U.S. Presidents

27. William H. Taft (1909-1913)

Large, jovial, conscientious, he was caught in the intense battles between Progressives and conservatives, and got scant credit for the achievements of his administration. He did not even like politics, preferring law. Taft defended the Payne-Aldrich Act, which unexpectedly continued high tariff rates. A trade agreement with Canada, which Taft pushed through Congress, would have pleased eastern advocates of a low tariff, but the Canadians rejected it. His administration initiated 80 antitrust suits and that Congress submitted to the states amendments for a Federal income tax and the direct election of Senators. In 1912, when the Republicans renominated Taft, Roosevelt bolted the party to lead the Progressives, thus guaranteeing the election of Woodrow Wilson. Taft, free of the Presidency, served as Professor of Law at Yale until President Harding made him Chief Justice of the United States, a position he held until just before his death in 1930. Taft claimed to not even remember being a president, as he hated the four years so.

10. John Tyler (1841-1845)

John Tyler was the first Vice President to be elevated to the office of President by the death of his predecessor, and took office on April 4th, 1841. Tyler was a former Democrat who had left the party in reaction to what he considered Jackson's excessively egalitarian program (egalitarianism) and imperious methods, but there were still signs of his Democratic past in his approach to public policy. As a president, he did agree to bills abolishing Van Buren's independent treasury system and raising tariff rates, but he refused to support Clay's attempt to recharter a Bank of the United States, and he vetoed several internal improvement bills that Clay and other congressional Whigs sponsored. Finally, a conference of Congressional Whigs read Tyler out of the party on September 13th, 1841. Every cabinet member but Webster resigned, and five former Democrats took their places. When Webster too eventually left the cabinet, Tyler appointed Calhoun, who had rejoined the Democratic Party. In this fashion, a new political alignment was emerging. Tyler and a small band of conservative southern Whigs were preparing to rejoin the Democrats. This was a faction with decidedly aristocratic political ideas, who thought that the government had an obligation to protect and even expand the institution of slavery, and who believed in states' rights with an almost fanatical devotion. In a short time, the Whigs victory had utterly receded to a defeat, although during Tyler's presidency they did manage to deal with the British and the Caroline Affair, the Aroostock War, ending with the Webster-Ashburton Treaty (1842), and also improve relations with China with the Treaty of Wang Hya.

1. George Washington (1789-1797)

The first President of the United States, and perhaps one of the most loved person in the history of the nation. He was sworn into office on April 30, 1789, helping to complete the structure of the new fledgling government he had helped to create. During his time as president he masterfully avoided war, staying out of the French revolution and a war with England and the Spanish (see Edmond Genêt, Jay's Treaty, and Pinckney's Treaty). In addition, during his reign the Bill of Rights was enacted. He became sick of politics, and decided to retire after his second term in 1797. Even though there was no formal law, his retirement set the standard that Presidents would only be in office for two terms.

2. John Adams (1797-1801)

A Federalist who won the election of 1796, and came into office on March 4th, 1797 (as all presidents would until Eisenhower, who then started the tradition of coming into office on January 20th, which is continued today). The Quasi-French War with France, a conflict that occured without an outbreak of war, occured during his presidency. In addition, some major political battles took place between the Federalists and the Democratic Republicans (also known as the Anti-Federalists). These battles could be seen in the fight between the Alien and Sedition Acts, which were enacted by the Federalist government, and fought back against by the Democratic Republicans with the Virginia & Kentucky Resolutions. These resolutions used the ideas of John Locke to argue that the federal government formed a "compact" or contract among the states and possessed only certain delegated powers, and therefore the states could nullify the Alien and Sedition Acts through the process of nullification. Adams lost the reelection in the dirty election of 1800, which Thomas Jefferson won.

16. Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865)

Abraham Lincoln is perhaps one of the most famous presidents. When he took office in March of 1861, seven states (South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas) had already seceded from the Union. Seceding states immediately seized the federal property within their boundaries, but Fort Sumter off the coast of South Carolina had not surrendered. Lincoln then sent aid to the fort, and declared any attack on the ships would be an attack on the federal government. The newly born Confederacy decided to attack the ships, to not appear like cowards, and thus the civil war was started. However, before all this Lincoln emerged from the Lincoln-Douglass debates of 1858, where Lincoln and Douglass debated slavery. Lincoln believed slavery was morally wrong, but was not an abolitionist. This later contributed to his policy at the beginning of the civil war: he believed in the war not to free slaves, but to keep the Union together. Throughout the war, Lincoln used his own authority, ignoring inconvenient parts of the Constitution because he said that it would be foolish to lose the whole by being afraid to disregard a part. Lincoln oppressed opposing parties and economic policies such as the National Bank Acts financing the war, the Pacific Railway Act, and many more. Thanks to several Northern military victories at the crucial moment (especially the capture of Atlanta, Georgia), the Northern morale was rejuvenated and Lincoln was reelected. In his next term he realized that it would be necessary not only to fight just to retain the South in the Union, but to now fight for the freedom of slaves. On January 1st, 1863, he formally signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln was a successful commander in chief because he realized the numbers and resources were on his side, and also had a good grasp of strategy: he realized it was important to destroy Confederate armies, not to occupy the South. Lincoln's plan for reconstruction was called 'Lincoln's 10% Plan', but it was never successful, and on the night of April 14th, 1865, Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth making him from a controversial president to an instant martyr.

8. Martin Van Buren (1837-1841)

Although Andrew Jackson had retired form public life in 1837 as the most loved political figure of his age, his successor, Martin Van Buren was not so fortunate, and could never match Jackson's personal popularity. In addition, his administration encountered economic difficulties that devastated the Democrats and helped the Whigs. The Panic of 1837 was not Van Buren's fault (it was probably caused by Jackson in his final months), but it fell on his lap, and under his administration, the nation took a huge economic hit. In Van Buren's final year of presidency, the administration finally succeeded in driving the independent treasury (aka the sub-treasury system) measure through Congress. This idea was based on the idea that the government would place its funds in an independent treasury at Washington and in sub treasuries in other cities, and no private banks would have the governments money or name to use as a basis for speculation, so the government and the banks could be divorced. This helped to avoid future meltdowns such as the Panic in 1837, but it was not enough to secure Van Buren the reelection. Van Buren lost the election after his first term, and disappeared from political prominence.

