Being that I was a history major… I love President’s Day. I always try to reflect on who were our greatest presidents and give out a shout to our two worst presidents of all-time.
The two worst are easy. MAGA’s own doo-doo head Donald Trump is the worst ever and Andrew Johnson falls in next to worst on my list.
Top five is tougher….so this year I’m going seven deep on my Top Seven.
1 Abraham Lincoln
2 FDR
3 Teddy Roosevelt
4 Harry Truman
5 George Washington
6 Dwight D Eisenhower
7 Thomas Jefferson
On the bubble… my favorite darkhorse POTUS of all-tme, James Polk. A one termer. Did exactly what he said he would do in his one term and then said, “See ya.” Imagine that in 2023.
Truman…though lacking a collge degree because he had to stay home and save his father’s farm in Grandview, MIssouri, then serve in WWI in which he became a war hero… Truman was a prodgious reader. Not quite on a sacle with Lincoln, FDR and Teddy, but still a great mind which belied the exterior facade.
Our greatest reading POTUS of all-time was Teddy who clicked off at a book a day pace.
Harry Truman almost served eight yeays in the White House and actually tried to get Dwight D Eisenhower to succeed as a Democrat. But alas…Eisenhower smewhat diminished his own presidential legacy when he ran as a Republican and shamed himself by allowin Richrd Nixon to be his Vice-President.
For a great read on Truman…I would suggest Truman by David McCullough.
Next up this week on my modest blog will be my Black History Person of the Year circa 2023.