Some might think, judging by the title of this post, that I will be bloviating about the recent indictment of the Trump Organization. While that might be well worth the bloviating, this post bloviates elsewhere:
Historians: Trump Was Only the Fourth-Worst President of All Time
Today, C-SPAN released its Presidential Historians Survey of Presidential Leadership, which asks historians and professional presidential observers to rate commanders-in-chief on a scale of one to 10, focusing on 10 key leadership areas, like moral authority, vision, economic management, and more. At the top is Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, and Franklin D. Roosevelt. At the very bottom is James Buchanan. Just above that bumbler is Andrew Johnson (first President to be impeached), then Franklin Pierce, then the most recent Oval Office occupant, the twice-impeached Donald Trump at number 41. Trump came in lower than James Garfield, who was President for 200 days, and William Henry Harrison, who lasted only 31.
This is a shocking injustice to the former guy. He’s far and away worse than Buchanan and Pierce, though as a Bowdoin alum I can’t help agreeing with the fictional Bowdoin history prof in this old post that Pierce deserves to be closer to the bottom. As I said then, it’s a matter of institutional pride, he being a fellow alum. Still, we don’t talk about Pierce much. His classmates Longfellow and Hawthorne have a library named after them, but it there’s anything at Bowdoin named after Pierce, it must be a toilet.
But, back to the former guy. Leaving Johnson aside for the moment, was he really better than Buchanan and Pierce? As much as I’d like to give Pierce the crown, he had far less impact on the course of history. The country was headed toward Civil War, and Pierce did nothing to stop it, though it’s arguable that in those times, it was Congress that held most of the power, and it’s not at all clear Pierce could have done much to stop it, though like the former guy he was beholden to the forces of reaction, which were his base. But, at least so far a I know, he never encouraged a violent attempt to overthrow the government. Nor did Buchanan, he just stepped aside and did nothing while the Southern states seceded and took over the U.S. Army’s military bases and stole their arms. Really trivial when compared to the genius.
Now Johnson is the guy who can give the Donald a run for his money. If there was anyone worse that the genius, it was him. He succeeded Lincoln at a time when presidential leadership in the right direction-toward equal rights for blacks- would have made all the difference. Instead, he did all he could to set the country on the road to Jim Crow, a road that would develop few potholes until 1965.
But time will tell. The genius has left a fully formed fascist party behind him, something Johnson did not do. If the Republicans manage to pull off massive voter suppression (see, e.g., the recent Supreme Court decision sanctioning said suppression) and the installation of corrupt election officials, as he has encouraged and demanded, then we are in for a full blown fascist state, and he will surely steal Johnson’s crown.
Or maybe not. They say that history is written by the winners, and, in that case, he’ll rise to the top.
Post a Comment