Who are America's great presidential families? | GARY COSBY JR.

I was thinking about how many recent presidents I really haven’t liked all that well, and my train of thought eventually wandered onto the great American presidential families.

I immediately thought of the Bush family, since both George H.W. Bush and his son George W. Bush have served as presidents. Of course, the elder Bush was a Navy fighter pilot in World War II, where he served with distinction. He later became CIA director, then served as vice president to Ronald Reagan before winning the White House himself.

There is only one other family in U.S. history with such a presidential tradition. The Adams family produced a father-son presidential duo, with John Adams serving as president from 1797-1801 and John Quincy Adams serving from 1825-1829. The Harrison family had a grandfather-grandson combination in William Henry Harrison who was president for only 31 days, dying in office in 1841, and his grandson, Benjamin Harrison who served as president from 1889 to 1893.

The Roosevelt family produced two presidents who were fifth cousins, Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt and then Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Teddy earned fame with the Rough Riders, while FDR became the longest serving U.S. president, elected to four consecutive terms. FDR became the man responsible for causing the passage of the 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, limiting a president to two elected terms.

FDR is famous for his controversial New Deal legislation, which established the framework for the nation's recovery from the Great Depression. The New Deal was foundational when Lyndon Johnson maneuvered his “Great Society” social welfare legislation through Congress.

FDR also led the nation through almost all of World War II. His leadership was critical in not only the U.S. military involvement in the war, but perhaps more importantly he came up with the lend-lease program that kept arms flowing into the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom, thus ensuring both nations could stay in the fight during seriously dark times as they faced the Nazi war machine.

America’s most tragic presidential family is, without doubt, the Kennedy family. Joe Kennedy, the patriarch, had aspirations to be president himself, but his work as ambassador to the United Kingdom became an embarrassment to the Roosevelt administration. He was strongly antisemitic and his efforts to forward the policy of appeasement with Germany put him at odds with Roosevelt and United Kingdom Prime Minister Winston Churchill. His public comments eventually led to his recall and the end of his political aspirations.

Kennedy’s oldest son, Joseph Kennedy Jr., the Kennedy most likely to be president after his father's dreams were unfulfilled, was killed while flying a dangerous mission over the English Channel during World War II.

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It was John F. Kennedy who eventually became the Kennedy in the White House. Everyone, of course, knows the romanticism surrounding the Kennedy presidency, as well as the tragedy. Joe Kennedy’s other children to attain high political office were Bobby Kennedy who was also felled by an assassin during his presidential campaign, and Teddy, a longtime U.S. senator. Teddy Kennedy sank his own chances for the presidency with the Chappaquiddick incident.

Even today, after many trials and travails, there is a Kennedy running in the Democratic presidential race, attempting to add another name to the Kennedy political legacy. One hopes his name will not also be added to the tragic family legacy.

If we look back throughout history, a few names stand out like stars in the night sky for their service to the nation. Abraham Lincoln is widely regarded as the greatest U.S. president for his leadership through the time of the most severe crisis the country has ever faced, as well as for his abolition of slavery. Those are two accomplishments that would be hard to top.

FDR and George Washington are the two presidents who could contend for the top spot and for obvious reasons.

The worst president in U.S. history is considered to be James Buchanan, whose presidency came before Lincoln’s and whose leadership created the mess that was passed to Lincoln. Donald Trump is ranked as the second-worst president. He is, of course, the only president who attempted to overthrow his own country’s government and will ever be known for his chaotic handling of the COVID-19 crisis. The third-worst  president is considered to be Andrew Johnson who came immediately after Lincoln. The Tennessean did nothing to safeguard the rights of freed slaves and his inaction would lead to nearly 100 years of legal discrimination against Blacks, particularly in the former slave states.

U.S. News and World Report compiled the list of worst presidents based upon a trio of metrics developed by experts in the field of presidential history.

While you might not agree with either the best or the worst presidents mentioned above, the one thing we can all agree on is that the best former president is Jimmy Carter. I can’t think of a more decent man who has ever served in the office of the president. While his tenure in the White House is never going to be considered great, and many will look back on those years as among the worst in our history due to the rampant inflation and the horrors of the Iran hostage crisis, his performance since leaving office has been nothing short of spectacular. If nothing else, Carter is a great human being.

Gary Cosby Jr. is the photo editor of The Tuscaloosa News. Readers can email him at gary.cosby@tuscaloosanews.com.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Who are America's great presidential families? | GARY COSBY JR.