The 10 Best—and 10 Worst—Presidents in American History
Best Presidents
T-1. Abraham Lincoln (1861–1865)
The Great Emancipator and the savior of the Union. And he created the national railroad and the land-grant university system, all while fighting the war!
T-1. Franklin Roosevelt (1933–1945)
His steady confidence, “bold, persistent experimentation,” and optimistic mien guided the nation through the Great Depression and the Second World War, reimagining both the federal government role and the country’s place in the world.
3. George Washington (1789–1797)
His greatest achievement may have been something he didn’t do. “He could easily have become president for life and did not,” University of Texas law professor Sanford Levinson noted.
4. Lyndon Johnson (1963–1969)
More than one expert placed LBJ both on this list and on the “worst” list. But with the passage of time, his accomplishments at home, including Medicare, Medicaid, the Civil Rights Act, and the Voting Rights Act, have come to overshadow Vietnam.
5. Theodore Roosevelt (1901–1909)
An OG populist who used federal power for the general good. “When I am feeling blue or discouraged, I pick up a TR biography and read any random page—it gives a jolt of energy and hope!” said Michael Waldman of the Brennan Center for Justice.
6. Barack Obama (2009–2017)
Not only the first African American president but also the sole one since Eisenhower to twice win a popular vote majority. “Americans could believe that we were capable of living up to the promises of equality and liberty,” said University of Virginia media studies professor Siva Vaidhyanathan.
7. Thomas Jefferson (1801–1809)
“His pen inscribed the nation we still rightly dream of being,” said Richard Parker of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. More practically, the Louisiana Purchase was, as one of his successors might have put it, a big effing deal.
8. Dwight Eisenhower (1953–1961)
Using what has come to be known as a “hidden hand” leadership style, Eisenhower halted the Korean War, built the interstate highway system, and presciently warned against the burgeoning “military-industrial complex.”
9. Harry Truman (1945–1953)
Played a critical role in helping establish the postwar, rules-based international order that set the stage for decades of U.S. prosperity at home and leadership around the world. Not bad for a failed haberdasher.
10. John F. Kennedy (1961–1963)
One of the nation’s most rhetorically gifted presidents, Kennedy earned a place on this list for his inspirational words, and also for navigating the world’s moment of maximum peril, the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Worst Presidents
1. Donald J. Trump (2017–2021, 2025–present)
Some experts voted for him twice—once for each term. “Much more corrupt and dangerous to the Constitution than all of the others on this list combined,” observed author and columnist Jonathan Alter. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
2. Andrew Johnson (1865–1869)
He sought, in the words of Richard Parker of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, “to betray the sacrifice of 600,000 lives in combat, and the rights owed millions more.”
3. James Buchanan (1857–1861)
Pro-slavery, he successfully lobbied the Supreme Court on its odious Dred Scott decision. He was, one expert noted, the only president to finish his term with fewer states in the union than when he started.
4. Richard Nixon (1969–1974)
He was so much worse than the “second-rate burglary.” And despite his best efforts and those of his apologists, he is best remembered as the only president to resign his office—in a miasma of disgrace he could never shake.
T-5. George W. Bush (2001–2009)
His administration was a string of disasters and blunders, from 9/11 to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars to the Great Recession. He exhibited a deadly blend of self-assurance and incuriosity.
T-5. Warren Harding (1921–1923)
For a long time, Harding’s administration had a serious claim to the title of “most corrupt” (Google “Teapot Dome”). Harding’s ghost must be grateful to Team Trump.
7. Andrew Jackson (1829–1837)
Jackson “exhibited a fairly consistent disdain for law and established the pernicious tradition of presidents who viewed themselves as ‘tribunes of the people’ … entitled to behave as they wished,” University of Texas law professor Sanford Levinson argued.
T-8. Herbert Hoover (1929–1933)
The Great Depression started on his watch, and he flailed in its face.
T-8. Franklin Pierce (1853–1857)
A pro-slavery Democrat who helped grease the nation’s slide toward Civil War with, among other moves, the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act. He was, Theodore Roosevelt later wrote, “a servile tool of men worse than himself ... ever ready to do any work the slavery leaders set him.”
10. Ronald Reagan (1981–1989)
“With an affable demeanor, he laid the foundations for what the current snarling GOP has become,” noted James Fallows, who worked for and then fell out with Reagan’s predecessor, Jimmy Carter.
