Ohio's President's: Why are They the Worse?

What makes Ohio's presidents considered among the worst ever. I believe through my research that Ohio's president's are considered the worst because even the highest ranked men didn't accomplish much during their presidency, while the others had scandals that plagued their term. From the Teapot Dome Scandal to the Panic of 1873 Grant, Harrison and Harding earn their place in the cellar of Ohio presidents where as even those who ranked higher can only go so high due to lack of accomplishment. Mckinley had a clean presidency, but didn't get much accomplished so he would never climb into the top 15. In todays times no president will probably crack the top 10 because presidents aren't viewed as highly as they one were and the times just lent themselves to letting a good president become a great president. I don't believe that Ohio's presidents overall were that terrible they just weren't the right men for the job.

William McKinley

William McKinley is ranked as the best of eight presidents from Ohio, but it still barely in the top half overall. William McKinley was to serve two terms in office, but was quickly assassinated in his second term.
McKinley's presidency was key to the United States because it oficially placed America's money on gold and saw the establishment of the United States as a true Colonial power. McKinley also annexed Hawaii into the union. McKinley's presidency also saw some key events such as the Spanish-American war in which an American ship Maine was blown up off the coast of Cuba and this was the start of the war. The result of the war saw America gaining control of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Phillipine Islands. The Open Door Policy being rejected by China in the Boxer Rebellion led to America fighting in China to convince China to agree to trade with the western countrie(Martin Kelly).
William McKinley Memorial

William Taft

William Taft has some very interesting distinctions. Taft led many changes as he was the first president to own a car, changing the stables to a garage, and the last president to have a cow on hand for fresh milk. Taft was a deaf man and a huge man. He once got stuck in a bathtub so he had it changed to be made big enough for four men. Taft holds many distinctions such as that as being head of both the executive and judicial branches of government saying he enjoyed being Chief Justice more than the president as the White House was "the loneliest place." Taft also argued for U.S. supreme court to be made separate from Congress, and was one of only two presidents to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery(10 Interesting Facts About William Taft).
William Taft's presidency saw growth as the last two continental states were added, New Mexico and Arizona. Taft started what came to be known as Dollar Diplomacy, which ment the United States would get involved militarily to help United States interest overseas such as when he sent troops to stop a rebellion in Nicaragua because it was friendly with America. Taft was also key in bringing down a Standard Oil Company and passing the sixteenth amendment that called for an income tax(Martin Kelly).

Rutherford B. Hayes

Rutherford B Hayes' election was as shady as Bush's re-election. Hayes ran against Tilden who won the popular vote, and only needed one electoral vote to win the presidency, but when three states ballot's got confused many democratic votes were thrown out allowing Hayes to win. During Hayes' presidency, bot many things of note happened in a good or a bad way. Hayes began his presidency with the Compromise of 1877 which ended military occupation in the south in an attempt to appease the southerners who were not happy with the election results. The main act that came through during Hayes' presidency was the Bland-Allison Act which required the government to buy more silver to make coins to help farmers and debtors(Martin Kelly). While Hayes' didn't accomplish much his presidency didn't face the scandals of many other presidents which is why he is kind of a middle of the rankings president.
Rutherford B. Hayes' summer home.
I have actually been to this before and it is a very nice place.

James Garfield

James Garfield was another Ohio man who got the presidency without winning the popular vote. Garfield was also the first left-handed man to become president. Garfield was also a high ranking general for the union army. Garfield enjoyed a very short presidency of around 6 months, when he was shot and later died due to poor medical care. The one main accomplishment of Garfield's was the investigation of whether mail route contracts were being fraudulently awarded to those involved. Even when the investigation led to the door step of fellow republican members he continued the investigation setting forth civil service reforms(Martin Kelly). Even though his presidency was short he carried through the investigation even though it would hurt his party thus showing his high morality. Though his time in office was short he is still highly ranked among American presidents.
James Garfield Memorial

