Overrated
About Right
Underrated
Do you seriously believe James "Let the Civil War happen for sh**ts and giggles" Buchanan, Andrew "ed up Reconstruction" Johnson, and Franklin "Literally supported the Confederacy" Pierce are not bottom-5 material? If so, who is and why are they worse than those three?
If one were to rank them based on fidelity to the Constitutionally-dictated role rather than based on retrospective apologism for dictatorial assumption of powers for the executive branch, then I would consider most of the 'great' presidents to be of inferior caliber. If one is to dock points from Pierce and Buchanan for supporting slavery, then one should also consider all presidents prior to Johnson in that same category, especially Monroe, Polk, and Fillmore. Similarly, are you going to dock points from all presidents between Hayes and Kennedy for not implementing the equivalent of Radical Reconstruction on Southern states (which was little more than using freed blacks as political pawns for military dictatorship on behalf of carpetbaggers)?
In any event, is there some inherent reason why Woodrow "jailed political opponents and ed up European and Middle Eastern politics for the next several decades" Wilson, Franklin "threatened the Court to approve my factions and locked up the Japanese population" Roosevelt and Abraham "jailed critics without trial" Lincoln are superior?
Poll
