I have long disagreed with the regular presidential rankings that are published every few years. Invariably, the most recent Republicans are at the very bottom and the most recent Democrats rank very highly. No bias there. A couple of weeks ago, I came across one by Robert Graboyes that did not follow the usual rankings. The presidents are separated into quintiles: highly positive, somewhat positive, neutral, somewhat negative, and highly negative. There is a 6th category for those who died so early in office that they don't merit ranking. Let's start with the greats (i.e., highly positive):
Graboyes defines highly positive as leaving "at least one blockbuster accomplishment that swamps any negatives."
George Washington: He was the first president and established what the office would be. Everything he did became a precedent, including his resignation after 2 terms. He defined the presidency.
Thomas Jefferson: The third president bought Louisianna from Napoleon, dramatically expanding the United States. Where most nations were paying protection to the Tripolitan pirates, Jefferson sent the Marines.
James Monroe: Other than Washington, Monroe is the only president to run unopposed for re-election. His time in office was known as the Era of Good Feelings. He announced the Monroe Doctrine, which declared the Western Hemisphere as off-limits to European powers.
James Knox Polk: Nearly doubled the size of the United States and established treasury autonomy. As a longtime Polk fan, it pleases me greatly that he was placed in the highly positive group. This surely impacts my view of his overall picks.
Abraham Lincoln: He saved the Union. Enough said.
Theodore Roosevelt: He strengthened the presidency and established America as a superpower. Indeed, he is the first US president to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt: He led the allies to victory.
Harry Truman: He began the containment of Communism.
Ronald Reagan: He turned the economy around from the Ford/Carter mess, starting a 25-year economic boom. More importantly, his strategy ended the Soviets without a war.
Generally, this is a good list. I will quibble about FDR, whose actions regarding the Great Depression and threats of packing the Supreme Court should cost him a great spot. However, FDR has been listed as one of the three greats - with Washington and Lincoln - in almost every list. If Mount Rushmore had been carved in the 50s or later rather than the 20s and 30s, FDR would be on it.
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In the comments section, it was brought up that FDR should be considered as two separate presidents. That is an interesting point. As he was in office for 12 years, he has a lot more presidency to consider. Graboyes rates him as one of the highly positives for leading the world through WWII. What if he had lost the 1940 election and we had only 1933 to 1941 to judge? That is a very different presidency that looks an awful lot like Herbert Hoover continued. It's one long Great Depression. Did WWII save FDR from presidential infamy? Yeah, I suspect it did.
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