The WORST 5 U.S. Presidents OF ALL TIME!! (Biden!?)
Today, I’ll be ranking my bottom 5 presidents – in other words, the 5 worst presidents in U.S. History along with my reasoning for why they’re ranked so low. I hope to eventually make a stand-alone video for each president, giving them a more full review including positives and negatives and a full ranking as well as a tier list at some point. Before getting into the bottom 5, I do have 3 dishonorable mentions in no particular order who I considered, but fortunately for them, they ultimately missed the cut.
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| Warren G. Harding |
Warren G. Harding
When President Warren G. Harding passed away unexpectedly in the middle of his first term at just 57 years old, the entire Nation went into shock then mourning as he was a very popular and beloved President. Harding had the appearance of a serious, intelligent, stately and professional politician, but behind the scenes, things were a little different. After his death, it was discovered his presidency was full of corruption and scandal. Harding made the mistake of hiring friends to major positions, regardless of their qualifications or moral compass. This resulted in many being completely incompetent, or worse, corrupt. There were so many corrupt politicians and leaders under Harding, they were given a nickname – the “Ohio Gang.” There was bribery, hush money, womanizing, gambling, drinking during prohibition and all types of shady behavior within his administration. Harding himself was also exposed for having extramarital affairs and an out-of-wedlock daughter, although he wouldn’t be the first or last president to engage in such acts. But he stays out of the bottom 5 for some of his policies that helped America recover from a Post World War I recession. He cut the unemployment rate significantly and helped launch an economic boom, which helped entrepreneurs and inventors make incredible progress, leading to things like electric vacuum cleaners and modern air conditioners appearing in public buildings and eventually, regular people’s homes.
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| William McKinley |
William McKinley
I’ve talked about many Presidents I feel are underrated, but McKinley is one who is consistently overrated. After Grover Cleveland’s second term, which is largely remembered for a major economic recession, the Panic of 1893, hard financial times led to a swing from Democrat to Republican in the Election of 1896 as McKinley was voted in as the 25th President of the United States. The economy, which had already shown improvement, continued to flourish under McKinley and his high tariffs. The unemployment rate dropped from around 12 to 5% during his first term. Nevertheless, McKinley makes this list mostly not for what happened in the United States, but for his foreign policies and the annexation of the Philippines, which led to massive human suffering and the United States becoming a true World villain. One of McKinley’s early foreign challenges was a situation in Cuba, as a third liberation war was raging on with Cuban rebels fighting for their independence from Spain, with most of American including McKinley in support of the rebels. He tried to negotiate with Spain for Cuba’s independence, but they refused, and after Spain destroyed the U.S.S Maine, killing 266 men, Congress declared war. The Spanish-American War itself was relatively quick and the U.S. was victorious, taking control of Cuba, but they also acquired Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines from Spain under the Treaty of Paris, which ended the war but also set the stage for another war in the Philippines, as Filipino nationalists wanted true independence, not just a change in colonial rulers from Spain to the U.S. Instead of assisting the nation towards independence, McKinley gave into pressure to take possession of the island, and the U.S. fought for control, wanting to keep it as a base for more trade and influence in the Pacific. They also reasoned that the Filipinos were incapable of self rule. Filipino soldiers tried to defend their land and fight for 100% independence, but they were facing advanced weaponry like machine guns and artillery. U.S. soldiers burned villages and tortured civilians, placing them in disease-ridden concentration camps. As many as 200,000 Filipino civilians were killed from violence, starvation or disease. Older American textbooks call it the “Philippine Revolt” or “Philippine Insurrection” to place the blame at the Filipino people, who were fighting a foreign invader no less brutal than Spain was. Anti-imperialists in the Senate vocalized that the war was a complete contradiction of the principles of the Declaration of Independence. Another major event in McKinley’s term was the Boxer Rebellion. McKinley sent troops to China without the approval of congress in response to the rebellion, a massive uprising by a Chinese group to remove unwanted foreigners, many of whom flooded into China after McKinley’s “Open Door Policy,” which encouraged all nations to freely trade with China. The “Open Door Policy” turned out to be a cornerstone of American policy in China for decades, and his controversial sending of troops without Congressional approval set an important precedent, for better or worse. Overall, McKinley, who was assassinated at the beginning of his second term, had some noteworthy accomplishments, keeping him out of the bottom 5, but what happened in the Philippines makes him a dishonorable mention.
