Anyone who pays attention to American history and politics has probably wondered : Who was theworst president ever ? Since 1980 , the Siena College Research Institute ( SCRI ) has been trying to issue forth up with a definitive answer by sporadically surveying more than 140 presidential scholar , historians and political scientists .
" The scholar must publish in compeer - reviewed journals on the presidency or individual presidents , print pop ms , or instruct courses at colleges or university that focus on the presidentship , " explain Don Levy , SCRI ’s managing director , via email . They rank the dependable and worst presidents according to 20 separate categories , including party leadership , ability to compromise , foreign policy attainment , intelligence operation and moral authority .
Over the past 40 age , thesame five presidentshave hold the top spots . In 2022 , the best five were :
Thepresidents at the bottomhave also mostly stayed the same , with one exception . The worst in 2022 ( with the bad in the top spot ) were :
" For the most part , our better presidents channelize the country through periods of crisis , " says Levy , " while our forged fail to guide our country pursuant to our note value and ideal when facing critical tests . " For example , FDR was the highest - ranked President of the United States in the 2022 view , and he demonstrated exceptional crisis management during World War II . He also score first in the categories of imaginativeness / agenda , domestic leaders and foreign insurance policy leadership .
Why Is Andrew Johnson Considered the Worst President?
Bryan Craig , elderly investigator at the University of Virginia ’s Miller Center , which specialize in presidential erudition and history , articulate those names ranked at the bottom in the middle of scholars and historiographer are no surprise .
Johnson was originally elected into office as vice chairwoman and abuse into the presidency after Lincoln ’s 1865 character assassination . His old - fashioned southerly views , which strongly supported states ' rights , put him at odds with a Republican congress .
" Some major rationality Johnson is at the bottom are his reaction to Reconstruction and his rabble-rousing rhetoric , " say Craig via e-mail . " He push back against Republican legislation and vetoed the Civil Rights Act , the Military Reconstruction Act and the Freedmen ’s Bureau Act , all piece of legislation that would amend the lives and right field of formerly enslaved the great unwashed . He did not suffer in the fashion of Democrats retort to power in the southerly states . " Congress exceed all these acts over Johnson ’s veto .
In 1866 , in a speech Johnson was giving on Washington ’s Birthday , he accused Republican leadership of wanting to " demoralise or put down " the rule of government , Craig adds . In several speeches , Johnson personally attack his Republican opponents with abusive language , appearing to have hadtoo much to pledge . Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act , which took away the president ’s ability to take away Union officials without the Senate ’s approval . After he fired the Secretary of War , Johnson had 11 articles of impeachment even out against him , " citing his violation of the Tenure of Office Act and consign that he had bring disgrace and ridicule on Congress , " ashistorian Elizabeth Varon putsit on the Miller Center website .
" He is one of only three presidents that have been impeached by the House , " tell Craig . However , in the end the Senate vote not to convict Johnson by a margin of one vote .
The Rest of the Bottom Five Presidents
James Buchanan ( whom historiographer outrank as second to last ) served from 1857 to 1861 as the leader of an progressively divided nation . That ’s part of why he gets so much criticism , says Craig . " President Buchanan did not do enough to help ward off a civil war , " he says . " Although Buchanan felt slavery was a moral immorality , he told Supreme Court Justice Robert Grier , a fellow Pennsylvanian , to vote against Dredd Scott in a celebrated case before the U.S. Supreme Court . His administration did not face Southern leaders in their thrall cause . Seven states splinter under his administration , and he felt the Union government did not have the self-assurance to step in . "
In fact , Craig call up Buchanan the worst president overall because his policy show in the " worst period in the commonwealth ’s history . " Buchanan ’s not alone in hire the blame for the Civil War , though . Franklin Pierce , who also ranks in the bottom five , was the president directly before Buchanan .
" Like Buchanan , Pierce did not ease the growing sectional rift over slavery , " Craig says . " He used his presidential mightiness to get the Kansas - Nebraska Act pass in 1854 , an act that repealed the Missouri Compromise [ an 1820 law of nature that had allowed slavery to continue in Missouri but banned it in the rest of the Louisiana Purchase land north of the southern boundary line of Missouri ] and allowed democratic sovereignty . However , the routine only made the situation bad . "
When it comes to Harding , Craig go on , historian lean to rank him near the bottom for two major reason : " His short length in federal agency and the Teapot Dome Scandal , the biggest presidential outrage until Watergate . " ( Leave it to Richard Nixon to break that kind of record . )
TheTeapot Dome bribery scandalinvolved rights to petroleum reserves . While Harding was n’t directly implicated , he was associated with the wrongdoers , and it wrecked his reputation . " Harding ’s administration also faced a scandal in the Veterans Bureau , " says Craig , " and these corruption scandals maculate his legacy . "
What About Donald Trump?
Andrew Johnson , James Buchanan , Warren Harding and Franklin Pierce have all been in the bottom five in each of the seven surveys conducted by Siena College Research Institute since 1982 .
" Donald Trump is the only new penis of that ignominious cabaret , " say Levy . " The scholars only ranked Trump in the top half of the list in two categories — Luck and Willing to Take risk — though that was n’t enough to commit up his overall mark . "
It ’s no stretch to call Trump the most polarizing president in account . That , plus his " seditious rhetoric , and the impact of his lies ( include the false claim of winning the 2020 election ) " is what puts him near the bottom , says Craig .
Whether he ’ll stay there is a matter for history to decide . " It is possible that Trump could move his position on the list as time start on . However , I suspect that his change would be restrain , " adds Craig . " Another of import reason is his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection . "
Levy say rankings have change over the survey ’s 40 - yr history , as learner have time to take and reflect on a president ’s lifespan and bequest . Dwight Eisenhower , Lyndon Johnson and Ulysses Grant have all grow in the ranks , while Woodrow Wilson and Andrew Jackson have fall .
" Grant moved up the tilt over the yr as historian took a closer look at his response tocivil rightsand [ put ] less focus on the corruption , " says Craig . " by and large speaking , it ’s backbreaking to understand the shock of a president until farther out in history . "
