What is one major accomplishments of each president?
GEORGE WASHINGTON created a national bank that helped stabilize
the U.S. economy. He also put down the Whiskey Rebellion, a
rebellion of farmers against a whiskey tax and, despite a great
deal of public pressure, refused to support either Great Britain or
France, who were engaged in a war with each other. JOHN ADAMS was a
member of the Federalist Party which favored a strong central
government. Adams differed from most other Federalists in that he
disliked Alexander Hamilton, making his political base shaky.
Despite continuing the policy of neutrality advocated by
Washington, Adams is best remembered for the XYZ Affair, in which a
French foreign minister attempted to extract bribes from American
diplomats, and the Alien and Sedition Acts, which allowed Adams to
jail those that criticized him. THOMAS JEFFERSON was the founder of
the Democratic Republican Party which favored a weaker central
government, especially a weak president. Despite this, Jefferson
made the Louisiana Purchase from France, more than doubling the
size of the country despite the fact that it was unconstitutional
in the strictest sense. JAMES MADISON was known as the 'Father of
the Constitution'. Madison agreed with Jefferson's decision to have
a small national army, but was bullied into a war with Great
Britain called the War of 1812 or Mr. Madison's War. Madison let
the national bank disappear in the middle of the crisis and then
tried to conquer Canada. Washington, D.C. was set ablaze by an
invading British contingent and the war ended in a stalemate. JAMES
MONROE presided over a time known as the Era of Good Feelings for
its lack of strife, political or otherwise. He is best known for
having released the Monroe Doctrine, declaring that the Western
Hemisphere was off limits to colonization. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS was
the son of John Adams. He inherited both his father's intelligence
and vanity. A poor political leader, Adams suffered at the hands of
a charismatic political rival named Andrew Jackson who was
successful at blocking Adams' attempts at using tax dollars to fund
internal improvements (Jackson believed the issue was up to
individual states). ANDREW JACKSON fought his way to the top and
entered the national scene after a stunning victory at the Battle
of New Orleans during the War of 1812. Jackson had a hatred for the
rich and banks (he was born poor and as a young man went bankrupt)
and was one of the most racist presidents. Jackson lashed out at
all he hated, destroying the Second Bank of the United States,
causing an economic depression, and forced Native Americans to move
out of Georgia. Jackson, to his credit, also stopped South Carolina
from seceding after the state attempted to nullify a federal law.
MARTIN VAN BUREN had the misfortune to come to the presidency just
as the economic depression caused by Jackson was underway. Van
Buren, believing in the power of the states, did little to help the
poor and was quickly voted out. WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON was the
first president to die in office. He died a month into his
presidency and did absolutely nothing (Congress wasn't in session).
JOHN TYLER was a supporter of all things that Jackson believed in
except for Jackson himself, whom he quarreled with. Tyler left the
Democratic Party, founded by Jackson, to join the Whig Party. Upon
Harrison's death, Tyler declared that he was president, not just
acting president, alienating people on both sides of the political
spectrum. He refused to support many Whig policies and, like John
Quincy Adams, his administration was largely ineffectual. His
legacy has permanently suffered for joining the Confederacy. JAMES
K. POLK was hand-picked by Jackson to be the Democratic president
despite the fact that Polk was a dark horse or a politician not
known on the national level. Polk gained the southern half of the
Oregon Territory from Great Britain and annexed Texas form Mexico.