17. Andrew Johnson (1865-1869)

Andrew Johnson, being Lincoln's Vice President, assumed the presidency after Lincoln's death. Although the leadership of the Moderates and Conservatives off the Republican party fell to Johnson, he was not well suited, either by circumstance or personality, for the task. He had been a Democrat until he joined the Union ticket with Lincoln in 1864, when he became a Republican president at a moment when partisan tensions were growing. He was intemperate and tactless, filled with resentments and insecurities. He was openly hostile to the freed slaves and unwilling to support any plans that guaranteed them civil equality or enfranchisement. Johnson's plan for Reconstruction (or "Restoration"), were implemented during the summer of 1865, when Congress was in recess. Part of this plan included the agreement that each state must ratify the Thirteenth Amendment. By the end of 1865, all the seceded states had formed new governments, but under different plans. Reconstruction under Johnson's plan (often known as "presidential Reconstruction" continued until Congress reconvened in December 1865. Then Congress refused to seat the representatives of the restored states and created a new Joint Committee on Reconstruction, and the period of "congressional" or "Radical" Reconstruction had begun. Johnson vetoed both the first Civil Rights Act of 1866 (which was a response to the Black Codes), and an extent of the Freedman's Bureau, but Congress overrode him on both events. The Fourteenth Amendment was ratified under Johnson, but the Radical Republicans (who had taken control of Congress) passed three Reconstruction bills early in 1867, overriding Johnson's vetoes on all. This new "Congressional Plan" (Reconstruction Act of 1867) was in action throughout the rest of Reconstruction, and in addition, the Fifteenth amendment was ratified. President Johnson had long since ceased to be a serious obstacle to the passage of Republican legislation, but they thought he still remained impediment, so they began to try to impeach him, by arguing he violated the Tenure of Office Act but Johnson survived the impeachment by one vote, and Johnson was acquitted. Exhausted by the political turmoil of the Johnson administrating, voters did not reelect him in 1868.

21. Chester A. Arthur (1881-1885)

Arthur was a firm believer in the spoils system when it was coming under vehement attack from reformers. He insisted upon honest administration of the Customs House, but staffed it with more employees than it needed, keeping people because of their party affiliation, in line with his views on the spoils system. In 1883 Congress passed the Pendleton Act, which established a bipartisan t, and forbade levying political assessments against officeholders, and created a series of written tests in order to become a officeholder in the government. The system protected employees against removal for political reasons. Arthur also tried to lower tariff rates so the Government would not be embarrassed by annual surpluses of revenue. Although Congress ended up raising about as many rates as it trimmed, Arthur signed the Tariff Act of 1883. Westerners and Southerners were very upset, and looked to the Democratic Party for a rebuttal, and the tariff began to emerge as a major political issue between the two parties. Additionally, the Arthur Administration enacted the first general Federal immigration law, and later the Chinese Exclusion Act in which Congress suspended Chinese immigration for ten years, later making the restriction permanent. Arthur approved a measure in 1882 excluding paupers, criminals, and lunatics. Arthur had been suffering from a fatal kidney disease and died in 1886.

24. Gover Cleveland (1893-1897 - 2nd Administration)

As we have already discussed, Cleveland was a very special President, as he was the only President to leave the White House and return for a second term four years later. However, in 1892, Cleveland faced an acute depression in the economy. He dealt directly with the Treasury crisis rather than with business failures, farm mortgage foreclosures, and unemployment. He repealed the inflationary Sherman Silver Purchase Act and, with the aid of Wall Street, maintained the Treasury's gold reserve. Cleveland also sent in federal troops in order to stop the Pullman Railroad Strike, stating that "If it takes the entire army and navy of the United States to deliver a post card in Chicago," he thundered, "that card will be delivered." Cleveland was somewhat successful in foreign affairs, forcing Great Britain to accept arbitration of a disputed boundary in Venezuela. However, his policies during the depression were unpopular with the American people, and as a result his party deserted him and his political career was over.

44. Barack Obama (2009-2017)

Barack Obama set a historic landmark in American history - he became the first African American to become president, and seems to have brought the American dream to a whole new level. Barack Obama has had a presidency filled with highly debated issues and policies, including the most recent Medicare acts and the drawdown of American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Perhaps one of the most epic moments of Obama's Presidency to this date came early morning of May 1st, 2011 (or late night April 30th), when the US Navy SEAL Team Six executed Operation Neptune Spear and killed Osama Bin Laden, ridding the world of the head of the largest terrorist organization in the world. Many things have happened under President Obama, but his legacy is not over yet, and it is too soon to truly be able to concisely describe his president here.

12. Zachary Taylor (1849-1850)

Before his presidency, Taylor had been a soldier in the US army for 40 years, and even rose to the rank of general (General Zachary Taylor). These years in the army made him a strong nationalist. Taylor won the election of 1848 by a narrow victory. While Van Buren failed to carry a single state, he polled an impressive 290,000 votes (10% of the total), and the Free-Soilers (Free-Soil Party) elected ten members to Congress. The emergence of the Free-Soil Party as an important political force signaled the inability of the existing parties to contain the political passions slavery was creating, and was an important factor in the collapse of the second party system late in the 1850s. By the time Taylor took office, the pressure to resolve the question of slavery in the far western territories had become more urgent as a result of the finding of gold in California. Almost immediately, hundreds of thousands of people form around the world began flocking to California in a frantic search for gold. The California migrants (known as "Forty-Niners") threw caution to the winds, and left everything for gold. Although Taylor was in office during the time of the ideal beginning of the Compromise of 1850, but he died before it was implemented, on July 9th, 1850.

41. George H.W. Bush (1989-1993)

George H. W. Bush had been Vice President for Ronald Reagan, but when he became President he faced a dramatically changing world, as the Cold War ended after 40 bitter years, the Communist empire broke up, and the Berlin Wall fell. The Soviet Union ceased to exist; and reformist President Mikhail Gorbachev, whom Bush had supported, resigned. President Bush sent American troops into Panama to overthrow the corrupt regime of General Manuel Noriega. when Iraqi President Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, then threatened to move into Saudi Arabia. Bush moved to free Kuwait, and successfully did so in Operation Desert Storm, where after weeks of air and missile bombardment, the 100-hour operation routed Iraq's million-man army. Despite unprecedented popularity from this military and diplomatic triumph, Bush was unable to withstand discontent at home from a faltering economy, rising violence in inner cities, and continued high deficit spending. In 1992 he lost his bid for reelection to Democrat William Clinton.

42. Bill Clinton (1993-2001)

Bill Clinton may be the most loved President in American history to go down in scandal. He could point to the lowest unemployment rate in modern times, the lowest inflation in 30 years, the highest home ownership in the country's history, dropping crime rates in many places, and reduced welfare rolls. He proposed the first balanced budget in decades and achieved a budget surplus. He was also the first Democratic president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to win a second term. However, he will live forever in infamy because of scandal. In 1998, as a result of issues surrounding personal indiscretions with a young woman White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. Clinton was the second U.S. president to be impeached by the House of Representatives. He was tried in the Senate and found not guilty of the charges brought against him. He apologized to the nation for his actions and continued to have unprecedented popular approval ratings for his job as president, especially surprising for a president with an affair. He also succeeded in foreign affairs, where he successfully dispatched peace keeping forces to war-torn Bosnia and bombed Iraq when Saddam Hussein stopped United Nations inspections for evidence of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons.

30. Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929)

Calvin Coolidge had an interesting start to his Presidential career. He was the Vice President under Harding, but (key intro music) at 2:30 on the morning of August 3, 1923, while visiting in Vermont, Calvin Coolidge received word that he was President. By the light of a kerosene lamp, his father, who was a notary public, administered the oath of office as Coolidge placed his hand on the family Bible. Coolidge was an old-styled, classical type of American politician, who believed that the running of the nation should be left to the people themselves, and as a result he refused to use federal powers to check the growing boom or to help the struggling farmers. In the 1924 election, Coolidge was reelected with a 56% popular vote, mostly because of the prosperity in the nation at the time, known as the "Coolidge prosperity". In his presidency he twice vetoed farm relief bills, and killed a plan to produce cheap Federal electric power on the Tennessee River, totaling a whole 50 bills. Coolidge was very negative, isolated (perhaps leading or as a result from the new isolationism in the nation) President who was said to be a political genius simply because of his ability to do nothing, which at during the time period, was a perfect fit for the nation. Going along with his very short and to the point way of speaking and dry Yankee wit, he informed the nation he was not going to run in 1928 by simply stating: "I do not choose to run for President in 1928."

34. Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961)

Dwight D. Eisenhower became president in 1953 after leading a life in the military. He was prestigiously known for his victories as a commanding officer in WWII, and later assumed supreme command over the new NATO forces being assembled in 1951. When Eisenhower did assume the presidency, the US was in the middle of the Korean War, and also the Cold War. However, Eisenhower was able to quickly achieve a truce that created the armed peace that still exists today on the North Korean and South Korean border. The death of Stalin in the same year (1953) also caused a shift in US-Soviet relationships, and the new Russian leaders consented to a peace treaty neutralizing Austria. However, at the same time, both Russia and the United States had developed hydrogen bombs and with the threat of such destructive force hanging over the world, Eisenhower, with the leaders of the British, French, and Russian governments, met at Geneva in July 1955. In September of 1955, Eisenhower suffered a heart attack and was hospitalized, but recovered after a few months, and was reelected again in November of 1956. Eisenhower continued support of the New Deal and Fair Deal programs, and also desegregated both schools, and the Army around the nation. Eisenhower also adopted the "atoms for peace program", the loan of American uranium to "have not" nations for peaceful purposes. Before retiring after his second term, Eisenhower emphasized the necessity of maintaining an adequate military strength, but cautioned that vast, long-continued military expenditures could breed potential dangers to our way of life.

32. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1933-1945)

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, better known as FDR, was the only President elected to 4 terms. FDR became president in the midst of the Great Depression, but brought the hope and vigor he promised in his famous inaugural speech, which included perhaps the most well-known presidential phrase in American history: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself". In a Depression ridden country, FDR began to enact one of the most distinguished programs in American history: The New Deal. The New Deal encompassed many different bills, starting with the Emergency Banking Act, the Economy Act, and the Civilian Conservation Corps, and extending over eth next six years, ending in 1939 and ending with the Executive Reorganization Act. The events of the entire New Deal is too much to include in this brief narrative, and in order to fully understand them, you can visit here. The New Deal was the most dramatic and important moment in the modern history of American government, and from the time of FDR's inauguration in 1933 to the beginning of WWII eight years later, the federal government engaged in a broad and diverse series of experiments designed o relieve the distress of unemployment and poverty, to reform the economy to prevent future crises, and to bring the Great Depression itself to an end. However, it had only partial success in all those efforts, and for this reason, the New Deal is the most debated series of legislature in American history. However, the New Deal was only half of FDR's legacy. During his presidency, America entered the greatest war the world has seen to this day. At first, Roosevelt attempted to keep America the "master of her own fate", and in the beginning of the war, America was truly neutral, but they eventually moved to send support (in means of supplies) to the besieged Great Britain. In September of 1941, Nazi submarines began a campaign against American vessels, and the war was about to begin. Then, at 7:55 AM on Sunday, December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and destroyed 8 battleships, 3 cruisers, 4 other vessels, 188 airplanes, and several shore installations, in addition to killing 2,000 soldiers and sailors, and injuring 1,000 more. However, none of the Aircraft carriers (the heart of the Pacific Fleet) had been at Pearl Harbor on this day (many conspiracy theories that FDR let this attack happen and knew about it in advance circulate to today). The next day, FDR went to Congress and got approval for war, and three days later, Germany and Italy declared war on the US. FDR served as president throughout almost all of WWII, and was elected as president a fourth time in 1944. However, as the war was finally coming to a close, Roosevelt's health (which had never been great - before his presidency he suffered from polio) deteriorated, and on April 12, 1945, while at Warm Springs, Georgia, he died of a cerebral hemorrhage. The presidency was forced on the unprepared and uninvolved Harry S. Truman.

14. Franklin Pierce (1853-1857)

Franklin Pierce was the presidential candidate for the Democrats in the election of 1852. He was a charming, amiable man with no particular distinction, and this is what partially allowed him to win the election. He attempted to maintain harmony by avoiding divisive issues, and particularly by avoiding the issue of slavery; but this was an impossible task. The battle over slavery raged on during his presidency. Pierce hoped to dampen sectional controversy through his support of a movement in the Democratic party known as the "Young America" Movement which saw the expansion of American Democracy throughout the world as a way to divert attention form the controversies of slavery. There was controversy under Pierce, for he had been pursuing unsuccessful diplomatic attempts to buy Cuba from Spain (efforts begun in 1848 by Polk). In 1854, a group of his envoys sent him a private document from Ostend, Belgium, making the case for seizing Cuba by force. When the Ostend Manifesto as it became known, was leaked to the public, it enraged many antislavery northerners, who charged the administration with conspiring to bring a new slave state into the Union. Also under Pierce, the Transcontinental Railroad also greatly expanded and thrived. However, a southwestern route was needed to make a complete railroad, and so the Gadsden Purchase was made. Also under Pierce was the Kansas-Nebraska Act, along with the Birth of the Republican Party. Pierce also had to deal with the "Bleeding Kansas" scandal. In addition, the Free-Soil Ideology took a firm root during Pierce's presidency. Because Pierce was closely associated with the explosive question of "Bleeding Kansas", he was not chosen as a candidate for the Democratic Party, ending his political career.