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| Joe Biden |
Joe Biden
Since he hasn’t even finished his term yet and to let some time pass before making a final judgment, I’ll leave Biden out of the Worst 5 for now, but unless he brings World Peace in the next couple months, he might end up there at some point in the future. Doing any real research on a current President is difficult because of the partiality of the media and larger educational institutions, but my feeling after living in the United States the last four years, as some one who is neither a Democrat or Republican and has voted for both parties, is that Biden’s term was largely a disaster. He was elected President as a career politician who was already showing severe signs of aging and cognitive decline. Many Americans don’t believe he was even running the country during his term, and it’s easy to see why when watching videos of him from 2007 when he was completely in control, quick witted and intelligent, campaigning as Barack Obama’s Vice President, compared his elderly appearance and demeanor in more recent years as President. His dealing with the Covid-19 Pandemic was mostly damaging, despite the American Rescue Plan of 2021, which gave some relief to Americans, but also had many negative consequences. His controversial vaccine mandates for federal employees were unpopular and he even tried to require employers of more than 100 people to mandate vaccines, but was blocked by the Supreme Court. His foreign policy was mostly a disaster, from the botched Afghanistan withdrawal to the unpopular green lighting of a Russian pipeline. His ability to inspire confidence and be a true leader was questionable even when he was fully cognizant and healthy, but in his later years as President, his leadership abilities were almost non-existent to the average non-biased American. Furthermore, reckless open border policies and extreme leftist ideology did not connect with the average American and when added to nonstop federal spending that led to severe inflation, much of the country was ready to move on from anything associated with the Biden administration when they went to the polls in 2024.
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| Herbert Hoover |
5. Herbert Hoover
The 31st President, Herbert Hoover, took over the office just as the country was about to enter the Great Depression and he can’t be completely blamed for the onset of the depression itself, but his handling of the situation left much to be desired. The Stock Market crashed in 1929 during Hoover’s first year as President and his first reaction was to avoid any federal intervention, thinking this would be be a small and short recession. This obviously was not the case, and he later signed the Smoot-Hawly Tariff Act, which dramatically raised tariffs on imports to the United States, prompting other countries to raise their tariffs in retaliation, and now everybody was paying ridiculous amounts of taxes during a horrible world depression. The act ultimately just made things worse. Hoover signed the bill despite over 1,000 financial experts of the time signing a letter imploring him to veto the unpopular act. By 1931, it was clear the depression was the worst in the nation’s history and Hoover still resisted federal assistance. Other policies he had tried continued to exacerbate the problem. He finally did start to offer some federal aid in 1932, but the problem was too severe for any of those policies to help. He eventually signed the Emergency Relief & Construction act in July of 1932, nearly 3 years after the initial crash, but even it failed to alleviate widespread unemployment and poverty, although it was a step in the right direction. Although Hoover has been praised for his actions as a humanitarian who truly cared about all people, he showed some different tendencies as President. Hoover resisted supporting an anti-lynching bill that would have immediately exterminated the hideous practice and he removed African American leaders from the Republican Party, in an attempt to appeal to upper class white voters in the South. Needless to say, these actions drove many black voters away from the Republican Party. He also blamed much of the economic crisis on Mexican Americans, using them as scapegoats. He forcibly deported about one million Mexicans, more than half of whom were birthright citizens. He did have some policies that laid the foundation for official recognition of Native American tribes and nations, but it seemed helping his political career always came before helping the people.
