MayerBlog: The Web Log of
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Rating the U.S. Presidents
Monday is “Presidents’ Day,” the pseudo-holiday created by the federal government that replaced the traditional observances of the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington, America’s two greatest presidents. Being a traditionalist, I continue to observe Lincoln’s birthday and Washington’s birthday on their actual days, February 12 and February 22, respectively. I also must admit that I abhor the pseudo-holiday of Presidents’ Day, which denigrates the memory of these two great Americans, by not only combining the observances of their two birthdays into one holiday but also diluting their significance by also designating the day as a celebration of all American presidents. There are a few U.S presidents whose greatness may be compared to Lincoln’s or Washington’s, but there are also many more who were mediocrities at best, plus some who truly disgraced the important office they held. In recent years, various scholars and political commentators have tried to rate the presidents, listing the “best” and “worst.” In the New York Times Magazine for December 15, 1996, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. presented the results of a poll of 30 historians who were asked to rate the presidents into six categories: Great, Near Great, Average, Below Average, or Failure. These historians named three presidents – Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Washington, in that order – as “great,” and six more – Jefferson, Jackson, Polk, Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson, and Truman – as “near great.” The “failures,” according to this poll, were Pierce, Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Grant, Harding, Hoover, and Nixon, with Nixon rated last, as the worst “failure.” The results were not surprising to those of us familiar with the left-wing political bias of most American historians: with the exceptions of Washington and Jefferson, the “great” or “near-great” presidents according to this poll were those who expanded the power of the national government and/or the presidency, with five of the top nine (Lincoln, FDR, Polk, Wilson, and Truman) commanders-in-chief at time of war. The historians’ left-liberal bias is even more evident in their low ratings of Republican presidents: the three worst “failures” were 20th-century Republican presidents; and of the rest, Reagan, for example, rated only 25th (“average”). In the fall of 2000, the Federalist Society and the Wall Street Journal did a new survey of presidential scholars – ballots were sent to 132 professors of history, law, and political science, with 78 responding – and the results were published in the Journal on November 16, 2000. The resulting ranking (using the same six categories as Schlesinger’s survey) was more politically balanced. The same three presidents were ranked “great,” but with Washington topping the list, Lincoln coming in second, and FDR third. The next eight “near-great” presidents comprised, in order, Jefferson, TR, Jackson, Truman, Reagan (at 8th), Eisenhower, Polk, and Wilson. These scholars ranked only four presidents as “failures”: Andrew Johnson, Pierce, Harding, and Buchanan. Nixon came in 33rd, in the “below average” category, along with Ford, Hoover, and Carter (28th, 29th, and 30th, respectively). Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush both came in the “average” category. The survey also asked the scholars which presidents were “overrated” or “underrated”: Kennedy was named most “overrated” by a large margin, while Reagan was named most “underrated” as well as second-most “overrated” president, suggesting (as the authors of the Journal piece opined) “the lack of academic consensus” about Reagan’s legacy. The Federalist Society survey, although far more politically balanced than Schlesinger’s, suffers from the same basic problem that affects most ratings of the presidents: it tends to confuse greatness with power, rating more highly those presidents who expanded the powers of the presidency or the scope of federal government powers generally. As Robert Higgs argued in a thoughtful essay a few years ago – “No More ‘Great Presidents’”, the ratings favor presidents who aggrandized power, particularly by taking the nation to war. Like Higgs, I generally regard as a “great” president one who follows his oath of office to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States”; and I also agree with his conclusions that “Not since the presidency of Grover Cleveland has any president achieved greatness by this standard” and that “Worse, the most admired have been those who failed most miserably.” Although I disagree with his ready identification of war with abuse of power (some wars, like the War of 1812 or the Civil War, were necessary to preserve the nation) – and so disagree with Higgs with regard to Lincoln, for example – I’ll stick to his definition of greatness and accordingly do my own rating of the presidents as follows.
