(NewsNation) — For nearly 248 years, the United States has struggled, survived and succeeded under the leadership of popularly elected presidents.
While some have achieved greatness, others have failed miserably. Some were just forgettable.
It’s natural to want to rank each president from best to worst, but not many people have the knowledge or desire to share their opinions, saying it’s not their place to judge.
Bill O’Reilly doesn’t have that problem.
The former high school history teacher examines each of the 46 presidents 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 and five worst U.S. presidents in a special report with Leland Vittert, host of NewsNation’s “On Balance with Leland Vittert.”
Ranking US presidents
Before heading straight to the top five worst and best, O’Reilly shared a little bit about how he came to his conclusion as to where to rank each president.
He said it’s quite simple: A no-spin assessment from former President George Washington to incumbent President Joe Biden.
What does a no-spin assessment entail?
O’Reilly said he goes into the process with no agenda. He looks at the facts of each, assessing their strengths and weaknesses, and determining whether each president helped or hurt the country.
“The best were (harder to rank than the worst) because most of the presidents of the United States were caught up in circumstances beyond their control. That’s No. 1,” O’Reilly said. “No. 2 is they’re just regular people. No Batman, okay, just regular people who got into this situation, and how they reacted defines them in their office.”
When it came to ranking the worst presidents, O’Reilly saw a pattern that bad presidents failed to run the country effectively. He said the most common failure was that they didn’t look out for the American people and they didn’t do the right thing when the right thing was fairly apparent.
Bill O’Reilly’s 5 worst presidents
5. Franklin Pierce
- President from 1853-1857
- Born in New Hampshire
- Signed Kansas-Nebraska Act
- Enforced Fugitive Slave Act
O’Reilly says the nation’s 14th president was a dud because “he didn’t do anything.”
During the New Hampshire-born president’s tenure, he sowed discontent across America with his handling of slavery through the Kansas-Nebraska Act and an unfeeling approach to politics.
“Franklin Pierce was a drunk … and that really affected his ability to make decisions and to even function on some days,” O’Reilly said.
“What did he do? He didn’t do anything. He kind of just sat there and got drunk every night at the taxpayers’ expense. We were paying for his wine. All right?” he added.
Pierce also lost a child, a death he never could get over. O’Reilly said Pierce had a nervous breakdown that nobody knew about, and that affected the way he ran the country.
4. John Tyler
- President from 1841-1845
- Born in Virginia
- Champion of states’ rights
The first vice president to take over the office, John Tyler — nicknamed “his accidency” — was “a mediocrity,” according to O’Reilly.
What did he do while in office?
“Nothing! Because everybody hated him. His own party hated him. The only reason that he was on a ticket with Harrison is because he was pro-slavery, and Harrison needed some southern states. That’s it,” O’Reilly said.
Tyler joined the Confederacy after his stint in the White House, with O’Reilly calling him a “cheerleader for slavery.”
“There’s nothing else that he did because he served such a short time,” O’Reilly said. “He got nothing done at all, nothing.”
3. Lyndon B. Johnson
- President from 1963-1969
- Born in Texas
- Great Society program
- Passed civil rights legislation
- Expanded entitlements
- Escalated Vietnam War
Another vice president who ascended into office, O’Reilly ranks Lyndon B. Johnson as the third worst president of all time.
“He did good, but his bad outweighs it in a tremendous way,” O’Reilly said.
Johnson took over when John F. Kennedy was shot and killed in 1963, championing landmark civil rights legislation and sweeping social reform agendas.
The dark mark on his legacy, however, is his role in the escalation of the Vietnam War.
“He’s not going to lose a war. He does not care how many American boys are killed or maimed,” O’Reilly said.
Johnson eventually decided not to seek reelection.
2. Joe Biden
- President from 2021-2025
- Born in Pennsylvania
- Afghanistan withdrawal
- Immigration crisis
- Massive spending and inflation
O’Reilly’s newest book acknowledges the difficulty of assessing a president until at least two decades have passed since their time in office.
But, he’s willing to make an exception for the sitting president, Joe Biden.
Biden’s decades of political experience hasn’t been enough to cushion some of the blowback from his decisions — like the one to remove U.S. forces from Afghanistan in 2021 or his border policy, O’Reilly said.
“All I seen from Joe Biden, from his many years in the Senate, to his vice presidency, to his presidency, all I have seen is ‘I’m going to do what the Democratic Party wants me to do.’ I’ve never seen an independent thought,” O’Reilly explained.
“I’ve never seen a conviction that ‘we must get this done.’ I’ve never seen a reach out to try to heal the country as he promised,” he added. “I don’t see one thing that he’s done to try to heal this country, not one.”
Biden also decided against seeking reelection, a fact O’Reilly said made him “feel sorry for Biden.”
“I don’t dislike Joe Biden,” he clarified. “I just think he’s been a disaster for the country.”
1. James Buchanan
- President: 1857-1861
- Born in Pennsylvania
- Enabled the Civil War
O’Reilly blames James Buchanan, who was in office from 1857-1861, for the start of the Civil War.
Choosing him as the worst president on the list wasn’t a hard decision to make, O’Reilly said.
“No, he leads the league by a big margin, not even close. Oh, this guy was the worst,” he told Vittert.
O’Reilly said the escalation up to the war — southern attacks at Union depots, the organization of brigades and terrorizing Black people — was not treated seriously by a “coward” like Buchanan.
“He does nothing, doesn’t send federal troops, doesn’t cut off money,” O’Reilly said. “In fact, at Fort Sumter, when the Union force is surrounded, he wouldn’t send ships to help them.”
Though preventing a Civil War seems like an impossible task for anyone, O’Reilly — and a letter from Harry Truman — says otherwise.
He claims “under a president like Jackson, would have been 100 times more powerful than these organizing rebels.”
“I mean, all you had to do is incarcerate about 10 of them, all right, and they didn’t have any leadership, and they knew who the 10 were that were running around causing all these problems,” he added.
Given the chance, O’Reilly said he’d like to “go back and slap him” for his inept presidency.
Bill O’Reilly’s top 5 presidents
5. Franklin Delano Roosevelt
- President from 1933-1945
- Born in New York
- Architect of the New Deal
- Leader during World War II
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
- President from 1901-1909
- Born in New York
- Bold leadership/visionary reform
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
- President from 1845-1849
- Born in North Carolina
- Won Mexican-American War
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
- President from 1789-1797
- Born in Virginia
- Won Revolutionary War
- Stepped down after two terms
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
- President from 1861-1865
- Born in Kentucky
- Won the Civil War
- The Emancipation Proclamation
- Savior of the union
- Liberator of the slaves
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.”
What makes a president great?
Looking forward, what can we expect from presidents in the future? Why hasn’t a president broken into the top five in the last 79 years?
“The problems that we have now are not of a historic nature,” O’Reilly said. “The challenges make the man.”
Looking ahead to the 2024 election, there are lessons Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump can learn, O’Reilly said.
“Well, you’ve got to put the country, the welfare of the people, above your own self-interest. That distinguishes you as a person of respect. Are you putting the welfare of other people above your own welfare? We don’t see that much,” he said.
Today the presidency has become a “machine,” he states, adding, “they do what they’re told. Too much money in it, too much ideology.”
But, he’s hopeful someone could return the office to greatness.
“I think that someone will come along to reunite the country, to a certain extent, because we’re too divided now; obviously we’re the most divided,” he said.