Benjamin Harrison

Benjamin Harrison is actually recorded in some sources as being from Indiana and others as being from Ohio. Benjamin is known for being a heavy talker, and also got the nickname of "human iceberg" due to his formal nature. Harrison lost the popular vote, but won through the electoral college. During his presidency, Harrison admitted North and south Dakota, but in an attempt to keep both states appeased. Harrison blindly picked states so as neither state could argue it got in first(10 Interesting Facts about Benjamin Harrison).
During Harrison's presidency, a few acts were signed that met well with people and a few bills that people greatly opposed. Harrison sign the Dependent and Disability Pensions Act that gave money to veterans injured in nonmilitary causes. He also signed the Sherman Anti-Trust Act that tried to stop the abuse of monopolies, but the vagueness left it as only a starting point. Benjamin also passed the Sherman Silver Purchase Act in which silver certificates could be traded in for gold or silver and it was quickly repealed by Grover Cleveland as the act was depleting U.S. gold. Many people suspect that this poor judgment is the reason that Benjamin didn't win re-election. He also passed a very unpopular tariff that raised imports by a 48% tax(Martin Kelly).
Benjamin Harrison Memorial Bridge
In 1977 a tanker ship crashed into the bridge providing for costly repairs.

Ulysses S. Grant

It is at this point that I have decided to modify my project. I originally intended to spotlight the 5 best presidents and the 5 worst Ohio presidents. I have decided since the class is Ohio History I should highlight all 8 of Ohio's presidents. So instead of comparing the way I had planned to I have laid groundwork for 3 of the top 5 and will use that as my comparison route. This way all of Ohio's president's get recognition and can be compared side by side as well as by some of the best for a different perspective.
Ulysses S. Grant was one of the best war generals this country has ever seen. Grant was best known for his control on horseback and as early as age nine people asked him for help training their animals. Grant also had a superstition that he needed to retrace his steps which proved pivotal in the Civil War. Grant was also one of the most composed men on the battlefield. Shells would explode all around him and he would not bat an eyelash(Diane Meives).
During the war, Grant's bold nature led to some unrest with his troops, but also led him to many key wins throughout the course of the war. Grant came known to accept nothing from his opponents but "an unconditional and immediate surrender. Grant won a key battle in Vicksburg and divided the confederate army into two. After many key wins, Grant became the number one general and maneuvered the generals so brilliantly that the end of the war seemed near at hand. The war concluded when Grant beat Lee at Petersburg.(Ulysses S. Grant The Hero of the Civil War).
While Grant enjoyed great military success, his presidential success was near nonexistent. Many major events took place while he was in office, but many of them were controversial or wrapped in scandal. One such scandal was the Black Friday Scandal. Grant was a big supporter of gold backed money. What took place was Jay Gould and Jim Fisk were lookign to make a large profit off of gold by aquiring large amounts and then selling it when it was most profitable for them. They talked Grant's brother-in-law to help them and they convinced Grant to name Gneral Butterfield as treasurer. Butterfield kept track of gold and told them when to buy or sell. When the price of gold then fell, panic insued, prices destabilized, and foreign markets almost halted, while the stock market almost crashed(Black Friday).
Grant's presidency also faced the vredit mobilier scandal in which Oakes Ames, who had bought inti the credit mobilier to make the Union Pacific Railroad, took advantage of the construction. The credit mobilier created the railroad at a highly inflated rate and even at times "built" a section of the railroad twice, and ended up making $23 million for a crummy railroad(This Week in Legal History). Another scandal that Grant's presidency faced was the whiskey ring scandal in which liquor sellers taxed as high as eight times the value of the liquor, and was maintained through the bribing of government officials. When Grant's secretary, Orville Babcock, was accused of being a part of it many people saw this as an attempt to fraudulently fund the Republican party(Whiskey Ring Scandal). Grant's presidency also faced the Belknap scandal and the panic of 1873. With the fall of Jay Cooke and his work on the Northern Pacific Railroad a series of events soon encompassed the nation. Banks failed, factories closed, credits dried, and the stock exchange closed. With these events Grant's presidency took a hit as the government faced unregulated growth and a lack of stopping company abuses(Panic of 1873).

Ulysses S. Grant Memorial
Honoring the man as the great war general he was, but not as the failure president.

Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was one of the more productive and interesting presidents the United States has ever seen. Teddy Roosevelt established a lot of first not only for a president, but for an American. He was the first president to travel outside the United States when he went to Panama. He was the first American to win the Nobel Prize for his negotiating skills in the Russo-Japanese war. Teddy Roosevelt also became the first president to be known by just his initials, T.R., and also was the first president in flight when he took a four minute flight in a Wright Brothers plane. Theodore Roosevelt was also the youngest person to ever hold office outside of J.F.K. Theodore Roosevelt is known as being the first to do many things, but is also known for his personality and mental abilities/skills. Teddy had a photographic memory and was a great dictator despite the fact that he was blind in his left eye attained from a boxing injury. Teddy could dictate letters to two separate secretaries while also reading a book. Teddy was also known for his toughness, evidenced in his enjoyment in skinny-dipping in the Potomac River during winter, and by the fact that he gave a ninety minute speech after having just been shot, but concluding no major damage had been done despite the fact that he was bleeding through the whole speech.(Interesting Teddy Roosevelt Facts).
Outside of being the first person to do many things and his interesting behaviors Teddy Roosevelt was also a prolific president. Teddy Roosevelt was one of the best foreign affair presidents this nation could have ever hoped to have had. He ended the American policy of isolationism and sought to bring order and justice to American commerce. He also gained the nickname "Trust-Buster" through the many corporations he brought to people controlled status. He began work on the panama canal, negotiated the end of the Russo-Japanese war, enabled many Americans to earn a living wage through his Square Deal, while also building up the American Navu thus making the United States a global power. He reduced the national debt by over $90,000,000 and passed many acts such as the Meat Inspection Act. He also broke up disputes in Morocco and Venezuela while also obtaining the passage of the Drago Doctrine that outlawed the use of force in collecting foreign debt. Many of his policies were used by many future presidents and his strong nature shows what America stands for at its best(Tweed Roosevelt).

Theodore Roosevelt Island

This island located in the Potomac River is a great honor to the love that Teddy had for being an outdoorsman. I am at this point deciding to give up on listing figures on how many people visit a location because no sites seem to list visitors.

William Henry Harrison

William Henry Harrison gets the distinct record of being the first United States president to die in office. William Harrison was a great war general who won many victories against the indians including the Battle of the Thames where the indian leader, Tecumseh, was killed. William Harrison followed the precedent of being a great war general who goes on to the presidency. William Harrison was a very stern and proud 68 year old man who may have been a good president had he not caught a cold during his nearly 2 hour inauguration speech and the died 1 month into his presidency.(Facts about William). William Harrison could have been a good president, but no-one will ever know. To call his time in office a presidency, seems kind of shameful to me. I don't think it's fair to consider him a terrible president when he never truly was president.

William Henry Harrison Memorial.

Again I am unable to locate any information on how many people visit this memorial in a year. I would venture to say that the number would be pretty low, but I am unsure.

George Washington

We all know the story of George Washington. George Washington was a great war general who led the American troops against the British. Georege Washington was a great leader in the effort to break away from the supressive British, and with his great leadership the United States began to take form. After the war, George Washington oversaw the writing of the United States Constitution and later became the unanimous winner of the first presidency. But did Washington do anything in office or is he widely loved because he helped us become a nation? While in office, Washington most certainly accomplished many major things. He established many of the requirements for being president such as, being 35, naturally born and live in U.S. for at least 14 years. He also led the change of the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution. He also set the precedent of only serving two terms in office and many of the roles of the president such as being commander-and-chief of the armed forces. Also during Washington's presidency five new states were ratified into the union(Facts about George Washington).



According to wikipedia, an excess of 800,000 people visit the Washington Monument each year. To me, this number is a surprise considering how many people visit the Lincoln Memorial and how close it is to the Washington monument.

Warren G. Harding

Warren G. Harding gets the distinct dishonor of not only being considered the worst Ohio president, but the worst president the United States has ever seen. Warren Harding had established himself as being opposed to the League of Nations and with his vibrant speaking voice, Harding was able to ride a week Republican candidacy all the way to the white house. The republican dominance in Congress plus Harding's republican allegiance led to the president signing a lot of bills that limited wartime controls, slashed taxes, established a federal budget, and put tight limitations on immigration. All these bills made the postwar depression seem over and as if prosperity was returning(Whitehouse.gov). But soon it was revealed that many men were taking advantage of Harding's good nature. Many scandals took place during Harding's presidency, with the most well-known scandal being the Teapot Dome scandal.  One of Harding's secretary was having illegal oil drilling take place in Montana. This scandal showed the corruption of politicians that has been present in people's minds ever since.(James,Zeck.). Shame was also brought to Harding's name when a woman claimed to have been one of his mistresses. Outside of dying shortly into his term and facing scandal many people still liked Harding. Harding didn't do much in office, but that was what the people wanted. Harding has been gaining more and more support in recent days as his scandals weren't deemed too serious.


