10 of the Worst President Ever in American History

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The President of the United States is the head of the United States government. The president has a lot of hard and soft power both domestically and internationally. They are both the head of the executive branch of the federal government as well as the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces. However, throughout American history, there have been some presidents that have been worse than others. Check out below for 10 of the worst president ever in American history.

#10. Herbert Hoover

Herbert Hoover was the 31st president of the United States. Despite Hoover having many good qualities, he still ranks as one of the worst president ever. Some of his faults are due to bad luck and his inability to rise to the occasion. In fact, Herbert Hoover became president right on the eve of the worst financial disaster in American history, the Great Depression.

Prior to being elected, Hoover had great skills as a manager. In fact, during and after WWI, Hoover ran major relief efforts in Europe.^[1]U.S. News & World Report – Worst Presidents: Herbert Hoover (1929-1933) Furthermore, during the Great Depression, Hoover put into place many efforts in order to try and help the American public. He both lowered taxes and started many public work projects, such as Hoover Dam, in order to create jobs.

However, one of his greatest problems was his lack of ability at public communication. This made him come across to the public as a mean and uncaring person. In fact, many homeless people called the make shifty towns that sprouted up during the Great Depression, Hoovervilles.

Another of his greatest problem was is staunch belief in conservative ideas. This led him into putting into place tariff acts that started international trade wars which in turn made the Great Depression worse.

#9. Ulysses S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th president of the United States. He is currently considered one of the worst president ever. However, a lot of this blame comes from the previous president Andrew Johnson and his policies of Reconstruction in the American South after the Civil War.

However, there were a lot of bad things happening during his term as president as well. In fact, his term as president saw the worst corruption and graft in government that had ever up to that time. While Grant was not involved directly in any of the corruption. He did help put the people in place who did and refused to prosecute them. In fact, he often selected family and friends instead of qualified people. Later in life, Grant admitted that “My failures have been errors of judgment…not of intent.”^[2]U.S. News & World Report – Worst Presidents: Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877)

#8. John Tyler

John Tyler was the 10th president of the United States. He was one of the worst president ever in US history. He was the first president to rise to the position by succession from vice president, when the previous president, William Harrison died due to pneumonia 30 days into his term.^[3]U.S. News & World Report – Worst Presidents: John Tyler (1841-1845) In fact, his greatest achievement was that he established the principle that the vice president who succeeded to the office of president had the same amount of authority as the previously elected president. This was a big accomplishment for him, considering that his entire party despised him as he had completely flipped on and opposed all of the things his party stood for.

#7. Millard Fillmore

Millard Fillmore was the 13th president of the United States. Prior to becoming president, he was a largely ignored vice president to President Zachary Taylor. His biggest distinguishing act as vice president, and what ended up making him one of the worst president ever, was that he supported the Compromise of 1850.

The Compromise of 1850, was a group of 5 laws that dealt with the slavery issue in the United States. One of the most controversial parts was the Fugitive Slave Law. This law compelled the federal government to return runaway slaves to their masters.

When Fillmore became president, he support the Compromise of 1850 even more. While he was able to delay a national crisis at the time as well as the beginning of the Civil War, he did it at an unpardonable price. In fact, only 2 decades later, the New York Times, said that Fillmore had the “misfortune to see in slavery a political and not a moral question.”^[4]U.S. News & World Report – Worst Presidents: Millard Fillmore (1850-1853) A little bit too kind if you ask me.

#6. Warren G. Harding

Warren G. Harding was the 29th president of the United States. He was one of the worst president ever due to his inability to say no. In fact, he was a famous and unrestrained womanizer as well as known for wanting to please everyone around him.

In his political career, the Republican party picked him at the last minute to run for the presidency. As such, he was merely a puppet. In fact, his campaign was so vague that he supported both sides of most views.

This only continued when Harding president. Instead of focusing on the business of being president, he wasted away his time only playing golf and poker and spending time with his mistress.^[5]U.S. News & World Report – Worst Presidents: Warren Harding (1921-1923) On the other hand, he hired corrupt politicians to run the government for him. A famous example of this was that his secretary of the interior took under the table bribes to give businessmen from the oil industry access to government supplies of oil reserves.

