The WORST Presidents

1. The WORST Presidents Oval Office Misfits 44 Presidents – the worst 10 were?

2. The BEST Presidents? • What makes a great President? • Charisma • Accomplishments in office • Keeps the country and issues in focus • Communication skills • Selflesness / sacrifice

3. Then what makes a president “bad”? • What qualities or lack of them? • Favoritism • Paranoia / Racism • Selfishness • Greed • Lack of vision / plan for the country

4. HISTORIC NOTE of Caution! • SOMETIMES, we look back after a president has finished his term and years later, realize – “Hey, he wasn’t that bad of a prez!” • Harry Truman 1945 – 1952. • 23% approval when he left the White House. • Today he tends to be in the top 33% of presidents.

5. THE LIST: The Top 10 of the Bottom Dwellers • #1: James Buchanan (1857 – 1861) • Might have stopped the Civil War from happening. • Personally didn’t like slavery – but didn’t feel he had the power to stop it. • Didn’t stop the secession talk of the states.

6. Buchanan’s Blunder • 700,000 dead because he failed to act.

7. James Buchanan • Felt that history would treat him favorably for having performed his “constitutional duty.” • It didn’t. • ** Only bachelor president!

8. #2: Warren G. Harding • President 1921-1923 • “Unrestrained womanizer noted for his affability, good looks and implacable desire to please. If Warren had born a female – he would’ve been a whore.” • Warren G. Harding’s father

9. Warren G. Harding • “I am not fit for this office and should never have been here.” • “A great speech in search of a message.”

10. Warren G. Harding • Busied himself with poker, golf, drinking and his mistresses while cronies plundered the US government. • Teapot Dome Scandal

11. Murdered or Natural Causes? • On Harding from his former attorney general: • “Harding was a modern Abraham Lincoln whose name and fame will grow with time.” • It hasn’t

12. #3 Andrew Johnson (1865-1869) • Turned a blind eye to southerners who tried to undo what the Civil War had accomplished.

13. Andrew Johnson • The ONLY southern Democrat senator who had not joined the Confederacy. • Lincoln thought a southerner on his re-election ticket would maybe be an olive branch to the South.

14. Andrew Johnson • Was VP for only a month before becoming President. • Had been a Republican for only 3 weeks.

15. Andrew Johnson • Tried to stop Republican efforts to give African Americans civil rights. • Vetoed Freedman’s Bureau to help newly emancipated slaves.

16. Andrew Johnson • Ignored Republican Party and had “Welcome Home” parties for Southern Democrats returning after the Civil War. • First President to be impeached. • But survived his trial by 1 vote.

17. #4 Franklin Pierce (1853 – 1857) • 14th President who was a Democrat from the North, but believed in Southern principles. • Allowed slavery to spread into new territories if it added to the country. • Kansas-Nebraska Act

18. Franklin Pierce • Tried to annex Cuba! • As a slave state. • Okayed the takeover of Nicaragua by a proslavery adventurer, William Walker.

19. Franklin Pierce • In his defense: Personal tragedies may have kept him from being a strong president! • Naw. He was just a bad president.

20. Franklin Pierce • At the end of his term, when asked what a President should do after leaving office, he sighed: • "There's nothing left... but to get drunk"

21. #5: Millard Fillmore (1850 – 1853) • Another president that chose compromise over doing something about slavery and state rights over federalism.

22. Millard Fillmore • Helped create federal law that required fugitive slaves to be returned to their masters.

23. Millard Fillmore • “His misfortune was to see slavery as a political and not a moral question.” • Teddy Roosevelt on Millard Fillmore. • “MISFORTUNE”????

24. #6: John Tyler (1841-1845) • First VP to become President (Harrison died after 30 days in office). • Joined the Whig Party to be VP. • Opposed EVERYTHING the Whigs stood for.

