questions put forth on the issue of slavery. After the defeat of Winfield Scott by Pierce in 1852, the Whig party ceased to be an effective political party, paving the way for the rise of the Republican Party.

Pierce's term wasn't any better, as Bleeding Kansas erupted during this time. A southern sympathizer, he didn't do anything to stop the spread of slavery, favoring the repeal of the Missouri Compromise for the idea of "popular soveriegnity", which further angered northern citizens without pacifying the southerners. Like Fillmore, he was so unpopular the Democrats didn't bother nominating him for 1856, instead choosing James Buchanan.

During Buchanan's administration the bottom fell out. The Dred Scott decision and John Brown's raid further divided the country, while Buchanan did nothing to solve the issue. His bungling almost started a small war against the Utah mormons, although he didn't make the situation of the Pig War any worse. Like his two predecessors he was not chosen to run in 1860, as the Democratic party split in two between northern candidate Stephen A. Douglas and southern candidate John C. Breckenridge. His biggest failure was to do nothing as South Carolina and six other southern states left during the lame duck period before Abraham Lincoln took office. Believing secession illegal, but doing anything about it to also be illegal, he acheived the goal of pleasing nobody while trying to please everybody.

While not rising to the levels of absolute sinister incompetence of George W. Bush, or the disgusting malfeasance of Richard Nixon, these Presidents deserve a grade as bad as our bottom dwellers. They did nothing to slow down, and in many cases acclerated our nations greatest crisis. For this they deserve to be in the "F" club.

The Presidents: #39

#39 George W. Bush
Jan 20 2001 to Jan 20 2009
Grade: F

Unlike the rest of the Presidents at this end of the pool, the only one I've had the ignominy of having to live under is George W. Bush. Unfortunately, I have to admit that I played a role in putting him where he was, voting for him in 2000. Fortunately, I didn't vote for him in 2004, not that it did much good.

Who knows when we will finally understand just how corrupt, malevolent and incompetent his administration was. Whether it was his dumb-assery, Grand Vice-Chancellor Cheney, or his incompetence minions, the first eight years of the 21st century won't go down as a time of inspired government in the U.S. Heck, President Obama could call his term a success just cleaning half the mess the Bushies made in Washington.

There was a time (From 1/20/2001 to the first time I heard about the Axis of Evil) that I gave President Bush the benefit of the doubt. He seemed solid enough as a responder to the fanatics in Afghanistan that supported the fanatics who attacked the United States. However, any capital he had gained with me was lost by the pointless and obvious imperial move towards attacking Iraq. I cannot forgive him for the over 4,000 American deaths caused by that unnecessary and unprovoked conflict.

Before his administration, I was a solid Republican. Now, I doubt I will ever go back to the party. This wasn't entirely his doing (the Evangelist/Racist/Amoral Capitalist Wings of the party helped as well), but he helped bring about my party switch. About the only thing good I can say about him is that he did have a somewhat reasonable immigration. Unfortunately, he couldn't get any major Republicans not named John McCain to support it, and it was a failure. Just like his term in office.

The Presidents: #40

#40 Richard M. Nixon (1968-1974)
Grade: F


I'm aware of Nixon's achievements in normalizing US relations with China. I'm also aware that he was President when the Environmental Protection Agency was created, and that domestically he was much more moderate than his Republican successors. I even find some admirable traits in Mr. Nixon, and give him credit for meeting with the protesters at the Lincoln Memorial. And once the entire light comes out on President #39 on my list, it is quite possible that his sorry Administration will deserve this spot on the list.

Had Richard Nixon not operated with such contempt of the checks and balances of our government, it is likely he could find himself in the top half of this list. But act with contempt he did, and therefore he gets the "real" loser spot.

As an incident, the Watergate break-in was a fairly minor scandal. Although breaking into the opposing political party's headquarters wasn't exactly a honorable thing, it wasn't something that should have brought down a presidency. Had Nixon admitted his sordid involvement in the crap, apologized the day after he beat McGovern, and promised to handle his administration better, it would have disappeared.

Instead, he and his associates decided to cover it up, resulting in one of our nations sorriest chapters. The idea that the President is above the law is a disturbing belief, and one that smacks of the obsolete notion of Divine Right. Nixon wasn't the first President to overstep this boundary, but he was certainly the one that did it with the least remorse and without just cause.

On top of the crimes his administration committed during the early 70s, many of his junior acolytes would later be involved in the Reagan and Bush administrations, learning how to continue violating the Constitution without getting impeached, instead of learning the real lessons that were evident. Therefore, Nixon gets penalized more as the trend-setter, rather than the trend follower of Bush 41 (and to a somewhat lesser extent Reagan).

The Presidents: #43 (or 42) to #1

In honor of the election of a new president, the 200th Anniversary of Abe Lincoln's birth, and this CSPAN historian survey, I have decided to share my opinion of the 42 men who have held the office before President Obama.

Like every type of list, this is not static. Ten years ago, my list would have looked different than it does now, and I'm sure the list will be different in another ten years. That being said, I can't see the top or the bottom of the list moving much.

With the exception of today, I'll be posting one President at a time, giving them a grade, and writing my thoughts on their presidency. Some will have more written about them than others. This is especially true for the very bad and the very good.

So sit back, eat some popcorn, and let's delve into the realm of this most exclusive American club.



#42 William Henry Harrison (1741)
Grade: Incomplete



#42 James Garfield (1781)
Grade: Incomplete

Presidents Harrison and Garfield are first up on the list not because of anything they did in their Administrations. The reason they are last is because they were barely in office long enough to be judged accurately. I don't have much to say about either of these men, other than that old men shouldn't give long speeches in bad weather, and that you should always be wary of crazy men wanting a patronage job.