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| George W. Bush |
4. George W. Bush
I not only lived through the W. Bush administration, but his time as president coincides with my time in the U.S. Army and I was deployed to Iraq, so his actions affected me more personally that any other president’s. But looking back as impartially as I can, Bush was simply a terrible president. He took office in January of 2001, with no idea that he would have to lead country through the worst attack on U.S. soil in the history of the nation. More Americans died on 9/11 than even Pearl Harbor. He did a commendable job of comforting the nation during the first uncertain days after the attack and America’s resolve was never stronger than it was during that time. His approval rating soared to 90% as he sent troops to Afghanistan to strike back at the terrorists. Then, he began a war in Iraq under false pretenses, making everyone believe they were a major threat to the U.S, holding stockpiles of Weapons of Mass Destruction. This lead to the unnecessary deaths of thousands more civilians and soldiers all to enhance his legacy by capturing Saddam Hussein, who had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. He started a war on fake evidence, since no weapons of mass destruction existed and there was no evidence linking Saddam to the 9/11 Attacks. Bush betrayed the nation’s trust with little fear of being impeached since his party had the majority in the house and senate at the time. The wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan dragged on and more than 4,000 Americans died in Iraq under his presidency. He also passed controversial laws like the Patriot Act to help combat terrorism by expanding the surveillance abilities of law enforcement, which includes tapping domestic telephones – a clear threat to civil liberties. The No Child Left Behind Act was also passed to bring all kids to a high bar of proficiency with standardized testing. It caused massive federal spending with little return as schools only lowered their standards to comply with the law, and it is now widely considered a complete failure. Also a complete failure was the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina and Bush’s leadership was lacking during the first few days of the disaster. He had some achievements with major tax cuts, but even those are criticized for only adding to the national debt, which completely ballooned during Bush’s time as president with the two wars going on as well. He left office after running up $6.1 trillion in debt. All told, George W. Bush was one of the worst presidents in U.S. History.
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| Franklin Pierce |
3. Franklin Pierce
Franklin Pierce served as the 14th President of the United States and despite being a northerner, he was what was known as a Doughface – a northern Democrat who approved of slavery and often sided with the Southerners politically. He became a President at at time when tensions between the North & the South were near their peak and time to prevent an all out Civil War was quickly running out. His Presidency started out tragically when his 11-year old son was killed in a train crash just after the election, with Pierce and his wife, First Lady Jane Pierce, witnessing their son’s death. This likely affected his performance as President, but the facts remain Pierce only accelerated the country’s path towards Civil War and did little to unite it. One of his biggest challenges would be organizing the Nebraska Territory, a necessity to create a transcontinental railroad. When Pierce took office, the Missouri Compromise of 1820 was intact and it banned slavery north of the 36 by 30 north parallel. But Stephen A. Douglas put forward a proposal that would create the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, repeal the Missouri Compromise and let the new territories decide for themselves whether they wanted slavery or not, even if they are north of the 36 by 30 parallel like Kansas. Pierce made the biggest mistake of his presidency by signing the proposal, known as the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and it created political turmoil and violence so extreme that the new territory of Kansas became known as Bleeding Kansas, as thousands of pro-slavery raiders crossed into Kansas to help ensure the territory would become a slave state. They created a territorial government determined to make Kansas a slave state even though they were not citizens of Kansas and Pierce recognized them as an official government body, enraging free-staters, who opposed the expansion of slavery. He also supported and enforced the Fugitive Slave Act, ensuring slaves who escaped to the north were captured and returned to slavery. Although Pierce claimed to hate slavery, his actions were consistently more sympathetic towards the pro-slavery side. However, Pierce did have a few achievements as President, including the Treaty of Kanagawa with Japan, which opened up trade opportunities between Japan and the western world for the first time in 30 years, and the Guano Islands Act which enables United States citizens to peacefully take guano deposits from unclaimed and unoccupied islands not within the jurisdiction of another government. Aside from that, he simply lacked leadership skills and was some one who could be dominated by stronger personalities like Stephen A. Douglas and others who pressured him into signing the Kansas-Nebraska Act. He was absolutely inept as President during a time the country needed a powerful leader, strong voice and one that could possibly put the country on a path towards the emancipation of slaves without a full-fledged Civil War. Perhaps that was not possible, but if it was, Franklin Pierce was definitely not the man for the job.
