By: Diane HwangOf the 45 Presidents who have resided in the White House, some have made their mark in history—some in positive ways, some in negative ways. By using qualitative and quantitative date, including the national debt accumulated, the rate of unemployment that increased or decreased, the nation’s GDP (gross domestic product), and his average approval rating throughout the presidency, I have concluded who have been America’s best and worst presidents to serve our country. THE BEST |
Approval Rate: 82% | National Debt: Start of Presidency 1933: $43 Billion, End of Presidency 1945: $258.5 Although the numbers are significantly high, Franklin Delano Roosevelt revived the economic status after the Great Depression. Additionally, the costs of involvement within World War II contributes greatly to the US National Debt. |
GDP Rate: GDP grew at an annual rate of 9% during FDR’s first term. The GDP grew about 11% annually after 1937-1938. | Unemployment Rate: Start of Presidency 1933: 25%, End of Presidency 1945: 1.2% |
THE BEST
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt, America’s 26th and youngest President served two powerful terms from 1901 to 1909. He fulfilled the role of President humbly as he set out to take whatever action necessary for the public good, unless forbidden by law of the Constitution. He said, “I did not usurp power, but I did greatly broaden the use of executive power.” He was viewed as the “steward of the people” and successfully brought a fresh face and ideas to the office and led Congress and American public towards a plethora of progressive reforms and a strong foreign policy.
Before taking office, Roosevelt was lieutenant colonel of the Rough Rider Regiment, which he led on a charge at the battle of San Juan. His physical efforts for fighting for our country correlates with the vigor and fiery propositions and decisions he made during his presidency. After his brave service in the armed forces, Boss Tom Platt accepted Roosevelt as the Republican candidate for Governor of New York in 1898. As an American war hero and intelligent and well a respected member of society, he gained the trust and hearts of America.
As President, Roosevelt provided a new perspective to many of the controversial aspects throughout his time in office. He proposed the ideal that the government should be the great arbiter of the conflicting economic forces in the nation, especially between capital and labor. With this, Roosevelt emerged as a “trust buster” by forcing the removing of a railroad combination in the northwest. He started a progressive movement in which other anti-trust suits under the Sherman Act followed Roosevelt’s actions.
To enforce strong foreign policy Roosevelt addressed the need for a shortcut between the Atlantic and Pacific. With this, he set out to construct the Panama Canal. Additionally, his corollary to the Monroe Doctrine prevented the establishment of foreign bases in the Caribbean and justify the right of intervention in Latin America to the United States. From his experiences with foreign and world politics, he coined the well-known phrase, “Speak softly and carry a big stick…”
Before taking office, Roosevelt was lieutenant colonel of the Rough Rider Regiment, which he led on a charge at the battle of San Juan. His physical efforts for fighting for our country correlates with the vigor and fiery propositions and decisions he made during his presidency. After his brave service in the armed forces, Boss Tom Platt accepted Roosevelt as the Republican candidate for Governor of New York in 1898. As an American war hero and intelligent and well a respected member of society, he gained the trust and hearts of America.
As President, Roosevelt provided a new perspective to many of the controversial aspects throughout his time in office. He proposed the ideal that the government should be the great arbiter of the conflicting economic forces in the nation, especially between capital and labor. With this, Roosevelt emerged as a “trust buster” by forcing the removing of a railroad combination in the northwest. He started a progressive movement in which other anti-trust suits under the Sherman Act followed Roosevelt’s actions.
To enforce strong foreign policy Roosevelt addressed the need for a shortcut between the Atlantic and Pacific. With this, he set out to construct the Panama Canal. Additionally, his corollary to the Monroe Doctrine prevented the establishment of foreign bases in the Caribbean and justify the right of intervention in Latin America to the United States. From his experiences with foreign and world politics, he coined the well-known phrase, “Speak softly and carry a big stick…”
THE BEST
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan pledged to restore “the great, confident roar of American progress and growth and optimism” during his term and definitely carried out that promise as the 40th President of the United States of America. However, before Reagan’s term he was the president of the Screen Actors Guild. Fulfilling this position emerged Reagan in disputes over the issue of Communism in the film industry—this is where his political views shifted from liberal to conservative. In addition to this political involvement, Reagan was also elected Governor of California in 1966 and reelected in 1970. As a president with a sufficient amount of past political experience, he was well equipped to restore prosperity in the states and in his words, “achieving peace through strength” across seas.
Promptly at the start of Reagan’s presidency, he obtained legislation to stimulate economic growth, curb inflation, increase employment, and strengthen national defense. Additionally, he pursued a course in hopes of reducing taxes and government expenditures. To continue with his mission to restore prosperity, Reagan remains in office for another term and obtained an overhaul of the income tax code. This eliminated many deduction and exempted millions of people with low incomes. With these changes and a great response from the country, Reagan and his administration had established the longest period of peacetime prosperity without recession or depression.
