I Ranked Every U.S. President

Every third Monday of February, Americans celebrate Presidents’ Day (officially Washington’s Birthday at the federal government level) as a federal holiday. This Presidents’ Day, in the year of America’s 250th anniversary of independence, I thought it appropriate to rank every President of the United States. 

Ranking all of America’s 47 presidents (45 men serving 47 presidencies) is no easy feat, as one has to know a great amount of American history to do so. The rankings below will only focus on the actions a president undertook while in office, not actions they took before the presidency and after leaving office. For the sake of completeness, this list will include former President William Henry Harrison, whose presidency only lasted 31 days. That means this list will also include current President Donald Trump, and will take into account the actions he has undertaken so far in his 2nd and current term. Inevitably, these evaluations are poised to be inherently opinionated. 

Without further ado, here are 2026’s rankings:

1. Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States (1861-1865)

Today’s United States of America probably would not be what it is without the actions of Abraham Lincoln, who preserved the Union during the American Civil War and defeated a rebellion by the treasonous Confederate South. He issued the Emancipation Proclamation that freed enslaved Black people, eventually paving the way for the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution that banned slavery.

2. George Washington, 1st President of the United States (1789-1797)

As America’s 1st President, Washington set forth many of the precedents that continued on with the office of the President of the United States, such as the two-term precedent that the vast majority of Presidents have adhered to. He was able to run a stable presidency and instituted a neutral foreign policy.

3. Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States (1933-1945)

FDR set forth the New Deal, rescuing America from the Great Depression. His establishment of Social Security is probably his most influential achievement as President. Also equally important was his leadership in the Allied Powers during the Second World War, defeating Nazi Germany, Italy, and Japan, among other fascist powers, thereby setting the stage for the United States to become a superpower. 

4. Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States (1901-1909)

As President, Teddy Roosevelt protected millions of acres of land and natural wonders, preserving them for future generations to come. He broke up bad trusts and monopolies and signed laws that led to improved safety standards on food and medicine. Roosevelt also brokered an end to the Russo-Japanese War, for which he earned the Nobel Peace Prize.

5. Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th President of the United States (1963-1969)

LBJ is responsible for signing into law much-needed civil rights legislation after many decades of delay, such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which formally banned racial segregation and racial discrimination, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which enforced the Fifteenth Amendment against discriminatory voting laws in the South. Johnson also implemented Medicare, Medicaid, and various programs and agencies that came as a result of his Great Society agenda, providing many poor Americans with much-needed aid and healthcare and increasing much-needed government investment in education and infrastructure. However, it is important to note that Johnson regrettably expanded America’s role in the Vietnam War.

6. Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States (1945-1953)

Truman led the U.S. out of the Second World War and implemented the Marshall Plan, forever endearing Europe to the United States. He stood up to communism with the implementation of the Berlin Airlift and by defending South Korea during the Korean War. Truman’s actions led to the creation of the post-WW2 world order (which included the establishment of NATO), as Truman united Western allies and other governments against the tyranny of communism. 

7. Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the United States (1801-1809)

As President, Jefferson prohibited the slave trade (although he did not free his own slaves during his lifetime), fought the Barbary pirates from present-day Libya, and doubled the size of the United States with his peaceful purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France. His implementation of the Embargo Act of 1807 dampens his post-presidential assessment a bit, however.

8. John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States (1961-1963)

JFK saved the world from destruction from a potential nuclear war when he peacefully resolved the Cuban Missile Crisis. He also established the Peace Corps and signed the world’s first nuclear weapons treaty. He also implemented the goal of setting a man on the moon, which set in place the Apollo program. His dream of a manned lunar landing was realized with Apollo 11, which took place six years after his assassination.

9. Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States (1953-1961)

Eisenhower negotiated the armistice that ended the fighting in the Korean War, and it continues to persist to this day. He took action to enforce the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision, sending in troops to integrate schools in the South. He also developed the Interstate Highway System, which connected America like never before. Eisenhower would probably be a bit higher on this list had he not needlessly authorized multiple coups abroad.

10. Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States (2009-2017)

Elected amidst the backdrop of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, Obama got the U.S. economy back on its feet. He signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, providing health insurance to millions of Americans who did not have it before. Obama authorized the operation that killed 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden. Obama also improved America’s reputation abroad, as he negotiated the New START Treaty, joined the Paris Climate Accords, and instituted the JCPOA with Iran.

11. James Monroe, 5th President of the United States (1817-1825)

Monroe is probably best known for the Monroe Doctrine, a foreign policy doctrine that warned European powers against further colonization in the Western Hemisphere. He acquired Florida, demilitarized the U.S.-Canadian border, fixed boundaries with Britain and Russia, and dealt with the Panic of 1819.

12. William H. Taft, 27th President of the United States (1909-1913)

Taft expanded Theodore Roosevelt’s antitrust policies and lobbied for the successful passage of the Sixteenth Amendment, which ensured the creation of a federal income tax. He settled disputes with France and the United Kingdom and advanced a dollar diplomacy approach in foreign policy, which focused more on promoting U.S. commercial interests abroad. Regrettably, dollar diplomacy was not completely bloodless, as the Taft administration still meddled in other countries. 

13. Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President of the United States (1869-1877)

Grant effectively defended recently-freed African Americans’ civil rights during the era of Reconstruction. He signed a bill creating the Department of Justice and took action to end the first version of the Ku Klux Klan. Unfortunately, the Grant administration often struggled with corruption.

14. Joe Biden, 46th President of the United States (2021-2025)

Despite much of the negative public opinion that surrounded Biden during his presidency (much of it being about his old age), he did make a number of substantial achievements, such as overseeing America’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and investing trillions of dollars into critical infrastructure, climate action, and healthcare. However, Biden horribly bungled the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, allowing it to fall back into the hands of the Taliban. His initial refusal to stand down at the 2024 election led to Donald Trump’s return to the White House. 

15. Bill Clinton, 42nd President of the United States (1993-2001)

Clinton passed the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, signed the Brady Bill to implement much-needed background checks on firearms, and expanded the earned income tax credit (EITC). He advanced peace in Northern Ireland and the Middle East, and intervened in Bosnia as acts of genocide occurred there. His administration also saw dramatic reductions in the federal deficit, the likes of which have not been seen since. However, Clinton’s implementation of NAFTA, the 1994 crime bill, and banking deregulation measures have led to some negative consequences.

16. George H.W. Bush, 41st President of the United States (1989-1993)

Bush oversaw the end of the Cold War with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, ensuring continued American dominance in the world. He signed the Americans with Disabilities Act and other bipartisan legislation. He led a successful U.S. intervention in the Gulf War, liberating Kuwait from Iraqi aggression. On the other hand, Bush needlessly invaded Panama and struggled to address the recession of 1992. 

17. Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States (1977-1981)

Carter was arguably ahead of his time, as he championed conservation and solar energy. He advanced peace in the Middle East with the Camp David Accords and returned the Panama Canal. However, he struggled to address “stagflation” and bungled the Iranian hostage crisis.

18. James Madison, 4th President of the United States (1809-1817)

As President, Madison took the U.S. into a needless war with the United Kingdom, which resulted in the burning down of the nation’s capital. However, he did preserve U.S. independence after that war ended, and later presided over a productive course of legislation, which included chartering the Second Bank of the United States and implementing internal improvement programs.

19. John Quincy Adams, 6th President of the United States (1825-1829)

Adams’s presidency is admittedly void of significant achievements, although he did construct the National Road and build new canals. He also implemented the horrific Tariff of Abominations. However, Adams deserves credit for supporting the rights of women and Native Americans, and supported ending slavery.

20. Grover Cleveland, 22nd and 24th President of the United States (1885-1889, 1893-1897)

Cleveland, best known as the first President to serve two non-consecutive terms in office (the second being Donald Trump), took action to end wasteful government programs and took steps to modernize the U.S. Navy. However, he passed the Dawes Act, which led to Native Americans losing much of their land and often being violently assimilated. He also did not do much to address the Panic of 1893.