The “Great” Presidents
· George Washington: He carefully exercised his powers as president, aware that he was setting precedents, the most important of which was the precedent of stepping down after two terms. · Abraham Lincoln: He not only saved the Union – the peculiar status of the United States as a nation comprised of states – but also republican government, by enforcing the rule that the minority must acquiesce in the legitimate decisions made by the majority, a rule necessary for republican government to survive. Although he did so at horrible costs – the bloodiest war in American history, accompanied by expanded governmental powers and curtailed civil liberties – Lincoln did not violate the Constitution lightly. (Indeed, given the extraordinary crisis faced by the nation during his presidency, what was remarkable was the degree to which he generally adhered to the limits imposed by the Constitution on his office and national powers generally.) · Thomas Jefferson: As I have argued in my book The Constitutional Thought of Thomas Jefferson and in various articles (see especially my essay on Jefferson in The Presidency: Then and Now, edited by Phillip Henderson), more than any other president since Washington, Jefferson took seriously constitutional limits, particularly the separation of powers. Thus, as president, he respected Congress’s war power (in waging the Barbary War, the first U.S. foreign war). He replaced the State-of-the-Union address to Congress with a written annual message (a tradition that lasted until Wilson’s presidency in the early 20th century); he also refused to issue presidential proclamations declaring days of prayer or thanksgiving, because he viewed the First Amendment religion clause as (in his famous words) “a wall of separation between church and state” (a constitutional scruple which, unfortunately, few of his successors have shared). And he even came close to jeopardizing his greatest success as president – the addition of the Louisiana Purchase territory to the U.S. – because he proposed a constitutional amendment (although an amendment was not necessary, even under Jefferson’s strict theory) “to set an example” against broad interpretation of federal powers under the Constitution. (I know of no other president who so valued constitutional fidelity.)
The “Near-Great” Presidents
· James Madison and James Monroe (tie): Jefferson’s successors – and fellow Virginia Republicans – they each earned kudos for using the veto power to kill unconstitutional legislation, particularly “internal improvements” bills (bills to build roads or canals, the paradigm “porkbarrel” projects of the time). Madison’s additional claim to greatness as president was his leadership during the War of 1812, arguably the American war that did least damage to the Constitution; but detracting from his greatness was his decision to sign into law the bill chartering the Second Bank of the United States – a position contradicting his opposition to the First Bank in the 1790s – because (he rationalized) the American people had tacitly consented to the broadening of Congressional powers. Monroe shared with Jefferson a stricter interpretation of federal powers, requiring explicit amendment (not mere tacit consent) to go beyond those enumerated in the Constitution – the correct interpretation. · Grover Cleveland: The last Jeffersonian president (and the last good Democrat to hold the office), he aggressively used the veto power against private bills and other unconstitutional legislation. In vetoing a bill in 1887 that would have appropriated $10,000 to aid drought-stricken farmers in Texas, he uttered the memorable words, “though the people support the Government; the Government should not support the people.” He cut taxes as well as spending, he supported the gold standard, and he opposed protective tariffs.
“Above Average” Presidents
· Andrew Jackson: Although he pushed the envelope in his exercise of presidential powers (earning the nickname “King Andrew” to his Whig opponents), he deserves great credit for vetoing the bill rechartering the Bank of the United States on constitutional grounds, thereby not permitting Chief Justice John Marshall’s over-broad interpretation of federal powers (in McCulloch v. Maryland) to constrain the president’s exercise of his duties under the Constitution. · Martin Van Buren: Notwithstanding the fact he was the first professional politician to serve as president, he was remarkably consistent in his adherence to limited-government Jeffersonian principles. · James Polk: He realized the United States’ “Manifest Destiny” by waging war against Mexico, after Congress officially declared it; and believing a two-term presidency promoted corruption, he served only one, as he had pledged he would. · Calvin Coolidge: The greatest president of the 20th century because he did the least damage to the Constitution. “Silent Cal” earns bonus points for being a man of few words (although they include another one of the most profound truths uttered by an American president: “The business of America is business”), and for his lack of political ambition in declining to seek an additional term. · Ronald Reagan: Although his rhetoric was splendid (“Government is not the solution; government is the problem,” he declared in his first Inaugural Address on January 20, 1981) and promised a conservative revolution, Reagan’s administration disappointed those of us who hoped for real reforms actually cutting the size of the federal government. Rather, he succeeded only in reducing the rate of growth in domestic spending. But he did get Congress to significantly cut income tax rates, resulting in greater freedom for productive Americans (the freedom to keep the wealth we earn) and the economic boom of the 1990s. And (his greatest legacy) by rebuilding U.S. military strength and by standing up to the Soviet Union, he won the Cold War – bringing about the collapse of Soviet communism and ending the greatest threat to national security (and world peace) of the 20th century.
