Countdown:
42-32:
the worst presidents
32-22:
the let-downs
10-1:
the greatest presidents
Who
was on the panel?
It’s getting close as we count down towards the greatest US president in
history.
Today we rank numbers 21 to 11... the nearly men, the close-but-no-cigar
Commanders-in-Chief. They were good but, on balance, probably not great.
That, at least, is the view of our panel of political and foreign policy
experts, who we tasked with ranking all 42 men to have held the highest
office in the United States. Do you agree with their deliberations? Have
your say below...
21. James Monroe
1817-25 (Democratic-Republican)
Monroe led a non-partisan domestic agenda and a foreign policy with an
isolationist approach to Europe. His measured approach made him the
favourite president for one member of our panel but he failed to excite most
of them.
Monroe argued that unless the colonial powers entered conflicts in the
Americas he should not intervene in their affairs. He oversaw the expansion
of the United States to include Mississippi, Illinois, Alabama, Maine and
Missouri.
"My greatest president. . . he cannot boast a great cathartic moment,
a spectacular military victory, a triumph of will. But Monroe's
low-temperature presidency became known as the 'era of good feeling'. And
that sounds just fine to me." Daniel Finkelstein, chief leader
writer.
20. George H.W. Bush
1989-93 (Republican)
Reagan’s economic legacy left President Bush facing an enormous national debt
and, with the country in recession, he was pressurised by Democrats in
Congress to raise taxes. The tax hike contradicted his manifesto pledge for
no new taxes and cost him popularity among the electorate and the Republican
Party.
Success in Iraq, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the destruction of the
Berlin Wall were not enough to restore his popularity.
"He was a tone deaf politician, hiking up taxes after that infamous
'read my lips' pledge." Chris Ayres, Los Angeles correspondent.
19. Grover Cleveland
1885-89 and 1893-97 (Democratic)
Cleveland is the only man to have served two non-consecutive terms as
President of the United States. He was also the only Democrat to be elected
between the American Civil War and the 20th century. These feats allowed him
to score highly on our list.
He used his presidential veto far more often than any previous
Commander-in-Chief, most notably to stymie pension increases for veterans
and a scheme to recompense Texan farmers after a devastating draught. His
pragmatic approach was seen as honest but his reputation suffered during a
second term dominated
by economic hardship and strikes.
18. Ulysses S. Grant
1869-77 (Republican)
A controversial president. Grant was a successful general who had led the
Union to victory in the American Civil War. He was elected President to
oversee the radical Reconstruction of the southern states and succeeded in
restricting the violence of the Ku Klux Klan, granting Freedmen voting
rights and establishing a public school system.
His reputation was destroyed, however, by his administration’s failure to deal
with a lengthy
economic depression and a string
of scandals that affected his officials.
"Allowed the south to institutionailse racism after reconstruction,
setting the scene for 100 years of oppression of the supposedly free." Camilla
Cavendish, columnist.
17. William McKinley
1897-1901 (Republican)
McKinley’s period in office coincided with an upturn in the American economy,
leaving the President free to pursue his energetic foreign policy. After a
100-day war with Spain, he was able to annex the Philippines, Guam, Hawaii
and Puerto Rico as well as seizing temporary control of Cuba.
A year after being re-elected McKinley became the third President to be
assassinated when he was shot
dead by Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist.
16. John Quincy Adams
1825-29 (Democratic-Republican)
Great intensions never fully realised meant he was destined to finish outside
of the top ten. Adams attempted an ambitious modernisation of the country
despite an extremely
slender victory in the race to be President. His plans included an
expanded network of roads and canals, a national university and an
astronomical observatory but many of the reforms were never realised because
of an uncooperative Congress.
15. James Madison
1809-17 (Democratic-Republican)
Madison wrote key sections of the Constitution as well as the Bill of Rights,
particularly the sections which laid out his theory of checks and balances,
but as President he was a far more controversial figure.
He led the US into the divisive
and bloody War of 1812 against the British Empire. Despite very few
material gains it has been argued that the war was a pivotal moment in the
birth of a strong and independent America.
"Kudos for his pre-presidency Federalist Papers and a useful military
disaster, which many believe united the country." Chris Ayres, Los
Angeles correspondent.
14. Andrew Jackson
1829-37 (Democratic)
A hero of the War of 1812, Jackson was a polarising frontier President
responsible for the shaping of the modern Democratic Party. His populist attacks
on the national bank alienated rich supporters, but he was one of the
first Presidents to actively and successfully court the public vote,
strengthening the standing of popular democracy in the US.
"As one American friend of mine put it, 'he was a baddass', he also
practically invented populism." Chris Ayres.
13. John Adams
1797-1801 (Federalist)
After serving as Vice President throughout George Washington’s time in office,
he lasted only one
term as President. Adams succeeded in steering an outwardly peaceful
course through the international conflict between Britain and France but his
best-known domestic policies were the controversial Alien and Sedition Acts,
which restricted the rights of government critics.
12. Lyndon Johnson
1963-69 (Democratic)
Johnson proved remarkably adept at harnessing the surge of public emotion
following JFK’s assassination. He used it to convert his predecessor’s
rhetoric into law, including the Civil Rights and Voting Rights acts, which
outlawed segregation, and the Medicare and Medicaid bills that allowed
millions access to healthcare for the first time.
By the end of his presidency he was extremely unpopular, however, as he became bogged
down in the Vietnam War, race riots convulsed urban centres and voters
grew tired of his expensive “great society” programme.
"Deserves more credit for civil rights than Kennedy." Tom
Baldwin, Washington bureau chief.
11. John F. Kennedy
1961-63 (Democratic)
Although Lyndon Johnson was the man to turn his words into law, JFK pipped him
by a single place in our list.
Kennedy had a troubling and not
entirely successful foreign policy record that included the Cuban
Missile Crisis, the Bay of Pigs fiasco and the escalation of the Vietnam
War.
His radical domestic reputation was built on intervention in Alabama to uphold
desegregation, his civil rights speeches and rhetorical support for the
space programme. He had actually passed very little in the way of funding or
legislation when he was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, leaving him just shy
of our top ten.
"Restored the romance." Ben Macintyre, writer-at-large.
42-32:
the worst presidents
32-22:
the let-downs
Who
was on the panel?
Tomorrow: the Top 10
