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by Crockerland. . 524 reads.

Ranking all US presidents 1796-2016

Note: I have only ranked 42 presidencies, those excluded are:
  • George Washington (#1) - His role as founder of the country is not comparable to any other president, I believe his presidency was too exceptional and alien compared to every other president's to be ranked.

  • Grover Cleveland (#19/#21) - He served as president on two noncontinuous occasions, I counted him as only a single president rather than ranking his administration separately.

  • Donald Trump (#45) - Trump has not completed his presidential term yet and cannot be counted conclusively so far, if he resigned today (August 24th, 2019) I would rank him somewhere in the middle.

  • Dick Cheney (part of #43) - Cheney served as Acting President of the United States for less than one day, he was not ranked due to lack of meaningful distinction from the Bush Administration he was part of.

1. Harry S. Truman (D)
Truman came into power following FDR's death, and rapidly ended WWII by deploying nuclear bombs against Japan, almost certainly saving tens of thousands of American and Japanese lives given the extreme ferocity and refusal to surrender of the Japanese throughout WWII. Truman, after ending WWII, rebuilt Europe through the Marshall Plan and as a result secured long-lasting friendships with many European nations, and built many more US friendships with some of the United States' closest allies, such as Israel, South Korea, and Japan.

Domestically, Truman began the desegregation of the military by ending racial discrimination through Executive Order 9981. Truman was also instrumental in early healthcare reform efforts, such as the Hill–Burton Act.

2. Lyndon B. Johnson (D)
Johnson established the Medicare and Medicaid programs, defeated communism in Thailand, and signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Johnson also supported US allies Israel and Thailand.

3. John F. Kennedy (D)
Kennedy signed into law executive orders 11063 and 10925, both anti-discrimination measures, and signed into law the Equal Pay Act of 1963. JFK made great strides in medical health reform that would be followed up by his successor, most notably passing the Community Mental Health Act, but also other actions such as passing the Community Health Services and Facilities Act of 1961. The CMHA itself, though a mixed bag in execution in later years, served to free many people from the institutionalization and cruelty the mentally unwell were treated with in the early and med 20th century.

4. Grover Cleveland (D)
Cleveland sent in the military to undo president Arthur's violation of the treaties with the Winnebago and Crow Creek tribes, Arthur having opened four million acres of their land in the Dakota territory to white settlement. Military expansion and modernization was also important under Cleveland's administration,

5. Calvin Coolidge (R)
Coolidge supported racial equality and did much to help minorities, pushing for anti-lynching legislation, signing the Indian Citizenship Act granting citizenship to Amerindians on reservations, and supporting the Balfour declaration.

6. William McKinley (R)
McKinley made numerous economic accomplishments, preserving the gold standard and raising tariffs to protect American workers from foreign competition. McKinley made America a definitive world power by winning the Spanish-American War, expanded America's defensive capabilities, and was supportive of civil rights for African-Americans.

7. James Madison (D/R)
Madison was one of the only early presidents to make any effort to protect the rights of the Amerindians, ordering the military to protect indigenous lands from white settlers.

8. James A. Garfield (R)
James Garfield supported and furthered the rights of blacks and managed to make few poor policy decisions.

9. Theodore Roosevelt (R)
Roosevelt worked towards desegregation, destroyed monopolies, extended protections for the environment, assured justice for amerindians cheated by the Indian Agency, and increased the United States' naval power to be second only to Britain.

10. Rutherford B. Hayes (R)
Hayes ended the prior system of assigning offices to the president's supporters and instead based on merit, made pro-amerindian moves such as preventing the War Department from taking over the Bureau of Indian Affairs and giving the Ponca tribe compensation for their land rights, and also returned the South to home rule.

11. Richard Nixon (R)
Though he is mostly remembered for ordering illegal activity against his political rivals, Nixon forced North Vietnam into a peace treaty, ended US involvement in the Vietnam war, brought the American prisoners of war home, created the Environmental Protection Agency, presided over the landing of the first men on the moon, and continued to enforce desegregation, implementing large-scale racial integration of schools in the south.

12. Ulysses S. Grant (R)
Grant supported native rights more than most previous presidents, though that's not saying much, but on the contrary he also vetoed a bill that would have protected the Bison that Amerindians hunt. Grant also spoke out against voter intimidation of blacks in the south and supported civil rights significantly more than Andrew Johnson had.

