Good in Every President

You know, I was really thinking about the way I treated some presidents. And by that I mean I feel slight remorse for my constant bashing of James Buchanan. I also ignore many other men, like James Monroe or James Carter... or pretty much any non-Garfield James.

And so, I present to you, a list of something good about every man who has been president.

George Washington: Interpreted the position and set numerous precedents that stand to this day, including the cabinet, making treaties without bothering with Congress, and basically staying fairly separated from the legislature

John Adams: Put John Marshall on the Supreme Court, who would go on to be part of numerous landmark cases

Thomas Jefferson: Won the First Barbary War, the first major war for the United States overseas

James Madison: Won the Second Barbary War, stopping American tribute to the pirates of the region.

James Monroe: The Monroe Doctrine is pretty much the most important foreign policy matter in our history

John Quincy Adams: And JQA wrote it

Andrew Jackson: Kicked the Nullification Crisis in the ass

Martin Van Buren: Preferred diplomacy and peace, talking to Mexico rather than warring with them, and denying Texas a chance at statehood for greater peace

William Henry Harrison: Well, that was one hell of an inaugural speech

John Tyler: Set the precedent for the vice president ascending to the presidency when the man in charge keels over

James K. Polk: Created the Department of the Interior

Zachary Taylor: Took a major step in British and American relations with the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty

Millard Fillmore: Acknowledged how much the Fugitive Slave Law pissed off the North, and attempted to balance it by not allowing the South to get into Cuba and try to make it a slave state.

Franklin Pierce: Chose people with many opinions for his cabinet and has the only cabinet to never change

James Buchanan: Promised not to run again in his inaugural address, saving America the trouble of not electing him in 1860

Abraham Lincoln: Created the Secret Service... to fight counterfeiting

Andrew Johnson: Gave amnesty to all Confederates, a move that might seem stupid, but probably helped ease the tension a bit

Ulysses Grant: Signed the bill making the first national park, Yellowstone

Rutherford B. Hayes: Acted as the middleman and peacemaker in the War of the Triple Alliance between a bunch of South American countries that I can't be bothered to name

James Garfield: Appeased factions to an extent, but still worked to be his own president

Chester Arthur: See pretty much any post with the tag "Chester Arthur" or "Chet"

Grover Cleveland: Wasn't afraid to take unpopular decisions, such as not signing pension bills for the veterans of the Civil War

Benjamin Harrison: Signed the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, the bill setting up for the trustbusting era

William McKinley: Greatly expanded the positions that fell under the merit system of the Pendleton Act

Theodore Roosevelt: Basically invented the presidential press conference, which made information easier to get to the public

William Taft: Cranked up the trustbusting levels past that of Mr. Trustbuster Theordore Roosevelt

Woodrow Wilson: If he had his way, World War II might have been avoided

Warren Harding: Got all the treaties necessary to actually end WWI

Calvin Coolidge: The KKK lost much political clout, Native Americans were granted full citizenship, and Coolidge felt black people were equal

Herbert Hoover: Well... Man was his pre-presidential career amazing, with the way he used his own money to save people in WWI

Franklin Roosevelt: The New Deal programs led to a much happier country

Harry Truman: Made the decision to drop the atomic bomb, saving an estimated million American soldiers

Dwight Eisenhower: That highway system you drove on the other day? Eisenhower says, "You're welcome."

John Kennedy: Handled the Cuban Missile Crisis brilliantly

Lyndon Johnson: Main Civil Rights president, especially with the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Richard Nixon: Great on the environmental front, with the Clean Air Act and National Environmental Policy Act

Gerald Ford: Established special education

Jimmy Carter: Had the balls to cancel military pay raises due to inflation and vast deficit

Ronald Reagan: Largely responsible for the end of the Cold War

George H.W. Bush: Kicked some Hussein ass

Bill Clinton: Presided over great economic times

George W. Bush: Has greater than 50% approval ratings in the Phillipines and India as of January 2005

Barack Obama: Hasn't been afraid of minority filibusters, acting almost as a party whip for the Democrats to get legislation pushed through




...Okay maybe I still wasn't nice to James Buchanan.