America's Three Most Underrated Presidents

Being a history buff who crammed as many U.S. and World History classes into my high school education as possible, I have always been fascinated by our country’s leaders, from our Founding Fathers to the present day. I especially enjoy reading about the 45 men – remember that Grover Cleveland was both our 22nd and 24th Commander-in-Chief – who were fortunate enough to be elected President.

We all have our personal favorites, mine being Ronald Wilson Reagan, and perhaps those whom we like the least. In fact, historians with a far greater depth of knowledge than me have spent countless hours ranking these men according to their effectiveness as our nation’s Chief Executive.

Some of those lists I agree with and some I don’t. And so, I thought I would create a couple lists of my own. Today, we will consider the Three Most Underrated Presidents and tomorrow, we will flip the script and name the Three Most Overrated ones. Let me know what you think.

#1 on the Most Underrated Hit Parade is Calvin Coolidge, who became president upon the death of Warren G. Harding in 1923. What made “Cool Cal” so great? Unlike some of his meddlesome successors such as FDR, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, and Barack Obama, he didn’t micromanage or overmanage. Coolidge was a small-government fiscal conservative who, in many ways, believed that the best thing the federal government could do was to stay out of people’s way.

No wonder “Silent Cal” was Reagan’s personal favorite. After all, one of the Gipper’s most famous punchlines was that “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.”

That isn’t to say that Coolidge was a do-nothing president, however. On the contrary, he pushed through and signed into law the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, which granted full U.S. citizenship to all Native Americans. He was also a stalwart supporter of women’s suffrage and racial equality, dating back to his days as Governor of Massachusetts where he also boldly and decisively handled the Boston Police Strike of 1919.

“The business of America is business,” our 30th President stated matter-of-factly and, as a result of his laissez-faire policies, America’s economy boomed throughout the “Roaring Twenties.” Coolidge also renewed Americans belief and trust in the federal government after the scandal-ridden Harding administration.

Coolidge remained extremely popular throughout his six years in office and could have run for a second full-term in 1928 had he so chosen. Predictably, this man of few words declined, saying that 10 years in office would be "longer than any other man has had it – too long!"

Whereas the majority of historians whose lists I consulted ranked Coolidge between 24 and 32, I think he was a first-rate president deserving of much higher marks. And so, I’d place him somewhere between 12 and 15.

#2 on my list of Most Underrated Presidents is William McKinley, our 25th Commander-in-Chief. The last president to have fought in the Civil War, McKinley oversaw a rapid expansion of U.S. territories that included Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Cuba. Having inherited an economy mired in a deep depression, McKinley rejected the inflationary monetary policy of free silver, which was advocated by his two-time Democratic opponent William Jennings Bryan, keeping the United States on the gold standard instead. McKinley also raised tariffs on foreign goods, thereby protecting American manufacturers.

Perhaps the best thing that McKinley did was to replace Garret Hobart, his vice-presidential running mate in 1896 who died in office two years later, with a young upstart from New York by the name of Theodore Roosevelt when he ran for re-election in 1900. When McKinley was assassinated in 1901, Teddy became America’s youngest Chief Executive at the tender age of 42.

For being such a good steward of our economy – and such a good judge of character – I rank William McKinley one or two places ahead of Coolidge. By comparison, most historians place him between 14 and 22.

My third Most Underrated President is a coin toss between James Monroe and James K. Polk, with honorable mention going to the aforementioned Grover Cleveland. Monroe and Polk, the former a Democratic-Republican and the latter a Democrat, greatly expanded American prestige and territory.

As Thomas Jefferson’s Secretary of State, Monroe negotiated the Louisiana Purchase, which nearly doubled the size of the country, and the Monroe-Pinkney Treaty which, had it been ratified, may have prevented the War of 1812. After unsuccessfully challenging James Madison for his party’s presidential nomination in 1808, Monroe later became Madison’s Secretary of State in 1811 as well as his Secretary of War in 1814.

However, he is best remembered for the Monroe Doctrine, which asserted American dominance in the Western Hemisphere. Call it an “America First” policy that was instituted almost 200 years before Donald Trump’s version.

Polk presided over the Mexican-American War, after which the U.S. annexed the Republic of Texas, the Oregon Territory, and the Mexican Cession, which included almost the entire southwestern part of our country (California, Nevada, and Utah as well as parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming). Polk also had the common sense and common decency to only serve one term, keeping a pledge he had made to the American people.

As for Grover Cleveland, he made the list because he was a strong fiscal conservative who also fought hard against public corruption. I also like the fact that he bounced back after losing his re-election bid in 1888 to win a second non-consecutive term in 1892. Gotta love those never-say-die Jersey boys! (And yes, for the record, I know that Cleveland was the Governor of New York, but he was born in Caldwell NJ, which is why there is a rest stop on the Jooisey Turnpike named after him.)

In case you’re curious, most historians rank Monroe in the low teens, Polk in the middle to high teens, and Cleveland in the low to mid 20s. I’m guessing that former President Trump, who is hoping to repeat Cleveland’s feat by becoming Presidents #45 and #47, might rank him even higher.