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Advanced Placement |
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Advanced Placement |
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"GREAT" Washington • Lincoln • FDR "NEAR GREAT" Jefferson • Jackson • Polk • T. Roosevelt • Wilson • Truman "HIGH AVERAGE" J. Adams • Monroe • Cleveland • McKinley • Eisenhower • JFK • LBJ "BELOW AVERAGE" Tyler • Taylor • Fillmore • Coolidge "FAILURES" Pierce • Buchanan • A. Johnson • Grant • Harding • Hoover • Nixon Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., 1996 |
"OVERALL RANKING" 1. Lincoln 2. FDR 3. Washington 4. Jefferson 5. T. Roosevelt 6. Wilson 7. Truman 8. Jackson 9. Eisenhower 10. Madison 11. Polk 12. LBJ 13. Monroe 14. J. Adams 15. JFK • • • 37. Pierce 38. Grant 39. A. Johnson 40. Buchanan 41. Harding William J. Ridings, Jr. & Stuart B. McIver, 1997 |
"GREAT" Washington • Jefferson • Lincoln • FDR "NEAR GREAT" Jackson • T. Roosevelt • Wilson • Truman "ABOVE AVERAGE" J. Adams • Madison • Monroe • J. Q. Adams • Polk • Cleveland • Eisenhower • JFK • LBJ "BELOW AVERAGE" Tyler • Taylor • Fillmore • Pierce • Buchanan • A. Johnson • Coolidge • Nixon "FAILURES" Grant • Harding William A. McClenaghan, 1997 |
"TEN BEST" 1. Lincoln 2. Washington 3. FDR 4. Jefferson 5. T. Roosevelt 6. Wilson 7. Truman 8. Jackson 9. Polk (tie) Eisenhower "TEN WORST" 1. Harding 2. Buchanan 3. Pierce 4. Grant 5. A. Johnson 6. Fillmore 7. Nixon 8. Tyler 9. Coolidge 10. Hoover James MacGregor Burns, et al., 2000 |
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• Clearly important accomplishment which produced decidedly positive results (immediate and eventual) affecting widespread America; highly praised among historians with little or no exception. • Historically noteworthy event; however, historians bestow mixed judgments regarding the outcomes, or the effects are inherently awkward to assign any sort of blanket evaluation. • Represents major shortcoming within this presidential administration; the action is routinely questioned or openly criticized by historians due to evident flaws. |
Harry S. Truman  Democrat / Missouri (KJ)"When even one American...is forced by fear to shut his mind and close his mouth, then all Americans are in peril." —President Harry S Truman • Forced to make decision regarding use of atomic bomb (1945) • United Nations chartered (1945) • Extended FDR's "New Deal" with limited success • Repelled communist aggression toward Greece & Turkey (1947) • Marshall Plan (1947) • Hiss-Chambers case (1948) • Berlin Airlift (1948) • NATO founded (1949) • Endured onset of McCarthyism (1950) • North Korean violation of 38th parallel sparks Korean War (1950) • McCarran Internal Security Act (1950) FUN FACT #1: Truman did not have a middle name; the "S" simply stands alone! FUN FACT #2: Bess Truman was the longest living First Lady! Gerald Ford  Republican / Michigan (FJ)"For myself and for our nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all he has done to heal our land." —President Jimmy Carter • Pardoned former President Richard Nixon of Watergate crimes (1974) • Sought completion of SALT II Treaty (1974) • Helsinki Accords (1975) • Mayagüez incident (1975) FUN FACT #1: Ford played football for the University of Michigan; he was the team's MVP his senior year! FUN FACT #2: Ford is the only President never elected to the presidency or vice-presidency! Jimmy Carter Democrat / Georgia (DD)"We must adjust to changing times and still hold to unchanging principles." —President Jimmy Carter • Pardoned 10,000 Vietnam War "draft-dodgers" (1976) • Department of Energy created (1977) • Camp David Accords (1978) • Panama Canal Zone Treaty (1978) • Iran hostage crisis (1979) • 1980 Olympics boycotted & SALT II derailed in response to Soviet aggression FUN FACT #1: Carter was the first President elected from the Deep South since the Civil War! FUN FACT #2: Four Presidents—T. Roosevelt, Wilson, Carter, and Obama— have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize! |
by Alice Cooper