Harding Memorial.

I searched and searched, but I could not locate any figures on how many people visit this memorial in a year.

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln is considered by most historians and most people today as the greatest president these Unitd States have ever seen. What makes Lincoln's success funny is that fact that he is considered a great president though many states actually seceded from the country just because he took office. When Lincoln took office, many states seceded from the union because they knew Lincoln was strongly against slavery. The issues of fighting slavery and the newly formed confederacy made Lincoln's presidency to be considered the greatest national crisis any president has had to face(Abraham Lincoln Presidential Accomplishments). Lincoln is considered the greatest president because he faced so much and excelled so brilliantly. Lincoln was a great strategist and this is highlighted in his Emancipation Proclamation in which he claimed all black men in the confederacy free. He stated this knowing that nothing would change, but he was able to make the war about freeing the black men instead of trying to save the union which was his true goal. Lincoln had such a strong character and such high leadership skills that he was able to keep other countries from getting involved in the civil war(R.J. Norton). Lincoln was such a successful president because he accomlished so many things. He was able to keep foreign countries out of our business and managed to make the war about slavery. His strong character and leadership led to the union staying together. Lincoln is the greatest president because he managed to keep the union together and he laid the ground work for the Abolition of slavery.

The Lincoln Memorial

One way I am going to compare the presidents support is by showing how many people visit each presidents memorial in a year just to show how much some are supported while others are not.
It is estimated that over 3.6 million people visit the Lincoln Memorial in a year(Lincoln Memorial, Wikipedia)

Ranking the presidents

I feel that the best way to evaluate something is by comparison. Since I am trying to answer the question of why Ohio's presidents are so bad, I should first discover where they are ranked in history compared to all the other presidents, and then delve into why some of these presidents are so highly ranked compared to others. The source I will use for this is wikipedia. The poll I have located on wikipedia is a combination of a wide variety of polls from abc polls, to rasmussen reports, to gallup polls, strongly democrat polls, strongly republican polls, and other various polls and calculated the overall rankings of the presidents based on this wide variety of information. Barack Obama will not appear in this poll as he hasn't fulfilled his term yet.

1.Abraham Lincoln(R)                       
2.Franklin Roosevelt(D)                    
3.George Washington(No Party)       
4.Thomas Jefferson(DR)                   
5.Theodore Roosevelt(R)                  
6.Woodrow Wilson(D)                      
7.Harry Truman(D)                            
T8.Dwight Eisenhower(R)                 
T8.Andrew Jackson(D)                     
10.James Polk(D)                              
11.John Kennedy(D)
12.John Adams(Federalist)
13.James Madison(DR)
T14.James Monroe(DR)
T14.Lyndon Johnson(D)
16.Ronald Reagan(R)
17.John Quincy Adams(DR)
18.Grover Cleveland(D)
T19.Bill Clinton(D)
T19.William McKinley(R)
T21.George Bush Sr.(R)
T21.William Taft(R)
23.Martin Van Buren(D)
24.Rutherford B. Hayes(R)
25.Gerald Ford(R)
26.Jimmy Carter(D)
27.Chester Arthur(R)
T28.Herbert Hoover(R)
T28.James Garfield(R)
30.Calvin Coolidge(R)
31.Richard Nixon(R)
32.Benjamin Harrison(R)
33.George Bush Jr.(R)
34.Zach Taylor(Whig)
35.John Tyler(Whig)
36.Ulysses S. Grant(R)
T37.William Harrison(Whig)
T37.Millard Filmore(Whig)
39.Franklin Pierce(D)
40.Andrew Johnson(D)
41.James Buchanan(D)
42.Warren G. Harding(R)

What stands out to me is that Ohio has given the United States the worst president in it's history and 3 of the worst 7 presidents.
             

Project Introduction

I am creating this blog as my multimedia final for my college class Hst 217. The topic I have chosen for my final project was inspired by my lack of interest in most topic's involving Ohio. My topic comes from a discussion that we had earlier in the quarter. We were discussing how terrible some of the Ohio presidents have been and I started wondering why Ohio's presidents seem to be so bad at ruling our country. So, that is the focus of my topic. I intend to day by day discuss one of our better president and then to discuss one of Ohio's presidents. Maybe by studying what the better presidents have done against what Ohio presidents have done I will be able to answer the question of Why are Ohio's presidents considered the worst ever?