During any presidents’ tenure, at least one pundit will claim that they are among the worst US presidents in history. However, which are truly the worst of all 46 presidents to date?
Throughout his presidency, Donald Trump has been called one of the worst US presidents as well as a fairly good president. We have deliberately left out the previous president and the sitting president (Obama and Trump) to avoid the issue being too political.
15. Rutherford B. Hayes
Following Ulysses S. Grant’s departure from the White House, Rutherford B. Hayes was elected as the next President. Hayes served in that role between 1877 and 1881.
As with Grant, and several presidents before him, Hayes’ presidency saw the reconstruction of the South. Not wanting to upset the Southern Republicans in his party, Hayes sped up reconstruction.
At the time, this pleased many Southerners, on both sides of the political spectrum. However, this work was rushed, and was thus of low quality. Decades later, much of his “reconstruction” had to be redone.
He is arguably the reason why many in the North believe the South has inferior infrastructure- a notion from a bygone era when this was indeed true.
14. Zachary Taylor
As a soldier, Zachary Taylor was one of the best, and most decorated Americans. When he became president in 1849, many were hopeful that he would be a force for change that would help both sides of many debates.
During his day, slavery and the relationship between the North and the South were two of the most polarizing issues. It was hoped that Taylor would come into Washington and be decisive with the issues.
Instead, what the US got was a cranky veteran that skirted around these debates. He, in part, laid the groundwork for what would set off the American Civil War (although subsequent presidents didn’t help either!)
Things weren’t helped when Zachary Taylor died in 1850 after just over a year as president. Taylor has been forever immortalized as one of the worst US presidents in history.
13. George W. Bush
George W. Bush was the son of George H. W. Bush (often considered one of the best US presidents). George W Bush was the president between 2001 and 2009.
Throughout his presidency, Bush was hated by the majority of the American people. Bush was president when 9/11 happened, he had the difficult job of addressing a startled nation, but he did it well.
Following this, Bush started two wars- the war in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq. Allegedly, this was to get the perpetrators of 9/11 and put them on trail, the war in Iraq was started on the pretense that Iraq had Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Bush also instigated a series of reforms that strengthened the military and border security. Many young men and women went, and subsequently died in the Middle East. There was also no evidence of WMDs in Iraq, meaning that many men died for nothing.
All of this, crucified Bush in the court of public opinion. Only days into Obama’s, Bush was announced by historians as one of the worst US presidents.
12. Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter was a peanut farmer from Georgia in 1976, but by 1977, he was president. Jimmy Carter served in this capacity between 1977 and 1981. He is the oldest still-living president.
However, Jimmy Carter is often seen as one of the worst US presidents. This is mostly due to the fact that he didn’t appear to want the job in the first place.
To many in Washington, Carter was an outsider. As such, he failed to gain allies in Washington, which often led to Carter’s policies stalling or not gaining the traction Carter had hoped for.
As such, the American public began to get the opinion that Carter wasn’t doing much. Many members of the American public got the idea that he was simply lazy and didn’t care, as such, he never gained re-election in 1981.
11. Richard Nixon
In another life, Richard Nixon would’ve been seen as one of the best US presidents, but in this life, he is seen as one of the worst US presidents. Nixon served as president between 1969 and 1974.
Nixon’s presidency was full of firsts. Nixon established the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Apollo 11 as well as being one of the first high-profile anti-communist and anti-socialist president.
And these firsts, combined with Nixon’s military successes- ending the US’s involvement in Vietnam as well as backing Israel in the Yom Kippur War, as well as the so-called “War on Cancer”, made him very popular.
But then Watergate happened. Nixon was caught bugging the Democratic National Convention. Nixon was then forced to either resign as president or be impeached. He was later acquitted by Gerald Ford.
10. Gerald R. Ford
Following the Watergate Scandal and the subsequent resignation of President Nixon, his then-Vice-President, Gerald Ford became president. Ford served in this capacity between 1974 and 1977.
Part of Ford’s failings were not entirely down to him. Post-Nixon, Congress was given more power at the expense of the president. As such, Ford often found himself stonewalled from things that Nixon had not.
This, coupled with the disastrous collapse of US-ally South Vietnam and the worst recession since the Great Depression, only months into his tenure sealed him as one of the worst US presidents of all time.
As a former-Republican president, Ford was expected to have strong views on various social issues. Instead, Ford had moderate views that did not fit with the party’s views, as such, he was frequently at odds with his own party.
9. Herbert Hoover
Following what would become the disastrous presidency of Calvin Coolidge, the American people made Herbert Hoover their next President. Hoover served in this capacity between 1929 and 1933.
Only a month into office, the stock market collapsed, causing the Great Depression. Hoover did his part to try to reverse, or at least minimize the damage caused by the Great Depression.
However, these policies didn’t seem to go far enough in the eyes of the general public. The result was that he was crucified by the public and lost in a landslide to FDR in 1933.
It probably didn’t help things when FDR got the economy back on track in only a few months, where it had taken Hoover almost four years! As such, Hoover is often remembered as one of the worst US presidents.
8. Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge is famous for being a fiscal conservative. Upon the death of Warren G. Harding, his Vice-President, Calvin Coolidge became president, serving in that role between 1923 and 1929.
During his presidency, Coolidge was actually incredibly popular. It is only with hind sight that Coolidge is considered one of the worst US presidents to have ever entered the White House.
Throughout his presidency, Coolidge saw the US economy enter an unrivaled period of expansion (often known as the “Roaring Twenties”) but refused to put anything in place to keep the expansion going.
One month after he left office, the Wall Street crash happened, setting of the Great Depression. Many historians have put the majority of the Great Depression down to Coolidge’s refusal to act.
7. Chester A. Arthur
Following James Garfield’s assassination in 1881, his Vice-President, Chester A. Arthur became president. Arthur served in this capacity between 1881 and 1885.
At the time, Arthur was actually well-received by his fellow politicians and by the American public in general. One of the main things Arthur did right was modernizing the civil service, making it one of the best in the world!
Arthur is most famous for modernizing the Navy and setting the groundwork for the Navy that would one day surpass the Royal Navy as the largest and strongest Navy in the world.
However, his reputation sank after leaving office. Due mostly to ill health, he was unable to leave his house, and therefore give speeches and appear in the media as many other presidents do.
6. Warren G. Harding
Warren G. Harding was considered one of the best-looking politicians of his time. Harding served as president between March 1921 and August 1923.
Long before Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky became common knowledge, the White House was rocked by scandals about Harding’s promiscuity. These often took place whilst he should have been fulfilling his presidential duties.
Harding was also extremely corrupt, promoting friends to high positions in the government rather than promoting people based on merit and experience. This often costed the US greatly.
In another life, Harding would’ve been impeached when the Teapot Dome scandal came to light. The only thing that saved him was the fact that he died suddenly of a heart attack after only two years in office.
5. William Henry Harrison
William Henry Harrison served as President in 1850, spending only one month exactly in office. He is often left out of ranking of the worst US presidents due to his short tenure, but there is more to it than just that.
It isn’t exactly known what killed him- upon winning the presidency, he gave a long speech. During this speech, he caught some form of lung disease and died only 31 days into office.
His death caused a constitutional crisis that threw the US into an unprecedented state of turmoil that wasn’t solved officially until almost 125 years later.
The promises he made when he was inaugurated, were naturally not fulfilled. However, he never made it clear to his successor that these were to be of the highest priority, as such, they remained a massive issue for decades.
4. John Tyler
Upon the death of the aforementioned William Henry Harrison, his Vice-President, John Tyler became president. Tyler served as president between 1841 and 1845.
Tyler’s first mistake was breaking presidential protocol. Unlike every other president, Tyler refused to be addressed as “Mister President”. Instead, he wanted to be referred to as “Your Ascendancy”.
Tyler also abused his veto powers, blocking several institutions meant to save the US from immanent collapse, such as a central bank, citing many of them as “unamerican”.
The result was that his own party kicked him out and tried to forget he was ever a member of the party. Despite being a northerner, Tyler joined the Southern Confederacy during the civil war.
3. Andrew Johnson
After Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth in 1865, his Vice-President, Andrew Johnson became president. Johnson served as president between 1865 and 1869.
Johnson broke several presidential protocols, the most notable being the fact that he never had a vice-president. Due to this, he never seemed to take the job seriously, so the American public never took him seriously…
The post-Civil War era saw the need for a lot of reconstruction. However, Johnson wanted to spend a lot of money, Congress didn’t. This created a lot of high-profile tension between Johnson and Congress.
Perhaps what Andrew Johnson is most famous for is the fact that he was one of only a handful of US presidents who were impeached (only three to date), after trying to do it several times before.
2. Franklin Pierce
Following the disastrous presidency of Millard Fillmore, the American public chose to elect someone different- Franklin Pierce. Pierce served as president between 1853 and 1857.
Franklin Pierce is remembered for not doing much in office. Of the things he did do in office, most of it as designed to limit the power and scope of the anti-slavery movement, as he saw this as a threat to the Union.
Pierce also supported the controversial US annexation of Cuba during his presidency (which came out during his presidency as well). This was so disastrous that his own party was forced to abandon him!
He is also remembered for being one of the most “racist” people of his day, especially so now, with the benefit of hindsight. After his presidency, he was a major critic of Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation.
1. James Buchanan
James Buchanan was one of the worst US presidents to have ever step foot in the White House. Buchanan serve as the 15th president, between 1857 to 1861.
When Buchanan was president, the issue of slavery and free states was the most polarizing issue. Instead of coming to some sort of mutually beneficial agreement, or fixing the issue the best he could. He did nothing.
By doing nothing, it made sure that the American Civil War would happen. His seeming refusal to compromise led to the most devastating war that the US had ever fought up until that time.
His presidency also saw the Panic of 1857. As with the tension between North and South, Buchanan chose to do very little to improve the situation, as such, the Panic of 1857 led to one of the worst recessions ever!
Who was the worst US president? Tell me in the comments!
Featured image courtesy of the Center for American Progress.