Five greatest U.S. presidents Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Five greatest U.S. presidents - Essay Example Such a benchmark should enable one to determine varying degrees of greatness based on the extent to which each President under consideration meets or exceeds it. For purposes of this study, which purports to rank the five greatest Presidents in the history of the United States, greatness is defined as having had a direct impact on setting the course of America toward what it is today. In other words, the greatest Presidents are those without whom America would not have become the country it has become. These leaders each fundamentally altered the course of evolution of America, for better or worse, and thereby have heavily influenced present-day American life by way of their leadership. This being a top-five list out of forty-three possible choices, it need not imply that those who did not make the list were not great Presidents. Rather, the following five American Presidents were arguably the most influential in shaping America of all of the greatest and most influential leaders in American history, of which there were surely more than five. They are, in order of greatness: Franklin Roosevelt, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Harry Truman, and Bill Clinton. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was arguably the greatest American President in history. ... me and abroad, much less did so as effectively and with such positive results and while suffering from the effects of a ravaging disease (Coggan, 2003). Roosevelt led the nation with such a firmness of purpose and confident assurance that he was able to rally and inspire Americans to sacrifice in the name of a greater good for as long as it would take to achieve victory. The Great Depression was Roosevelt's first great test. Never before had the nation known such economic despair, nor lost confidence to such an extent in America's capitalist underpinnings. For the first time, the unfettered marketplace rolled over to reveal its vulnerable underbelly, and it was shocking to see how exposed it was. By the time Roosevelt entered the Oval Office, America was in the midst of a full-blown crisis that threatened its very fabric. Roosevelt reassured the nation through his "Fireside Chats" in a way that no previous President had ever before communicated with the country. He quickly went to work to craft and implement legislation that reestablished confidence in America's stock market, banking system and other capitalist institutions. He established public works programs that reemployed hundreds of thousands of laid off workers. Further, he Americanized the concept of social welfare with programs such as Social Security that peacefully coexisted with a free ma rket system. Roosevelt also led America into World War II, delivering one of the most inspirational rallying speeches in American history in the wake of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. His leadership was largely responsible for the Allied victory, and catapulted America toward its Post War Superpower status that it still retains to this day. Roosevelt essentially led the world in its greatest struggle against evil and