Angry that Mexican dictator Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna refused to
sell Alto California, Polk started the Mexican War by ordering
American troops to cross the Nueces River into Mexico. When Santa
Anna attacked, Polk declared war (claiming the troops were on
American soil) but left the White House an unpopular man. ZACHARY
TAYLOR was a hero of the Mexican War. Despite being a slave owner
from Louisiana, Taylor did not support the Compromise of 1850 which
would have allowed southerners to re-capture slaves that had fled
north. Taylor tried to put slavery on the road to extinction but
died suddenly of an intestinal disease. MILLARD FILLMORE signed the
Compromise of 1850, further dividing the country on the slavery
issue. FRANKLIN PIERCE knew that most of his support came from the
South and did everything to please southerners including enforcing
the Fugitive Slave Act (part of the Compromise of 1850) even when
impractical. He is also remembered for signing the Kansas-Nebraska
Act which declared the Kansas and Nebraska Territories could become
states and vote whether to be slave states or not (the argument led
to multiple deaths when voters on both sides took to killing each
other) and the Ostend Manifesto which declared that Cuba was a U.S.
territory whether Spain liked it or not (Pierce was widely
ridiculed for this). JAMES BUCHANAN wanted Kansas to enter as a
slave state and used the controversial Dred Scott Decision, which
stated that slavery was legal in all territories, to support his
decision. When South Carolina seceded rather than let Abraham
Lincoln be president, Buchanan did nothing. ABRAHAM LINCOLN did
everything to stop secession. When this failed, Lincoln formed a
coalition of politicians to help destroy the Confederacy. He
released the Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves in rebellious
states and advocated the Thirteenth Amendment ending slavery.
Tragically, he was assassinated by an actor named John Wilkes Booth
who had Confederate sympathies. ANDREW JOHNSON was a senator from
Tennessee and the only representative of a Confederate state that
did not leave the Union with his state. Johnson was selected by
Lincoln as the vice president in hopes of proving that the Civil
War was not solely a Republican cause. Upon Lincoln's death,
Johnson did everything to return the whites to power. Johnson tried
to prevent the Fifteenth Amendment from passing and was the first
president to be impeached because his racist views clashed with a
more liberal Congress. ULYSSES S. GRANT did everything to reverse
Johnson's policies and broke the back of the Ku Klux Klan, a white
supremacist group. Grant is however largely remembered for attacks
that his administration was corrupt (mostly exaggerations).
RUTHERFORD B. HAYES stopped protecting blacks in the South and
largely turned a blind eye to the horrific racial violence. JAMES
A. GARFIELD was killed by an insane man named Charles Guiteau
barely a month into his presidency. No major accomplishments.
CHESTER ALAN ARTHUR signed the Pendleton Act which broke the back
of corrupt political machines. Today, Arthur is brushed off as
little more than a dandy, though. GROVER CLEVELAND is the only
president to have served two non-consecutive terms. Cleveland
backed the gold standard in economics dividing the Democratic Party
(some backed silver) and used violent force against striking labor
unions. BENJAMIN HARRISON is barely remembered for anything beyond
being William Henry Harrison's grandson. The second Harrison
bungled the econimic issues on silver or gold. WILLIAM McKINLEY
supported Cuban rebels against their Spanish overlords. When an
American naval ship exploded in Havana Harbor, a suspicious
McKinley declared war on Spain. He acquired Puerto Rico, Guam, the
Philippines, and Guantanamo Bay. The only reason McKinley is not
ranked among the great presidents is because he was overshadowed by
his successor, Theodore Roosevelt, who took office when McKinley
was killed by an anarchist named Leon Czolgosz (Zol-goz). THEODORE
ROOSEVELT was the youngest president at 42. Roosevelt created the
Food and Drug Administration to investigate unhealthy business
practices, arbitrated several labor strikes, set aside land for
national parks, built the Panama Canal, and increased the size of
the American military. WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT was appointed to the
Supreme Court later in life, the post of his dreams. He never
wanted to be president, but was convinced by Theodore Roosevelt. He
destroyed several trusts but was an unpopular leader. WOODOROW
WILSON was a racist on par with Andrew Jackson and Andrew Johnson.