“Average” Presidents
· John Adams and John Quincy Adams: The first father-son team to serve (in single terms, 25 years apart) in the White House, each had a mixed record as president. The elder Adams, on the negative side, signed into law the blatantly unconstitutional Sedition Act of 1798; but on the positive side, he eventually stood up to the Hamiltonian Federalists and avoided war with France, leaving eight years of peace and prosperity to his successor, Jefferson. The younger Adams began his presidency under a cloud which never fully dissipated: the 1824 election was decided by the House of Representatives, under circumstances that led to the charge of a “corrupt bargain” with Henry Clay, which helped contribute to Andrew Jackson’s success in 1828. On the positive side, his administration coincided with one of the greatest “feel-good” moments in American history: the 50th anniversary of American independence (and, significantly, the day both his father and Jefferson died). · George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush: The second father-and-son team to serve in the White House (separated only by the eight years of disastrous Clintonism), each of them too had (and has had thus far) at best a mixed record. The elder Bush doomed his own presidency by reneging on his “No new taxes” pledge and by repudiating his predecessor, Reagan, with his promise of a “kinder, gentler” nation (which fed Democrat propaganda about cold, cruel “Reaganism”). Sadly, his most popular action as president was also his most unconstitutional, committing U.S. troops to the Persian Gulf region, and warring upon Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq, without prior Congressional authorization. Were it not for his courageous leadership in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the younger Bush might have followed not only in the footsteps of his father but also that other son of a president, John Quincy Adams. So far, the parallels are troubling: like his father, he seems to be repudiating limited-government policies by adhering to his so-called “compassionate conservatism”; and like J.Q. Adams, his presidency began under a cloud (the disputed 2000 election) which also might not fully dissipate (as the intense Bush-hatred of some Democrats seems to indicate). · Gerald Ford: Although he restored honor to the presidential office in the wake of Nixon’s resignation, as well as acted wisely in refusing to bail New York City out of bankruptcy (“Ford to N.Y.: Drop Dead,” as the New York Post headline sourly announced), his administration continued the disastrous fiscal policies of his predecessor – resulting in a significant inflation problem, which Ford thought he could solve by having Americans wear buttons reading “W.I.N.” (“Whip Inflation Now”). On the positive side, his administration coincided with another landmark “feel-good” event: the American Revolution Bicentennial celebrations of 1976. (And disco!) · William Taft: The heftiest president, his chief contribution to the presidency (presiding over a comparatively conservative interlude between the two “Progressive” presidencies of TR and Wilson) was overshadowed by his post-presidency service as Chief Justice of the United States. · Warren Harding: As my friend Brad Smith pointed out in a August 2, 1993 article in the Columbus Dispatch, Harding does not deserve the bum rap he’s been given by historians who associate him only with corruption and scandals (Teapot Dome pales in comparison to Watergate or “Clintongate”). His administration returned the U.S. to “normalcy” – among other things, greater economic freedom and prosperity, civil rights protections, and lower taxes – after the draconian wartime presidency of Wilson. · John Kennedy: On the plus side, he got Congress to cut income tax rates (thereby reducing somewhat the injustice of steeply progressive taxation) and he led the U.S. through the Cuban missile crisis without starting World War III. But on the negative side, he committed thousands of American military advisers to South Vietnam – and thus got us sucked into that conflict. Were it not for the premature end of his presidency due to his assassination, he would be remembered as an unremarkable one-term president, the last president before the “Goldwater Revolution.” (OK, OK – can’t I indulge in some wishful thinking?) · William Harrison and James Garfield: One died of pneumonia a few weeks after his inaugural, the other murdered by an assassin, both had very brief terms – and thus did very little damage to the Constitution. · Chester Arthur, Millard Fillmore, Benjamin Harrison, Rutherford Hayes, Franklin Pierce, Zachary Taylor, and John Tyler (tie): These unremarkable, unmemorable mediocrities typify the “average” American president.
