Worst

5. Martin van Buren 1837-1841 (Democrat)

President Van Buren’s tenure included economic depression, Indian removal, and mishandling of affairs abroad. First of all, Van Buren continued the previous administration’s removal of Indians from the east coast, must I explain? His administration caused and largely ignored the economic downturn of 1837. President Van Buren left many questions about the Oregon Border dispute and the Texas problem.

4. Herbert Hoover 1929-1933 (Republican)

President Hoover came into office near the beginning of the Great Depression, which he mishandled badly. I’ll give Hoover some credit, Hoover created public work projects and lower taxes during the depression, but he was very unwilling to put out actual relief for Americans. With his hardcore conservative values, he seemed very uncaring and unsympathetic towards the suffering happening during the depression. All in all, Hoover was a businessman and took on that persona with the presidency seeming distant, much more than his successor Roosevelt, who had “fire-side chats” to talk and connect directly with the American people.

3. Franklin Pierce 1853-1857 (Democrat) 

In the antebellum United States, tensions ran extremely high. Slavery was heavily debated mostly between regions; North and South. The north was mainly free states and the south was mainly slave states. So as America expanded, states were admitted into the union roughly in pairs as to not upend the fragile balance of free states to slave states. Pierce signed a bill allowing Kansas and Nebraska to decide between being a slave state or a free state. What resulted from this was thousands of voters from north and south flocked to Kansas to attempt to turn the state to their preferred status, this turned into clashing between the two groups, and a bloody conflict aptly named “bloody Kansas.” So in conclusion, Pierce, in a very fragile time in US history, failed to lead the country away from civil war and instead plunged it ever so closer.

2.. Andrew Johnson 1865-1869 (Democrat)

Johnson, Abraham Lincoln’s VP was thrown into the presidency after Lincoln’s assassination. He began his term only six days after General Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House. He was tasked with leading the country through the reconstruction era and failed. Johnson favored a watered-down, soft approach to reconstruction that failed to “punish” southern states, as many had wanted. Johnson openly opposed the 14th Amendment, leaning towards letting states decide whether or not to allow African Americans to vote. Although Johnson ran for Vice President under Lincoln as a Republican, he wasn’t true to his party’s values of civil rights stating, “This is a country for white men, and by God, as long as I am President, it shall be a government for white men.” To recap, Johnson was an awful president who failed to lead the country through reconstruction.

1. James Buchanan 1857-1861 (Democrat)

James Buchanan, the 15th president, was honestly a disaster for the United States, as were many democrats in the antebellum United States, but I digress. Buchanan virtually did nothing about the United States falling into civil war. He FURTHER divided the United States over slavery, as if it wasn’t already divided enough. Given Buchanan was put in a terrible spot, he still failed to act on the falling apart USA and took a more hands-off approach.

Best:

5. James K. Polk 1845-1849 (Democrat) 

Polk is a little-known president, however, Polk expanded The USA by ⅓ its size. Leading The United States to victory against Mexico in The Mexican-American war (1846-1848) Whilst acquiring the Oregon territory from The UK. President Polk also accomplished many of his goals including lowering tariffs and reforming the national banking system. Overall not much to complain about with Polk.

4. Bill Clinton 1993-2001 (Democrat) 

Bill Clinton, where to start, Bill Clinton created 22 million new jobs in The United States; The most in history. Crime drastically decreased under Clinton to the lowest since Eisenhower (who also happens to be on this list.) Homeownership in the USA went as high as 67.7 percent (the highest in history.) President Clinton signed The Brady Bill in 1993, preventing convicted felons from obtaining firearms, gun crime has decreased 40% ever since. 

3. Dwight Eisenhower 1953-1961 (Republican)

Dwight Eisenhower, the American WW2 hero/general, was also one of the best presidents in American History. First, to start his presidency, he ended The Korean War (1950-1953) bringing on one of if not the largest peacetime expansions in American history. Eisenhower’s domestic policy I.e. Refusal to cut taxes and to over-fund the military-led to Eisenhower balancing the budget three different times during his presidency. Eisenhower advanced civil rights by signing the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and desegregating schools.

2. Franklin D. Roosevelt 1933-1945 (Democrat)

What can’t I say about F.D.R? He led the United States through The Second World War and The Great Depression, two of the greatest crisis’ in American History. Roosevelt kept close with the American people with his “fireside chats.” He pursued a German First World War Two policy, crushing both the German and Japanese war machines, well up until his death. His new deal created millions of jobs, lowering unemployment and overall helping the American economy

1. Abraham Lincoln 1861-1865 (Republican)

Abraham Lincoln led the United States through The American Civil War and did it impeccably, that alone earns him the number one spot on my list. Seriously. He only endured about 10 days of peace in his presidency, so there isn’t really much more I can judge him on.

By: Bryson Stewart