With today being President's Day and no real president to celebrate currently, I thought I'd list my own personal list of the Top Best Presidents we've had.
1. Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865)
Kept the country together when half of it wanted to leave and was willing to shed blood to do so. He brought the country through the greatest existential threat this country has ever known....until perhaps the current days. Was assassinated for his efforts.
2. Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945)
Brought the country through the next two biggest threats after the Civil War (with the possible exception of what is going on now...only time will tell): The Great Depression and World War II. The stress of doing both those jobs killed him.
3. George Washington (1789-1797)
The man who set the standard for all successive Presidents. He voluntarily retired after two terms and did not set himself up as a king, which, with his fame, popularity and notoriety, sure could have happened.
4. Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809)
Surely one of our most intelligent presidents as well. Despite all he did before becoming president or even before we had a country, his time in office is pretty impressive too. Among other things he would nearly double the size of the nation by making the Louisiana Purchase and laying the foundation for a nation to span sea to shining sea.
5. Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909)
He started the national park system, preserving our environment and wildlife heritage. He was a huge Trustbuster taking on the huge corporate monopolies which owned and ran tons of disparate companies (man we could someone like that right now!), he had an aggressive (perhaps too aggressive) foreign policy, sending the American fleets around the world, opening up Japan to trade (by force) and building the Panama Canal. He was also the first president to win an Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating an end to the Russia-Japan war. He was however a overbearing Imperialist....but no president is perfect.
6. Harry Truman (1945-1953)
Made the decision to end World War II by dropping 2 atomic bombs on Japan. And yes, the horrific results to civilians is a stain, a terrible one. But he did prevent hundreds of thousands of his own countrymen from dying in a land invasion of Japan...which would have resulted in horrific civilian losses anyway. He prevented the Communists from taking the entire Korean penisula...though in doing so he gave credit to the Domino Theory, which helped create the moral morass that was Vietnam.
7. Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921)
Brought us through the Great War (World War 1) and attempted to make a lasting world peace with the League Of Nations. Was stubborn and refused to negotiate with Republicans, so they refused to approve it and while trying to rally public support he suffered a debilitating stroke that almost killed him. Was a somewhat Progressive president, in some ways, but also was a rampant racist,
8. Lyndon Johnson (1963-1969)
His dismal failure to stop Vietnam from becoming what it did is definitely a splotch on his record. But what he did for the people was unmatched since the New Deal. Civil Right voting Act (which the current Supreme Court has all but gutted) as well as multiple social programs balance out the scales somewhat.
Honestly, after this point, the remainder tend to get muddled for me. I can't assess fairly and unbiasedly any for roughly the last 45-50 years as I've been paying a lot of attention to them and my political leanings and opinions would undoubtedly color my results.
SO we'll just go with this being Polt's Top Eight List Of Best Presidents.
POLT
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