US Presidents Ranked Worst to Best, Part 2

Last week we looked at the worst. Now let's look at the White House's better half. These are the top 22 best Presidents of the United States.

22. Rutherford Hayes (1877-81)

• pros: upheld the gold standard, upheld the Monroe Doctrine, put down the Great Railroad Strike, civil service reform (based on merit)
• cons: ended Reconstruction, failed to protect black rights, didn't try for a second term

21. Ulysses Grant (1869-77)

• pros: established Department of Justice, implemented the gold standard, Enforcement Acts, outlawed the Ku Klux Klan, 15^th Amendment, Treaty of Washington, Peace Policy with Native Americans
• cons: Great Sioux War, mishandled the panic of 1873, corruption, scandals

20. Frankiln Roosevelt (1933-45)

• pros: ended prohibition, Good Neighbour Policy in Latin America, arsenal of democracy, Lend-Lease, Second World War, US world leadership
• cons: increased national debt nine-fold, beginning of big-government interventionism, expanded bureaucracy, possibly prolonged the Great Depression, Japanese internment

19. Harry Truman (1945-53)

• pros: oversaw the end of WWII, helped found United Nations, helped found NATO, Berlin Airlift, Korean War, desegregated the armed forces. Anticommunist
• cons: only world leader to use nuclear weapons on human targets, McCarthyism

18. Chester Arthur (1881-85)

• pros: civil service reform, naval reform
• cons: ???

17. James Garfield (1881)

• pros: civil service reform, universal education
• cons: died in office, only served six months

16. Donald Trump (2017-present)

• pros: tax reform, economic growth, travel ban from extremist countries. Won Chinese support in isolating North Korea, forced the DPRK to the negotiating table, got American prisoners released
• cons: airstrikes on Syria, omnibus spending bill, partial reversal of Cuban thaw

15. George H. W. Bush (1989-93)

• pros: ended US intervention in Nicaragua, pushed for German reunification, Gulf War, NAFTA, Points of Light, Clean Air Act
• cons: invaded Panama, broke his “no new taxes” promise, Savings & Loan bailout, deficits

14. Andrew Jackson (1829-37)

• pros: fully paid off national debt (only time in US history), US exploring expedition, upheld republican values
• cons: patronage, Indian Removal Act. His disestablishment of the Second Bank of the United States was partially to blame for the Panic of 1837

13. Grover Cleveland (1885-89, 1893-97)

• pros: anti-spoils system, modernized the military, anti-imperialist, preserved the gold supply, handled the Venezuelan Crisis well. Anti-corruption, small-government non-interventionist
• cons: his silver coinage policies were divisive, couldn't get a grip on labour unrest and the Panic of 1893

12. Ronald Reagan (1981-89)

• pros: Reaganomics, tax cuts, free trade agreements, INF Treaty, broke air traffic controllers strike, restored national pride/confidence
• cons: tripled the national debt, massively increased military spending, War on Drugs, bombed Libya, Iran-Contra Scandal, aided Mujahideen. Intervention in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Grenada

11. James Madison (1809-17)

• pros: reestablished the national bank, effective tax reform. The War of 1812 was very popular, united the American people, and broke Native resistance in the west...
• cons: even though the War of 1812 ended in a military stalemate mostly thanks to a mismanaged US army. Raised tariffs

10. Calvin Coolidge (1923-29)

• pros: tax cuts, national debt shrinks, dismissed corrupt officials from Harding's administration, left the Federal Reserve alone, withdrew US forces from Dominican Republic, Dawes Plan, granted citizenship to Native Americans, built highways
• cons: slow response to Great Mississippi Flood, vetoed the McNary-Haugen Farm Relief Bill

9. James Polk (1845-49)

• pros: annexed Texas and Oregon territory, Mexican-American War, Walker Tariff reduced tariff rates, established the US Naval Academy
• cons: ???

8. William McKinley (1897-1901)

• pros: Gold Standard Act, ended the Panic of 1893, Spanish-American War, Cuban independence, annexed Hawaii
• cons: Platt Amendment, Philippine-American War, weak response to growing racial tension/violence

7. John Kennedy (1961-63)

• pros: good handling of Cuban Missile Crisis, Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, established the Apollo Program. Supported civil rights and equality, abolished poll taxes
• cons: Bay of Pigs invasion, deficits

6. James Monroe (1817-25)

• pros: Monroe Doctrine, Treaty of 1818 granted harbour/fishing rights in Pacific, joint occupation of Oregon territory, acquired Florida, built canals, went on national tours
• cons: inadequate response to Panic of 1819, Missouri Compromise was divisive and unpopular

5. Dwight Eisenhower (1953-61)

• pros: founded NASA, ended McCarthyism, built highways, Civil Rights Acts (1957, 1960), integrated public schools, “ended” Korean War, reduced spending, balanced budgets. Left office warning people about military-industrial complex...
• cons: even though he was largely responsible for the rise of the military-industrial complex. U-2 Crisis; undertook coups in Iran, Guatemala.

4. Theodore Roosevelt (1901-09)

• pros: Square Deal, trust-busting, peaceful labour relations, conservation, began the Panama Canal, helped broker and end to the Russo-Japanese war, established the Food and Drug Administration
• cons: Roosevelt Corollary used to justify interventionism in Central America (i.e. Big Stick Diplomacy)

3. Thomas Jefferson (1801-09)

• pros: Louisiana Purchase doubled USA's size, lowered taxes and spending decreased national debt, maintained neutrality during Napoleonic Wars, prohibited slave imports, Lewis and Clark Expedition, First Barbary War
• cons: bad relations with the British, embargoes against Britain did more harm to USA

2. Abraham Lincoln (1861-65)

• pros: peacefully handled the Trent Affair, US Civil War, selected his own generals, Emancipation Proclamation, 13^th Amendment, moderate stance on Reconstruction, National Banking Act, Pacific Railway Acts
• cons: introduced federal income tax, Ex parte Merryman suspends habeas corpus

1. George Washington (1789-97)

• pros: maintained peace with Great Britain, suppressed the Whiskey Rebellion, established the national bank and other financial institutions, restored the nation's credit, re-established the US Navy, maintained neutrality during French Revolutionary Wars, Treaty of San Lorenzo, won the Northwest Indian War...
• cons: even though the war effort was disorganized and resulted in high casualties