Rank the Presidents

Franklin Pierce (1804-1869) - 14th President, lifelong alcoholic from New Hampshire, supported the confederacy, died of cirrhosis. Pierce, as of 2008, is the only elected President (rather than a Vice President who succeeded to the position) who sought but did not receive renomination by his party for a second term. Pierce is viewed as an inept chief executive whose traditional style of leadership failed in the face of the massive electoral divisions over slavery. Advocate for the Kansas/Nebraska act which expanded slavery into the west. Proposed the Ostend Manifesto which tried to take Cuba by force. His actions helped propel the country into the Civil War.

Warren Harding (1865-1923) 29th president, An insurance salesman and newspaper editor and a relative unknown, Harding won the Republican Party nomination in a shady backroom deal after the nominating convention had become deadlocked. Republican leaders met in a smoke-filled bar at the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago to end the deadlock. Harding was asked if there was any thing in his history that might be used against him. He had little education, was guilty of numerous infidelities and had spent years in a sanitarium. Harding answered no and was nominated. His administration was beset with numerous scandals. The behavior and sordid conduct of his cabinet members brought considerable criticism against the president and the Republican party. Teapot Dome was the piece de resistance of Harding's administration. Naval oil reserves were transferred to the Department of the Interior, Secretary Albert B. Fall, who then leased Teapot Dome to oil interests in exchange for a bribe. He spent time in a federal prison because of his actions. The incident resulted in the resignation of Secretary of Navy Edwin N. Denby, who had consented to the transfer of the reserves. Rated as one of the least successful Presidents.


Herbert Hoover (1874-1964) 31st president. In 1928 Hoover easily won the Republican nomination. America was prosperous and full of optimism. A 1928 Republican slogan claimed that a Hoover victory would put half a chicken in every pot and two cars in every garage. On election day, Hoover won an overwhelming victory, claiming more than 58 percent of the vote in a landslide over the Democrat Al Smith. A mining engineer, Hoover was a proponent the "Efficiency Movement", arguing that a technical solution existed for every societal problem. This movement was quickly put to the task by the advent of the Great Depression, which began in 1929, the first year of his presidency. Hoover proposed battling the Depression with noble volunteer efforts and government action (sound familiar?), none of which worked. Hoover's defeat in the 1932 election has been linked to his failure to end the black chasm of the deep Depression, along with resistance by the people to prohibition. He had a lack of charisma, couldn't relate to the common man, and was undone by his failure to work with other politicians. Hoover's term was marked by the rise of "Hoovervilles", ramshackle shantytowns of poor and displaced people throughout the country. He trusted in the cure of the market and private enterprise and would not adopt proposals that required federal help in efforts to revive business. When he was finally convinced him of the necessity of such measures, the resulting steps proved too late and inadequate. As a result, Hoover's formally lustrous reputation was sullied greatly and he went down in dark defeat by a crushing margin in his 1932 reelection bid.


Richard Nixon (1913-1994) 37th President, Nixon, a brilliant but deceitful man, self destructed in office. His presidency opened up detante with both Russia and China. He successfully negotiated a ceasefire with the North Vietnamese, ending American involvement in the war. This ending of the war was with essentially the same terms that were offered four years earlier, costing thousands of American lives. His policies faced extraordinary resistance domestically. America had huge inflationary problems during his term.He instituted wage and price controls in 1971. The economy responded in time for the 1972 campaign. What was not common knowledge was a little burglary at the Democratic Headquarters located at the Watergate Apartments in Washington, D.C.. Nixon won the election handily, beating George McGovern. By January of 1973, allegations of a Watergate cover-up surfaced. Six men were found guilty of the burglary. With a Senate investigation under way, Nixon announced on April 30 the resignations of his top aides, H. R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman, and the dismissal of White House counsel John Dean III. Dean was the star witness at televised Senate hearings that exposed both a White House cover-up of Watergate and massive illegalities in Republican fund-raising in 1972. The hearings also disclosed that Nixon had routinely tape-recorded his office meetings and telephone conversations.On Oct. 10, 1973, Agnew resigned as vice president, then pleaded no-contest to a negotiated federal charge of evading income taxes on alleged bribes. Two days later, Nixon nominated the House minority leader, Rep. Gerald R. Ford of Michigan, as the new vice president. Congress confirmed Ford on Dec. 6, 1973.In the face of likely impeachment and conviction for his role in the Watergate scandal, Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974. His successor, Gerald Ford, issued a pardon for any federal crimes Nixon may have committed while in office. Nixon is the only person in American history to be elected twice to both the vice presidency and the presidency. He pioneered the use of the IRS and FBI to torment his political enemies.


George W. Bush (b. 1946) 43rd President, has the regrettable standing of achieving the lowest domestic approval ratings of any American President. After starting his term with a surplus, he has amassed the highest debt and deficit ever recorded and led our country into the largest economic collapse we have ever experienced, at least since the Great Depression. Launched an unprovoked attack and protracted war on Iraq. Re-instituted torture. Suspended Habeus corpus rights for enemy prisoners. Re-instituted warrantless wiretapping on American citizens. Was the leader of the only developed nation in the world not to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse emissions.


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