The Average Joes

Continuing my categorization of the 42 (43 if you count Cleveland twice) presidents. These are the Average Joes. They did not do a bad job, but were not great either. As a result, they are lumped together here. Once again, they are listed chronologically.

1. John Tyler (1841-1845): Tyler took over when Harrison died after one month. He had two major accomplishments. Firstly, Tyler was the first Veep to assume the presidency upon the death of his predecessor. He asserted the right of a Vice President to be President and not just serve as an interim president. This was highly controversial. Second, he annexed Texas on his way out of office. On the downside, Tyler ran as a Whig, but was really a Democrat. When the Whigs passed legislation and sent it to him, he vetoed it. His cabinet resigned and he became a man without a party. After leaving office, he supported the Confederacy during the Civil War.

2. Zachary Taylor (1849-1850): Taylor did not do much in office. He died about a year and a half into office. When California wanted to enter the Union a free state, he supported their petition which caused a firestorm. Despite owning slaves, he opposed the expansion of slavery and the Compromise of 1850. Taylor also threatened to hang anyone that threatened secession from the Union.

3. Rutherford B Hayes (1877-1881): Due to the nature of his elevation to the presidency, he did not get much done and promised to serve only one term. He ended Reconstruction as part of the deal to get the White House, busted the Railroad Strike of 1877, signed a bill to allow women to argue cases before the Supreme Court, and arbitrated the end of The War of Triple Alliance between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay against Paraguay. His decision made him a hero in Paraguay.

4. Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929): After the corrupt administration of Warren Harding, Coolidge was a breath of fresh air. He kept spending down and cut taxes. Coolidge also signed immigration reform measures. Additionally, he gave citizenship to American Indians and oversaw the first regulations on transportation and radio. Coolidge's Secretary of State, Frank B. Kellogg, negotiated the Kellogg-Briand Pact which renounced and outlawed war. He was elected in his own right in 1924, but declined to run again in 1928.

5. Gerald R. Ford (1974-1977): Ford entered office as a result of Watergate. He started out with a very high approval rating, but decided to pardon Nixon which ended his honeymoon. His rationale was two-fold. First, he feared Nixon's health would continue to deteriorate and he'd die if the pressure was not released. Second, he felt it was better to spare the country the pain of a trial. It was a profile in courage, but cost him the 1976 election. For this, he is known as the "Great Healer." During his term, the economy faltered as a result of government welfare programs and an end of the Vietnam War. Ford's WIN program attempted to fix inflation, but it raised unemployment. Ford admitted it was "too gimmicky." The Vietnam War came to a crashing end as the Communists illegally entered Saigon and the US mounted a day and night rescue mission (you can see the ladder to the helicopter at the US embassy at the Ford Museum). Most importantly, he got the USSR to sign the Helsinki Accord which bound the Soviets to maintain human rights. This treaty sparked Solidarity and signalled the beginning of the end for the Soviets.

The Roaring 20s

America was tired of Woodrow Wilson. Like George W. Bush, he had a successful and progressive first term, he was re-elected by the skin of his teeth, the economy was in recession, he led America into a ridiculous conflict, and then into a massive conflict which the public grew tired of. In 1919, the country experienced a Red Scare, a series of race riots, and the government suspended the constitution to go after radicals. The GOP smelled victory.
In 1920, the GOP nominated Senator Warren Harding of Ohio for president. Harding was not qualified, but was likeable and the girls swooned over him. Harding promised a return to normalcy. (Thus far, 2008 resembles 1920). The Democrats thought about running Wilson again, but he had suffered a stroke and the country despised him. They nominated newspaperman James Cox. The election came down to whether or not people wanted to be involved in world affairs and progressivism. Did people want "A Return to Normalcy" or a continuance of progressive policies and Wilsonian (Bush-like) foreign policy? Harding won with 61% of the vote. Voters wanted an end of Bush...er Wilson.
Four years later, Harding was dead. He died of a massive stroke as a major scandal rocked his administration. Harding the candidate resembled Barack Obama while Harding the president resembled Bill Clinton.(Lessons for today!) The Vice-President, Calvin Coolidge, assumed the presidency and was well liked and untainted by scandal. He ran for election in his own right. The Democrats battled and haggled and settled on former Congressman and Diplomat John Davis. Meanwhile, the Progressives re-emerged and nominated the narcissistic Robert La Follette. With the economy doing great, America modernizing, and a popular incumbent president, Coolidge won in a landslide. 54% to 28% for Davis and 17% for La Follette.
In 1928, Coolidge decided not to run. He was a successful president and would have been re-elected. The Republicans turned to Secretary of Commerce and World War I relief hero Herbert Hoover. Hoover decided to enter politics at the beginning of the decade and decided to join the GOP because the Democrats were not popular. Hoover promised a "chicken in every pot" and ironically believed poverty would soon be at an end. The Democrats nominated Al Smith of New York. Smith was a Catholic and against Prohibition. He was the party's sacrificial lamb. The only excitement came from Franklin Roosevelt's nominating speech. The Democrats were crushed again 58%-40%.Four years later, America would be in it's deepest crisis since the Civil War and FDR would be the man they would choose to save the country.