Grim's Top 10 (History/Politics/Lifestyle)

[Barry Poppins]

Title kind of says it all. This is just gonna be my sort of general top 10s for anything that's on my mind. Whether it be history, or politics, or lifestyles. Some of these might be in a specific order, others might not be. Really depends how I'm feeling. So anyways, enjoy some of my weird thoughts and if you agree, good, and if you don't, go fuck yourself and have a nice day!
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"The List"

Top 10 U.S. Presidents (11/23/25)

 

[Barry Poppins]

The Top 10 U.S. Presidents
(In No Particular Order)

10.
Abraham Lincoln
(1861-1865)

Starting off on our countdown is perhaps the most consequential President in all of U.S. History. Lincoln came into office in the Spring of 1861, after several states had attempted an illegal secession from the Union. His leadership and force of personality led the country through the American Civil War, and through the passing of the 13th Amendment, which effectively ended chattel slavery. Much of his major legislation involves:

- The 13th Amendment
- The National Banking Act (1863)
- Admission of Nevada (1864)
- Freedman's Bureau (1865)

Though he only served a single term before being assassinated shortly after his Second Inauguration, he is rightfully seen as a second savior of the Union after the inestimable George Washington. The Lincoln Memorial carries his famous speeches at Gettysburg and his second inauguration on the sides of his statue. There is a room in the White House dedicated to his memory.

9.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
(1933-1945)

Franklin Delano Roosevelt carries the longest run as a President of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. It was because of his tenure that Congress passed a constitutional amendment limiting presidencies to two terms. Roosevelt came into office during the height of the Great Depression, when lax policy and deregulation of speculative trading led to a market crash in 1929 and subsequent bank and business failures within the next few years. Roosevelt created the New Deal in response to the Depression, which was a wide-range of social programs aimed at creating sustainable and efficient welfare for the most heavily affected civilians of the United States.

Additionally, Roosevelt maintained a friendly relationship with foreign figures like Winston Churchill, Charles De Gaulle, and Josef Stalin. When the Japanese Empire attacked the US on December 7, 1941, Roosevelt convinced congress to officially declare war; this officially entered the United States into World War 2. Roosevelt died of a sudden brain aneurysm on April 12, 1945, mere weeks before Nazi Germany surrendered. If there is perhaps one great failing for FDR, it would be his treatment and internment of Japanese-Americans during the war, in which they were sent to camps, not too dissimilar to Germany's concentration camps.

FDR's legislative track record includes:

- Emergency Banking Act, and Federal Deposit Insurance Company (1933)
- Removal of the Gold Standard (1933)
- The 21st Amendment (1933)
- Creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps. (1933)
-National Industry Recovery Act (1933)
- Federal Credit Union Act (1934)
- Securities and Exchange Commission (1934)
- Creation of the National Archives and Records Administration (1934)
- Communications Act (1934)
- Gold Reserve Act (1934)
- Fish & Wildlife Conservation Acts (1934)
- Creation of the National Labor Relations Board (1935)
- Social Security Act (1935)
- United States Housing Act (1937)
- Lend-Lease Act (1941)

It was through Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Presidency that the United States leapt out from isolationism and onto the world stage as a bona fide super power, through his "Lend & Lease" policies during a majority of World War 2. Roosevelt additionally had a hands-on role in prosecuting the Second World War. He is perhaps most remembered as America's most popular president of all-time, and the most "liberal" President in U.S. history.

