George Washington to 1754
Washington Starts a War 1754-56
Washington on Military Duty in 1757
Washington & Virginia Defense 1758-64
George Washington 1765-69
George Washington 1770-74
Washington & Revolutionary War in 1775
Washington Takes Command in June 1775
Washington Disciplines the Army in 1775
Washington & Revolutionary War in 1776
Declaring Independence in July 1776
Fighting for Independence in Later 1776
Washington & War for Independence in 1777
Washington & Indians in 1777-79
Washington & War for Independence in 1778
Washington & War for Independence 1779
Washington & Indians in 1780-82
Washington & War for Independence 1780
Washington & War for Independence in 1781
War for Independence Ends 1782-83
Washington’s Circular to States on 8 June 1783
Washington’s Proposed Indian Policy in 1783
Washington’s Retirement Speeches 1783
George Washington in 1784-85
Washington & Shays’ Rebellion in 1786-87
US & Constitutional Convention in 1787
United States Constitution in 1788
Washington Becomes President in 1789
President Washington in Later 1789
Washington & the Frontier in 1789
Washington’s Message & Hamilton on Debt in 1790
Washington’s Second Message in December 1790
Washington & the Frontier in 1790
Washington & Hamilton’s Bank in 1791
Washington’s Message to Congress in 1791
Hamilton’s Report & Rights in 1791
Washington & Re-election in 1792
Washington’s Annual Message in November 1792
Washington & the Frontier 1791-92
Washington & Politics in 1793
Washington & Politics in 1794
American Frontier 1793-95
US-British Jay Treaty Negotiated 1794-96
Whiskey Tax Rebellion 1791-95
Washington & Peace in 1795
Washington & Peace in 1796
Washington’s Farewell Address September 1796
Washington’s Message on 7 December 1796
Washington in Retirement 1797-99
Washington & War for Independence 1775-83
Washington & New Government 1783-88
President Washington in 1789-90
President Washington in 1791-92
President Washington in 1793-94
President Washington in 1795-97
Evaluating George Washington
The first three volumes on George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson
in this new series on Re-evaluating US Presidents are being published online in June 2024.
The first three volumes of a previous series that covers from George Washington to
Calvin Coolidge are out of print as books, though they are still available on my
website at san.beck.org
My writing increased as I was writing about Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson,
Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover, and I realized
that I wanted to write at length on the other US Presidents as well.
I especially felt that I had not been fair to the founding fathers
who were some of our best Presidents.
While writing about the extraordinary life and accomplishments of Herbert Hoover,
I realized that I wanted to write more complete biographies that included
what the presidents did before and after their terms in office
that are related to how they did as Presidents.
Now my top six US Presidents are Herbert Hoover, Woodrow Wilson,
Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, John Adams, and Theodore Roosevelt.
The first really progressive Presidents were Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson,
though Washington, Adams, and Jefferson had some progressive policies.
Hoover is number one because his skill at organizing the feeding of people
who would have starved in the first World War.
Historians have noted that Hoover and those who helped him saved more lives
than anyone else has done in the history of the world.
He served well in the cabinets of Wilson, Harding, and Coolidge.
Hoover also helped millions who were starving in Russia in the early 1920s.
In one term as President he worked hard to respond to the depression caused by
capitalist exploitation, and he worked with many people to reduce the problems
with methods that would be adopted by Franklin Roosevelt.
Wilson did everything he could to show the world a way to prevent future wars
after the devasting World War in 1914-18.
Unfortunately the Republican Party chose to oppose his policies on
the League of Nations so that they could regain the presidency.
Jefferson and John Adams avoided a major war.
Washington in his “Farewell Address” warned the nation against getting involved
in “entangling alliances,” and that advice is still very relevant today.
I also have ranked Abraham Lincoln lowest, whom most scholars rank number one,
because he had a major responsibility for the Civil War that could have been avoided.
That war became the worst four years in the history of the United States
as about 750,000 people died, and many were disabled.
I have included the 2021 list compiled by the television network C-SPAN
based on rankings in ten categories of “leadership characteristics”
by 142 historians and professional observers.
Their rankings are also shown next to mine for each president.
My rankings are based on ethical values as to whether the presidential decisions
and policies were beneficial or harmful.
William Henry Harrison was President for only one month,
and he had very little influence for good or evil.
On my list the names above his in my opinion did more good than harm while those
below him on balance had a negative influence on the nation and the world.
I recommend that readers begin with the “Summary and Evaluation” chapter
to get the executive synopsis.
Then one can get much more detailed information from the chapters.
These books include many quotations from the
writings and speeches of these Presidents.
I have modernized the spelling and punctuation in order to
make it easier for readers to understand the meaning.
Yet I have left the old-fashioned capitalization of many words
in order to respect their emphasis.
I also use what I call “phrase-form” which has a meaningful phrase on each line,
and new sentences always begin on a new line.
I am now experimenting with using phrase-form for my own writing
as I am here.
Ancient writings were often written this way such as the
Wisdom of Solomon that was written about 2,000 years ago.
In doing my research I have found that there are many biographies
that give many details that are not necessarily related to the presidency.
Yet they rarely have long quotations.
There are many books often in multiple volumes that contain the writings of the person,
and they do not usually have the narratives like the biographies.
My aim has been to let them speak for themselves in their own words as much as possible
with longer quotations while placing these within the context of the historical narrative.
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C-SPAN List 2021 Abraham Lincoln 1 |