43. George W. Bush (2001-2009)

George W. Bush, at the age of 54, became the 43rd president of the United States, and also only the second President in American history that was the son of a previous President. The other was John Quincy Adams. George W. Bush also joined the club of only three other presidents to win the election without holding the popular vote, including John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Benjamin Harrison. Not even 9 months after being inaugurated, Bush faced the first attack on American soil, and an event that has changed the course of both US history and world history, the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Bush responded by starting an unprecedented war on terror, sending American troops into Afghanistan to attempt to destroy the Taliban. The Taliban were successfully disrupted but their leader, Osama Bin Laden, was not captured and was still on the loose as Bush began his second term. His most controversial act was the invasion of Iraq on the belief that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein posed a grave threat to the United States. Saddam was captured, but the disruption of Iraq and the killing of American servicemen and friendly Iraqis by insurgents became the challenge of Bush's government as he began his second term. This problem continued throughout his presidency, and finally in the past few years the drawdown of troops in Iraq has been started and almost completed. Bush campaigned for reelection in 2004 against Senator John Kerry and although the election was a good contest, Bush's contention that the invasion of Iraq had made the world more secure against terrorism won the national political debate. Bush was re-elected with 51 percent to 48 percent. Although Bush did not make major steps in his second term, but he did have to face the biggest natural disaster in recent American history: Hurricane Katrina. Overall, over the span of his presidency, although Bush may have been hated by many by the end, he had to face some very tough events, and very tough decisions.

38. Gerard R. Ford (1974-1977)

Gerald Ford had been the first Vice President chosen under the terms of the Twenty-fifth Amendment and, in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal, became the first President to succeed the first President ever to resign. When the presidency was forced upon him, Ford faced difficult circumstances: there were the challenges of mastering inflation, reviving a depressed economy, solving chronic energy shortages, and trying to ensure world peace. Ford may be known as one of the veto kings as president: he vetoed a number of non-military appropriations bills that would have further increased the already heavy budgetary deficit and during his first 14 months as President he vetoed 39 bills, and most were sustained. The major foreign affairs objective was preventing a new war in the Middle East, and Ford accomplished this by providing aid to both Israel and Egypt, the Ford Administration helped persuade the two countries to accept an interim truce agreement. Although Ford lost the next election, his progress was respected and appreciated by all Americans, even his opponent. On Inauguration Day, President Carter began his speech: "For myself and for our Nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all he has done to heal our land."

18. Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877)

Grant could have had the nomination of either party in 1868, but believing that Republican Reconstruction policies were more popular in the North, he accepted the Republican nomination. The campaign was a bitter one, and Grant's triumph was surprisingly narrow. Without the 500,000 new black Republican voters in the South, he would have had the minority of the popular vote. Grant had very little political experience, and was very clumsy and ineffectual. By the end of Grant's first term, members of a substantial faction of the party - who referred to themselves as Liberal Republicans - had come to oppose what they called "Grantism". However, Grant still won the reelection. During the 1872 campaign, the first of a series of political scandals came to light that would plague Grant and the Republicans for the next eight years. It involved the French-owned Crédit Mobilier construction company, which had helped build the Union Pacific Railroad. This scenario was basically a money-laundering scheme, including Schuyler Colfax, who was Grant's Vice-President. Next was the infamous "whiskey ring" with false tax reports, then the so-called Indian ring. Other, lesser scandals added to the growing impression that Grantism had brought rampant corruption to the government. Compounding Grant's, and the nation's problems was a financial crisis, known as the Panic of 1873. This was another American financial panic based on an insecure currency compounded by foolish investing. This crisis resulted in the National Greenback Party, which believed that the value of the dollar should constantly fluctuate. However, the Republicans under Grant did have a few diplomatic successes, including "Seward's Folly", the purchase of Alaska (and the tiny Midway Islands), which turned to be anything but a folly. He also dealt with Alabama claims made against England. Overall, Grant's presidency was a not very successful.

22. Grover Cleveland (1885-1889)

Grover Cleveland was a very special President. He was the First Democrat elected after the Civil War, and also was the only President to leave the White House and return for a second term four years later. In addition, in his second term, Grover Cleveland was the third of four presidents to win the popular vote but lose the election (the others: Andrew Jackson [1824]; Samuel Tilden [1876]; and Al Gore [2000]). He was also the only president married in the White House. The First Democrat elected after the Civil War, Grover Cleveland was the only President to leave the White House and return for a second term four years later. He also vetoed many private pension bills to Civil War veterans whose claims were fraudulent. When Congress, pressured by the Grand Army of the Republic, passed a bill granting pensions for disabilities not caused by military service, Cleveland vetoed it, too. He also signed the Interstate Commerce Act, the first law attempting Federal regulation of the railroads. In December 1887 he called on Congress to reduce high protective tariffs. Although Cleveland would not win the next election, he did, as mentioned before, come back, as the only President to leave the White House and return for a second term four years later.

29. Warren G. Harding (1921-1923)

Harding was the Republican nominee for the election of 1920, partially to be a figurehead president that the Republican party believed they could manipulate, and ran on the idea that he was going to return the nation to normalcy stating in his most famous speech, the return to normalcy (this is the famous excerpt): "America's present need is not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration; not agitation, but adjustment; not surgery, but serenity; not the dramatic, but the dispassionate; not experiment, but equipoise; not submergence in internationality, but sustainment in triumphant nationality....". Harding ran a very vague and non-specific campaign and neither strongly advocated for anything nor strongly advocated against an idea. However, he still won the election by a landslide, 60% of the popular vote. Republicans were easily able to pass bills with Harding as the president, and as a result they eliminated wartime controls and slashed taxes, established a Federal budget system, restored the high protective tariff, and imposed tight limitations upon immigration. Fortunately for Harding, by 1923 the postwar depression seemed to be giving way to a new surge of prosperity, and as a result, Harding was praised. However, there was scandal in his office. Harding asked the then Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover, for advice, but even with Hoover's advice, Harding never publicized the scandal for fear of political repercussions. He never found out if or how the scandal would be uncovered for in August of 1923, he died in San Francisco of a heart attack.

