(NewsNation) — The United States couldn’t have become an international powerhouse without strong leadership.
Bill O’Reilly examines each president in his new book “Confronting the Presidents: No Spin Assessments from Washington to Biden.” The book is an instant #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list.
O’Reilly broke down who he believes are the five best in a special report with Leland Vittert, host of NewsNation’s “On Balance with Leland Vittert.”
5. Franklin Delano Roosevelt
O’Reilly commended Roosevelt for his composure in times of crisis — leading the nation through the Great Depression and World War II — despite his own personal health struggles.
“He was a good commander in chief, because he won. But FDR could have stopped a lot of the Holocaust and didn’t,” O’Reilly said.
The New Deal architect, O’Reilly clarified, wouldn’t have made his best president list at all if he hadn’t secured a victory.
But he did, along with a record four White House terms.
“He just liked the job,” O’Reilly said.
4. Theodore Roosevelt
The nation’s 26th president made O’Reilly’s list not because of a moment of leadership, but because of how he shifted the nation’s morale.
Calling him the “highest energy president by far,” O’Reilly credited the environmentalist for his “robust” vision for the United States.
“He brought an unbelievable amount of good feeling to the presidency. People loved him because he was larger than life,” O’Reilly said. “No BS, no spin zone. He’s the original no-spin guy.”
O’Reilly told Vittert he thinks he and the Rough Rider operate in the same way: “I think we would have seen the world the same way. I don’t know whether we’d get along or not.”
3. James K. Polk
If the first thing that comes to mind at the mention of James Polk is “Who?” then you’re not alone.
“They don’t know anything about him,” O’Reilly said of the 11th president, who led the young U.S. into the Mexican-American War.
“So, he gets in, and he’s looking at the map, and he’s going, ‘you know what, we should be from Washington to Portland, Oregon … All of this should be ours, OK? We’re going to take it all,’” O’Reilly explained.
An intense worker, O’Reilly lauded Polk’s decision to make America span from sea to shining sea — and then leave at the end of his term.
“So, he consolidates the entire country, and then he doesn’t screw it up,” O’Reilly said. “He makes the list because he had vision, right? He saw it and he made it happen. That’s hard.”
2. George Washington
Protecting and expanding the nation is one thing, but O’Reilly’s No. 2 selection literally started it.
Washington, the hero of the Revolutionary War and America’s first president, laid the cornerstone for the new nation by defining the presidency. He also showed a willingness to step down after two terms.
“And he says, ‘All right, we’re going to organize the country into the states, but the federal government is going to call the shots. We’re running the show, right?’” O’Reilly said.
“He laid the foundation for what we have today in a very effective way,” he added.
1. Abraham Lincoln
The Kentucky-born president is credited with ending slavery and saving the union after a grueling Civil War — a feat that O’Reilly admires.
“He walks in, he goes, ‘You know, I’m going to have to save this country. I’m going to have to save the union, and I know it’s going to be horrible, but I’m going to have to do it,’” O’Reilly said. “And he did! So, that makes him the best president by far.”
His self-assuredness, relentless attitude and biblical inspiration are all reasons O’Reilly touts him as No. 1.
“Lincoln was relentless in his belief that he was doing the right thing, and that’s why he’s the best president,” he explained. “He had no self-doubt at all that freeing the slaves, keeping the union together, was the right thing to do, and he was going to do it no matter what.”