Record Nr.

UNINA9910787465703321

Autore

Eland Ivan

Titolo

Recarving Rushmore : ranking the presidents on peace, prosperity, and liberty / / Ivan Eland

Pubbl/distr/stampa


Oakland, California : , : Independent Institute, , 2014
©2014

ISBN

1-59813-181-8

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (948 p.)

Disciplina

973.09/9

Soggetti

Presidents - Rating of - United States

Presidents - United States - History

United States Politics and government

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Cover; Title; Dedication; Copyright; Contents; Introduction; 1. George Washington: A Precedent-Setting Presidency-Both Good and Bad; 2. John Adams: Used the Quasi-War with France to Restrict Civil Liberties; 3. Thomas Jefferson: A Hypocrite on Limited Government; 4. James Madison: Started an Unneeded War That Got the U.S. Capital Burned; 5. James Monroe: The First Wisps of Permanent Government Expansion; 6. John Quincy Adams: A Federalist Wearing a Democrat's Clothes; 7. Andrew Jackson: Aggressive against Indians and Southerners; 8. Martin Van Buren: Practiced What He Preached

9. William Henry Harrison: Served for Thirty-one Days 10. John Tyler: ". . . and Tyler Too!"; 11. James K. Polk: War for Land to Carry Out Aggressive Manifest Destiny; 12. Zachary Taylor: Risked Civil War Years before It Happened; 13. Millard Fillmore: Avoided an Earlier Civil War, but at a Cost; 14. Franklin Pierce: Made Civil War More Likely; 15. James Buchanan: Should Have Let the South Go in Peace; 16. Abraham Lincoln: Provoked a Catastrophic Civil War That Achieved Far Less Than Believed; 17. Andrew Johnson: Uncompromising Attitude Led to Harsh Reconstruction Policies

18. Ulysses S. Grant: Better Than Expected, but Still Poor 19. Rutherford B. Hayes: Practiced Military Restraint, Except with Indians; 20. James A. Garfield: Served for Six Months; 21. Chester A. Arthur: Promoted

Limited Government and Fought Inflation; 22. Grover Cleveland: Exemplar of Honesty and Limited Government; 23. Benjamin Harrison: Bad Economics and the Use of Coercion at Home and Abroad; 24. Grover Cleveland: Served a Second, Nonconsecutive Term; 25. William McKinley: The First Modern President, with Imperialist Aspirations

26. Theodore Roosevelt: Overrated in Accomplishments and Significance 27. William Howard Taft: Not a Hefty Policy Innovator; 28. Woodrow Wilson: Made the World Safe for War, Autocracy, and Colonialism; 29. Warren G. Harding: Scandals Masked a Good Presidency; 30. Calvin Coolidge: Silent Cal's Presidency Should Silence the Critics; 31. Herbert Hoover: Sucked the Economy into the Great Depression; 32. Franklin D. Roosevelt: Lied the Nation into War and Expanded Government; 33. Harry S Truman: The First Imperial President; 34. Dwight D. Eisenhower: Overt Dove and Covert Hawk

35. John F. Kennedy: Almost Incinerated the World So as Not to Appear Weak 36. Lyndon B. Johnson: A Failure with Both Guns and Butter; 37. Richard M. Nixon: Undermined the Republic at Home; Had a Mixed Record Abroad; 38. Gerald R. Ford: Pardon Me!; 39. James Earl Carter, JR.: The Best Modern President; 40. Ronald Reagan: Not Really That Conservative; 41. George H. W. Bush: "Read My Lips," No Real Accomplishments; 42. William J. Clinton: More Fiscally Conservative Than Reagan and the Bushes; 43. George W.Bush: Interventionist Policies Undermined the Republic at Home and Peace Abroad

44. Barack Obama: Only a Slightly Improved Version of George W. Bush

Sommario/riassunto

Evaluating presidents on the merits of whether their policies promoted peace, prosperity, and liberty, this ranking system takes a distinctly new approach. Historians and scholars have long tended to give higher rankings to presidents who served during wartime, were well spoken, or exceeded in expanding the power of the executive office. However, this new examination cuts through these longstanding biases and political rhetoric to offer a new nonpartisan system of ranking that is based purely on how well each president's policies adhered with the founders' original intention of limiting federal