33. Harry S. Truman (1945-1953)

Harry S. Truman became the President after the death of FDR in 1945. During his few weeks as Vice President, Harry S. Truman scarcely saw President Roosevelt, and received no briefing on the development of the atomic bomb or the unfolding difficulties with Soviet Russia. Suddenly, the weight of the US, and almost of the entire world, fell upon Truman. He told reporters, "I felt like the moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen on me." It was Truman who ordered the atomic bombs to be dropped on Japan (although it should be noted that he did in fact plea for a Japanese surrender before doing so). In June 1945 Truman witnessed the signing of the charter of the United Nations. Truman wrote his own 21-point policy to Congress, which later became known as the Fair Deal. Throughout his two terms as president, Trumann had to deal with many foreign relations situations. One example was the Soviet Union's pressure of Greece and Turkey, and Truman's response of giving aid to Greece and Turkey, which became known as the Truman Doctrine. The Marshall Plan, named for his Secretary of State, stimulated spectacular economic recovery in war-torn Western Europe. However, Truman's biggest problem was the Soviets. When the Russians blockaded the western sectors of Berlin in 1948, Truman created a massive airlift to supply Berliners until the Russians backed down. Meanwhile, he was negotiating a military alliance to protect Western nations, known as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which was eventually established in 1949. Truman also had to deal with the beginning of the Korean War in 1950, but attempted to keep the American role in the war limited. Overall, throughout his presidency, Trumann had to deal with the beginning, and part of the heart, of the Cold War with the Soviet Union, often having to deal with the Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin. After his term was up in 1953, Truman decided not to run again.

31. Herbert Hoover (1929-1933)

Hoover was not known for only his presidency, but also for public service as an engineer, administrator, and humanitarian. During World War I, he served as the head of the Food Administration, and also as a member of the Supreme Economic Council and head of the American Relief Administration. He then went on to serve as the Secretary of Commerce under Harding and Coolidge. Hoover claimed "We in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land" and his election seemed to ensure prosperity, but then crisis struck. Within months the stock market crashed, and the Nation spiraled downward into depression, and then began what is now known as the Great Depression. In 1931 repercussions from Europe deepened the crisis, just as the President presented to Congress a program asking for creation of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. Hoover became the scapegoat for the Depression and was badly defeated in 1932, but his political career wasn't over. In 1947 President Truman appointed Hoover to a commission, which elected him chairman, to reorganize the Executive Departments. President Eisenhower appointed him chairman of a similar commission in 1953. Hoover then continued to write books and articles, which he worked on until the day he died in New York City on October 20, 1964.

23. Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893)

In the Presidential election, Harrison received 100,000 fewer popular votes than Cleveland, but carried the Electoral College 233 to 168. Although Harrison had made no political bargains, his supporters had given innumerable pledges upon his behalf. He was the third President to win the election without carrying the popular vote. Under Harrison, the first Pan American Congress met in Washington in 1889, which later developed into the Pan American Union. At the end of his administration Harrison also submitted to the Senate a treaty to annex Hawaii, however, Grover Cleveland threw it away in his next term. Harrison Substantial signed many internal improvement bills, which included improvement in the naval sector, and subsidies for steamship lines. He also signed the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. Harrison faced the ever-increasing problem of the tariff, and faced it by slightly raising it, but by including reciprocity provisions, especially on sugar, he attempted to make the tariff more acceptable. However, Long before the end of the Harrison Administration, the Treasury surplus had evaporated, and prosperity seemed about to disappear as well, and as a result, Harrison was beaten by Cleveland in the next election.

20. James Garfield (1881)

James A. Garfield was the last of the 'log cabin presidents', and made his staple by attacked political corruption and won back for the Presidency a measure of prestige it had lost during the Reconstruction period. On the 36th ballot (1880), Garfield himself became the "dark horse" nominee, and only won the election by a margin of only 10,000 popular votes. One of Garfield's only attempted political moves was in foreign affairs, when Garfield's Secretary of State invited all American republics to a conference to meet in Washington in 1882. However, the conference never took place, for on July 2, 1881, in a Washington railroad station, an embittered attorney who had sought a political position, but did not receive it, shot the President. Mortally wounded, Garfield lay in the White House for weeks. Alexander Graham Bell, also notably the inventor of the telephone, tried unsuccessfully to find the bullet with an induction-balance electrical device, which he himself had designed. On September 6, Garfield was taken to the New Jersey seaside and for a few days he seemed to be recuperating, but on September 19, 1881, he died from an infection and internal hemorrhage. Garfield was the second of only four presidents to be assassinated in office.

15. James Buchanan (1857-1861)

James Buchanan was chosen as a candidate for the presidential campaign of 1856 for the Democratic Party because unlink President Pierce, Buchanan was not related to the "Bleeding of Kansas", and had been safely out of the country during recent controversies as a minister to England. Buchanan won a narrow victory over Frémont and Fillmore, who ran with the sad remnant of the Whig Party. In the year Buchanan took office, a financial panic struck the country, followed by a depression that lasted several years. In the North, the depression strengthened the Republican Party because distressed manufacturers, workers, and farmers came to believe that the hard times were the result of the unsound policies of southern-controlled Democratic administrations. They expressed their frustrations by moving into an alliance with antislavery elements and thus into the Republican Party. The Dred Scott Decision was under Buchanan's presidency, a case that can bee seen here. Taney's Sweeping opinion on the case was infamous, and resulted in a national debate. Buchanan timidly endorsed the Dred Scott decision, and tried to resolve the controversy over Kansas by supporting its admission to the Union as a slave state. In response, the pro-slavery territorial legislature called an election for delegates to a constitutional convention. The free-state residents refused to participate, claiming that the legislature had discriminated against them in drawing district lines. Both sides were in a locked battle, with the Lecompton Constitution being rejected. Finally, in the closing months of Buchanan's administration in 1861, after several southern states had already withdrawn form the Union, did Kansas enter the Union - as a free state.

6. John Quincy Adams (1825-1829)

John Quincy Adams, the son of John Adams, took office in 1825 under disputed circumstances. Andrew Jackson had received more popular and electoral votes than any other candidate, but no a majority, and according to the Twelfth Amendment, the House of Representatives was required to choose among the three candidates with the largest numbers of electoral votes, and because Crawford was sick, the decision was between Jackson and Adams. Adams promised Clay the Secretary of State, which was considered the stepping-stone of the presidency, and with Clay's support, Adams won in the House, becoming President, and being accused by Jackson as a "Corrupt Bargain". Throughout his presidency, the political bitterness form the "corrupt bargain" frustrated his policies, for the Jacksonian Congress blocked most of his ambitiously nationalist program similar to Clay's American System, and many other of his political goals. The final damage to the administration was the "Tariff of Abomination" as called by people in the South, who cursed the bill as unfair and harmful. Jackson greatly defeated Adams in his reelection, in a battle where issues seemed to count for little, and a campaign of war of personal invective. With his loss to Jackson, John Q. Adams only served one term in the Presidency.

