Whalertly

The President seems to like pitching in this image.

This article is part of my Presidential Rankings Series, please subscribe to the feed if you are interested in keeping up-to-date.

Thomas Woodrow Wilson came into the office of the Presidency as a man who was an extremely popular governor, a charismatic leader, and a man who had shown, while dean of Princeton University, that he understood how to budget effectively. This, however, was not enough to ensure an easy nomination, as the Democrat party took a little over 40 votes in order to pick Wilson as their candidate for the general election. With Taft and Roosevelt (Teddy) fighting over the Republican nomination, Wilson was able to squeeze in and get elected, with only 41% of the vote. This allowed Wilson to be our 28th President, serving from 1913 until 1921.

Continue reading #23 Thomas Woodrow Wilson – He tried so hard, to go nowhere

President Grant in his Army uniform

This article is part of my Presidential Rankings Series, please subscribe to the feed if you are interested in keeping up-to-date.

Be honest here, how many of you, before reading the title, knew that Grant’s real name was Hiram? Me, I learned it last year in my Presidents class taught by Charles Smith over at Ohio State, but there are some who might have known from before that. Honestly, this knowledge is rather useless (save for Jeopardy!), as we know Hiram by his chosen (and legally changed) name of Ulysses S. Grant.

Oh, and, by the way, this post signifies the last President from Ohio to get ranked. It is kinda sad that my home state has such mediocre Presidents, but that will change in about 20 years or so…

Ulysses S. Grant came into the office of the Presidency as a war hero, but also known for his strong drinking habit (to call it a habit might be insulting to how much he drank). Grant, upon his election, became the first war hero since Taylor and, upon his reelection, became the first to serve two FULL terms (sorry Abe) since Jackson. Of course, even with his starting benefits and respect, Grant left the office as a disgrace. Before doing so, however, he made three interesting trivia contributions – he was the youngest President elected (at the time) at 46, had held no elected office prior to election (like Taylor again), and he had no Vice President from 1875-77. Either way, Grant was our 18th President, serving from 1869 until 1877.

Continue reading #24 Hiram Ulysses Grant (Ulysses S. Grant) – Not even a war hero could end Ohio’s Presidential issues

President Taylor as our 12th President.

This article is part of my Presidential Rankings Series, please subscribe to the feed if you are interested in keeping up-to-date.

Zachary Taylor came into the office of the Presidency in an odd and, at the time, new manner. Instead of being a politician before becoming President, Taylor became the first President to never hold an elected office besides the highest in the land. Taylor was also one of the first Presidents to ride the ‘War Hero’ bandwagon into office. After serving with honor in the War of 1812, the Black Hawk War, the Second Seminole War, and the Mexican-American War, the American population fell in love with Old Rough and Ready. This love quickly made Taylor our 12th President (and the last Whig), serving from 1849 until his death in 1850.

Continue reading #25 Zachary Taylor – top-10 material, had he not died a little early

So, my stuff is unpacked, my house in in order, and my textbooks are slowly filtering in. I am finally ready to start this site again, and will be doing so on Monday with the continuation of my Presidents series. My goal is to continue the two-a-week pace until I am done with this series. After that, I will see where I go.

Thank you all for patiently waiting for me, keeping my RSS feed even though it wasn’t used, and, well, just reading. I hope to see you all back on Monday for the next President.

For those waiting to try and figure out when I will finally update this again, you are going to need to wait longer. I am currently packing and eventually moving out to Connecticut for law school, and that, along with work (I want text books) is eating up all of my time. I should start posting again once I settle in out there (around the 7th or so), but will update you guys later once I know more.

I am sorry that this is taking away from the site, and I was hoping that it wouldn’t, but this is important for my life, so it needs to be done. Please hang in there with me

This article is part of my Presidential Rankings Series, please subscribe to the feed if you are interested in keeping up-to-date.

This is the final installment of ‘Ohio week,’ a week where all the Presidents were from Ohio. On Saturday, we had Benjamin Harrison, on Wednesday we had William Howard Taft, and today we have Rutherford B. Hayes. While there is still one more Ohio President left to play with, rest assured, he isn’t for another two posts (wait, should I have given that away)?

Unlike most other Ohio Presidents, Hayes entered office on controversy. He lost in the popular vote, but won by one Electoral vote. A congressional committee was called and were tasked with coming up with who would be the new President. Hayes worked with southern democrats, creating the Compromise of 1877, which got him enough votes to win the election. This is the first and only time a President has been chosen by Congress. That non-withstanding, Hayes was the 19th President of the United States, serving from 1877 until 1881.

Continue reading #26 Rutherford Birchard Hayes – Birchard, seriously now, who names their kid Birchard?