“Below Average” Presidents
· James Buchanan: His acquiescence to the secession of Southern states left his successor, Lincoln, with the greatest crisis ever faced by an American President – a crisis that Buchanan helped precipitate by his inappropriate reference, in his inaugural address, to the Supreme Court’s upcoming Dred Scott decision. His presidency was marked by his utter failure to take responsibility for his actions, or inactions – and his too-ready tendency to pass the buck to others. · Andrew Johnson: Politically inept and dominated by his biases (including racial prejudice and class-envy), he openly defied Congressional Reconstruction policies through unprecedented use of the “bully pulpit” and aggressive use of the presidential veto power – prompting Congress to impeach him and almost remove him from office. · William McKinley: By getting the U.S. involved in the Spanish-American War, he transformed American foreign policy – ending American exceptionalism and turning the U.S. into yet another imperial power. · Ulysses Grant and Dwight Eisenhower (tie): Great generals in wartime, mediocre presidents in peacetime. Grant presided over an administration in which corruption was rampant; Eisenhower’s main claim to fame was the Interstate Highway System, which continues to be one of the biggest pieces of “pork” in American history. · Herbert Hoover: Conventional wisdom blames him for the Great Depression because of inaction; but in reality he did contribute to the Depression, for the opposite reason – as Murray Rothbard has shown in his book America’s Great Depression, the disastrous government policies of the New Deal actually begun under Hoover, a so-called “Progressive” Republican who believed in government/business “partnership,” not laissez-faire. The principal differences between Hoover’s New Deal and FDR’s was that Hoover’s relied on cooperation rather than coercion of business, and Hoover did not blatantly disregard the Constitution – which saves him from being a failure, like FDR. · Harry Truman: Although he successfully ended World War II (and saved thousands of American lives through his courageous decision to use the atomic bomb on Japan), he acted unilaterally in getting the U.S. involved in the Korean war, the first of a series of U.N.-sanctioned “police actions” to which presidents have committed U.S. troops without prior authorization by Congress, thus eviscerating Congress’s war power. And by attempting to seize steel mills to forestall a national strike during the war, he blatantly acted outside the law – an action that the Supreme Court thankfully declared unconstitutional. · Jimmy Carter: His disastrous regulatory policies resulted in the energy crisis of the late 1970s; his disastrous foreign policies resulted in the resurrection of draft registration and the Iranian hostage crisis. One of the most incompetent presidents in U.S. history, his principal achievement was making possible Reagan’s election in 1980.
“Failures” as President
· Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson (tie): These so-called “Progressive” politicians, one a Republican and the other a Democrat, were political rivals whose policies (in terms of their disastrous impacts on the Constitution) were virtually indistinguishable. They supported significant expansion of federal regulatory powers through the creation of such agencies as the FDA, FTC, and Federal Reserve System; and they demagogued against “big business” by abusing antitrust laws. TR espoused a theory of unbridled presidential power as “steward of the people” that turned on its head the Constitution. Wilson led the U.S. into a European war that did not concern the U.S. and during wartime exercised virtually dictatorial powers. · Franklin Roosevelt: His unbridled political ambition led him to seek reelection not once, nor even twice, but an unprecedented three times, thus destroying Washington’s two-term tradition until it was restored by constitutional amendment after FDR’s death. His blatant disregard for the Constitution led him to expand government even further than TR and Wilson, with his so-called “New Deal” programs which destroyed American capitalism in the name of saving it (and which, as shown by Jim Powell’s recently-published book, FDR’s Folly, actually worsened the Great Depression). And when the Supreme Court stood in his way by declaring his programs unconstitutional, he proposed a “court-packing” scheme that shocked even his fellow New Dealers. · Lyndon Johnson: His misnamed “Great Society” program (which should have been called “Huge Government”) resulted in the greatest expansion of the welfare/regulatory state since FDR’s New Deal. He signed into law the unconstitutional Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the legislation creating the Medicare program. And he turned the American military presence in South Vietnam into a full-fledged war that eventually resulted in the useless deaths of tens of thousands of young American men. · Richard Nixon: He escalated the Vietnam war, imposed wage and price controls without any constitutional authority to do so, and expanded the welfare/regulatory state as much as LBJ – and all this before Watergate. With Watergate, he abused the powers of his office to cover up a third-rate burglary, which was done by his subordinates as political dirty tricks to further his reelection. Two bright spots prevent his presidency from being a complete failure: he did end the military draft (as the Vietnam war wound down); and by resigning before impeachment, he demonstrated not only a sense of shame (unlike Slick Willy) but also duty to the office he held (again, unlike Clinton). · Bill Clinton: Hands down (or perhaps I should say, “Pants down”), the worst president – and the worst man to hold the office of president. Before his first term ended, he already was presiding over the most corrupt and scandal-ridden presidency in American history (see my 1996 essay, “Clinton Presidency: The Most Corrupt”). With “Monica-gate,” the scandal that led to his impeachment and trial during his second term, he abused the powers of his office to cover up his use of the presidency for sexual gratification; and he personally committed the felonies of perjury and obstruction of justice to cover up that affair in order to avoid liability in a sexual-harassment suit brought against him because of his prior abuse of the office of Arkansas governor, also for sexual gratification. His legacy has been not only the growth and abuse of government power but also the virtual destruction of the rule of law in America. (See James Bovard’s “Feeling Your Pain”: The Explosion and Abuse of Government Power in the Clinton-Gore Years and The Rule of Law in the Wake of Clinton, edited by Roger Pilon.)
| Link to this Entry | Posted Friday, February 13, 2004 | Copyright David N. Mayer
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