39. Jimmy Carter (1977-1981)

James Carter, known to all as "Jimmy" Carter, campaigned hard against Ford, but came out victorious, winning by 297 electoral votes to 241 for Ford. Carter battled against the rising inflation and depressing economy, ultimately claiming an increase of nearly eight million jobs and a decrease in the budget deficit. However, he could not defeat the rising inflation rates of the time. Carter also worked hard with domestic affairs: he dealt with the energy shortage by establishing a national energy policy and by decontrolling domestic petroleum prices to stimulate production. He also worked to help the environment, and he expanded the national park system to include the protection of 103 million acres of Alaskan lands. To increase human and social services, he created the Department of Education, bolstered the Social Security system, and increased diversity in the government by appointing record numbers of women, blacks, and Hispanics to Government jobs. In foreign affairs he succeeded as well, securing the Camp David agreement of 1978, to help bring a small amount of peace between Egypt and Israel. He also succeeded in completing many of the Panama Canal treaties and completing the negotiation of the SALT II nuclear limitation treaty with the Soviet Union. However, Carter faced a few setbacks, for the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan caused the suspension of plans for ratification of the SALT II pact. Additional problems also arose in the Middle East: the seizure as hostages of the U. S. embassy staff in Iran dominated the news during the last 14 months of the administration and in part caused Carter's defeat in his campaign for reelection. Even after his defeat, he continued the difficult negotiations over the hostages, and on the day he left office, Iran finally released the 52 Americans.

4. James Madison (1809-1817)

James Madison may have been one of the most brilliant of the early leaders of the republic, but as you can see by his portrait, he was mostly serious and humorless. Madison was elected into office in March of 1809, and in 1810, new, young men were elected to Congress. These men wanted war, and later became known as the "War Hawks", which ultimatley brought the war of 1812 on the US. The US won the war, ending it with the Treaty of Ghent (1814) and the Rush-Bagot Agreement. During the end of the wartime period, the Hartford Convention occurred. Under Madison, the industrial economy grew and transportation boomed. On Madison's last day in office (March 3rd, 1817), he vetoed the internal improvements bill, explaining that he believed that Congress lacked authority to fund the improvement without a constitutional amendment.

35. John F. Kennedy (1961-1963)

John Fitzgerald Kennedy ushered in a new era of US presidents. He won his narrow election race against Richard Nixon with the help of the first televised debates, and he became the first Roman Catholic president. In his Inaugural Address he offered the memorable words: "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country." - a quote that has perhaps become the epitome of Kennedy's time as president. Responding to the popular demands, he took vigorous action in the cause of equal rights, calling for new civil rights legislation, and with the Alliance for Progress and the Peace Corps; he brought American idealism to the aid of developing nations. During his time as president, JFK had to deal with major battles against communism, including the Vietnam War, the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion, and the tension of the Cuban Missile Crisis. His presidency infamously ended on November 22, 1963, in Dallas Texas, where he was assassinated when riding in a motorcade parade. How he was killed has brought up many conspiracy theories and questions, including the magic bullet. He was the youngest president to be elected, and also the youngest to die.

36. Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969)

Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as president on Air Force One on the same day that Kennedy was assassinated. After obtaining a new civil rights bill and a tax cut that Kennedy had urged for, Johnson moved on to his new vision, "to build a great society, a place where the meaning of man's life matches the marvels of man's labor." Johnson was then reelected, and won the Presidency with 61 percent of the vote and had the widest popular margin in American history--more than 15,000,000 votes. Johnson pursued a program later referred to as the Great Society program, which attempted to aid to education, attack on disease, Medicare, urban renewal, beautification, conservation, development of depressed regions, a wide-scale fight against poverty, control and prevention of crime and delinquency, removal of obstacles to the right to vote. A problem that faced Johnson was the continuing battle in Vietnam. He limited the bombing of North Vietnam in order to initiate negotiations and at the same time, he startled the world by withdrawing as a candidate for re-election so that he might devote his full efforts, unimpeded by politics, to the quest for peace. When he left office, peace talks were under way; he did not live to see them successful, but died suddenly of a heart attack at his Texas ranch on January 22, 1973.

13. Millard Fillmore (1850-1853)

Millard Fillmore was defined as a dull, handsome, dignified man who understood the political importance of flexibility, and was form New York. He supported the compromise and used his powers of persuasion to swing northern Wings into line. Stephen A. Douglas's first step after the departure of Clay was to destroy the "omnibus bill", which Clay had envisioned as a great, comprehensive solution to the sectional crisis and to introduce instead a series of separate measures to be voted on one by one. As a result, by mid-September Congress had enacted and the president had signed all the components of the compromise. The Compromise of 1850 was not a product of widespread agreement on common national ideal like the Missouri Compromise, but rather a victory of self-interests. Fillmore called it a just settlement of the sectional problem, "in its character final and irrevocable". This was one of Fillmore's only accomplishments, and some more militant northern Whigs remained irreconcilable, refusing to forgive Fillmore for having signed the Fugitive Slave Act. They helped deprive him of the Presidential nomination in 1852, thus effectively ending his political career.

5. James Monroe (1817-1825)

Monroe easily won the election of 1816, receiving 183 ballots. He was sixty-one years old when he became president, and had served as a soldier in the Revolution, as a diplomat, and most recently as a cabinet officer. He took office under favorable circumstances, and after his first inaugurating did what no president since Washington had done: he made a goodwill tour through the country. Around the nation he was greeted as one of the most loved Presidents. For this reason, Madison's presidency was known as the "The Era of Good Feelings". Madison helped to annex Florida with the Adams-Onis Treaty and also helped the country survive through the Panic of 1819. Under Madison, the Missouri Compromise passed, and many court rulings (see Court Cases on this website) passed under John Marshall. Monroe also enacted the Monroe Doctrine (1823) (although it was mostly the work of John Quincy Adams - just like the Adams-Onis Treaty). The Doctrine declared that "The American continents are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers, and the US would consider any foreign challenge to the sovereignty of existing American nations an unfriendly act.

7. Andrew Jackson (1829-1837)

On March 4, 1829, thousands of Americans form all regions of the country, and all of modest social rand, crowded before the capitol in DC to witness Andrew Jackson's inauguration. This is because Jackson was considered a man of the leader, while his enemies considered him "King 'Mob'" ("Reign of King Mob"). During Jackson's time, the new Party system rose, based on the preservation of the party. This Second Party System was based on the fact it was the goal of the party to survive first, and to actually support political ideals second. This party system needed rivals to survive, and so two parties were necessary. Jackson's followers called themselves Democrats (giving a name to what is now the nation's oldest political party), and anti-Jackson forces called themselves the Whigs, based on the Whig party in England, which attempted to limit the King's power (for they called Jackson a tyrannical King). Jackson, who was known as champion of the common man, started the spoils system, and eliminated two entrenched elites: permanent officeholders and the exclusive party caucus. Jackson helped the rise of Van Buren, after fighting with Calhoun over nullification, a topic that later sparked the famous Webster-Hayne Debate and also saw Buren rise in the Peggy Eaton Affair. Under Jackson, the nullification crisis rose and was avoided with a compromise by Henry Clay. Jackson also destroyed and removed what was left of Indian cultures in the Eastern US, moving them to the barren Indian Territory in Oklahoma. He also fought the Second Bank of the United States, and helped to bring about its destruction with his veto and his reelection in 1833, and along with Biddle's defeat, Jackson was able to finally destroy the second BUS. One of the cornerstones that arose out of the Jacksonian ideal era was that the key to democracy was an expansion of economic opportunity, which would not occur if older corporations could maintain monopolies and choke off competition form newer companies.

