Top Five US Presidents

Paper Summary:

This paper relates the subjective opinion of the author, as to which of the US Presidents rated the top five. According to the paper, these five are Thomas Jefferson, Ronald Reagan, Dwight Eisenhower, Franklin Roosevelt, and George H.W. Bush. The paper goes on to justify the selection of the author.

From the Paper:

"When he became the President in 1953, the US was bogged down in the stalemated Korean War. Some war hawks had expected Eisenhower, the soldier, to escalate the war. Instead, he did the opposite, promptly ending the war with honor. The 1950s were the peak of the Cold War era when nuclear confrontation between the US and the Soviet Union, was a very real possibility. Eisenhower was determined to avoid such a war at all costs, and he did so successfully. Like Reagan, Ike was also a great believer in delegation of powers to competent assistants as he realized that the job of a President had become far too complex for one individual to direct all its details. (Kengor, 1998). Because of his deliberate laid back style, Eisenhower was often erroneously regarded as a lazy, intellectual lightweight. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Just as the "proof of the pudding is in its eating," Ike's presidency "gave America eight good years during which there were no wars, no riots, no inflation--just peace and prosperity." (William Ewald, quoted by Kengor, 1998) His ranking at No. 3 is, therefore, well earned."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Bonwick, C. (1993, April). "Thomas Jefferson: Pragmatist or Visionary?" History Today, 43, 18+. Borden, M. (Ed.). (1961). America's Ten Greatest Presidents. Chicago: Rand McNally.
• Busch, A. E. (1997). "Ronald Reagan and the Defeat of the Soviet Empire." Presidential Studies Quarterly, 27(3), 451+.
• Kengor, P. (1998). "Comparing Presidents Reagan and Eisenhower." Presidential Studies Quarterly, 28(2), 366+.
• Peterson, M. D. (1975). Thomas Jefferson and the New Nation: A Biography (1st ed.). London: Oxford University Press.
• Rose, R. (1991). George Bush Meets the World. Chatham, NJ: Chatham House.

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