21. John Adams, 2nd President of the United States (1797-1801)

Adams set an important precedent by peacefully transferring power after he lost the presidency to Thomas Jefferson. He also worked to build a strong U.S. Navy. However, he signed into law the Alien and Sedition Acts, which suppressed dissent and restricted immigration, and increased tensions between the U.S. and France.

22. Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States (1913-1921)

Wilson created the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Reserve System and implemented the Clayton Antitrust Act. He also had the U.S. join the victorious Allied Powers during the First World War, setting the first step for America to become a world power. While he did come up with the idea of the League of Nations, a precursor to the United Nations, he failed to convince Congress to vote to join it. Wilson also resegregated the federal government.

23. Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States (1981-1989)

Reagan’s biggest accomplishment was convincing the world that the Soviet Union was a failed state, thus leading to its eventual collapse. He also advanced arms control agreements with the Soviet Union’s Mikhail Gorbachev. However, Reagan’s administration was embroiled in the Iran-Contra scandal, and his economic deregulation policies tripled the national debt and increased income inequality in the U.S. He also ineffectively responded to the AIDS epidemic.

24. William McKinley, 25th President of the United States (1897-1901)

McKinley set the stage for the construction of the Panama Canal, thus increasing trade between the world’s two hemispheres. He took the U.S. to war against Spain, resulting in the liberation of Cuba and the acquisition of Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. In the years after the Spanish-American War’s end and up until his assassination, McKinley violently repressed the Philippine independence movement. 

25. James K. Polk, 11th President of the United States (1845-1849)

Polk was probably the only President to implement all of his major campaign promises. He took the country to war against Mexico, thereby acquiring present-day California and other future states, created the Department of the Interior, and negotiated the U.S.-British border in Oregon Country.

26. Gerald Ford, 38th President of the United States (1974-1977)

While he unwisely pardoned his predecessor Richard Nixon, and ineffectively combatted rising inflation, he did support the Equal Rights Amendment and continued to advance Nixon’s detente and arms control policies. 

27. James Garfield, 20th President of the United States (1881)

In his short presidency cut short by assassination, Garfield purged corruption in the Post Office and proposed major civil service reforms that Congress passed in 1883. 

28. Chester Arthur, 21st President of the United States (1881-1885)

Arthur signed the racist Chinese Exclusion Act into law after having previously vetoed an initial version of it. To his credit, Arthur carried on Garfield’s civil service reform policies with the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883 and also revitalized the U.S. Navy.

29. Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President of the United States (1889-1893)

Harrison’s presidency included the admission of six Western states to the Union and the signing of the Sherman Antitrust Act. He struggled to advance African Americans’ civil rights.

30. Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th President of the United States (1877-1881)

In order to elect himself President, Hayes agreed to a deal to end Reconstruction early, which effectively rolled back much of the progress being made to advance African Americans’ rights. He also deployed the U.S. Army to put down a railroad strike. To his credit, Hayes did work on advancing civil service reform.

31. Andrew Jackson, 7th President of the United States (1829-1837)

Jackson displaced thousands of Native Americans from their homes and ancestral lands. He also triggered a financial panic when he killed the Bank of the United States. Jackson did work, however, to facilitate the enfranchisement of the “common man,” and is the only President ever to pay off the national debt.

32. Martin Van Buren, 8th President of the United States (1837-1841)

As President, Van Buren struggled to address the Panic of 1837 caused by his predecessor’s policies. His presidency also saw the continued suffering and oppression of Native Americans.

33. Zachary Taylor, 12th President of the United States (1849-1850)

Taylor did not accomplish much of substance during his presidency, which was cut short by his death in 1850. He did, however, enter the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty with the United Kingdom, which reduced tensions between the U.S. and the U.K.

34. William Henry Harrison, 9th President of the United States (1841)

As mentioned previously, Harrison only served 31 days in office and was ill for much of it, so it probably is a bit unfair to include him. Nonetheless, we are ranking every U.S. President, so we will include him anyway. Sorry, Mr. President.

35. Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States (1923-1929)

While Coolidge achieved noteworthy things such as granting citizenship to Native Americans and calling for lynching to be made a crime, his laissez-faire economic policies led to the worst economic crisis in world history: the Great Depression. Coolidge also passed the discriminatory Immigration Act of 1924, drastically curbing immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe and banning immigration entirely from Asia.