11. James K. Polk (1845-1849)

Prior to running for President, Polk had represented Tennessee in the House of Representatives for fourteen years, four of them as Speaker, and had also served as governor. However, by 1844 he had been out of public office for three years. The way he was able to win public support, and also the presidency, was support for his position "that the re-occupation of Oregon and the re-annexation of Texas at thee earliest practicable period are great American measures." Behind this Democratic ideal, Polk was able to win the Presidency. He entered the office with a clear set of goals and with plans for attaining them. John Tyler had accomplished the first of Polk's goals for him in the last days of his presidency, by winning congressional approval for the annexation of Texas in February 1845, and by December, Texas had become a state. Polk himself resolved the Oregon Dispute, for when the British minister in Washington rejected a compromise Polk offered that would establish the US-Canadian border at the 49th parallel. Angry, Polk again asserted the American claim to all of Oregon. There was talk of war on both sides of the Atlantic, and in the US this talk often took the form of the slogan "Fifty-four forty or fight!" (a reference to where the Americans hoped to draw the northern boundary of their part of Oregon). However, neither country really wanted war, and finally, the British government accepted Polk's original proposal to divide the territory at the 49th parallel. On June 15, 1846, the Senate approved a treaty that fixed the boundary at the 49th parallel, where it remains today. Under Polk, the Mexican War (including the failed Slidell Mission and creation of the Bear Flag Republic through the Bear Flag Revolution) was started, and ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. In addition, Polk supported a proposal to extend the Missouri Compromise line through the new territories to the Pacific coast (called popular sovereignty [or "squatter sovereignty"]). The debate over this issue dragged on for many months, and the issue remained unresolved when Polk left office in 1849.

37. Richard M. Nixon (1969-1974)

Richard M. Nixon is perhaps the most infamous president in the history of the United States. During his Presidency, Nixon succeeded in ending American fighting in Vietnam and succeeded in improving relations with the U.S.S.R. and China. However, the Watergate scandal brought fresh divisions to the country and ultimately led to his resignation. Nixon realized in order to end the war in Vietnam, he had to extend relations with China, and as a result, China became somewhat friendly with the US. In addition, Nixon was able to improve relations with the USSR, and start the process of détente - the easing of the strained relations the cold war had started. His other accomplishments while in office included revenue sharing, the end of the draft, new anticrime laws, and a broad environmental program. As he had promised, he appointed Justices of conservative philosophy to the Supreme Court. One of the most dramatic events of his first term occurred in 1969, when American astronauts made the first moon landing. He was also able to negotiate a new treaty to limit strategic nuclear weapons with the USSR. In his 1972 bid for office, Nixon defeated Democratic candidate George McGovern by one of the widest margins on record. Soon after the election, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew resigned in 1973 as a result of scandal, so Nixon nominated, and Congress approved, House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford as Vice President. The infamous Watergate scandal ensued, and soon Nixon became the first president to resign, and Gerald Ford became the 38th President of the United States.

40. Ronald Reagan (1981-1989)

Ronald Reagan easily won the presidential election of 1980. Voters troubled by inflation and by the yearlong confinement of Americans in Iran swept the Republican ticket into office. Reagan won 489 electoral votes to 49 for President Jimmy Carter. 69 days after he took office on January 20, 1981, Reagan was shot by an attempted assassin, but quickly recovered and returned to duty. His grace and wit during the dangerous incident caused his popularity to soar. Similar to his predecessors, Reagan obtained legislation to stimulate economic growth, curb inflation, increase employment, and strengthen national defense. He embarked upon a course of cutting taxes and Government expenditures, refusing to deviate from it when the strengthening of defense forces led to a large deficit. Reagan and Bush easily won reelection in 1984. In 1986 Reagan obtained an overhaul of the income tax code, which eliminated many deductions and exempted millions of people with low incomes. At the end of his administration, the Nation was enjoying its longest recorded period of peacetime prosperity without recession or depression. Reagan also fought in international affairs, claiming to achieve "peace through strength" and in dramatic meetings with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev; he negotiated a treaty that would eliminate intermediate-range nuclear missiles. Reagan declared war against international terrorism, sending American bombers against Libya after evidence came out that Libya was involved in an attack on American soldiers in a West Berlin nightclub. By ordering naval escorts in the Persian Gulf, he maintained the free flow of oil during the Iran-Iraq war. In keeping with the Reagan Doctrine, he gave support to anti-Communist insurgencies in Central America, Asia, and Africa. By the end of his administration, it seemed as if world peace was within the reach of America.

19. Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1881)

Rutherford B. Hayes' election did not go smoothly. The November election produced an apparent Democratic victory (Hayes was a Republican), but disputed returns from Louisiana, South Carolina, Florida, and Oregon, whose total electoral vote was 20, threw the election in doubt. Tilden had undisputed claim to 184 electoral votes, only one short of a majority, but Hayes could still win if he managed to receive all 20 disputed votes. Since the Constitution had established no concrete method, A Special Electoral Commission was put together, which gave Hayes all the votes, making him President. There were politics behind the decisions, however. This was known as the Compromise of 1877, and was the agreement that by cooperating, the Southern Democrats (among them some former Whigs) exacted several pledges form the Republicans in addition to withdrawal of troops: the appointment of at least one Southerner to the Hayes cabinet, control of federal patronage in their areas, generous internal improvements, and federal aid for the Texas and Pacific Railroad. The framers of this compromise hoped for a further industrialized South, and this began to occur under Hayes. After the withdrawal of troops, every southern state government had been "redeemed" - political power had been restored to the Democrats. Once again, the South fell under the control of a powerful, conservative oligarchy, whose members were known variously as the "Redeemers" (to themselves and their supporters) or the "Bourbons" (a term for aristocrats used by some of their critics). In the late 1870s Virginia, a vigorous "Readjuster" movement emerged, demanding that the state revise its debt payment procedures as to make more money available for state services. New values were emerging in the South, as the editor of the Atlanta Constitution, Henry Grady, advocated for the virtues of thrift, industry, and progress. Their goal was to 'out Yankee the Yankees'. Under Rutherford, there was great Railroad Development in the South, the somewhat abusive "Convict-lease" System arose, and sharecropping and the crop-lien system emerged. However, racial strife also emerged, hand in hand with the rising Black middle class. Booker T. Washington outlined a philosophy of race relations that became widely known as the Atlanta Compromise: "The wisest among my race understand" he said, "that the agitation of the question of social equality is the extremest folly", and advocated that African Americans should struggle for economic gain, to show that they too had an economic value to America, something that would convince others of their importance. This was also the age of the birth of the Jim Crow Laws, Plessy v. Ferguson, and the restriction of the franchise of African Americans.

3. Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809)

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson won the dirty election of 1800, beating his Federalist enemy in a war of personal attacks and insults (he referred to this victory as the Revolution of 1800). However, the win was not easy, and as a result of a new rule, no one came out with a majority. As a result, the decision was sent to the House, which was a Republican majority, causing Jefferson to win the election in this manner. Jefferson's eight years in office was known as the Jeffersonian Era, which saw a rise of cultural nationalism, and small but relevant advances in medicine and science. The new nation saw the rise of a new, distinct language and writing style, in addition to new religious skepticism. The Second Great Awakening ccurred during this time period, and although Jefferson had pictured a nation of small, agrarian farmers, industrialism was beginning in America, starting with new technology, especially in New England. Eli Whitney's Cotton Gin was a huge development, and helped aid the cotton economy, adding on to the rising mercantilism of the North, with mill designs taken form Europe, and the power of the steam engine was emerging. Transportation also boomed, and cities began to rise. All this came with the new notion of judicial review and the Marbury v. Madison case. Jefferson helped to secure the Louisiana Purchase and sent the Lewis & Clark Expedition, which explored the West of the growing nation. Jefferson attempted to avoid the war with Britian, but his polices later resulted in the War of 1812. As you can see, much happened during the Jeffersonian era (and even more than listed here, visit this link), but Jefferson finally retired after his second term, in 1809, leaving James Madison to be the next president.

25. William McKinley (1897-1901)

When McKinley became President, the depression of 1893 had almost run its course and with it the extreme agitation over silver. Deferring action on the money question, he called Congress into special session to enact the highest tariff in history. In the friendly atmosphere of the McKinley Administration, industrial combinations developed at an unprecedented pace, but there will still problems, as in every presidency. Foreign affairs dominated McKinley's presidency, especially the Cuban affair. Unable to restrain Congress or the American people, McKinley delivered his message of neutral intervention in April 1898. Congress thereupon voted three resolutions tantamount to a declaration of war for the liberation and independence of Cuba. In the 100-day war, the United States destroyed the Spanish fleet outside Santiago harbor in Cuba, seized Manila in the Philippines, and occupied Puerto Rico. The United States also annexed the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico. McKinley won his next election, in which he campaigned against William Jennings Bryan. However, his second term, came to a tragic end in September 1901. He was standing in a receiving line at the Buffalo Pan-American Exposition when a deranged anarchist shot him twice. He died eight days later.

9. William Henry Harrison (1841)

William Henry Harrison was a descendant of the Virginia aristocracy but had spent his adult life in the Northwest. He was a renowned soldier, a famous Indian fighter, and a popular national figure, making him the perfect candidate for the Whigs in 1840. Harrison won the famous battle of Tippecanoe, and that is what earned him the nickname. The Whigs even ran Harrison and Tyler as Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too!, selling Harrison's victory in battle, and Tyler as a sidekick. During this election, the "penny press" first emerged, and news of the candidates was carried to a large audience of workers and trades people; as a result, news was reaching more people than ever. The Whigs presented themselves as a party of the common people, showing how the new party system catered to maintaining the party's survival rather than its political ideals. Both parties used the same techniques of mass voter appeal, and the philosophical purity of the party was not important, but its ability to win votes was. The Whig party disguised its elite character by portraying its presidential candidate as a man of the people: born in a log cabin and who enjoyed drinking hard cider from a jug, and therefore, the campaing was called the "Log Cabin & Hard Cider" campaign (there was even a pull car dot satirize Van Buren for being a man who enjoyed wine, and an aristocratic dandy). Harrison was portrayed as a simple man of the people who loved log cabins and hard cider, although in truth he was a wealthy member of the frontier elite with a considerable estate. Meanwhile, they accused Van Buren of being an aloof aristocrat who used cologne, drank champagne, and ate form gold plates, and since the Democrats had no defense, Harrison was able to win the election by a landslide. However, the popular William Henry Harrison died of pneumonia one month after taking office (April 4, 1841), leaving Vice President Tyler to succeed him. Harrison was the first President to die in office, and because he only held one month in office, not much happened in his time.

28. Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921)

Wilson maneuvered through Congress three major pieces of legislation. The first was a lower tariff, the Underwood Act; attached to the measure was a graduated Federal income tax. The passage of the Federal Reserve Act provided the Nation with the more elastic money supply it badly needed. In 1914 antitrust legislation established a Federal Trade Commission to prohibit unfair business practices. More legislation followed in 1916; one new law prohibited child labor; another limited railroad workers to an eight-hour day. By virtue of this legislation and the slogan "he kept us out of war," Wilson narrowly won re-election. However, after the election Wilson concluded that America could not remain neutral in the World War. On April 2,1917, he asked Congress for a declaration of war on Germany. Massive American effort slowly tipped the balance in favor of the Allies. Wilson went before Congress in January 1918, to enunciate American war aims--the Fourteen Points. After the end of the war, he presented to the Senate the Versailles Treaty, containing the Covenant of the League of Nations. By seven votes the Versailles Treaty failed in the Senate because Congress had shifted to the contol of the Republicans. The President, against the warnings of his doctors, had made a national tour to mobilize public sentiment for the treaty. Exhausted, he suffered a stroke and nearly died. Tenderly nursed by his second wife, Edith Bolling Galt, he lived until 1924.

26. Thodore Roosevelt (1901-1909)

With the assassination of President McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, not quite 43, became the youngest President in the Nation's history. During the Spanish-American War, Roosevelt was lieutenant colonel of the Rough Rider Regiment, which he led on a charge at the battle of San Juan. He was one of the most conspicuous heroes of the war. Roosevelt forced the dissolution of a great railroad combination in the Northwest. Other antitrust suits under the Sherman Act followed. Aware of the strategic need for a shortcut between the Atlantic and Pacific, Roosevelt ensured the construction of the Panama Canal and he even won the Nobel Peace Prize for mediating the Russo-Japanese War, reached a Gentleman's Agreement on immigration with Japan, and sent the Great White Fleet on a goodwill tour of the world.