Top Five Presidents

Segment 1 Writing Assignment

Many factors contribute to a successful president. As president of the United States of America you have to maintain a certain image that a majority of Americans will perceive as a strong leader while remaining compassionate about issues affecting the entire Nation. Americans tend to rate presidents on their accomplishments during office and the stability of the economy during the president’s term [ (C-Span, 2009) ]. I strongly believe that timing plays an enormous factor in a president’s overall rating as well. “Great presidents are made not just by themselves and their upbringing, but also made by their times in which they live” [ (Rove, 2003) ].
Of my top five presidents I would have to rank George…show more content…
These two men are the first to come to mind when I think of the founding of our Nation. I feel that they shaped the United States into what it is today. Although we have strayed away from their idea of what the nation should be and stand for they without a doubt put their stamp on the World. “In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war.” [ (Beschloss, 2009) ]
Choosing only five presidents for my bottom five proved to be a harder task then I had thought. At the top of my bottom five I would have to put George W. Bush in the number one slot. Although he was faced with the overwhelming task of the Iraq war, he did not prove himself to a leader. He was very under spoken and in my opinion made very poor decision in leading our country out of war and lead us instead into a recession. [ (Dye, L. Tucker Gibson, & Robison, 2011) ]
The Watergate Scandal definitely places Richard Nixon on the bottom for me. If you cannot trust and believe in the good of a person how are you to entrust the life of the Nation in one’s hands! [ (C-Span, 2009)…show more content…
Perception is a key component of how we as a Nation rate the forty three men we call our leaders. Therefore I guess it’s safe to say that the proof is in the pudding. The presidents listed at the top of the list have accomplished what many Americans perceive as right and good for our country. [ (C-Span, 2009) ]

Works Cited
Beschloss, M. a. (2009). The Presidental Biographies. Retrieved February 02, 2012, from White House.Gov: http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents

C-Span. (2009). C-Span 2009 Historians Presidental Leadership Survey (C) NCSC. Retrieved February 01, 2012, from C-Span.ORG: http://legacy.c-span.org/PresidentialSurvey/presidential-leadership-survey.aspx

Dye, T. R., L. Tucker Gibson, J., & Robison, c. (2011). Politics in America: Texas Edition ( pp. 384-385). New youk: Longman.

President Regan's Domestic Policy: A more Perfect Union. (2010). Retrieved January 30, 2012, from The Ronald Regan Presidential Foundation & Library: http://www.reaganfoundation.org/the-presidency.aspx

Rove, K. (2003, June 30). George Mason University's History News Network. Retrieved February 01, 2012, from History News Network: