Saturday, November 22, 2008

Introduction

It's too soon to judge the current one, but for past presidents, the verdict is in. U.S. News has averaged the results of five polls to make a gallery of the worst chief executives. The years before the Civil War produced an era of failure: Six of seven presidents who served from 1841 to 1861 made the list. Learn More | Poll

Featured Video: Executive Editor Brian Kelly interviews Jay Tolson, U.S. News historian and author of the worst president series, about his findings.

1. James Buchanan (1857-1861)

He refused to challenge either the spread of slavery or the growing bloc of states that became the Confederacy.

3. Andrew Johnson (1865-1869)

He survived impeachment after opposing Reconstruction initiatives including the 14th amendment.

5. Millard Fillmore (1850-1853)

He backed the Compromise of 1850 that delayed the Southern secession by allowing slavery to spread.

7. Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877)

Serving right after Johnson, he presided over an outbreak of graft and corruption, but had good intentions.

9. (tie) Herbert Hoover (1929-1933)

He was known as a poor communicator who fueled trade wars and exacerbated the Depression.

10. Zachary Taylor (1849-1850)

A political novice, the war hero is entirely forgettable as president.

2. Warren G. Harding (1921-1923)

He was an ineffectual and indecisive leader who played poker while his friends plundered the U.S. treasury.

4. Franklin Pierce (1853-1857)

His fervor for expanding the borders--thereby adding several slave states--helped set the stage for the Civil War.

6. John Tyler (1841-1845)

He was a stalwart defender of slavery who abandoned his party's platform once he was president.

8. William Harrison (1841)

He was president for all of 30 days after contracting pneumonia during his interminable inaugural.

9. (tie) Richard Nixon (1969-1974)

Though politically gifted, he will forever be associated with the Watergate scandal and his resignation.

A Survey of Major Polls

U.S. News examines five polls and determines the 13 lowest scoring presidents (including Jimmy Carter at 11th).

Conclusion

So were these America's worst presidents? Or does this list merely prove that rankings are valuable to the extent they spark debate, unhelpful to the extent they foreclose it? Jay Tolson reopens the debate by noting several other prominent historians who came up with very different results.

What do you think? We want your vote on the worst presidents in American history. You may select up to three.
George Washington John Adams Thomas Jefferson James Madison James Monroe John Quincy Adams Andrew Jackson Martin Van Buren William Henry Harrison John Tyler James Polk Zachary Taylor Millard Fillmore Franklin Pierce James Buchanan Abraham Lincoln Andrew Johnson Ulysses S. Grant Rutherford B. Hayes James Garfield Chester Arthur	Grover Cleveland Benjamin Harrison William McKinley Theodore Roosevelt William Howard Taft Woodrow Wilson Warren Harding Calvin Coolidge Herbert Hoover Franklin D. Roosevelt Harry S Truman Dwight Eisenhower John Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson Richard Nixon Gerald Ford Jimmy Carter Ronald Reagan George H. W. Bush Bill Clinton George W. Bush