25. John Tyler • Anti-Federalist and Pro-States Rights. • Joined the Confederacy when Civil War broke out in 1861.

26. John Tyler • His ENTIRE cabinet resigned because he didn’t follow Whig policies. • DESPISED by the Whig Party • Attempts to impeach him failed.

27. John Tyler’s TWO accomplishments • Established principle that VPs who succeed to the top office has no less authority than an elected president.

28. John Tyler • 2nd Achievement? • Married a woman 30 years younger than himself while president. • Most descendents – 15 kids that lived to adulthood.

29. #7: Ulysses S. Grant (1869 – 1877) • “My failures have been errors of judgment, not intent.” • Widespread graft and corruption of members of his government.

30. U.S. Grant • Did try to do some good – but it didn’t last beyond his presidency. • Tried to quash the KKK. • Promoted Civil Rights Act for African Americans. • Tried to work for the good of the American Indians by creating reservations.

31. Ulysses S. Grant • Wrote one of the best memoirs of an ex-president. • Died 10 days after completing it.

32. #8: William Harrison (1841) • President for 30 days. • Longest Inauguration speech. • Nothing was done. • Maybe should’ve checked out his VP better than he did. • John Tyler.

33. #9 TIE Herbert Hoover Richard Nixon

34. Herbert Hoover (1929 – 1933) • Smart and a good technocrat BUT • A BAD communicator • Came across as uncaring and mean-spirited.

35. Herbert Hoover • Greatest political blunder – didn’t rise to the greatest challenge of his time – THE GREAT DEPRESSION. • Too late or too little in relief, creating jobs and tariff policies that made matters worse.

36. Richard Nixon (1969 – 1974) • “Nixon’s failings were the stuff of dark tragedy: uneven judgment and a deeply suspicious character combined with great political gifts and considerable vision.” • Carl Bernstein

37. Richard Nixon • “Only Nixon could go to China.” • Opened up Communist China • Created most important arms-limitation agreement with the Soviet Union. • Got the US out of Vietnam

38. Richard Nixon • WATERGATE! • Nixon was never content to “beat” an opponent. They were an “enemy” that had to be “destroyed.”

39. Richard Nixon • Watergate • Nixon obstructed the investigation of a petty crime.

40. Richard Nixon • First president who has resigned from office. • Most certainly would’ve been impeached and put in prison.

41. #10: Zachary Taylor (1849 – 1850) • Maybe not such a “bad” president as a “forgettable” one? • Ignorant to the point of innocence?

42. Zachary Taylor • A successful general in the Mexican American War – a war hero was an easy pick for the Whig Party. • A slave owner that opposed expansion of slavery into the territories.

43. Zachary Taylor • Also did not favor the secession talk. • If he had lived – he might have not hesitated to take on the would-be seceders. • His record for fighting might have made them think twice.

44. REMEMBER TWO THINGS! • Time, politics and historians tend to “rethink” presidential rankings. • In presidential assessments, it is a bias toward activism – • UNLESS it is seen as misplaced.

45. Some differences – based on politics • Forrest McDonald – U of Alabama historian thinks the list is off.

46. Professor McDonald’s Conservative List • Worst President? • LBJ • Lyndon Baynes Johnson (1963-1968) • “Pushed government beyond the limits of what it can do.” • Federalism forcing Civil Rights on Southern states.

47. Professor McDonald’s List • #2: Woodrow Wilson (1913 – 1920). • “Equated democracy with peacefulness, leading to WWII.”

48. Jackson Lears, Prof. At Rutgers Opinions • Worst President? • #1 James Buchanan • #2 Richard Nixon

49. Professor Lears • #3 Ronald Reagan • Wrong decisions that increased the national debt and international situations – like later 9-11. #5: John F. Kennedy Put the world “under the shadow of nuclear war.”

50. Interesting Idea • Are presidents the shapers of history – or are they more the “playthings” of historical conditions? • Joseph Ellis, Mount Holyoke Historian