13. William Howard Taft (R)
Though Roosevelt is often credited with the destruction of monopolies, Taft busted twice as many trusts as Roosevelt had, he also abrogated the Russo-American Treaty of 1832. Unfortunately, Taft refused to appoint African Americans to federal jobs and was generally weak in terms of civil rights.

14. James K. Polk (D)
Polk supported US ally Texas and defeated Mexico in the Mexican-American war, furthering US expansion into the west.

15. John Quincy Adams (D/R)
President JQA funded a number of public works, such as the United States Naval Observatory and various roads and expanded the US further west, as well as being a prominent opponent of slavery and supporter of consensual mutual agreements with natives in place of the murderous Jingoism of most presidents of his time.

16. George W. Bush (R)
George W. Bush did a good job of uniting his allies behind two causes, one of which was the war in Afghanistan, and unfortunately the other was the war in Iraq; I am not one of those historical revisionists who denies that Iraq obtained and stockpiled both chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction, but regardless, the Iraq war was not a well-chosen fight, and did little to benefit America or regional American allies such as Israel, Cyprus, or Armenia, and in fact opened the door to vile actors such as the Islamic State and Iran to take control in Iraq.

George W. Bush funded the Fatah militant group in Israel, as well as continuing the United States' alliance with state sponsors of terrorism such as Saudi Arabia. In more positive foreign policy decisions, however, Bush helped the African nations of Botswana and South Sudan greatly, though the US policy towards the latter was later squandered by Bush's successor.

President Bush's domestic policy unfortunately included an opposition to gay marriage (though Bush at least insisted he was not homophobic and appeared to have a more pro-LGBT stance than he let on according to the Doug Wead tapes), but Bush also got justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito into the court in time to rule in D.C. v. Heller, where the Supreme Court reaffirmed the individual right to keep and bear arms, and also signed into law the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act.

17. George H. Bush (R)
Bush 1 signed into law the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. H.W. was a Fudd who thought semi-automatic imports should be based around "sporting purpose", and left the NRA because Wayne LePierre dared to criticize the ATF. George H. Bush pardoned the crooks who trafficked weapons to state sponsor of terror Iran in the Iran-Contra Affair.

18. Herbert Hoover (R)
Hoover's presidency was overshadowed by the Great Depression. He didn't accomplish much himself, but had a decent foreign policy at least, largely not intervening in the internal affairs of Latin American nations as well as supporting the Balfour declaration.

19. James Monroe (D/R)
Monroe created the Monroe doctrine, under which America would fight colonization and support independence for nations of the Americas. James Monroe was also a slave owner but did not make any significant setbacks for abolitionism during his career.

20. Thomas Jefferson (D/R)
Jefferson recognized Natives as being equal to whites, freed his slaves, won the First Barbary War, and secured the Louisiana Purchase. Jefferson was also a child rapist, which earns him a significant downgrade.

21. Ronald Reagan (R)
On the positive side, Reagan extensively supported the military, reviving the B-1 Lancer program and developing the MX Missile program, as well as leading a strong response to the Soviet downing of Korean Air Lines Flight 007. Unfortunately, president Reagan halted US arms sales to Taiwan and, like Carter, supported the Pakistani regime even after it became apparent they were preparing to produce a nuclear arsenal, following the Carter-era discovery of a uranium-enrichment facility.

Reagan failed the LGBT community and did nothing to stop the AIDs epidemic while it killed thousands of Americans. Reagan also opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, fair housing legislation, he supported segregated universities, and at every turn was happy to sacrifice the rights of blacks and other minorities to gain the white vote until he was forced by his own congress or party to give in.

22. Dwight D. Eisenhower (R)
Eisenhower overthrew the democratically elected governments of Iran and Guatemala, while not supporting long-time US allies Britian, France, and Israel in their war against Egypt, but also created the interstate highway system and established a number of important scientific agencies and programs such as NASA, DARPA, and the National Defense Education Act.