36. John Tyler, 10th President of the United States (1841-1845)

Tyler was kicked out of his own party as a result of alienating fellow party members with his policy positions, but he did work to stop transatlantic African slave trafficking under the Webster-Ashburton Treaty. He also annexed Texas.

37. George W. Bush, 43rd President of the United States (2001-2009)

Bush ignored intelligence suggesting al-Qaeda would strike the U.S., launched long and unwinnable wars in Afghanistan and Iraq (the latter being based on the false pretense of there being weapons of mass destruction), allowed torture to be used on war captives. He mishandled the response to Hurricane Katrina and the Great Recession. He passed the Patriot Act, increasing American government surveillance programs. He also passed the No Child Left Behind Act, which shifted focus from critical thinking and the arts to “teaching to the test”, and whose unrealistic proficiency goals created penalties for already struggling schools. To his credit, Bush was able to rally the country around him in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

38. Herbert Hoover, 31st President of the United States (1929-1933)

Hoover disastrously handled the Great Depression, which saw millions of Americans lose their fortunes and descend into poverty and unemployment. He worsened the financial crisis with the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act. He coldly refused to issue early cash redemption of veterans’ service bonus certificates and suppressed a protest that called for doing so.

39. Warren G. Harding, 29th President of the United States (1921-1923)

The Harding administration was rife with corruption, with several members being implicated in the Teapot Dome scandal. Harding refused to join the League of Nations and ineffectively implemented a disarmament agreement. 

40. Richard Nixon, 37th President of the United States (1969-1974)

Among Nixon’s many achievements are detente with China and the Soviet Union, the winding down of U.S. involvement in Vietnam, and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency. However, he perpetrated atrocities abroad with bombings in Cambodia and Laos, and forever damaged the reputation of the presidency with his involvement in the Watergate scandal. 

41. Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States (1865-1869)

Johnson undermined Reconstruction by allowing Southern states to pass laws trampling on African Americans’ rights and granting widespread amnesty and pardons to former Confederate officials, allowing them to retain influence in the South. His feuding with his party led to his being impeached by Congress. Johnson did purchase Alaska, though.

42. Millard Fillmore, 13th President of the United States (1850-1853)

Fillmore supported the disastrous Compromise of 1850, which included the Fugitive Slave Act, inflaming tensions and leading to the Civil War. Fillmore also promoted anti-immigration and anti-Catholic policies.

43. Franklin Pierce, 14th President of the United States (1853-1857)

Like his predecessor, Fillmore, Pierce exacerbated tensions by nixing the Missouri Compromise through the Kansas-Nebraska Act, leading to Bleeding Kansas. He opposed the abolitionist movement and enforced the Fugitive Slave Act. He lost so much support that his own party did not even nominate him for re-election.

44. James Buchanan, 15th President of the United States (1857-1861)

Buchanan inflamed pre-Civil War tensions even further by supporting the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott v. Sanford decision, which decided that those of Black African ancestry were not U.S. citizens. The first secessions of Southern states occurred during the waning months of his presidency, and he did nothing to stop them.

45. Donald Trump, 45th and 47th President of the United States (2017-2021, 2025-present)

Trump bungled the COVID-19 response by contradicting his own government’s guidelines. His first-term administration was rife with corruption, violating political norms and ethics laws. Trump’s tax cuts significantly increased federal deficits and primarily benefited the super-wealthy. Trump refused to concede the 2020 election to Joe Biden and promoted false conspiracy theories of widespread voter fraud, thus inspiring the violent January 6th assault on the U.S. Capitol; this marks the first time ever that the transfer of power was not peaceful. For his actions in his first term, Trump was impeached twice. In Trump’s second and current term, democratic backsliding in the U.S. has greatly increased, with his widespread tariffs bringing up the potential to cause economic devastation, more corruption in the administration, and assaults on the rule of law and basic democratic norms. Both Trump presidencies have additionally resulted in increased political polarization and division within the U.S. 

That concludes the 2026 ranking of every U.S. President. Let me know what you think of the rankings!