- Public Persuasion
- Crisis Leadership
- Economic Management
- Moral Authority
- International Relations
- Administrative Skills
- Relations with Congress
- Vision / Setting an Agenda
- Pursued Equal Justice For All
- Performance Within Context of Times
I thought it might be an interesting exercise for me to rate the presidents the same way the historians in the article did. However, I will say these are not equal criteria, even though the survey treats them all equally. Can you really rate Bill Clinton fairly against FDR on crisis leadership? And is moral authority equal to crisis leadership in importance?
That said, here are my views on the categories (with how the historian's survey ranked my choice and their number one):
PUBLIC PERSUASION
Few presidents will ever compare with Franklin Delano Roosevelt. His fireside chats are legendary. Even his detractors give him this category, as do I.
The C-SPAN survey agreed with me, ranking FDR number one.
Who was the worst? I have to say William Henry Harrison. When your inaugural speech leads to your own death a month later, I have to call that a public persuasion failure of epic proportions.
The C-SPAN called James Buchanan the worst, and he certainly deserves it. His inability to keep the union together contributed heavily to the Civil War.
CRISIS LEADERSHIP
When we think about crisis leadership, FDR comes to mind. While his style was perfect for World War II, his overactive crisis leadership during the Great Depression only served to extend it (some would argue he made it worse). Different crises require different styles.
Obviously, only a few presidents had a legitimate crisis with which to contend. For the sake of comparison, I considered some minor crises too. For that, I have to give Ronald Reagan the credit as the best ever. he took a slow and steady hand on the economic messes left over from the 1970's, while only adding a tax cut to help. By allowing his plan to take hold, and with the help of the Federal Reserve under Paul Volcker, he managed to get inflation under control and turn the economy around by the end of his first term.
Reagan escalated the Cold War, but without actually going to war. By doing so, he put significant economic pressure on the Soviet Union, which eventually led to its downfall. But even with his tough talk, he knew the value of strategic retreat, which he displayed in the Lebanese Civil War, by pulling our Marines out after the Beirut barracks bombing.
Reagan was not without flaws, but not when it came to crisis leadership.
The C-SPAN survey only ranked Reagan as 8th best president, with Abraham Lincoln as number one. I consider Lincoln's actions as good only if you believe the federal government should hold most of the power in this country. In fact, by holding most of the power prior to the Civil War, it was the federal government which supported the institution of slavery. No, I consider Lincoln's actions as sadly authoritarian.
The worst president for crisis leadership easily goes to Woodrow Wilson. His handling of World War I created a huge mess, that eventually led to World War II. If he had stayed out of the war, it is possible it could have ended amicably between the warring parties. Instead, his own desire to create the League of Nations (which failed and led to the equally ineffective United Nations) caused him to negotiate the punitive Treaty of Versailles.
C-SPAN rated Wilson at 11th, which is far too generous. Instead, James Buchanan got last place. Buchanan certainly deserves his scorn. However, I consider a conflict between the states to have been brewing for decades, and Buchanan's worst sin was to ignore it. On the other hand, Wilson took a crisis that didn't have to involve America, and made it worse for both America and inevitably Europe.
(to be continued)
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