The American Presidents Ranked by Performance

Acknowledgments vi Introduction 1(8) Criteria and Ratings 9(1) Foreign Relations 9(4) Domestic Programs 13(5) Administration and Intergovernmental Relations 18(6) Leadership and Decision Making 24(3) Personal Qualities 27(3) Overall Assessment 30(2) Underrated and Overrated Presidents 32(1) George Washington 33(6) John Adams 39(5) Thomas Jefferson 44(8) James Madison 52(7) James Monroe 59(6) John Quincy Adams 65(6) Andrew Jackson 71(6) Martin Van Buren 77(6) William Henry Harrison 83(2) John Tyler 85(6) James Knox Polk 91(6) Zachary Taylor 97(5) Millard Fillmore 102(5) Franklin Pierce 107(6) James Buchanan 113(6) Abraham Lincoln 119(6) Andrew Johnson 125(6) Ulysses Simpson Grant 131(6) Rutherford B. Hayes 137(6) James A. Garfield 143(2) Chester Alan Arthur 145(6) Grover Cleveland 151(6) Benjamin Harrison 157(6) William McKinley 163(6) Theodore Roosevelt 169(5) William Howard Taft 174(5) Woodrow Wilson 179(8) Warren G. Harding 187(7) Calvin Coolidge 194(6) Herbert Hoover 200(6) Franklin D. Roosevelt 206(5) Harry Truman 211(7) Dwight D. Eisenhower 218(8) John F. Kennedy 226(6) Lyndon B. Johnson 232(7) Richard M. Nixon 239(6) Gerald R. Ford 245(6) Jimmy Carter 251(6) Ronald Reagan 257(8) George Bush 265(8) William Jefferson Clinton 273(10) Endnotes 283(2) Bibliography 285(4) Index 289