Best Presidents - Ranking Considerations
We have based our list of the Best Presidents of the United States of America on a number of different factors including their positions in popularity polls, the leadership skills, their integrity, the events during their presidency, their communication skills, their accomplishments relating to foreign policy, their achievements at home and the legacy of their presidency.
Best Presidents - George Washington, "The Father of His Country"
Number 1 Best President - George Washington (1732-1799): George Washington was the 1st US President who served in office (1789-1793) & (1793-1797). He was ambitious, reserved, dignified, direct and rarely displayed a sense of humor. His actions earned him our vote as the best and greatest President of the United States of America. His reputation was earned as general of the Continental Army and his brilliant strategies that brought victory and liberty from Great Britain. He accepted the task of building a new nation and worked diligently on the difficult tasks that were required to build a new government and nation.
Best Presidents - Abraham Lincoln, "The Great Emancipator"
Number 2 Best President - Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865): Abraham Lincoln was the 16th US President who served in office (1861-1865) & (1865). A man of great integrity who was given the nickname of "Honest Abe". He was not a very happy man and suffered from depression. It was not his personality that achieved his standing as a Best President but his action of bring emancipation to the nation and ending slavery. He led the country during the terrible period in US history, the American Civil war (1861-1865). President Lincoln was assassinated on April 15, 1865 by John Wilkes Booth, five days after the Confederate armies surrendered.
Best Presidents - Franklin Roosevelt, FDR
Number 3 Best President - Franklin Roosevelt (1882-1945): Franklin Roosevelt (FDR) was the 32nd US President who served in office (1933-1937) & (1937-1941) & (1941-1945) & (1945). He reached out to the American people with his reassuring fireside chats following the Great Depression gaining support for his New Deal legislation and his vision for the future. He then led the US to victory in World War II. President Franklin Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945 during his 4th term as president.
Best Presidents - Thomas Jefferson, "Father of the Declaration of Independence"
Number 4 Best President - Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826): Thomas Jefferson was the 3rd US President who served in office (1801-1805) & (1805-1809). As one of the main authors of the Declaration of Independence and as such his work formed the basic principles and Constitution of the US. He was undoubtedly held the highest intellect of all the best US Presidents and had an insatiable curiosity and thirst for knowledge. He was a sensitive man, highly meticulous in his work and had an agreeable and open personality.
Best Presidents - Harry Truman, "Give 'em Hell Harry"
Number 5 Best President - Harry Truman (1884-1972): Harry Truman was the 33rd US President who served in office (1945-1949) & (1949-1953). He had a bold and confident personality but never demonstrated arrogance in his achievements, quite the reverse. He was incorruptible, honest, direct and at times had a fiery temper. His philosophy was “If you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen”. He demonstrated the ability to be decisive and made the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan which led to the end of World War II. On his desk, Harry S. Truman had a plaque that said "The Buck Stops Here."
Best Presidents - John Kennedy, "The King of Camelot"
Number 6 Best President - John F. Kennedy (1917-1963): John Kennedy (JFK) was the 35th US President who served in office (1961-1963). His outgoing personality oozed charm, wit, sensitivity and grace. These characteristics together with his youthful good looks were responsible for his immense popularity as president. He had great vision and ambition for the country. His presidency was referred to as the American Camelot as a reference to the ideals of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. He led the country, and the world, through the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis, averting WW3. President Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas.
Best Presidents - Theodore Roosevelt, "The Rough Rider"
Number 7 Best President - Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919): Theodore Roosevelt was the 26th US President who served in office (1901-1905) & (1905-1909). He was a master of public persuasion with a dynamic personality that was energetic and extrovert. He possessed great charm and was ambitious, decisive and fearless. President Roosevelt is credited as a hero and winning the Battle of San Juan Hill in the Spanish-American war with his Rough Riders. A man respected as a real American hero who loved his country, established the National Parks and spoke out for the 'common man'.
Best Presidents - Woodrow Wilson, "The Phrasemaker"
Number 8 Best President - Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924): Woodrow Wilson was the 28th US President who served in office (1913-1917) & (1917-1921). who led the US into World War I in 1917 and also drafted the peace plan at the end of it. He was a complex man, passionate, impulsive and extremely tenacious. He was an acclaimed historian and a gifted speaker who wrote his own speeches, which gave him the nickname of the Phrasemaker. Under his presidency women received the right to vote with the passing of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution.
Best Presidents - Dwight Eisenhower, "General Ike"
Number 9 Best President - Dwight Eisenhower (1890-1969): Dwight Eisenhower was the 34th US President who served in office (1953-1957) & (1957-1961). He was an affable, gregarious and honorable man who commanded respect and inspired confidence. He gained extreme popularity as was one of America's greatest military commanders of WW2. General Ike led the nation to the end of the Korean War and steered a moderate course during the Cold War.
Best Presidents - Ronald Reagan, "The Great Communicator"
Number 10 Best President - Ronald Reagan (1911-2004): Ronald Reagan was the 36th US President who served in office (1981-1985) & (1985-1989). He was loved by the American People and had the ability to communicate at all levels and forged special relationships abroad, especially with Great Britain. His goal was to restore the United States of America to greatness and the people shared in his inspiring vision. He encouraged entrepreneurship and his presidency saw substantial economic recovery at home. In foreign affairs he backed new defence technology so that the US could confront the Soviet Union and its allies