23. Bill Clinton (D)
Clinton's administration was notable for leaving the country with an economic surplus of around 236,000,000,000 USD and attempting to settle the Isreali-Palestinian dispute with a two state solution which the Palestinians rejected; However, Bill Clinton involved the US in the murderous Kosovo war in support of the terrorist Kosovo Liberation Army, despite it being publicly acknowledged as the primary initiator of violence. Bill Clinton allowed NATO to use depleted Uranium weaponry against Serbians. Clinton was responsible for the Federal Assault Weapons Ban.

24. John Tyler (none)
John Tyler signed a few treaties, such as the Treaty of Wanghia and Webster–Ashburton Treaty, which had positive influences, but didn't have many great accomplishments, and was expelled from his own party when he took office.

25. Zachary Taylor (W)
Taylor had vague political beliefs and was elected for being a national hero. Taylor didn't do much and didn't solve the issues facing him relating to slavery and the admission of the territory gained in the Mexican-American war.

26. William Harrison (W)
Poor Harrison lived only 30 days into his presidency, he of course accomplished nothing during this 30 day period, with the exception of delivering the longest inaugural address in history.

27. James Buchanan (D)
James Buchanan was a weak leader who alienated both Democrats and Republicans and who's weak leadership contributed to the civil war.

28. Franklin D. Roosevelt (D)
In an anticonstitutional action, Franklin Roosevelt raised extreme taxes on guns attempting to infringe on the right of the people to keep and bear them. Roosevelt also forced thousands of people into internment camps based on their ethnicities, failed to support the UK directly against Germany for several years, refused to take in Jews who were persecuted in Germany, and used the IRS against his political opponents. FDR's economic policy was well-made, at least, and FDR's fight against recession was a success.

29. Gerald Ford (R)
The only president who made it into office without ever being voted for by anyone for the office of either president or vice president performed about as well as you'd expect; Despite overwhelming support from the senate, president Ford vetoed a bill which would halt all military aid of Turkey following a recent neocolonialist invasion of Cyprus, while simultaneously refusing to support US ally Israel and again favoring the aggressor, Egypt. Ford's leadership lead to a Democrat-controlled congress which pulled out US support for South Vietnam, leading to a North Vietnamese invasion and the loss of a war which was widely thought to have already been won.

30. Franklin Pierce (D)
Pierce upheld the Fugitive Slave Act and the The Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854, which caused a civil conflict within Kansas between pro- and anti-slavery factions which contributed to the civil war.

31. Abraham Lincoln (R)
Lincoln freed the slaves through his emancipation proclamation, a heroic deed which should be neither understated nor overlooked. However, war criminal Lincoln brought war to women, children, and private property throughout the South as well as the state of Maryland which was not part of the Confederacy, violating the Constitution as he did so. Lincoln suspended habeas corpus (the Supreme Court later ruled in Boumediene v. Bush that the Constitution does not allow for this right to be violated), smashing his way through the Fifth Amendment.

With the military growing in size and power to counter the rebellion, plus the ability of the government to arrest and detain people it disliked without trial, the Lincoln government turned next against the First Amendment and crushed anti-war newspapers. Lincoln turned on democratically elected politicians such as mayor George W. Brown and congressman Clement Vallandigham and had them arrested for opposing him politically.

After invading the New Mexico territory and driving the Confederates out, Lincoln's troops began a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the indigenous people, marching them through inhospitable desert to Bosque Redondo, a concentration camp where disease, exposure and hunger killed thousands of innocent men, women, and children.

32. Barack Obama (D)
Obama's weak leadership caused the collapse of race relations and the rise of the racist Black Lives Matter movement. Obama doubled the national debt, had a cowardly, dishonest stance on Islam and Islamic terrorism, destabilized Syria and Libya causing the refugee crisis, failed US allies like South Korea, Israel, and South Sudan through cowardice, hostility, and incompetence and was complicit in a number of dubious actions such as operation fast and furious (in which drug cartels were intentionally sold weapons) and numerous infringements on the privacy and security of the American people.

Obama also interfered in a number of foreign elections, possibly a violation of both international and American law, attempting to instate Ralia Odinga, a defender of terrorism and sharia law, as president of Kenya, wiring tax funds to globalist/lefitst Israeli political parties to depose Prime Minister Netanyahu, and further interfering in, possibly among others, the Macedonian, Libyan, Honduran, Egyptian, and Syrian internal affairs, attempting to instate new governments.