Reagan also thrived in areas of foreign policy, especially during his 2nd term. He vowed to carry out any plans or ideas peace and controlled, appropriate strength. During his two terms, he increased defense spending by 35%, but sought to improve relations with the Soviet Union. In dramatic meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, he negotiated treaty that would eliminated intermediate range nuclear missiles. Additionally, Reagan declared war against international terrorism. He did so by sending American bombers against Libya after evidence came out that Libra was involved in an attack on American soldiers in a West Berlin nightclub. To address this outrage, Reagan ordered naval escorts in the Persian Gulf. He maintained the free flow of oil during the Iran-Iraq war and apprehending with the Reagan Doctrine, he supported anti-Communist insurgencies in Central America, Asia, and Africa
Promptly at the start of Reagan’s presidency, he obtained legislation to stimulate economic growth, curb inflation, increase employment, and strengthen national defense. Additionally, he pursued a course in hopes of reducing taxes and government expenditures. To continue with his mission to restore prosperity, Reagan remains in office for another term and obtained an overhaul of the income tax code. This eliminated many deduction and exempted millions of people with low incomes. With these changes and a great response from the country, Reagan and his administration had established the longest period of peacetime prosperity without recession or depression.
Reagan also thrived in areas of foreign policy, especially during his 2nd term. He vowed to carry out any plans or ideas peace and controlled, appropriate strength. During his two terms, he increased defense spending by 35%, but sought to improve relations with the Soviet Union. In dramatic meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, he negotiated treaty that would eliminated intermediate range nuclear missiles. Additionally, Reagan declared war against international terrorism. He did so by sending American bombers against Libya after evidence came out that Libra was involved in an attack on American soldiers in a West Berlin nightclub. To address this outrage, Reagan ordered naval escorts in the Persian Gulf. He maintained the free flow of oil during the Iran-Iraq war and apprehending with the Reagan Doctrine, he supported anti-Communist insurgencies in Central America, Asia, and Africa
THE WORST
George W. Bush
George W. Bush was said to have faced the “greatest challenge of any President since Abraham Lincoln” during his 2 terms as the 43rd President of the United States. Bush is one of two individuals who followed the footsteps of their fathers and took over the White House. The first pair was the Adams, John Quincy Adams and his son John Adams, and evidently George W. Bush is succeeding his father George Bush. Although Bush was bombarded by inconceivable obstacles, his reaction and solution to each event lacked cohesion and negated on the citizens of America.
After the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, Bush’s foremost responsibility was to punish and convict the mastermind behind the attacks, Osama Bin Laden, and bring him to justice. Despite his rather direct approach of hunting down Bin Laden, Bush dodged the bullet and waged two costly and ineffective wars. The first war was against Afghanistan and the second was against Iraq. Not only did these wars increase the national debt but the lack of direction and control over the mission was unappealing to the US population.
\When Bush first took office, unemployment had fallen and the medium family income had increased by more $6000 thanks to the efforts of Clinton. However, as Bush navigated his way through the economic status quo the economic stagnation became very apparent early in his first term. Throughout his entire term, Bush only managed to oversee the creation of fewer than 1.1 million jobs, which is the lowest of any president since Harry Truman. Additionally, the top 10% of American earners pulled in almost half of total wages, the most lopsided wealth distribution since 1917.
Civil rights are always an issue in the United States, whether it may be equal rights for blacks and whites, men and women, or gay and straight. In this era, the campaign for LGBT equality was one the major civil rights movements that have individuals’ opinions split and shot. During Bush’s presidency, not only did he fail to advocate on behalf of the LGBT community, but also exploited anti-gay bigoty during his campaign in 2004. He neglected to grant equal rights to every human in his country.
After the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, Bush’s foremost responsibility was to punish and convict the mastermind behind the attacks, Osama Bin Laden, and bring him to justice. Despite his rather direct approach of hunting down Bin Laden, Bush dodged the bullet and waged two costly and ineffective wars. The first war was against Afghanistan and the second was against Iraq. Not only did these wars increase the national debt but the lack of direction and control over the mission was unappealing to the US population.
\When Bush first took office, unemployment had fallen and the medium family income had increased by more $6000 thanks to the efforts of Clinton. However, as Bush navigated his way through the economic status quo the economic stagnation became very apparent early in his first term. Throughout his entire term, Bush only managed to oversee the creation of fewer than 1.1 million jobs, which is the lowest of any president since Harry Truman. Additionally, the top 10% of American earners pulled in almost half of total wages, the most lopsided wealth distribution since 1917.
Civil rights are always an issue in the United States, whether it may be equal rights for blacks and whites, men and women, or gay and straight. In this era, the campaign for LGBT equality was one the major civil rights movements that have individuals’ opinions split and shot. During Bush’s presidency, not only did he fail to advocate on behalf of the LGBT community, but also exploited anti-gay bigoty during his campaign in 2004. He neglected to grant equal rights to every human in his country.
THE WORST
Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon was the only President in American history to resign from office, after serving three years as the 37th President and facing the Watergate scandal. Before his presidency, Nixon was a Navy lieutenant commander during World War II, won a Senate seat in the California district in 1950, and served as Governor of California in 1962. Not only is Nixon infamous for the Watergate scandal, but he is remembered for his efforts during the Vietnam War.
