Ranking the Presidents, Part Seven

I'll think I'll wrap this up today by limiting my comments and just shooting through whoever is left. I can always write more later if the spirit moves me.

26. Calvin Coolidge. I like Silent Cal. He kept the government out of our way. Didn't do much and some allege that that precipitated the Great Depression. My jury is still out on that one.

27. Rutherford B. Hayes. He ended Reconstruction after what may have been the most bitterly contested Presidential race in our history. Yet such an abrupt end may have hurt the cause of civil rights. I think 27 is about right for him.

28. Zachary Taylor. The perfect argument for why soldiers often don't make good civilian leaders. Argued against the spread of slavery but, in typical Whig fashion, wasn't very compelling about it.

29. Benjamin Harrison. He barely became President, having won the electoral but losing the popular vote. He was responsible for high tariffs, yet his administration did see to the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890. It was legislation of questionable value, but it played in Peoria at the time.

30. William Howard Taft. TR's hand picked successor, he immediately offended virtually everyone as he waffled on every issue. Lost badly in 1912 in great part, no doubt, to his friend Teddy's muddling things up with the Bull Moose party. Should be in the bottom five. But to be fair, he really didn't want the Presidency: he wanted a Supreme Court seat. Harding made him Chief Justice in 1921, and most believe that was a better institutional place for him.

31. John Tyler. He became the first Vice President to assume the highest office in our land upon the Death of William Henry Harrison. Not respected by his peers (Henry Clay often referred to him as 'His Accidency") he held no esteem and consequently could manage little of note. He did survive an impeachment attempt, though.

32. Jimmy Carter. If you needed something done wrong, he was the man for the job. The Panama Canal, The Iranian Hostage Crisis, double digit inflation; and those are merely starting points. He sure knew how to schedule the White House Tennis courts, though.

33. Millard Fillmore. His leadership gave us the Compromise of 1850, a convoluted attempt to settle the slavery crisis. It only delayed the Civil War, and he since has become as much of an oddity as his name.

34. James Garfield. He was President for too short of a time to merit any useful rank.

35. Warren Harding. Scandal after scandal after scandal ripped his incompetent administration. 'Nuff said.

36. Herbert Hoover. He deserves better. Many think he worsened the Great Depression, turning it into a world-wide catastrophe through mismanagement. Then why had Wall Street already rebounded beyond pre-crash levels by June 1930? Why did the markets worsen so much after FDR came around? Why did unemployment increase in the late 30's all the while FDR's policies were in full force? Sorry, folks, Hoover was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and the Democrats who took Congress in the 1930 midterm elections and the 1932 Presidential race effectively nailed his coffin shut.

37. George W. Bush. No comment, as I explained last week.

38. Richard Nixon. He would have been remembered more fondly if it weren't for that one thing: Watergate. How much he knew and how much was paranoia or a misplaced attempt to protect his friends I cannot fathom. He is a sad, pathetic man, and that's really too bad.

39. William Henry Harrison. He, like Garfield, wasn't around long enough to effect analyze.

40. Martin Van Buren. Continued, in harsh fashion to say the least, Andrew Jackson's Indian removal. Had to deal with the Panic of 1837, often cited as the second worst depression in our history. Not exactly a model chief executive.

41. Franklin Pierce. Another sad creature. An alcoholic who lost his son tragically right before assuming the Presidency, he got by on charm and looks in his political career. That wasn't enough to deal effectively with things like the Kansas-Nebraska Act, keeping the nation reeling towards Civil War.

42. James Buchanan. How much does he deserve to be ranked last? I'm not sure. He definitely ought to be towards the bottom; his unwillingness to take any serious, solid action to avert war plunged us more certainly towards it. Buchanan claimed that though States had no right to leave the Union, the federal government had no authority to stop them. Huh?

We could argue particulars, and I will allow that as the Declaration of Independence properly asserts that it is the right of the people to alter old or establish new government as necessary, in this case the Union clearly should have been preserved. Buchanan would not even try. Yes, I suppose after all that he should be last.

That's it, that's my take on our Chief Executives. It's been fun for me, and we'll revisit our list from time to time. But for now, tomorrow is another day, and we'll wait for what inspiration she brings.