8.
George Washington
(1789-1797)

George Washington never wanted power. It was thrust upon in him in 1789, when the collective of the people of the newly formed United States of America deemed him the only man who could run the country. Thus is the story of our very first President of the United States. Washington set forth the precedent of the office, enacting many of the formal and informal duties that a President partakes, which still survive today. Washington served faithfully and dutifully from 1789 until his voluntary retirement in 1797, in which he chose not to seek a third term. His major legislative achievements are as follows:

- Naturalization Act (1790)
- Ratification of the United States Constitution (1790)
- United States Copyright Act (1790)
- Creation of the National Bank of the United States (1790)
- Admission of Vermont (1791)
- Ratification of the Bill of Rights (1791)
- Admission of Kentucky (1792)
- Coinage Act (1792)
- Militia Acts (1792)
- Neutrality Proclamation (1793)
- Slave Trade Act (1794)
- Admission of Tennessee (1796)

Washington's tenure was not without issue, as with the early laws, tariffs, and taxes led to public outcry and several attempts at rebellion, such as the Whiskey Rebellion of 1791. Washington additionally did not enjoy the office of the Presidency but continued to feel duty bound to perform to the best of his abilities. Perhaps the worst thing to be said about Washington as well would be that he was a slaveholder, and did not particularly sense any issue in the bondage of Africans. Nevertheless, his influence is still felt to this day, and he is rightfully considered among the best Presidents of all time.

7.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
(1953-1961)

Dwight Eisenhower didn't have ambitions to become President, but was swayed into running by the Republican party based off his personal popularity. Eisenhower served as the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force during World War 2, and was the mastermind behind the infamous D-Day landings in Normandy, and for the North African campaigns of the War. Eisenhower defeated Harry Truman in the 1952 election, and served from 1953 until 1961. Eisenhower exemplified the American attitudes of the 1950s, with his anti-Communist attitude, and laissez-faire economic policy. His major legislation includes:

- Creation of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (1953) [Later Split into DoE and DHHS]
- AFL-CIO Merger (1955)
- Federal Highway Act (1956)
- Social Security Act (1956)
- Civil Rights Act (1957)
- Admission of Alaska (1958)
- Admission of Hawaii (1959)
- Civil Rights Act (1960)

Much of Eisenhower's tenure was concerned with improving infrastructure and maintaining the balance between worker's unions and business owners. Eisenhower additionally is responsible for appointing Earl Warren and William Brennan to the Supreme Court, which led to the Warren Court of 1954 to 1969, the most liberal and consequential court in U.S. history. Several major black marks on Eisenhower's tenure though would be the tacit support of Joseph McCarthy's "Red Scare", and of course Eisenhower's deliberate influence on the "Lavender Scare", which led to the persecution of potential homosexuals both in private and federal workplaces. His greatest action of all, though, was the Federal Highway Act, which created a majority of the highways around the U.S. today.

6.
Lyndon B. Johnson
(1963-1969)

Johnson perhaps maintains himself in the most controversial member of my top 10. For one, he increased hostilities in Vietnam which led to tens of thousands of unnecessary U.S. fatalities. Additionally, Johnson was an avowed personal racist, and potential sexual harasser of his cabinet members. Nevertheless, despite the failings of his personal life and his foreign policy, Johnson's domestic institutions stand as perhaps among the greatest in all of U.S. history. Johnson, in spite of his racism, stood steadfast for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and created what contemporaries would call "the Great Society". These policies would could reasonably be considered a third New Deal. These major legislative acts include:

- 24th Amendment (1964)
- Civil Rights Act (1964)
- Economic Opportunity Act (1964)
- Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1965)
- Creation of Medicare and Medicaid (1965)
- Voting Rights Act (1965)
- 25th Amendment (1967)

It should be noted, however, that Johnson had an effective plan to end the war in Vietnam during the 1968 election, which he had opted out of in favor of letting the people decide on a new President. Johnson was betrayed and sabotaged by the Nixon campaign, and a diplomat named Henry Kissinger in convincing the South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu to back out of the Paris Peace Accords to get a "better deal" from the Nixon Administration. The end of his Presidency saw him disgraced and left hanging in the wind, an inglorious end to a turgid and climactic tenure.

