Underrated Presidents to Celebrate This Presidents' Day
The lesser loved executive officers that deserve some holiday cheer.
Gerald Ford
The only president never to have been elected to office, Ford failed upward into both the vice presidency and the presidency. Though he missed out on a second term, losing in the only presidential election he ever appeared on the ticket for, Ford was ahead of his time in quiet quitting. He deserves a holiday as compensation for the “how I gained back-to-back promotions without even trying” LinkedIn posts he never got to write.
Grover Cleveland
By some stroke of time-bending magic, Grover Cleveland went down in history as both the 22nd and 24th Presidents of the United States. His lasting impact on the presidency was felt even 130 years later, when LeBron James honored him by proclaiming, “Cleveland, this is for you!” upon winning the 2016 NBA Championship.
James K. Polk
Without James K. Polk, there would be no James K. Polk Middle School. Without his namesake learning institution, the hit Nickelodeon TV show Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide would not have a setting, and its characters likely never would have met. This butterfly effect would have eliminated the guide itself from ever having been written, thus leaving teens and tweens in the early 2000s without sage survival tips like, “If someone laughs at you, just laugh back,” or “Call your classmate with the bad haircut Coconut Head for three seasons.”
Millard Filmore
I mean, come on. Millard. What a name, am I right?
Barack Obama
Obama can list plenty of groundbreaking achievements under his resume, but the most impressive may be his lasting impact on the meme landscape during his administration. What sarcastic remarks would people have wielded at each other in 2010 without the phrase, “Thanks, Obama”? What bromance would have broken the Internet in the mid-’10s if not for Obama and his ice cream-loving lackey? How would people congratulate themselves on Twitter without the photoshop of Obama awarding himself the Presidential Medal of Honor? The archives of KnowYourMeme are all the better for the Obama years.
Donald Trump
Trump left his mark on Twitter in the same way that Obama left his mark on Rage Comics-era Facebook memes. 45’s tweet about saving A$AP Rocky from Sweden deserves to be printed, framed, and hung at the MoMA. Also impressive is Trump’s statistical achievement on the impeachment-to-term ratio. He scored a league-leading 2-to-1, higher than both other impeached presidents before him, Bill Clinton and Andrew “Reconstruct This” Johnson.
Arnold Schwarzenneger
When Senator Orrin Hatch’s proposed constitutional amendment to allow naturalized citizens to serve as president failed in 2003, any hope for the Governator to ascend to the highest office was squashed. But that didn’t stop President Schwarzenneger from gracing the big screen just four years later in 2007’s Kids’ Choice Award-winning The Simpsons Movie. Though his term was short (he was fired for lack-of-Hatch-Amendment reasons), Schwarzenneger led with grace and poise, cementing an inspirational quote that would shape the modern-day presidency: “I was elected to lead, not to read.”
Richard Nixon (But Only as the Talking Head from Futurama)
Yes, this one might be fictional as well, but since Futurama takes place in 2999, there’s still time for someone to exhume, reanimate, and bottle Nixon’s head. At the very least, perhaps we could upload him into the Metaverse? Here’s hoping for a Meta-Not-a-Crook by next President’s Day.
Shouts out to…
Mac McClung, 76ers Dunk Contest Champion.