Gerald Ford wins his first Presidential election. As the 20th of 39 presidents eliminated, he is officially the middle of the pack; everyone eliminated from this point on is above average.
George Washington (None, 1789-1797)
Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican, 1801-1809)
James Monroe (Democratic-Republican, 1817-1825)
John Quincy Adams (Democratic-Republican, 1825-1829)
James Polk (Democrat, 1845-1849)
Zachary Taylor (Whig, 1849-1850)
Abraham Lincoln (Republican, 1861-1865)
Chester Arthur (Republican, 1881-1885)
Grover Cleveland (Democrat, 1885-1889, 1893-1897)
William McKinley (Republican, 1897-1901)
Theodore Roosevelt (Republican, 1901-1909)
William Howard Taft (Republican, 1909-1913)
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Democrat, 1933-1945)
Harry S. Truman (Democrat, 1945-1953)
Dwight Eisenhower (Republican, 1953-1961)
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (Democrat, 1961-1963)
Lyndon Baines Johnson (Democrat, 1963-1969)
George Herbert Walker Bush (Republican, 1989-1993)
William Jefferson Clinton (Democrat, 1993-2001)
Eliminated Presidents:
James Buchanan (Democrat, 1857-1861)
Franklin Pierce (Democrat, 1853-1857)
Andrew Johnson (National Union, 1865-1869)
Warren Harding (Republican, 1921-1923)
Millard Fillmore (Whig, 1850-1853)
Richard Milhous Nixon (Republican, 1969-1974)
Herbert Hoover (Republican, 1929-1933)
Ronald Reagan (Republican, 1981-1989)
Andrew Jackson (Democrat, 1829-1837)
Rutherford Hayes (Republican, 1877-1881)
Ulysses Grant (Republican, 1869-1877)
John Tyler (Whig, 1841-1845)
James Earl Carter (Democrat, 1977-1981)
James Madison (Democratic-Republican, 1809-1817)
Martin Van Buren (Democrat, 1837-1841)
Woodrow Wilson (Democrat, 1913-1921)
Calvin Coolidge (Republican, 1923-1929)
John Adams (Federalist, 1797-1801)
Benjamin Harrison (Republican, 1889-1893)
Gerald Ford (Republican, 1974-1977)
I’d be interested in hearing more about the 19th century contenders, particularly Arthur and Cleveland; I think Taylor has been covered in enough depth already. However, I’m going to place my vote on John Fitzgerald Kennedy, for getting the US into Vietnam on top of his Bay of Pigs blunder; he had the right intentions about civil rights, but it took his death and LBJ’s leadership to actually get the legislation to pass.
I’m going to stick with the 2 PM closing time even though I ended this one early; 2 PM Central Time on Thursday, December 3rd to be precise.
The only antebellum president who moved in a concrete direction to phase out slavery? Yeah, that probably makes him above average.
I’ll take Arthur. I have nothing against the man (and a vote for Kennedy at this point would be intriguing), but he was a certifiable mediocrity who didn’t really want the job. He did a rather good job given those qualifiers, but it’s time for him to go.
I could be very easily swayed at this point, however.
Arthur did a slightly better job than Taylor, which is admittedly damning him with faint praise, but there it is. Both are or ought to be charter members of the Society for Deservedly Obscure Presidents.
As I noted a few pages ago, Arthur took a strong stand for civil-service reform when everyone thought he was just a hack who’d be a catspaw for New York boss Roscoe Conkling. He began the construction of a more modern Navy after its post-Civil War demobilization and neglect. He ran a clean administration and helped the country recover from the trauma of Garfield’s assassination. Even Mark Twain, properly cynical about most other Gilded Age politicos, praised him.
Taylor didn’t have much to show for his brief time in office other than threatening military action against slaveholders (and he was one himself) unhappy with the outlines of the proposed Compromise of 1850. A useful gesture, but not enough to raise him above Arthur, in my estimation.
Someday people will agree with me that Zachary Taylor should go. But since all I have against him is his place on the average historical ranking of presidents, I can’t convince you to vote with me.
Taylor must go. I’m still trying to come to terms with the fact that he has lasted this long. As good of a president he might have become, promise shouldn’t outweigh results. IMHO.