My Arbitrary Rankings of the Presidents of the United States
Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2018 3:35 pm
In the spirit of President’s Day, I have started this thread to discuss the 43 individuals who have served in the office of the United States, and to discuss which ones were the best.
Now, I personally am not for judging the presidents, as I realize that it’s a difficult and stressful job, you’ll always on average have 45% of the country disapprove of your administration, you’ll constantly have the fear of being killed, and most of the world’s population depends on you to make the right decision. Now, I’m not saying that our president’s should be exempt from criticism, as there are many valid critiques to be made of all of the people who have been in office, and criticizing them can allow them to possibly learn from their mistakes, and so future presidents and leaders can avoid the same mistakes.
Now, for my list. Overall, I’m against ranking presidents, including the reasons above, and I actually am reading 2 books that discuss the POTUS ranking game and how it’s asinine and arbitrary, but I think I’ll give myself a pass since I’m only using this to spark discussion, unlike the historians and political scientists who make their lists on arbitrary and undefined standards and act like their ranking lists are the definitive source of presidential history. Honestly, my list isn’t any more or less arbitrary than theirs.
Also, this isn't taking into account the things the presidents did out of office. If it did, Herbert Hoover would be within the top 5, and John Tyler would be within the bottom 5.
Note that this list isn’t taking the president’s personal lives into account, and isn’t judging them as people. I will not be taking Orange Man into account, as he hasn’t finished his time in office yet. And I will not rank William Harrison or James Garfield as they haven’t served long enough for me to arbitrarily rank them. Suck it Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Okay, so here’s the legend for the list:
Blue: Favourites
Green: Positive
Yellow: Neutral/Unsure
Orange: Negative
Red: Least Favourites
Thomas Jefferson
George Washington
Abraham Lincoln
Theodore Roosevelt
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Barack Obama
James K. Polk
Harry S. Truman
James Madison
Woodrow Wilson
John F. Kennedy
William H. Taft
James Monroe
Bill Clinton
William McKinley
Ronald Reagan
John Q. Adams
Jimmy Carter
Gerald Ford
Ulysses S. Grant
Lyndon B. Johnson
John Adams
George H. W. Bush
Andrew Jackson
Benjamin Harrison
Rutherford B. Hayes
Richard Nixon
Martin Van Buren
Grover Cleveland
Chester A. Arthur
Calvin Coolidge
Warren G. Harding
George W. Bush
Herbert Hoover
Zachary Taylor
John Tyler
Millard Fillmore
James Buchanan
Franklin Pierce
Andrew Johnson
If you have any questions regarding these rankings, lemme know!
So, who are your favourite presidents? Least favourite?
Now, I personally am not for judging the presidents, as I realize that it’s a difficult and stressful job, you’ll always on average have 45% of the country disapprove of your administration, you’ll constantly have the fear of being killed, and most of the world’s population depends on you to make the right decision. Now, I’m not saying that our president’s should be exempt from criticism, as there are many valid critiques to be made of all of the people who have been in office, and criticizing them can allow them to possibly learn from their mistakes, and so future presidents and leaders can avoid the same mistakes.
Now, for my list. Overall, I’m against ranking presidents, including the reasons above, and I actually am reading 2 books that discuss the POTUS ranking game and how it’s asinine and arbitrary, but I think I’ll give myself a pass since I’m only using this to spark discussion, unlike the historians and political scientists who make their lists on arbitrary and undefined standards and act like their ranking lists are the definitive source of presidential history. Honestly, my list isn’t any more or less arbitrary than theirs.
Also, this isn't taking into account the things the presidents did out of office. If it did, Herbert Hoover would be within the top 5, and John Tyler would be within the bottom 5.
Note that this list isn’t taking the president’s personal lives into account, and isn’t judging them as people. I will not be taking Orange Man into account, as he hasn’t finished his time in office yet. And I will not rank William Harrison or James Garfield as they haven’t served long enough for me to arbitrarily rank them. Suck it Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Okay, so here’s the legend for the list:
Blue: Favourites
Green: Positive
Yellow: Neutral/Unsure
Orange: Negative
Red: Least Favourites
Thomas Jefferson
George Washington
Abraham Lincoln
Theodore Roosevelt
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Barack Obama
James K. Polk
Harry S. Truman
James Madison
Woodrow Wilson
John F. Kennedy
William H. Taft
James Monroe
Bill Clinton
William McKinley
Ronald Reagan
John Q. Adams
Jimmy Carter
Gerald Ford
Ulysses S. Grant
Lyndon B. Johnson
John Adams
George H. W. Bush
Andrew Jackson
Benjamin Harrison
Rutherford B. Hayes
Richard Nixon
Martin Van Buren
Grover Cleveland
Chester A. Arthur
Calvin Coolidge
Warren G. Harding
George W. Bush
Herbert Hoover
Zachary Taylor
John Tyler
Millard Fillmore
James Buchanan
Franklin Pierce
Andrew Johnson
If you have any questions regarding these rankings, lemme know!
So, who are your favourite presidents? Least favourite?