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| Andrew Johnson |
2. Andrew Johnson
In order to send a message of national unity during a Civil War, President Lincoln ran under the banner National Union Party in 1864 for his re-election, rather than Republicans and Democrat Andrew Johnson from Tennessee ran alongside him on the ticket as Vice President instead of Lincoln’s first term Vice President, Republican Hannibal Hamlin. President Lincoln easily won the 1864 election, but was assassinated just 41 days into his term in 1865, leaving Andrew Johnson as President. Johnson was also supposed to be assassinated that night but the assassin, George Atzerodt, lost his nerve and got drunk instead. Johnson was not willing to compromise on most his positions and he completely clashed with the Republican congress over reconstruction policies. His early actions and inactions were destructive to reconstruction and the reason that an effective civil rights act would not be passed until the 1960’s can be traced all the way back to Andrew Johnson. Despite being urged to ensure freedmen in the south were allowed to exercise their new freedoms as racism and civil rights violations raged on, he insisted it was a state matter and refused to intervene. His early reconstruction policies did nothing to help the former slaves who were just recently freed, which angered northerners who felt if Johnson did not ensure the freedmen were truly free, then the Civil War had been fought for nothing. His attitude and lack of action gave confidence to white leaders in the south, who passed black codes, binding black workers to their farms with forced annual contracts – essentially making them remain slaves. Johnson also allowed racist and unrepentant Confederate leaders to run for office and take positions of leadership in the South including the former Confederate Vice President, a strong proponent of the expansion of slavery, Alexander H. Stephens, who was elected to the U.S Senate in 1866. Johnson twice vetoed the Freedman's Bureau Act that would assist former slaves in starting their own life with some basic needs like clothing and shelter while helping them find work. His excuse was it was a state issue, knowing the Southern States would not do anything to help them. Johnson opposed the 14th amendment, which gave citizenship to former slaves born in the U.S., and he even vetoed the Civil Rights Act of 1866, saying it was too favorable to African Americans. He was nearly impossible to compromise with and threatened to fire any cabinet members who did not agree with him. This led to the Tenure of Office Act, which prevented the President from firing office members without the approval of congress. It passed despite Johnson’s veto and became law, but he tried to fire Secretary of War Edwin Stanton anyway, a man who despised slavery and disagreed with Johnson’s handling of reconstruction in the south. This gave the House the ammunition it needed to impeach Johnson for intentionally violating the Tenure of Office Act. Johnson was able to gain an acquittal, but his entire presidency was a disaster due to his inability to compromise and a clear hesitation to do anything to help recently freed African Americans. He was so unpopular with every one except racist Southern whites, that he failed to earn re-nomination in the 1868 election as an incumbent. His horrific policies, constant vetoing of civil rights laws, questionable ethics and stubborn ways make him one of the worst presidents in the history of the country. President Abraham Lincoln may be one of the greatest Presidents, but one of his biggest mistakes was allowing a man like Andrew Johnson to be his Vice President.
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| James Buchanan |
1. James Buchanan
And coming in at #1 as the worst president in United States history is James Buchanan, who took office right after Franklin Pierce. Buchanan defeated the incumbent Pierce in the 1856 Democrat National Convention and after being elected President, represented the last chance for the country to avoid a Civil War. He obviously failed, but when looking at his presidency, the country never stood a chance. Buchanan, who was the only president to be a bachelor during his entire term, was like Pierce in that he enforced the Fugitive Slave Act, was a vocal supporter of enslaver rights, and tried to squash anti-slavery movements. As President-Elect Buchanan intervened to ensure the Supreme Court ruled against former slave Dred Scott, who had argued that he deserved to be free after his owners brought him to a free state. In the most disgusting decision in the history of the Supreme Court, with Buchanan’s influence, they determined he was property, not a citizen, and did not enjoy the rights and privileges the constitution afforded, and would remain a slave. As the crisis in Kansas continued, he urged the citizens there to accept the pro-slavery Lecompton Constitution, which would’ve legalized slavery in Kansas across the board. Buchanan’s strong support of enslavers and slave rights only widened the divide and accelerated violence and unrest. To make matters worse, the economy tanked under Buchanan and during the Panic of 1857, thousands of businesses and banks failed, stock prices plummeted and people lost their jobs across the country. Because the panic hit the north harder, and southern agriculture stayed relatively strong throughout, it gave southerners confidence that the north needed them and slavery to keep the economy stable. In addition to racist policies supporting slavery and a tanking economy, there were multiple scandals within Buchanan’s cabinet. His foreign policy focused on the idea that the United States had a God-given right to expand as far as they could and he promoted manifest destiny, focusing on taking over the entirety of North America. Nearly everything he did created more hate, violence and division and it was under Buchanan that the final events that led to the Civil War took place – the raid at Harper’s Ferry by John Brown being a primary example. But when you combine an economic crisis, internal scandals, racist policies that supported slavery and a failure of leadership that led directly to the most deadly war in U.S. history, James Buchanan has to be the worst president in U.S. History.
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