Scholars Rate Every President

Best President: For the fifth time since 1982, Siena College asked 238 scholars to tank the best U.S. Presidents based on 20 different attributes. See where everyone from Barack Obama to George Washington grade out.

Scholars Rank Presidents: 1. Franklin D. Roosevelt Years in Office: 1933-1945 Political Party: Democrat. Most Known For: New Deal, World War II, Elected to four terms.
2. Theodore Roosevelt Years in Office: 1901-1909 Political Party: Republican. Most Known For: Square Deal, Panama Canal, Environmental Conservation.
3. Abraham Lincoln Years in Office: 1861-1865 Political Party: Republican. Most Known For: Emancipation Proclamation, Gettysburg Address, Civil War.
4. George Washington Years in Office: 1789-1797 Political Party: None. Most Known For: Jay Treaty, Residence Act of 1790, Philadelphia Convention.
5. Thomas Jefferson Years in Office: 1801-1809 Political Party: Democratic-Republican. Most Known For: Louisiana Purchase, First Barbary War, Marbury v. Madison.
6. James Madison Years in Office: 1809-1817 Political Party: Democratic-Republican. Most Known For: Federalist Papers, War of 1812, Bank of the United States.
7. James Monroe Years in Office: 1817-1825 Political Party: Democratic-Republican. Most Known For: Era of Good Feelings, Panic of 1819, Missouri Compromise.
8. Woodrow Wilson Years in Office: 1913-1921 Political Party: Democrat. Most Known For: World War I, League of Nations, Federal Reserve Act.
9. Harry Truman Years in Office: 1945-1953 Political Party: Democrat. Most Known For: Marshall Plan, United Nations, Fair Deal, Korean War.
10. Dwight Eisenhower Years in Office: 1953-1961 Political Party: Republican. Most Known For: Interstate Highway System, Cold War, Korean War cease-fire.
11. John F. Kennedy Years in Office: 1961-1963 Political Party: Democrat. Most Known For: Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis, Space Program.
12. James K. Polk Years in Office: 1845-1849 Political Party: Democrat. Walker Tariff, California and Oregon Acquisitions, Mexican–American War.
13. Bill Clinton in Office: 1993-2001 Political Party: Democrat. Most Known For: NAFTA, Welfare Reform, Lewinsky Scandal.
14. Andrew Jackson Years in Office: 1829-1837 Political Party: Democrat. Most Known For: Bank War, Nullification Crisis, Indian removal.
15. Barack Obama Years in Office: 2009-Present Political Party: Democrat. Most Known For: Health Care Reform, Economic Stimulus, Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill.
16. Lyndon B. Johnson Years in Office: 1963-1969 Political Party: Democrat. Most Known For: Great Society, Civil Rights Act, Vietnam War.
17. John Adams Years in Office: 1797-1801 Political Party: Federalist. Most Known For: Alien and Sedition Acts, Quasi-War, Midnight Judges.
18. Ronald Reagan Years in Office: 1981-1989 Political Party: Republican. Most Known For: Supply-Side Economics, Ending Cold War, Iran-Contra Affair.
19. John Quincy Adams Years in Office: 1825-1829 Political Party: Democratic-Republican. Most Known For: High Tarriffs, Monroe Doctrine, Western Expansion.
20. Grover Cleveland Years in Office: 1893-1897 Political Party: Democrat. Most Known For: Silver Standard, Panic of 1983, Pullman Strike.
21. William McKinley Years in Office: 1897-1901 Political Party: Republican. Most Known For: Spanish-American War, Reciprocity, Progressive Era.
22. George H. W. Bush Years in Office: 1989-1993 Political Party: Republican. Most Known For: Gulf War, Fall of Berlin Wall, Americans with Disabilities Act.
23. Martin Van Buren Years in Office: 1837-1841Political Party: Democratic-Republican. Most Known For: Panic of 1837, Trail of Tears, Aroostook War.
24. William Howard Taft Years in Office: 1909-1913 Political Party: Republican. Most Known For: Interstate Commerce Commission, Sixteenth Amendment, Dollar Diplomacy.
25. Chester Arthur Years in Office: 1881-1885 Political Party: Republican. Most Known For: Civil Service Reform, Edmunds Act, Shufeldt Treaty.
26. Ulysses S. Grant Years in Office: 1869-1877 Political Party: Republican. Most Known For: Treaty of Washington, Ku Klux Klan Act, Panic of 1873.
27. James A. Garfield Years in Office: 1881 Political Party: Republican. Most Known For: Assassination.
28. Gerald Ford Years in Office: 1974-1977 Political Party: Republican. Most Known For: Nixon Pardon, Inflation battle, Détente.
29. Calvin Coolidge Years in Office: 1923-1929 Political Party: Republican. Most Known For: Laissez-faire economic policy, Farm subsidies, Revenue Act of 1924.
30. Richard Nixon Years in Office: 1969-1974 Political Party: Republican. Most Known For: China visit, Vietnam War, Watergate.
31. Rutherford B. Hayes Years in Office: 1877-1881 Political Party: Republican. Most Known For: Great Railroad Strike of 1877, Tenure of Office Act, Civil service reform.
32. Jimmy Carter Years in Office: 1977-1981 Political Party: Democrat. Most Known For: Iran Hostage crisis, Inflation, Olympic boycott.
33. Zachary Taylor Years in Office: 1849-1850 Political Party: Whig. Most Known For: The Compromise of 1850.
34. Benjamin Harrison Years in Office: 1889-1893 Political Party: Republican.Most Known For: McKinley Tariff, Sherman Antitrust Act.
35. William Henry Harrison Years in Office: 1841 Political Party: Whig. Most Known For: Death in office.
36. Herbert Hoover Years in Office: 1929-1933 Political Party: Republican. Most Known For: Hoover Dam, Prison reform, Wall Street crash.
37. John Tyler Years in Office: 1841-1845 Political Party: Whig. Most Known For: Texas annexation, Rhode Island's Dorr Rebellion, Impeachment attempt.
38. Millard Fillmore Years in Office: 1850-1853 Political Party: Whig. Most Known For: Utah Territory, Fugitive Slave Act.
39. George W. Bush Years in Office: 2001-2009 Political Party: Republican. Most Known For: Iraq War, Hurricane Katrina, No Child Left Behind Act.
40. Franklin Pierce Years in Office: 1853-1857 Political Party: Democrat. Most Known For: Ostend Manifesto, Kansas-Nebraska Act.
41. Warren Harding Years in Office: 1921-1923 Political Party: Republican. Most Known For: Teapot Dome scandal, Naval disarmament.
42. James Buchanan Years in Office: 1857-1861 Political Party: Democrat. Most Known For: Dred Scott Case, Southern secession, Utah War.
43. Andrew Johnson Years in Office: 1865-1869 Political Party: Democrat. Most Known For: Reconstruction, Impeachment, Black Codes.