WHO WAS THE WORST U.S. PRESIDENT IN HISTORY?

To determine the worst U.S. president in history, some criteria must be selected as popular presidents are not always good presidents, and good presidents are not always popular.  It would be impossible for any president to make every person in the country happy all the time with the difficult and sometimes divisive decisions that are required by the office.  However, recent history has overlooked one of the most hated and publicly reviled presidents that ever served.  His name was John Tyler.

Early Political Career:  Born in 1790, Tyler grew up in the family of a Virginia plantation owner who had political aspirations.  His father, John Tyler Sr., was a Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates before becoming a state judge, Governor of Virginia, and a federal judge in the U.S. District Court in Richmond.  The younger Tyler was elected at age 21 to the House of Delegates.  In 1816 he was elected to the U.S. Congress from the 23^rd Congressional District in Virginia.  His political fortunes grew, and he was appointed Governor of Virginia in 1825 by vote of the legislature as was the law in those days.  Tyler’s political style featured fiery arguments and erratic behavior that offended even his political allies.  He made powerful enemies of the era including President John Quincy Adams, and Kentucky Senator, Henry Clay.  He was considered however to be less contentious than his senatorial opponent, John Randolph, and was elected to the U.S. Senate, again by the Virginia Legislature, in 1826.  As a senator, he soon found himself at odds with President Andrew Jackson, who succeeded John Quincy Adams, over Jackson’s spoils system and recess appointments, and even introduced legislation chastising Jackson.  He further abandoned the Democratic party and aligned himself with Henry Clay’s newly formed Whig party.

Selection to the 1840 Presidential Ticket:  Tyler’s maverick political positions brought him nationwide notoriety.  He was considered for the vice-presidential nomination in 1836, but was not selected.  However, the Whig party pared him as the vice-presidential candidate with General William Henry Harrison, the hero of the Battle of Tippecanoe, in the 1840 presidential election.  Their campaign slogan was a song entitled “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too,” that extolled the virtues of the two Virginia natives and denigrated incumbent president Martin Van Buren.  After the election was won by Harrison and Tyler, critics of the vice president said that he was chosen for the ticket because the party couldn’t find anyone else to accept the nomination.  During the campaign Tyler did not elaborate on his political views.  As vice-president he maintained a surprisingly low profile for the first several months living at his home in Williamsburg, Virginia, until he received notice from Fletcher Webster, the chief clerk of the State Department, that Harrison had died of complications from pneumonia.

The Tenth U.S. President:  Harrison was the first U.S. President to die in office.  The constitution provided for the vice-president to acquire the duties and responsibilities of the president without directly requiring ascension to the office (this interpretation was later changed by the twenty-fifth amendment in 1967).  Harrison’s holdover cabinet determined in a caucus that Tyler was therefore “acting president” and lacking the powers of the elected president.  Tyler explained otherwise and opted to retain the entire cabinet in spite of this salient difference of opinion.  A few months later the Congress passed a joint resolution that Tyler was indeed president for the remainder of the term.  His political opponents continued to deride him by sending official correspondence to the White House addressed to the “Vice-President” or “Acting President.”  All such correspondence was returned unopened.  The opposition did not let up him, however.  After Tyler vetoed two attempts by Henry Clay to re-establish the national bank, a mob burned him in effigy on the White House front porch.  Clay engineered a mass resignation of the cabinet with only Daniel Webster, Secretary of State, being excluded as he was involved in important treaty negotiations.  The Whigs kicked him out of their party after he vetoed one of their bills forcing him to become a political independent.  In 1842, the first ever impeachment resolution was presented in the House of Representatives.  A House investigation condemned Tyler for abusing his constitutional power, but did not pursue articles of impeachment.  He was rebuffed by the Democrats for reelection in 1844 and made a failing attempt at forming a third party.  The final insult came on his last full day as president when the Senate passed the first override of a presidential veto in history. 

Post Presidential Years:  In his post presidential years he returned to his Virginia plantation.  He continued to stand up for states’ rights, opposing limitations to the expansion of slavery.  Many of his neighbors were in the political opposition, and they nominated him to the county post of overseer of roads in 1847—an effort to mock him.  Instead, he got back at them by commandeering some of their slaves to improve the roads in the area, and wouldn’t give up the position even after the same neighbors asked him to.  When southern states opted for secession after Lincoln’s election in 1860, Tyler came out of retirement and chaired the Washington Peace Conference in an effort to stem the tide of secession and prevent the conflict from escalating into violence.  He opposed the resolution put forward by the Peace Conference, however, and voted against it.  Ironically, while the Peace Conference was in session, he was elected to the Virginia Secession Convention, and was also elected to the Provisional Confederate Congress.  He further was elected to the Confederate House of Representatives, but died in January, 1862, before the first session began.

Conclusions:  Tyler was a political maverick that spoke his mind.  As a result, he often offended people in high places or in positions of political power, including his important allies.  One of the few accomplishments of his tumultuous presidency was the admission of Texas to the union as the 28^th state.  The City of Tyler, Texas, (Population 105,995) was named after him.

Sources:         History.com, Why John Tyler May be the Most Reviled U.S. President Ever, by Christopher Klein, Jan 16, 2020.

                        Wikipedia, John Tyler.