First-Rate Presidents and Fascinating First Ladies

First-Rate Presidents and Fascinating First Ladies

Who were the most successful presidents? The most interesting? The most overrated? And what about the first ladies? Some picks are listed here in chronological order.

Most successful presidents

George Washington: He established precedence and assured the democratic future of the republic. He gave us stability after a long war, during the difficult period following the Articles of Confederation.

Thomas Jefferson: He oversaw the Louisiana Purchase. (A vast territory west of the Mississippi that the United States purchased from the French emperor, Napoleon, for a mere $15 million.).

Andrew Jackson: Jackson brought the common man into the White House. His attack on the Bank of America, and on monopoly capitalism gave new meaning to the evolving political traditions of the Republic.

Abraham Lincoln: The reasons are obvious. The author of the Gettysburg Address, he presided over the country during the biggest threat to its future and saw it through.

Theodore Roosevelt: A champion of conservation, he created the national park system and successfully negotiated the Panama Canal Treaty.

Franklin D. Roosevelt: He rallied a country that badly needed it. He gave hope where there had been only fear, led us through the greatest war of our history, and his conduct during the war was right, for the most part.

Dwight D. Eisenhower: He was a builder who constructed our national highway system. He put a final seal on the reforms of the New Deal, in the face of members of his own party who wanted to get rid of it. He kept the welfare program and vastly expanded social security, putting the program above politics.

Lyndon B. Johnson: He did more for black America than any president since Lincoln. There were some excesses, but he would have been a great president if it wasn’t for the war in Vietnam.

Most Interesting Presidents

James Monroe: He was known as the Last of the cocked hats, the last of the revolutionary figures. It was said that part of his popularity was that he looked like George Washington. He redid the White House with modern elegance after it was reconstituted following the War of 1812, when it was burned by the British. When he left the presidency, he spent almost all of his time suing the federal government for real and imagined reimbursements he claimed were due him. He was always in debt, from which he was finally bailed out when he sold his library to Congress. These were the first volumes of the Library of Congress.

James K. Polk: Like Truman, he was an unknown who came out of nowhere. He was the only Speaker of the House to become President. He ran a war (the Mexican War), successfully imposing it on an unwilling Congress. He oversaw the largest land acquisition after the Louisiana Purchase (New Mexico, California, and Oregon). He said he would not run for a second term – and kept his word.

New York Central Park. A highway crosses the park. Photo by Elena

Grover Cleveland: A major figure in the post – Civil War era. He wrestled with the development of the civil service, with the new role of American finance, and with U.S. Relations with the rest of world finance. He was a symbol of America as a growing place in the world, a transitional figure. He was hounded for having gone fishing on Memorial Day, and for giving back the Confederate flag to Southern veterans.

Franklin D. Roosevelt: The greatest and most interesting president. A man of great personal courage. He had been out of politics and had risen again when he came to office in 1932. For all the disingenuousness that he could display, for all the double-talk he employed, people trusted him.

Overrated Presidents

John F. Kennedy: He had no major accomplishments and took a lot of high risks that were in part excessive, particularly the Cuban Missile crisis.

Ronald Reagan: For putting us in a terrible debt situation. If you had to put it down to one issue it would be the Star Wars program. Lowering taxes while increasing defense was a major error.

Influential First Ladies

Martha Washington: She was spunky, social, with a sense of decorum, and she had an impact on the presidency from the veery beginning.

Sarah Childress Polk: A power at dinners, she was serious, had a strong working relationship with her husband, and a strong Protestant work ethic (and no use for dancing or theater). She was as forceful as Hillary Clinton, a voracious reader who was independent and educated, and cultivated friendships with strong men (including former and future Presidents Andrew Jackson and Franklin Pierce) and women in Washington.

Louise Taft: She was very instrumental in her husband’s nomination to the presidency.

Eleonor Roosevelt: A strong partner to Franklin in the White House, she was well-traveled, compassionate, and tirelessly worked for a variety of women’s and children’s causes, as well as helping to mobilize the war effort.

Rosalyn Carter: The first to take solo diplomatic missions, she concurred with Betty Ford’s belief that the first lady ought to be a paid position