Take Millard Fillmore, who was elected vice president on the Whig ticket in 1848 and became president when Zachary Taylor died in 1850. Fillmore was a stolid, self-made man who would in time alienate slavery opponents and leave his party in disarray, earning his place among the worst presidents. In his first year, though, he helped to broker the Compromise of 1850, which most of the nation greeted as a great achievement, securing what Fillmore proclaimed (albeit prematurely) as “a final settlement” of sectional discord over slavery.
Fillmore’s successor, the Democrat Franklin Pierce — an amiable man who was pliable and prone to depression and drink — entered the White House in 1853 grieving the death of his 11-year-old son in a train wreck. But Pierce’s successful first year helped lift his gloom, as Commodore Matthew Perry’s momentous first landing in Japan opened that country to trade and the Gadsden Purchase brought what is now southern Arizona and a slice of New Mexico into the United States. Only in Pierce’s second year did his support for the controversial Kansas-Nebraska Act help rip open the national divisions over slavery, threatening the Union and destroying his presidency.
Warren G. Harding — darkly handsome, impeccably dressed and widely adored — acquired a reputation for cronyism, corruption and womanizing that continues to stain the reputation of his administration, which ended when he died of a heart attack in 1923. But while the corruption was very real, the worst of it, above all the Teapot Dome scandal, did not come to light until after his death.
Harding’s first year actually brought some auspicious legislative accomplishments, including passage of the Federal Highway Act of 1921, which invested millions in the nation’s infant highway system. In October, Harding addressed a huge segregated crowd in Birmingham, Ala., and courageously urged equal political rights for blacks, without which, he said, “our democracy is a lie.”
Two months later, he pardoned the socialist Eugene V. Debs, who had been imprisoned for speaking out against World War I; he even insisted that Debs (who had run against him for president from prison) pay a visit to the White House. In public Harding was a paragon of dignity, and his death was universally mourned.
Richard M. Nixon’s first year in office produced mixed results. He continued the Vietnam War but floated reforms such as a guaranteed annual income for the poor. He hinted at retreating from civil rights laws and court rulings, but enforced them. The year also yielded innovations like the National Environmental Policy Act, which Nixon signed into law in January 1970. The mixture of arrogance and paranoia that would lead to the Watergate scandal did not take hold until later.
George W. Bush has made some worst-presidents lists because of the disastrous Iraq war and the collapse of the economy under his watch. But his first year was notable for his post-Sept. 11 leadership, when he rallied the country’s spirit while cautioning Americans not to turn their grief and outrage into reprisals against Muslims. He ended his first year with an approval rating in the Gallup poll of 83 percent.
Only two of the failed presidents had horrendous first years, which, like Mr. Trump’s, were a result largely of their own actions. James Buchanan, a wealthy bachelor, at all times courteous and dignified, connived behind the scenes even before he was inaugurated to help coax the Supreme Court into the calamitous Dred Scott decision of 1857, handed down a few days after his swearing-in and widely considered among the court’s worst.
Calculated to suppress antislavery politics once and for all, the decision instead alarmed Northerners by allowing the expansion of slavery — and it helped set the nation on the political course that ended in civil war. The financial panic of 1857 and subsequent depression, the splintering of the Union and the later exposure of rampant corruption inside the executive branch added to the sense of Buchanan’s fecklessness.
Andrew Johnson, a vituperative racist, was temperamentally and politically unsuited to succeed the slain Abraham Lincoln. His troubles began when he showed up for his swearing-in as vice president drunk and belligerent. Lincoln, aghast, is supposed to have said that he never wanted to speak to Johnson again.
After becoming president through assassination, Johnson at first signaled he would take a hard line against the defeated rebels, but then switched to attacking civil rights for the former slaves, siding with the ex-Confederates and engaging in abusive tirades against the Radical Republicans in Congress. He closed his first year by vetoing the Civil Rights Bill, which would have given the former slaves citizenship. Both houses of Congress swiftly overrode the veto, setting in motion the events that would end with Johnson’s impeachment in 1868.
What do these bad presidents’ first years tell us about Mr. Trump? Some performed reasonably well at first, only to slide into disaster later. Might Mr. Trump grow in the job, making us forget his rookie-season bumbling? Or should we expect more of the same through 2020?
I expect the latter. Mr. Trump’s first year has been an unremitting parade of disgraces that have demeaned him as well as the dignity of his office, and he has shown that this is exactly how he believes he should govern.
Most important, he is the first president to fail to defend the nation from an attack on our democracy by a hostile foreign power — and to resist the investigation of that attack. He is the first to enrich his private interests, and those of his family, directly and openly.
He is the first president to denounce the press not simply as unfair but as “ the enemy of the American people .” He is the first to threaten his defeated political opponent with imprisonment. He is the first to have denigrated friendly countries and allies as well as a whole continent with racist vulgarities.
George Washington warned that the actions of a president “may have great and durable consequences from their having been established at the commencement of a new general government.” If history is any guide — especially in light of the examples closest to his, of Buchanan and Andrew Johnson — Mr. Trump’s first year portends a very unhappy ending.
