Till today there were 44 presidents in the
history of United States. There were some great names who were the best leader of
the nations. Following are the ten
outstanding US presidents,
10. John F. Kennedy (1961-1963)
John
F. Kennedy was one charismatic president. He brought many teachers, writers,
scientists and different intellectuals into the government.He established the Peace Corps in order to help the undeveloped nations and was
very devoted to working hard for new civil rights laws. This became further unrealistic when
the Russians started to send missiles to Cuba. This brought the two countries
to the verge of war but Kennedy was determined to avoid it at all cost and
diffused all the tensions brilliantly. He had the power to inspire and
considering that he only served as the president for a brief stint of about two
years before being assassinated, he achieved a lot.
9. Andrew Jackson (1829-1837)
Andrew
Jackson was a fearless president right from the beginning. He easily was the
best president ever to serve the army – going well past the excellence of
George Washington, smashing the British in the war of (18(12 and then playing
the paramount role in taking Florida from Spain. So during his presidency there
was no shortage of courage as he demonstrated how great a role the president
had to play, by undertaking the responsibility of getting people the laws they
wanted instead of leaving everything up to the Congress. The Tariff act was
passed in (1832, which would be significant to America’s economy forever. When
North Carolina had other opinions about the act, Jackson made it clear that no
state had the right to break national laws and threatened to use the army if
necessary to save the union. He proved too strong and a compromise was worked
out.
8. James Monroe (1817-1825)
James
Monroe’s presidency became known as the era of good feeling. He settled tensions between England and America by coming
to an agreement of reducing the number of ships present in the great lakes
which triggered a wave of friendly cooperation and peaceful negotiations which
still exists today between the countries of America, England and France. The Missouri compromise was
signed which allowed Missouri to be a slave state but make sure that all
further states up north would be non slavery states. He also signed and ensured
the Monroe Doctrine which forbade all European countries making new colonies in
the Americas.
7. Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809)
Thomas
Jefferson cared passionately about his country and put the interests of the
people before his. He cut down on the army and the navy as he thought that a
country should be run cheaply as possible so there would always be money for
bigger developments when the need came. He was successful in buying from France
the whole Louisiana territory, stretching from the Mississippi river to the
Rocky Mountains and henceforth doubled the size of his country. When there was
a threat from the Barbary pirates based in Africa, he utilized his navy to
attack these pirates which once again ensured the smooth flow of American ships
through the Mediterranean Sea. He was on very good terms with the people and
mostly likely would have been reelected; instead he stepped down as president,
believing that no one should run for more than two terms for democracy to be
sustained in the land of the free.
6.Grover Cleveland (1885-1889) and (1893-1897)
Grover
Cleveland was a tremendously hard working president. He began to reform the
federal government and at the same improved civil service to get better
workers. He forced the railroads to return 81 million acres of government
which they had taken illegally. As he worked so fervently he never turned a deaf ear to any one
of the country’s problems and even boosted the navy by getting them the best
ships. When a railroad strike in Chicago interfered with the mail he sent the
federal troops at once to clear up the matter. He totally imbued his virtues of
hard work and honesty into the federal government which indeed made it very
efficient and also gained confidence from the people. Cleveland really is the
most underrated president ever in United States history.
5. Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909)
Theodore Roosevelt became
the youngest ever president when he took the oath and he brought his exuberance
into the office as expected. He got congress to pass laws which
protected the people from impure food and drugs and forced the owners of the
coal mines during that time to pay better wages to its laborers.. Roosevelt established national parks and more than (125
million acres of national forests. A firm believer in having a strong navy, he
also got congress to build new battleships and cruisers. It was for the
objective that the navy could move easily from one ocean to the other and also
for trade purposes that he built the Panama Canal.
4. James Knox Polk (1845-1849)
James
Polk was one of the few presidents who made his agenda clear and actually went
on to accomplish every one of his preplanned goals. .
Despite having settled the Oregon issue so peacefully, the same proved more
difficult in the case of California. Mexicans wouldn’t sell their land and the
revolutions he tried to stir up there all failed. But he couldn’t let this last
promise of bringing California under the union fall apart so he persevered.
Slowly over the course of the next few months he bullied Mexico in to a war it
didn’t want to fight. America won and took not only California but what is now
all of Nevada and parts of Utah, Arizona and New Mexico.
3. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1933-1945)
FDR
was faced with the immediate problem of depression as soon as his arrival to
the oval office. He declared bank holidays which closed all banks; they were
then opened a few at a time with government help. He got congress to pass laws
which helped farmers, small businesses and people who were about to lose their
homes during that time. He kept moving on with his social reforms which changed
the course of American government. Just when things started to return back to
normal and the people grew in confidence, World War 2 commenced. He wanted the
allies to win to protect democracy all over the world and kept sending more and
more supplies to the British to overcome the forces which threatened freedom.
America eventually joined in the war. He saw the USA through two grave crises
and his last great achievement was to lay the foundation of what would later be
the UN.
2. Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921)
Woodrow
Wilson was an admirable principled president. He got congress to lower the
tariff and he reformed the national banking system. He also When German submarines
bombed American ships in the Atlantic without warning, the USA was engaged in
the war. More than anything else Wilson wanted this to be a war to end all the
wars. Even at the time of fighting, he drew up his famous (14 Point Peace plan.
The most important of these called for a League of Nations which would settle
future rifts between nations. Germany had surrendered and the League of Nations
was formed. But without the approval of the U.S senate America couldn’t join
and without the USA the body was rendered useless. But Wilson kept traveling
around the country making speeches in favor of the league. He left a legacy for
peace which people still dream about.
1. Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865)
Abraham
Lincoln became the president when everything was going wrong for the USA. There
were still a number of Border States which were left undecided on whether to
stay in the Union or not, he wanted to hold on to these states if he possibly
could. Secondly a lot of Northerners believed that neither the Union nor
slavery was worth fighting about. Fighting a war at that time would mean a lot
of people not supporting him. . Since slavery had started this
whole mess in the first place, he believed that it had to perish for the nation
to live. He issued the Emancipation Proclamation and worked for the (13th
amendment to ban slavery. Although these did not effectively ensure the end of
slavery, it won sympathy for the North throughout the world which culminated
into its victory in the end. He had no plans for revenge and just wanted to
restore the union as soon as possible, bu, alas, he was assassinated. He is
arguably the most mourned president ever.
