Rate post WWII presidents from most liberal to most conservative

[Blue3]

1- Obama
2- Johnson



3- Kennedy

4- Clinton
5- Carter

6- Truman
7- Ford

8- Eisenhower
9- Nixon

10- Bush 41



11- Bush 43

12- Reagan






Nixon, Truman, Eisenhower, Ford are hard to place.

As well as which of the 2 most conservative is #1 and which of the 2 most liberal is #1.

Ultimately I decided to go by what they would have tried if they had a cooperative congress, not only on their record.

If Obama had a more cooperative congress, he'd be far and away #1. By contrast, Johnson had a mostly cooperative congress. Bush 43 had a cooperative congress for most of his presidency, only thwarted on immigration and social security, so we know he wasn't much more conservative, but we don't know that about Reagan. Carter and Clinton were both moderates, but both didn't have cooperative of a relationship with congress, though Clinton did at least try for healthcare reform so that edges him above Carter. Kennedy might have cut taxes, but what they were cut to is still ahead of where they are now, and he had a big vision for good government, and I think Ted might be a good litmus test of where his brother would be, so he's ahead of those two.

Spots 6-10 are a little more tricky. Truman was the more liberal choice in his election, so I'd still put him above any of the Republicans, and he started on civil rights and integration. The most liberal of the GOP was Ford, but he was basically just a moderate caretaker since he hadn't been elected so we might not know where he truly stood, and he didn't try any big liberal endeavors, though he did advocate for the Equal Rights Amendment, was pro-choice, and wasn't a big pro-military guy. That leaves Eisenhower, Nixon, and Bush 41. Bush 41 didn't have much of a domestic policy vision (other than pro- national service, and allowing a tax increase), which by default makes him more conservative than Nixon or Eisenhower who did have domestic policy agendas with at least some liberal elements.

So then it's spots 8 & 9, Eisenhower and Nixon. Tough to tell, especially since Nixon's was Ike's VP. Eisenhower made a very gradual moves toward desegregation and invested in infrastructure and research, Nixon changed the economic system and supported strong environmentalist laws and Keynesian economics. But in the Eisenhower administration, Nixon was seen as the more conservative one I believe, so that's what I'll go with.

I probably spent more time on this than I should have!