Appraising Presidents

A FRIEND OF MINE, a fellow college instructor, has a routine of arriving for class fifteen minutes ahead of time, and engaging in group discussion with any student or students who chose to arrive early and participate. The discussions are free ranging; campus issues, national issues, global issues, personal issues. The discussions took a turn which, in retrospect, was perhaps inevitable. Several of the participants repeatedly complained about President Trump, complained that Trump was absolutely, beyond a doubt the worst president in Amrican history. They had arguments to back up their claim. My friend countered with: "We must be careful not to exagerrate, not to stereotype, and not to make such arguments and accustaions without a firm foundation of evidence". He considered this topic to be not only of immediate relevance to all Americans, but also a good way to teach critical thinking skills, a primary function of all education. His argument was that there have been many presidents of the United States over more than two centuries, and that in one way or another, almost all of them could be accused of being ineffective, of being "the worst" president, depending upon the biases and viewpoints of the beholder, and that therefore, to lay the burden upon Mr.Trump was a heavy load, not to be taken lightly. The students, evidently strong Democrats, persisted, unrelenting. My friend decided to do a little historical research. He began by familiairizing himself with all forty four previous presidents, and reading a bit about their biographies. then he proceeded to study each presidential administration in turn, becoming something of an American historian in his own right, though his actual academic area is drama and communications. He consulted the history department for recommendations, and was careful to read only the most respected American presidential historians. In chronological order, starting of course with Washington, one by one he became conversant with the administrations, in terms both of the agendas and personal ideologies of each president, and with the circumstances, domestically and internationally, which accompanied their times in office. All this took him about a year of intense study. Finally satisified with his ability to render judgment, he was forced to come to a striking, and alarming conclusion: he had been wrong all along, and his Trump bashing students had been right. Donald Trump, he was concinced, was not only the worst president in American history, but we was the worst by a wide margin. In terms of personal behavior while in office, moral standards of personal conduct, and also with regard to official policies and conduct while in office, there was no comparison. Trump, definitely the rock bottom worst. Grant, Hoover, Filmore, Wm. H. Harrison; nobody was even close. My friend told me that he conceded the point to his students, but he didn't tellme whether they bothered to rub it in. If not, they should have.