Presidential Ranking v1.1.2

This is a lot tougher than I anticipated. I didn't change any positions this week. I probably won't next week either. The goal for next week is to have some pros and cons for each man.

42. James Buchanan
Pro: Is there any?
Con: Bleeding Kansas, possibly the Dred Scott Case, didn't do anything to prevent the Civil War...
41. Andrew Johnson
Pro: Reconstruction Plan was similar to Lincoln's idea, had the balls to stand up to Congress when they imposed upon executive powers
Con: Refused to compromise with Congress, subverted Congressional Acts with nearly unconditional pardoning of Confederates
40. Franklin Pierce
Pro: Perry Expedition to Japan, Gadsden Purchase
Con: Kansas-Nebraska Act (repealing Missouri Compromise), allowed Bleeding Kansas to bleed
39. William Howard Taft
Pro: Trustbusting, Worked for World Peace (arbitration with Britain and France, attempted with Canada)
Con: Payne-Aldrich Tariff, did not enforce 15th Amendment, allowed Jim Crow laws and lynching of blacks
38. Herbert Hoover
Pro:
Con: Great Depression
37. Jimmy Carter
Pro:
Con:
36. William Henry Harrison
Pro:
Con: Died pretty darn fast, never in office while Congress was in session
35. Millard Fillmore
Pro:
Con:
34. Warren Harding
Pro:
Con:
33. Zachary Taylor
Pro: Wasn't concerned about his party's platform
Con: Apathetic about politics
32. Ulysses S. Grant
Pro:
Con: Cabinet partook in much scandal
31. Rutherford B. Hayes
Pro: Civil Service Reform
Con: Allowed Reconstruction to end?, sent troops to put down B&O strike
30. George W. Bush
Pro:
Con: Iraq
29. John Adams
Pro:
Con: Almost totally disliked by the people of his time
28. John Quincy Adams
Pro:
Con:
27. Richard Nixon
Pro: Good at getting his agenda across
Con: 'Nam, Watergate
26. Benjamin Harrison
Pro:
Con:
25. Gerald Ford
Pro:
Con:
24. John Tyler
Pro: Set the precedent of VP becoming president in the case of the chief executive's death
Con:
23. Grover Cleveland
Pro:
Con:
22. James Garfield
Pro: Was to be strong in Civil Service Reform, with the Half-Breed platform
Con: Didn't get to be strong in this because he was assassinated
21. Calvin Coolidge
Pro:
Con:
20. George H. W. Bush
Pro:
Con:
19. Chester Arthur
Pro: Pendleton Civil Service Act
Con: Chinese Exclusion Act
18. Martin Van Buren
Pro:
Con:
17. Bill Clinton
Pro: Good economic times (large surplus), didn't screw it up
Con: Monica Lewinsky
16. James Madison
Pro: Well we did win the War of 1812
Con:
15. William McKinley
Pro:
Con:
14. Dwight D. Eisenhower
Pro: Highway system
Con: Perceived as not active in the office
13. James Polk
Pro:
Con:
12. James Monroe
Pro: Monroe Doctrine
Con:
11. Ronald Reagan
Pro: Major steps to end the Cold War
Con:
10. Woodrow Wilson
Pro: He kept us out of war
Con: ...for a while
9. John F Kennedy
Pro: Could be a leader without just acting out of his gut, Cuban Missile Crisis
Con: Perhaps more about his image than most presidents
8. Lyndon Johnson
Pro: Civil Rights Act of 1964
Con: Continued sending troops to Vietnam
7. Harry Truman
Pro:
Con:
6. Thomas Jefferson
Pro:
Con:
5. Andrew Jackson
Pro: Really took charge and led the country like a man, helped make the veto what it is today (policy-based, not Constitutionally-based)
Con: Occasionally subverted the Supreme Court
4. Franklin Roosevelt
Pro: Master of pushing his agenda, New Deal
Con: Attempt to add judges to the Supreme Court, Japanese Intermittent Camps, 3rd and 4th terms (though he wasn't the only to attempt a third)
3. Theodore Roosevelt
Pro: Environmentalism, Beginning of Trustbusting
Con: Only broke trusts he felt were bad
2. George Washington
Pro: Set the stage for every freaking president with so many precedents and interpretations of the Constitution
Con:
1. Abraham Lincoln
Pro: Managed to free the slaves and get through the Civil War
Con: *Possibly* may have had a Reconstruction mindset like Johnson, took too many unconstitutional pathways in the Civil War?