Sean Wilentz, a professor of history at Princeton, is author of the forthcoming “No Property in Man.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/20/opinion/sunday/trump-bad-presidents-history.html
Many people predicted that his term would be horrible , and it has been. It is the willingness of moderates and independents to tolerate this travesty that has bothered me the most.
Most important, he is the first president to fail to defend the nation from an attack on our democracy by a hostile foreign power — and to resist the investigation of that attack. He is the first to enrich his private interests, and those of his family, directly and openly.
Well, for starters, you would have to provide credible evidence that we were attacked by a hostile foreign power--one that Obama was only too eager to cozy up to. That sorry scandal is just beginning to be investigated. And how has he enriched his private interests? Every recent president has done that, especially the Clinton Crime Family.
What has bothered you the most about Trump? He's simply doing the job he was elected to do, in spite of all the fake news and left wing resistance. Give him a full term before making an assessment.
After an intelligence briefing the senate and house unanimously passed a resolution for additional sanctions against Russia for interfering with our election. You want to know what evidence was presented? Contact your local representative. ( BTW, your President has refused to impose those legally required sanctions on his buddies at the Kremlin )
Whataboutisms, deflection and lies. No evidence has existed to support these baseless accusations.
Play golf? He has spent a third of his time on vacation playing golf. You right wingers were incensed when Obama did it less that a fifth as much.
Abort him in the first trimester
He's fckd up enough in just one year
Voters body, voters choice
Well, 'voters' have chosen a true abortion seems anti abortionists' vote pro choice...?
I don't need to wait for the cow to die to know it was sick.
CORRECTION: "voter's body, elector's choice". At least in this case.
Only someone unfamiliar with American history can put Trump in the same league as Buchanan.
I'm embarrassed for this author.
he is the first president to fail to defend the nation from an attack on our democracy by a hostile foreign power
This line is even more insane. I don't know if the author's dangerously crazy or spectacularly dishonest.
The NYT returning to the days when it filled it's pages with praise for Stalin and attacking anyone who claimed there might be issues in Ukraine (as millions were dying).
We know how you feel
He continues to deny the attack ever happened even though every intelligence agency has confirmed it did. That is a spectacular fail and would be good enough to make him eligible for worst President of all time. His unmitigated and undeserved pride won't allow him to even say the words "Russia hacked the DNC and attempted to throw a national election in favor of my candidacy." which is a fact. That keeps him from saying "So we need to do everything we can to prevent this kind of foreign influence from ever effecting another election or else we are merely puppets of the Putin regime and will continue to lose respect around the world.".
The attack happened during Barack Obama's presidency and he was fist warned that Putin intended to disrupt out elections in 2014. In the summer of 2016, when he was given proof of Russian interference, he did nothing for fear it would hurt Hillary Clinton's chances and so waited until after the election to do anything, and his "action" consisted of very modest sanctions. Once in power, of course, the Trump administration signed stronger sanctions.
So if anyone is guilty of "failing to defend the nation from an attack on our democracy by a hostile foreign power" it's indisputably Barack Obama, it happened on his watch and he didn't want to offend Putin, who bullied him, or hurt the chances of Clinton, so he remained silent and complicit.
Do you have ANY IDEA how absurd you sound whence forth, your comment is read
Fitting rebuttal. You are really on your game.
Comment removed for CoC violation [ph]
Skirting the CoC [ph]
He worked behind the scenes and didn't announce it publicly so as not to appear to throw the election FOR Hillary. His not speaking up hurt her chances, but he made that choice because two wrongs don't make a right, and coming out with a bombshell to drop on the Republicans would have created a bigger mess than just the Russians releasing illegally obtained party emails and releasing them in the middle of a contentious campaign.
And your proof is? Oh thats right you have none.
You have to be in some serious denial to keep claiming Russia didn't interfere with our election.
So we agree the attack occurred during Obama's Presidency, and the author falsely claimed Trump "failed to defend the nation from an attack on our democracy by a hostile foreign power" when we all agree it was Obama who failed.
We also agree he did nothing about it, as the attacks occurred right up through the election.
announce it publicly so as not to appear to throw the election FOR Hillary.
It was announced publicly before the election by the Obama administration. That was the extent of Obama's "action."
This story, from Politico, details how Obama was afraid to anger Putin over propaganda:
POLITICO spoke with more than a dozen current and former officials from across the national security spectrum, including intelligence agencies, the State Department and the Pentagon. Almost all said they were aware of Russia’s aggressive cyberespionage and disinformation campaigns — especially after the dramatic Russian attempt to hack Ukrainian elections in 2014 — but felt that either the White House or key agencies were unwilling to act forcefully to counter the Russian actions.
Intelligence officials “had a list of things they could never get the signoffs on,” one intelligence official said. “The truth is, nobody wanted to piss off the Russians.” …
“The reports from sources deep inside the Russian government were alarming,” one current U.S. official who served under the Obama administration said. “We started getting stuff in April, May [of 2014] that was extraordinary about the extent of the threat and the capacities the Russians were building.”
You're right. That is so unfair to Buchanan.