5.
Theodore Roosevelt
(1901-1909)

Our second President to arrive into office off the back of an assassination, Theodore Roosevelt served as President after the assassination of William McKinley in 1901 until 1909. Roosevelt was thrown into the Vice Presidency by the Republican party in order to muzzle his radical ideas and aggressive antitrust attitude. This would fail spectacularly, which would serve to split the Republican party nearly a decade later. Roosevelt was an avid outdoorsman, and sought to protect state and national parks; Theodore additionally hated monopolies and did everything in his power to destroy and break down unwarrantable and corrupt business practices. His most infamous enemy would be John D. Rockefeller of Standard Oil.

Roosevelt's major legislative actions include:

- Elkins Anti-Rebate Act (1903)
- Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1904)
- Creation of the National Forest Service (1905)
- Hepburn Act (1906)
- Meat Inspection Act (1906)
- Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)
- Admission of Oklahoma (1907)

We should not forget that for as great and turbulent as Theodore Roosevelt is, he is now without faults. For one, Roosevelt avidly passed anti-immigration laws targeted primarily at Chinese and Japanese laborers throughout his tenure. Perhaps the second worst act that Roosevelt had committed would be his handling of the Brownsville affair, in which he would dishonorably discharge 167 black soldiers in Texas after these soldiers were accused of killing a white bartender. These men were never received pardons until 1972, when only one member was left. Nevertheless, Roosevelt stood by the working class and helped to protect their rights against corrupt businesses and instilled harsh regulations, many of which are still followed to this day.

4.
James Monroe
(1817-1825)

When one thinks of a golden age for the United States, many tend to forget the zenith of the era of the Framers. This period is known as the "Era of Good Feelings". Monroe served as President from 1817 until 1925, and is the last President to be voted unanimously by the Electoral College. This era began as the end of the War of 1812 and the Louisiana Purchase had come to full fruition, leaving Monroe to maintain things as they were. His tenure saw many new states become implemented, though with the Missouri Compromise, it cause the debate over slavery to be kicked down the road (which would invariably lead to a cataclysmic civil war). Monroe's greatest legacy sits at the creation (in lieu of his Secretary of State John Quincy Adams and Great Britain's foreign secretary George Canning) of the Monroe Doctrine, which dictated that the United States would be a protector to any territories and free states in the Western Hemisphere, restraining European powers from invading in Central and South America. Monroe's major legislation includes:

- Admission of Mississippi (1817)
- Admission of Illinois (1818)
- Admission of Alabama (1818)
- The Missouri Compromise (1820)
- Admission of Maine (1820)
- Admission of Missouri (1821)

Monroe was an extremely popular President of his time, though hindsight has not treated him kindly for his handling of the Missouri crisis. Yet the admission of five new states during his Presidency shouldn't be looked past. It was a complicated period in American history, where Southern Rights Nationalism and Federal Unionism began to form in their infant stages. Time would tell which would win, and Monroe was unfortunately powerless to stop any of it.

3.
Thomas Jefferson
(1801-1809)

Jefferson served as the Third President of the United States from 1801 until 1809, and his greatest action would be to double the size of the United States with the Louisiana Purchase; this act would involve the purchasing of 828 thousand square miles of land from Napoleon Bonaparte, for pennies on the dollar. Jefferson was a pro-French advocate, and thus maintained a friendly relationship with Bonaparte for the majority of his tenure. Much of his major legislation includes:

- Repealing of Naturalization Act (1802)
- Admission of Ohio (1803)
- Louisiana Purchase (1803)
- Twelfth Amendment (1803)
- Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves (1807)
- Embargo Act (1807)

Jefferson led the way for multiple states to be admitted, particularly in Monroe's tenure, yet there are several black marks on Jefferson. Jefferson's protectionist policies led to the US suffering from a lack of trade between France and England (who were at war with one another), and the Louisiana Purchase was debatably unconstitutional at the time, as Jefferson did not consult Congress until after the deal was agreed to. Finally, it's the thing everyone knows Jefferson for: his slave ownership and Sally Hemings and his children with Sally; what Jefferson did back then would today be considered rape and trafficking, and the fact that he had kids with his slaves and kept them in bondage as well is reprehensible, even by the standard of the time (though for different reasons). All this being said, Jefferson's influence is undeniable, and as the chief author of the Declaration of Independence of 1776, his prose brought forth the ideals of the American Dream.

