#1 - Grover Cleveland. Love his story. Only presidential biography I've bothered reading.
#2 - Thomas Jefferson. Good archetype for presidents to follow throughout history. Often cited by many presidents, but rarely imitated.
#3 - Warren G. Harding. For many of the same reasons Samuel named. Slashed and hacked away at Wilson's massive increase in government spending.
#4. Calvin Cooledge. Similar situation as Harding, especially since he was his successor. Continued small government promotion through the mid 20s and helped spur the Roaring Twenties.
#5. George Washington. Great initial president for America. Imperfect, yes, but had the country's best interests at heart. Oversaw implementation of the Constitution, bill of rights. Does get a big deduction for the Whisky Rebellion, though.
Other Good Mentions:
- JFK
- Bill Clinton (largely due to the '96-99 congress)
Worst:
#1. FDR. Samuel goes over the major reasons. Confiscated gold from American citizens, reckless spender, jailed hundreds of thousands of Japanese Americans because he believed they were collaborators. Grew government to a size that was unprecedented. Loved by leftists, despite the fact that few of his policies really benefited the country.
#2. Woodrow Wilson. He was an FDR-lite. Got us into WW1, spent like no other before him. Created the federal reserve. Prohibition. Pretty racist, too, AFAIK.
#3. LBJ. Created the 'great society', which has ruined our country financially. Took the social safety net and turned it into a pension system that is unsustainable, resulting in trillions of dollars being taken out of the economy and put into government debt. Vietnam.
#4. Abraham Lincon. Suspension of Habeus Corpus. Got us into the Civil War thanks to Fort Sumter. Repaid war veterans by giving them land (Homestead Act) resulting in kicking or killing many, many Indians.
#5. Herbert Hoover. He was FDR's archetype. Raised taxes, passed Smoot-Hawley against the advice of economists. I largely fault him for exacerbating the Great Depression. Very nice guy on a personal level, but atrocious president.
Other bad ones:
- Andrew Jackson. Trail of Tears. Spoils System. Attempted destruction of Electoral College.
- Teddy Roosevelt. Massive expansion of federal and state governments (largest increase in history, or near it).
- Nixon. Removal of gold standard. EPA. Watergate. Price fixing.
- Jimmy Carter. Creation of the CRA. Stagflation. Massive increase in size of government - larger than any post-WW2 president in regards to raw growth during presidency.
- Bush/Obama. See Samuel R. Smith..
Back from the dead, I'm afraid.