Speaking of the horrible, lawless Buchanan presidency, we just heard an echo of it today.
Buchanan, famoulsly, got inside information from the Supreme Court how it would rule in the Dred Scott case. Knowing he would agree with the result, he made a big production in his inaugural about important it was to follow the Court and how he would support the decision , whatever it was.
Today, we learn that Obama's AG knew what Comey would decide on the Clinton classified email investigation before she publicly announced that she would recuse herself and abide by Comey's "independent" decision. I guess dishonest administrations follow the same playbook.
It seems this "history professor" thinks we live in a democracy- we don't- and that Russia attacked it under Trumps watch in the election of 2016 when Obama was still POTUS. There's no reason to listen to anybody who can't get basic facts right.
Obama publicly denounced them and threw sanctions at Russia. Trump was actively undermining the sanctions before he was even inaugurated and has continued to refuse to accept that Russia was behind the hack or ever tried to aid his campaign. He has continued the farce of not knowing who was behind the hacks for more than a year now. His undeserved pride keeps him from admitting the truth which makes us less safe as he's not actively working to prevent it in the future.
Why would Putin want Trump, who he knew would not be a laydown pushover as Hillary would have??
Except that is all he's done so far with Russia, lay down and roll over. He's refused to admit Russia had anything to do with election meddling, he had his administration working to undermine sanctions before he was ever inaugurated, he likely sanctioned meetings with them and his team during the campaign, he hired Flynn who he was warned about and knew he had ties to Russia who was making business plans the day of the inauguration letting his Russian contacts know sanctions would be lifted immediately. He's refused to say even a single negative word about Putin since he took office even though it's been proven that Putin not only interfered with our elections but has assassinated and incarcerated journalists, counter protestors and political opponents and Russia is now a "democracy" in name only. Trump is everything the slimy murderous authoritarian wanted, he's just a bit upset at the bumbling which led even Republicans to increase sanctions and not remove them. If it weren't for the bi-partisan support for the sanctions Trump would have given Putin the keys to do whatever he wanted in Europe and Syria.
What a load of shit. Just last week he opened up arms sales to Ukraine, which Obama refused to do at Putin's insistence.
If you want to see what a President bought and paid for by Russia would look like, look at Obama's record. Liberals parrot their talking points about Trump and Russia without having a clue what they are talking about. From the beginning of his term of office, all Obama did was act in Putin's interest or defer to him from missiles, to Syria to energy, even going so far as to do p.r. work for Putin in a Presidential debate when Romney attacked Putin as a threat.
Here's a story from 2015 about Obama's refusal to fight Putin's disinformation campaigns:
"The story of how Obama has failed to fight back against Russian propaganda is a depressingly typical one for this White House: a threat is recognized, then publicly denounced, some activity follows, only to be dropped due to a lack of interest, courage, and follow-through."
Most important, he is the first president to fail to defend the nation from an attack on our democracy by a hostile foreign power
ironically, he's describing obama. .
Zero Obama administration officials were ever indicted for malfeaseance in office which is already untrue of Trump...
Well when you have the justice department in the bag as much as obama did you can have them ignore and/or rig investigations so they are favorable to you.
I'll have to painfully wait until He completes His term to draw my conclusion, but He's certainly on the fast track.
Coming from the Northeast, we all knew (or should have known) what He was all about so there have been no surprises thus far. Those that voted for Him are getting what they voted for, the rest of us will have to wait and see how it plays out.
We should all want His presidency to succeed as we should all elected officials as when they fail we fail (He has certainly failed as a human being, but there is still time for the administration)
Frankly, the northeast has little to do with it. Everyone with a brain had ample opportunity to see what Trump was all about before the election. He was in the news every day for a year and a half, usually making a jackass out of himself at his clown show rallies.
What we didnt get in that year and a half were any interviews of him that held his feet to the fire of truth and knowledge and understanding. To this day he has never proven that he knows the particulars of any issue that faces the nation, or that he understands the basics of the constitution or of government.
Actually His stature (or lack of it) in the Northeast had quite a bit to do with it. He has more or less been utilizing the same playbook since the early seventies. Just saying we had a leg up on the rest of the Country as to what He's about, been at it for a lot longer than a year and a half.
John, there is one thing that Trump has not done that more than makes up for any screw ups that may have happened. He has NOT changed his name to Hillary Clinton. Four years of this is totally worth it to keep that corrupt woman out of the White House (even as a visitor). By now, she would have sold the country to the highest bidder.
You read too much right wing garbage.
And you believe too much of your own Left Wing propaganda.
to fail ALL of US human beings....?
My meager attempt at optimism
just can't see anything optimistic about him, or his joke of an administration
I did say it was a meager attempt. Just trying to keep that umbrella turned upside down.
The only light at the end of the tunnel is that the great undoing of his legacy as he has tried to do to Obama will be fast, furious and complete.
When Trump allows the swamp to drown US A ll in 9' deep Bull $hit, the umbrella is for what again...
To keep the piss from what they call trickle down economics off my noggin.
I 've empathy
Well, it's Monday and another JR article on how he hates the President. Nothing new to see here.