He segregated multiple federal departments and, despite declaring
he was a pacifist, invaded Mexico after a Mexican rebel named
Pancho Villa attacked a town in New Mexico. He attempted to avoid
the First World War (and failed) then tried to create a treaty
based on the Fourteen Points, but found British Prime Minister
David Lloyd George and French President Georges Clemenceau
unwilling to listen. He created the League of Nations but his
refusal to compromise resulted in Congress blocking attempts of
Wilson to get the U.S. to join the League. WARREN G. HARDING was
placed in the White House by his power-hungry wife, Florence, and
several corrupt cronies who promptly committed many crimes. Harding
admitted he had no idea what the hell he was doing before dying in
San Francisco from a heart attack. CALVIN COOLIDGE cleaned up the
scandalous mess that Harding had left him. He is ranked low because
many of his economic policies are blamed for causing the Great
Depression. HERBERT HOOVER was in a situation similar to Van Buren.
He stumbled into an economic mess and had no idea how to extricate
himself. Toward the end of his presidency he attempted to help the
poor but it was too late. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT was the fifth
cousin of Theodore Roosevelt and was elected more than any other
president (four times!). He was also the only paraplegic. Roosevelt
did everything to alleviate the plight of the disenfranchised (the
majority of the country) despite claims that his policies, known as
the New Deal, were socialist in nature. F.D.R. also advocating the
destruction of Nazism and did everything to help Great Britain.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, F.D.R. turned the U.S. into an
efficient war machine before dying shortly after his fourth
election. HARRY S TRUMAN dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, ending the Second World War. He also helped rebuild
Europe, utilizing the Marshall Plan and released the Truman
Doctrine, declaring that communism would be contained. After China
fell to communists, Truman took a firmer stance; he airlifted
supplies into West Berlin and started the Korean War to avoid the
Korean Peninsula falling into communist hands. DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
de-segregated the school system, setting apartheid on the road to
extinction, and also ended the Korean War in a stalemate (better
than losing). JOHN F. KENNEDY gave the all-go for the Bay of Pigs
Invasion but lost his resolve at the last moment and decided not to
provide physical support for the plan to overthrow the communist
regime in Cuba. When it was discovered that the Soviet Union had
nuclear missiles in Cuba, Kennedy showed uncharacteristic
decisiveness and stood his ground, resulting in the missiles
removal. He was assassinated in Dallas. The case has never been
convincingly solved. LYNDON B. JOHNSON launched his Great Society
policies with plans to improve the lot of all Americans. Despite
ending segregation, his legacy has been tempered by his poor
handling of the Vietnam War. RICHARD NIXON negotiated the end to
the Vietnam War, opened relations with the People's Republic of
China, and eased tensions with the Soviet Union. Nixon was not as
successful in the domestic arena and has been overshadowed by the
Watergate Scandal and his resignation. GERALD FORD is most
remembered for pardoning Nixon, tripping while coming down the ramp
of Air Force One, and saying that there was no Soviet domination in
Eastern Europe. JIMMY CARTER advocated human rights but looked the
other way when it came to the shah of Iran. Carter offered asylum
to the shah when he was deposed; the result was Iranian
revolutionaries taking Americans hostage. Carter also found himself
unable to solve the Energy Crisis. Out of office, Carter has served
as a diplomat. RONALD REAGAN is one of the most polarizing
presidents. His supporters point to the fact that he started an
arms race against the Soviet Union, hastening its demise. His
detractors point the Iran-contra scandal, in which the
administration illegally sold weapons. GEORGE BUSH admitted to
having trouble with 'the vision thing'. Bush successfully
prosecuted the Persian Gulf War, but a bungling of the economic
issue and his lack of assertiveness following the fall of the
Soviet Union has hurt his reputation. BILL CLINTON was a
vacillating leader. Despite improving the economy and stopping
ethnic genocide in Bosnia, Clinton is overshadowed by the Lewinsky
Scandal for which he was impeached and his refusal to combat al
Qaeda. GEORGE W. BUSH rallied the nation following the 9/11 attacks
and successfully overthrew the Taliban government in Afghanistan.
Bush also overthrew Saddam Hussein in Iraq but lacked the foresight
to have anything more than this goal in mind. His willingness to
bend the Constitution has also hurt his reputation. His approval
rating is one of the lowest ever recorded.