2.
Ulysses S. Grant
(1869-1877)

From Thomas Jefferson owning slaves, we have a man who fought to end slavery and additionally protect the rights of freed slaves. Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant) had a rough life, but he trudged forward through dirt, mud, poverty, and his own moral dilemmas to become one of the great Presidents in U.S. History. Was Grant perfect? No; as a matter of fact, Grant's greatest flaw was his naivete that his cabinet and advisors had the nation's best interests in a time when Reconstruction brought widespread corruption both in the post-Civil War South and in Washington D.C. Yet Grant persisted in spite of these scandals, and ushered in the most successful and expansive pieces of legislation attempting to guarantee rights for minorities and recent freedmen. These legislative achievements involve:

- Creation of the United States Weather Bureau (1870) [Now National Weather Service]
- Fifteenth Amendment (1870)
- Creation of the Department of Justice (1870)
- Ku Klux Klan Act (1871)
- Civil Rights Act (1875)
- Admission of Colorado (1876)

Grant's tenure is also not without other failings. One aspect that is usually never spoken about is the controversial Indian Appropriation Act, which ended the native tribal system and enforced U.S. legal "guardianship" of the Natives. This invariably led to the destructive Black Hills War and the disastrous Battle of Little Bighorn. The scandals would tank Grant's popularity, and his unwillingness to step down from his candidacy led to the Election Crisis of 1876. The immediate effects of this crisis would officially end Reconstruction in exchange for Republican Rutherford B. Hayes' victory via the House of Representatives. An ignominious end to an otherwise excellent Presidency.

1.
Barack Obama
(2009-2017)

The last member of our countdown is the most popular President of the 21st Century (so far), and the first African-American to hold the highest office in the nation. Barack Obama came from out of nowhere to snatch the nomination in the Summer of 2008, but his messaging and power of personality shined through and excited a generation of voters into believing that "Yes we can" do anything. Did Obama live up to all of his expectations? No, I would not say that any modern president is capable of doing that. Obama suffered from, in my opinion, the same issues as Lyndon B. Johnson did: Excellent domestic policy, partnered with abysmal foreign policy. Obama helped escalate tensions in the middle east, from his unethical and unrelenting drone strikes, to maintaining the status quo in Afghanistan. He was a controversial President of his time, and even today has a mixed legacy particularly among left-leaning thinkers. His major policies include:

- American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (2009)
- Hate Crimes Prevention Act (2009)
- Affordable Care Act (2010)
- Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (2010)
- Repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Doctrine (2010)
- American Taxpayer Relief Act (2013)
- Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act (2015)

Obama's ultimate legacy will sit with the Affordable Care Act, a massive piece of legislation which aimed to protect citizens from unfair insurance practices. Opponents of the bill even today use the derisive and frivolous sobriquet "Obamacare". It will remain seen if the ACA will survive this current Presidency, or if it is doomed to die and let more people suffer for the indignity of poverty.​

 

[Chris]

I like all them, I think might try and force in Truman but idk who I'd kick out for him, maybe Monroe

 

[Chris]

Do top 10 pets next

 

[Barry Poppins]

I like all them, I think might try and force in Truman but idk who I'd kick out for him, maybe Monroe

I thought about Truman but I ultimately kept him out because of the Truman doctrine which is the primary incitement for the Korean War and other wars and insurgent campaigns brought on and funded by the U.S. plus the whole dropping a Nuke on a foreign country is still pretty controversial.

 

[Barry Poppins]

Also I originally had Coolidge in the top 10 as well but after further reflection I took him out primarily because Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover did nothing to prevent the market crashes and the Great Depression. Their laissez-faire attitudes created a bubble that was going to inevitably burst.