PURSUED EQUAL JUSTICE FOR ALL
There are three possible presidents at the top of this list: Abraham Lincoln, Lyndon Johnson, and John F. Kennedy.
Although the C-SPAN survey chose Lincoln first, Lincoln's freeing of the slaves was a side effect, not his main intent. Maintaining the union was more important to Lincoln than freeing the slaves, as evidenced by the fact he never freed the slaves in the North (the Emancipation Proclamation only impacted slaves in the South). He freed slaves to hurt the South, not out of any kind of humanitarianism.
Lyndon Johnson deserves plenty of credit for all he did, including the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, and the nomination of the first black Supreme Court Justice (Thurgood Marshall).
But it was JFK who set the table for what Johnson was able to accomplish. The principals in the civil Rights Act were laid out by JFK. It was JFK who initially nominated Thurgood Marshall as a federal judge. It was JFK who went head-to-head with Alabama governor George Wallace to ensure the desegregation of the University of Alabama, even calling up the Alabama National Guard to make it happen.
JFK faced much resistance to his civil rights ideals, which prevented him from doing much more. Johnson may get credit for reaping the fruit, but it was JFK who planted the seeds. For that, I name JFK first.
As for last place, I cannot argue with the C-SPAN survey's choice of James Buchanan. his pro-slavery stances only served to set the stage for the Civil War.
PERFORMANCE WITHIN CONTEXT OF TIMES
Speaking of Buchanan, he also got worst on the C-SPAN survey in "performance within context of times". yet another ignominious distinction which is well-deserved by him. His appeasement of the southern states prior to the Civil War arguably made Lincoln's election in 1860 look a lot more threatening to the South. I would argue that, minus Buchanan bending over backwards for slavery, it is possible that Lincoln's election might not have led to an instant rebellion. Buchanan definitely deserves the worst in this category.
I also have to agree with the survey's choice of George Washington as the best here. With all the factions fighting for control of our new country's government, Washington was the steady voice of reason that kept our country moving forward. A lesser first president could have allowed our country to fall into civil war before it even had a chance to get started. A more ambitious first president could have turned our country into a monarchy before the republic ever got a foothold. Without Washington, there would be no United States of America.
(to be continued)
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