#5. James Buchanan

James Buchanan was the 15th president of the United States. Buchanan was a deeply devout Christian. Personally, he was against slavery; however, he was one of the worst president ever because he did not do anything to fight against it. In fact, he thought that it was against his constitutional powers and rights to do anything.

Before Buchanan even became president, he supported many different compromise laws that allowed slavery to spread throughout the United States, especially in the new western territories of the country. In addition, when he became president, he supported the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott ruling, which stated that Congress had no power to stop slavery in the territories.^[6]U.S. News & World Report – Worst Presidents: James Buchanan (1857-1861)

However, this was not all, what really made Buchanan the worst president ever was that he refused to fight against the secessionist movement in the US. He did not believe that he had any constitutional right to prevent states from succeeding. Buchanan ended up sitting on his hands. By the time he left office, the United States was ripe and ready for Civil War due to his hands off policies.

#4. Zachary Taylor

Zachary Taylor was the 12th president of the United States. Taylor, “Old Rough and Ready”, was a military war hero. In fact, he had served for more than 40 years between the War of 1812 and the Mexican War.^[7]The Washington Post – The 10 worst presidents: Besides Trump, whom do scholars scorn the most? At the time, it was his background as an outsider and military leader that made him so popular. Ironically, the first time he even voted, in 1848, was the election that he won the presidency.

During his term as president, he was very antislavery and pro-union. However, in his personal life, he owned 83 slaves. In addition, he lead military campaigns against the Chippewa and Seminole Indians. As such, when historians look back at Zachary Taylor’s legacy, they see him as amoral. In his public life, he held one view, but in his private life he held a very different view.

#3.  Andrew Johnson

Andrew Johnson was the 17th president of the United States. He became president after Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. However, unlike Lincoln before him, he was not a supporter of reunification in the US after the Civil War.

In fact, Johnson consistently butted heads with congress and the Republican party. He did not want to fight against the old ruling class of the Confederacy. For example, he opposed measures in the Fourteenth Amendment. This amendment helped give ex slaves US citizenship.^[8]CBS News – Andrew Johnson (1865-1869)

#2. Chester A. Arthur

Chester A. Arthur was the 21st president of the United States. In addition he was one of the wors president ever.He got into office not because of his political abilities, but through political corruption and patronage. In fact, in his previous political office of collector in the Custom House at the Port of New York, he had been tossed out due to corruption.

During his administration as president, he was not much better. Arthur actively helped put into law, rules that did not ensure equal justice for everyone. He enacted imigration law with excluded Chinese people, “paupers, criminals, and lunatics.”^[9]CBS News – Chester A. Arthur (1881-1885)

In addition, while in office Arthur was notorious for not doing a lot of actual work. He would walk around the White House with a briefcase full of papers just to look busy. The only thing in the White House that took interest to him was renovation projects to make it pretty. Furthermore, he was much more interested in the finer things in life. In fact, Arthur liked to hold a lot of parties. One of them featured a 21 course meal and a 4 foot long flower centerpiece called “The Swinging Garden of Babylon.”^[10]shitty presidents – Chester Arthur

#1. Martin Van Buren

Martin Van Buren was the 8th president of the United States. Van Buren ranks as one of the worst president ever for several reasons. First, when he took office as president, the United States had a booming economy.^[11]CBS News – Martin Van Buren (1837-1841) However, less than 3 months into his presidency, the economy was tanking. In fact, historians believe that his proposals to move the federal funds from state banks to a separate independent treasury, only helped make things worse for the economy.^[12]Encyclopedia Britannica – Martin Van Buren

In addition, Van Buren presidential rankings only went down farther due to the costly and long Second Seminole War. In fact, the war is estimated to have cost between $40 and $60 million, cost the lives of over 2,000 U.S. soldiers, and pushed the Seminole Indians west.^[13]Encyclopedia Britannica – Seminole Wars