My Ranking of the Presidents, Part Two : Halfvalue.com

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My Ranking of the Presidents, Part Two

Robert W. Moore (Chicago, IL USA)
Qualifications: Presidential History Buff

American Presidents: Martin Van Buren by Ted Widmer
$13.60 Used & New from: $2.98
Below Average--An important senator and key figure with Jackson in transforming Jefferson's Republican Party into the Democratic Party.

Nixon: The Triumph of a Politician, 1962-1972 (Ambrose, Stephen E//Nixon) by Stephen E. Ambrose
Used & New from: $71.95
Below Average--I rate Nixon a lot higher than some. He was frequently horrific, but he also had some definite domestic and foreign policy achievements. His presidency wasn't all bad.

The Presidency of William Howard Taft (American Presidency Series) by Paolo Enrico Coletta
$29.95 Used & New from: $12.00
Below Average--Though Roosevelt felt he had abandoned his policies, Taft actually broke up more monopolies than did Teddy. Not as bad a president as some have imagined.

Rutherford B. Hayes: 1877 - 1881: (The American Presidents Series) by Hans Trefousse
$20.00 Used & New from: $2.59
Like Bush 43 in 2000, Hayes did not fairly win his election. Vilified by many for prematurely ending Reconstruction, he was a good man who in other ways was a decent president.

George Herbert Walker Bush (Penguin Lives) by Tom Wicker
$12.97 Used & New from: $0.01
Below Average--Actually helped pave the way for the financial recovery in the nineties by reversing many of Reagan's disastrous economic policies, but was overall a weak leader.

Firewall: The Iran-Contra Conspiracy and Cover-Up by Lawrence E. Walsh
Used & New from: $5.31
Bush's pardoning of all involved prevented many criminal prosecutions, and probably shielded himself as well. Evidence of his involvement is quite strong.

President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime by Lou Cannon
$12.97 Used & New from: $2.67
Below Average--Cannon inflates Reagan's achievements and minimizes how much harm his policies caused, but this is still currently the best biography on Reagan.

Reagan's America by Garry Wills
$9.75 Used & New from: $0.01
Garry Wills masterfully shows many of the problems that existed with Reagan's view of the world. Would surpass Cannon if it dealt with both terms.

Ulysses S. Grant : [The American Presidents Series] (The American Presidents) by Arthur M. Schlesinger
$13.00 Used & New from: $6.46
Below Average--Though admirable in many ways, Grant's administration was plagued with scandals,and he never seemed to master the office.

John Quincy Adams: (The American Presidents Series) by Robert V. Remini
$13.00 Used & New from: $5.46
Below Average--Though a poor president, Quincy was the greatest ex-president, literally dying in the House Chambers where he was a Member for many terms.

Chester Alan Arthur : [The American Presidents Series] (The American Presidents) by Zachary Karabell
$13.00 Used & New from: $8.99
Below Average--A mediocre president who is famed for being one of the most stylish dressers ever to hold the office.

Benjamin Harrison : [The American Presidents Series] (The American Presidents) by Charles W. Calhoun
$13.00 Used & New from: $10.26
Below Average--One of the few presidents to become president despite losing badly in the popular vote.

Coolidge: An American Enigma by Robert Sobel
$34.95 Used & New from: $4.00
Below Average--Sobel shares the tendency of many presidential biographers of trying to make him better than he was.

Warren G. Harding : [The American Presidents Series] (The American Presidents) by John W. Dean
$13.00 Used & New from: $4.34
Bad--Like Sobel on Coolidge, Dean tries to salvage Harding's reputation. I disagree, though I do think he is not our worst president by a long stretch.

Zachary Taylor: Soldier, Planter, Statesman of the Old Southwest (Southern Biography) by K. Jack Bauer
$23.95 Used & New from: $6.98
Bad--A very solid biography of a pretty dull president. One of many weak presidents between Jackson and Lincoln.

Presidencies of William Henry Harrison and John Tyler (American Presidency Series) by Norma Lois Peterson
$30.32 Used & New from: $30.30
Bad--We truly need a new biography of Tyler. The current best sources of information is found in various works on the general period, not in biographies.

Andrew Johnson: A Biography by Hans L. Trefousse
$11.02 Used & New from: $9.22
Bad--The wrong man at the wrong time. His impeachment, like Clinton's, was completely driven by partisan interests.

Herbert Hoover: A Public Life by David Burner
Used & New from: $4.99
Bad--A progressive who along with John Quincy Adams, Taft, and Carter is perhaps our greatest ex-president, his view of role of government in a time of crisis blighted a nation.

Franklin Pierce: New Hampshire's Favorite Son by Peter A. Wallner
$29.95
Bad--This new biography attempts to rehabilitate him to a degree, but given his timidity in facing the crises leading to the Civil War this is difficult.

Millard Fillmore by Robert J. Scarry
$75.00
Bad--Another weak pre-Civil War president and a bio that overrates its subject. Often said to be the most forgettable president.

Made in Texas: George W. Bush and the Southern Takeover of American Politics (New America Books (Paperback)) by Michael Lind
Used & New from: $11.19
Bad--The most regressive president in American history, Bush has on every conceivable issue attempted to undo the achievements of the past and return us to a utopian past that never existed.

American Dynasty : Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush by Kevin Phillips
Used & New from: $1.74
Moderate Republican Kevin Phillips does a superb job of situating the two Bushes in the economic concerns of their class.

James Buchanan : [The American Presidents Series] (The American Presidents) by Jean H. Baker
$13.00 Used & New from: $8.95
Bad--Our worst president because his every decision made the tensions preceding the Civil War worse, and refused to intervene when several states seceded following Lincoln's election.

Garfield: A Biography by Allan Peskin
$28.35 Used & New from: $25.00
No Rank--Garfield's early death prevents any assessment of his presidency.

Old Tippecanoe: William Henry Harrison and His Time by Freeman Cleaves
$30.00 Used & New from: $22.59
No Rank-- Harrison's lies that he won Tippecanoe when he clearly lost and that he was born in a log cabin when he wasn't don't give much confidence that he would have been a good president.

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Presidential Biographies: ...: A list by Stephen Sovocool

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