As Nixon campaigned for his presidency, he claimed to have a “secret plan” to end the dreaded war in Vietnam. Whether he had such a plan at the time is still a mystery, but he did institute a plan after he assumed the presidency. Calling it “Vietnamization,” he commenced a gradual withdrawal of American forces in the country. So, in 1969, 550,000 American troops were beginning to get pulled out and this continued until 1973. However, for the four years that Nixon continued to prosecute the war, he was violent and aggressive, anything but peaceful. He escalated war by bombing Hanoi, the North Vietnamese capital, mining the Haiphong harbor, invading neighboring Cambodia and Laos, and sought to destroy the North’s will to fight by increasing search and destroy mission and increasing body counts.
During his last year before resignation, in 1972, several burglars were arrested inside the office of the Democratic National Committee, located in the Watergate building in Washington D.C. This robbery was directly linked to President Richard Nixon’s reelection campaign, and they had been caught while attempting to wiretap phones and steal secret documents. Although no evidence led to the assumption that Nixon knew of or planned the burglary, he took steps to try and cover it up afterwards including raising “hush money” for the burglars, trying to stop the FBI from investigating the crime, destroying evidence and firing uncooperative staff members. As tensions rose and questions filled the air, his role in the Watergate conspiracy eventually led to his resignation.
As Nixon campaigned for his presidency, he claimed to have a “secret plan” to end the dreaded war in Vietnam. Whether he had such a plan at the time is still a mystery, but he did institute a plan after he assumed the presidency. Calling it “Vietnamization,” he commenced a gradual withdrawal of American forces in the country. So, in 1969, 550,000 American troops were beginning to get pulled out and this continued until 1973. However, for the four years that Nixon continued to prosecute the war, he was violent and aggressive, anything but peaceful. He escalated war by bombing Hanoi, the North Vietnamese capital, mining the Haiphong harbor, invading neighboring Cambodia and Laos, and sought to destroy the North’s will to fight by increasing search and destroy mission and increasing body counts.
During his last year before resignation, in 1972, several burglars were arrested inside the office of the Democratic National Committee, located in the Watergate building in Washington D.C. This robbery was directly linked to President Richard Nixon’s reelection campaign, and they had been caught while attempting to wiretap phones and steal secret documents. Although no evidence led to the assumption that Nixon knew of or planned the burglary, he took steps to try and cover it up afterwards including raising “hush money” for the burglars, trying to stop the FBI from investigating the crime, destroying evidence and firing uncooperative staff members. As tensions rose and questions filled the air, his role in the Watergate conspiracy eventually led to his resignation.
THE WORST
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson’s journey to politics was honorable and humbling, however he faced the Radical Republicans in Congress and struggled as the 17th President of the United States. Johnson grew up in poverty and apprenticed to a tailor as a boy and grew up to open up his own tailor shop in Greeneville, Tennessee. His views and decisions during the Civil War neglected parts of mankind and inflicted unnecessary damage to the country’s land and took the lives of countless Union soldiers.
Although Johnson wasn’t an abolitionist, he was a supporter of the Union and the only southerner to retain his seat in the Senate after secession. He served as Lincoln’s Vice President, but after Lincoln’s assassination he was sworn in to take control of the presidency just one month after being sworn in as vice president.
As president, Johnson took it into his own hands to tend the Civil War happening in his very own backyard. His subsequent battles with Radical Republicans in Congress over a host of Reconstruction measure revealed political ineptitude and an astonishing indifference toward the plight of the newly free African-Americans. In addition to vetoing renewal of the Freedman’s Bureau and the first civil rights bill, he encourages opposition to the 14th Amendment.
An increasingly debilitating power struggle—in which Congress wrongly attempted to strip him of certain constitutionally delegated powers—resulted in the first presidential impeachment and near conviction. Failing to be renominated, he returned to Tennessee and was again elected to the U.S. Senate. Although history’s current verdict may prove to be harsh, but it is fair to say that John did neglect those southerners who tried to undo what the Civil War accomplished and revoked equality in every man, every United States citizen.
Although Johnson wasn’t an abolitionist, he was a supporter of the Union and the only southerner to retain his seat in the Senate after secession. He served as Lincoln’s Vice President, but after Lincoln’s assassination he was sworn in to take control of the presidency just one month after being sworn in as vice president.
As president, Johnson took it into his own hands to tend the Civil War happening in his very own backyard. His subsequent battles with Radical Republicans in Congress over a host of Reconstruction measure revealed political ineptitude and an astonishing indifference toward the plight of the newly free African-Americans. In addition to vetoing renewal of the Freedman’s Bureau and the first civil rights bill, he encourages opposition to the 14th Amendment.
An increasingly debilitating power struggle—in which Congress wrongly attempted to strip him of certain constitutionally delegated powers—resulted in the first presidential impeachment and near conviction. Failing to be renominated, he returned to Tennessee and was again elected to the U.S. Senate. Although history’s current verdict may prove to be harsh, but it is fair to say that John did neglect those southerners who tried to undo what the Civil War accomplished and revoked equality in every man, every United States citizen.
1 Comment
Paul
3/18/2021 08:29:10 pm
The photo in the beginning has people that weren't president in it. ???
Reply
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