Obama is not the worst president, however, as he also had a few good accomplishments, such as ending the sanctions against Myanmar, legalizing gay and lesbian marriage nationwide, and expanding medicaid and medicare through his Obamacare program (though Obamacare also included disastrous failures).

33. Jimmy Carter (D)
The one-term Carter freakshow was defined by blind trust in foreign powers like the Soviet Union and North Korea, massive blunders in the Iran hostage crisis, and state-sponsored terrorism in Afghanistan; Carter also started the US alliance with Pakistan, a nuclear-armed rogue state where gay people are stoned to death (like it's 200 BC), apostasy is a crime punishable by death, and, at the time Carter was president, martial rape was legal.

The best friend a terrorist could ask for in the White House, Carter not only armed and trained terrorists in Afghanistan, but pardoned domestic terrorists such as Oscar Collazo, Lolita Lebrón, Rafael Cancel Miranda, Andres Figueroa Cordero, and Irvin Flores Rodríguez, who attempted to murder US politicians. Jimmy Carter is still alive and embarrassing himself, spending his post-presidency years supporting terrorist groups like Hamas, claiming the North Korean leadership (who put people in concentration camps for being related to dissidents) are rational individuals who wants peace, and blaming terrorist attack victims like Salman Rushdie for being attacked by terrorist groups.

34. Millard Fillmore (W)
Fillmore signed the Fugitive Slave Act and was a supporter of the Compromise of 1850, allowing slavery in the newly gained territories obtained during the Mexican-American war.

35. Warren G. Harding (R)
Harding's administration was notoriously corrupt, though he was not himself complicit in the corruption. Harding pardoned many political prisoners, condemned lynchings, and supported the Balfour Declaration, but Harding did little in practice to support desegregation, make decisions on the glaring issue of US relations with Bolshevik Russia, or get much of anything important done, for that matter.

36. Woodrow Wilson (D)
Woodrow Wilson's presidency was very mixed. On one hand, Wilson stopped desegregation dead in it's tracks and undid much of the work of Taft and Roosevelt, but on the other, Wilson oversaw the implementation of the 19th amendment, which granted women the right to vote, and also supported the Balfour declaration (albeit reluctantly). Wilson's administration certainly did plenty of good, but it was far overshadowed by the bad he did.

37. John Adams (F)
The Adams administration created the Sedition Act of 1798, an unconstitutional law which forbid people from criticizing the government, and the Naturalization Act of 1798, which made it harder for immigrants to become citizens specifically because immigrants were voting Democratic-Republican rather than Federalist.

38. Chester Arthur (R)
A machine politician who replaced Garfield, Chester Arthur illegally violated long-established treaties made with the Sioux people by allowing white settlers to invade their territory, though president Cleveland would thankfully go on to undo these heinous actions.

39. Andrew Johnson (D)
Johnson vetoed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the Fourteenth Amendment, attempting to stop the furthering of rights for black Americans during his presidency.

40. Benjamin Harrison (R)
War criminal Benjamin Harrison lauded the Seventh Cavalry for carrying out the Wounded Knee Massacre and slaughtering unarmed men, women, and children without cause. Harrison illegally opened up miles and miles of Indian reservation land to white settlement in violation of numerous treaties. The "human iceberg" is unique among all presidents in that he is the only president in US history to do such an awful job that the president who preceded him (Grover Cleveland) ran against and defeated him to be his successor.

41. Martin Van Buren (D/R)
Van Buren was largely an accessory to the Jackson presidency, following his policies for the most part. Van Buren forcibly removed around 20,000 Cherokee and continued the murderous Second Seminole War.

42. Andrew Jackson (D)
Mistreatment of the Native Amerindians has no better example than the founder of the Democrat Party himself, Andrew Jackson. For a perfect example of his complete lack of respect for anyone who wasn't a white American, one needn't look any further than the First Seminole War, in which Jackson (at the time a general) invaded Spanish Florida to chase fleeing slaves, then attacked the native Seminoles, murdering two British civilians in the process.

Once he obtained the Presidential office, Jackson amplified his needless cruelty towards the indigenous people, forcing tens of thousands of them out of their land and across the Mississippi, with thousands dying along the way, exiling them to steal their land. Andrew Jackson is also the only president to explicitly defy the supreme court, going against the decision of Worcester v. Georgia in 1832.

Crockerland

Edited:

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