Presidents of the United States (1) and their Challenges

Compiled by Davis Foulger

The following is list of U.S. Presidents and the difficulties they have faced in office. It makes not judgements about how well they handled those challenges or if they even tried. It simply notes what the record shows as significant challenges that various Presidents of the United States have faced during their terms of office. While it is drawn from a variety of lists of the worst problems encountered in the U.S. and around the world (see the references at the bottom of the page), it is almost certain to be incomplete. If you have nominations for additions, you can append them here along with a pointer to a verifiable source. On a world wide scale, only one singular events in the U.S. ranks in the world's top 65 or so biggest disasters (12), the American Civil War. A flu epidemic that occurred during WWI ranks as the U.S. biggest single disaster in terms of loss of life, but even it pales by comparison with the worldwide impact of that event. The 500,000 that died here are a small fraction of the 15 million that died worldwide. The same is true of other events on the list of which we are a part. Our 100,000 casualties in WWI is a small fraction of the 10 million who died in that war. Our 400,000 WWII deaths are a similarly small fraction of the 50 million who died in that war. Our 100,000 casualties in Vietnam pale in comparison to the 1.2 million Vietnamese who died or the two million who subsequently died in a destabilized Cambodia. In other words, no matter how difficult the challenges some of our Presidents have faced, we've had it pretty easy.

This list provides the data for a ranking of the difficulties various U.S. Presidents have faced during their terms of office. That ranking appears on another page.

1. President George Washington (1789 - 1797) None
2. President John Adams (1797 - 1801) Federalist
3. President Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809) Dem-Rep.
4. President James Madison (1809 - 1817) Dem-Rep.
   • 1812-1815. War of 1812 death toll = 2,260 (5, 15)
5. President James Monroe (1817 - 1825) Dem-Rep.
6. President John Quincy Adams (1825 1829) Nat. Rep.
7. President Andrew Jackson (1829 - 1837) Democrat
8. President Martin Van Buren (1837 - 1841) Democrat
9. President William Henry Harrison (1841) Whig
10. President John Tyler (1841 - 1845) Whig
11. President James K. Polk (1845 - 1849) Democrat
    • 1846-1848 Mexican War U.S. death toll is between 1700 and 13,000 (15)
12. President Zachary Taylor (1849 - 1850) Whig
13. President Millard Fillmore (1850 - 1853) Whig
14. President Franklin Pierce (1853 - 1857) Democrat
15. President James Buchanan (1857 - 1861) Democrat
16. President Abraham Lincoln (1861 - 1865) Republican
    • 1861-1865. United States Civil War Death Toll 500,000 to 620,000. 200 K killed in battle and 400 K killed by disease. Over 365,000 Union casualties. Over 135,000 Confederate Casualties (4, 12, 15)
      • Battle of Gettysburg death toll = 46,000 (4)
      • 1862 Battel at Antietam Creek kills 3,654. (5)
17. President Andrew Johnson (1865 - 1869) Republican
    • 1865. 1,547 die in Memphis, Tenn. explosion of steamboat Sultana. Most of the dead were Union POWs finally heading home at the end of the Civil War. (12)
18. President Ulysses S. Grant (1869 - 1877) Republican
    • 1871. The Great Chicago Fire destroys eighteen thousand buildings and some two hundred million dollars in property, about a third of the valuation of the entire city. At least 200-300 people were killed. 75,000 are left homeless. (7)
    • 1871. The same night, the Pimlico Fire in Wisconsin kills 1500. One of the largest fire death tolls in the history of the United States. (7)
19. President Rutherford B. Hayes (1877 - 1881) Republican
20. President James A. Garfield (1881) Republican
21. President Chester A. Arthur (1881 - 1885) Republican
22. President Grover Cleveland (1885 - 1889) Democrat
    • 1888. "Blizzard of 1888." kills over 400 and causes $20 million damage.
23. President Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893) Republican
    • 1889. Flood in Johnstown, Pa., kills over 2,200. (5, 12)
24. President Grover Cleveland (1893 - 1897) Democrat
25. President William ?McKinley (1897 - 1901) Republican
    • 1900 Hurricane strikes Galveston, Texas, killing between 6,000 and 8,000 over several days. (2, 5)
    • 1898-1902. Spanish American War kills between 385 and 1400 Americans. (15)
26. President Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt (1901 - 1909) Republican
    • 1904. 1,021 killed as General Slocum, an excursion steamer, burns in East River, N.Y..
    • 1906. The San Fransico Earthquake and fire fire leave more than half of the cities population homeless, destroyed 28,000 buildings, and killed approximately 700 to 3,000 people. (9, 12)
    • I906 SE FL Hurricane kills 164 (11)
    • I906 MS/AL/FL Hurricane kills 134 (11)
    • 1907 Monongah, W. Va. coal mine explosion kills 362. (12)
27. President William Howard Taft (1909 - 1913) Republican
    • 1909. Grand Isle, LA Hurricane kills 350 (11)
    • 1910. Avalanche in Wellington, Wash. kills 96 as two snowbound trains are swept off tracks into canyon 150 ft below. (12)
    • 1912. Titanic sinks, killing 1500. (12)
28. President Woodrow Wilson (1913 - 1921) Democrat
    • 1915. Sinking of the liner Lusitania in 1915 by a German submarine kills 1,198 passengers and crew. (5)
    • 1915 New Orleans, LA hurricane kills 275 (11)
    • 1915 Galveston, TX hurricane kills 275 (11)
    • 1916. Polio Epidemic kills 7000 (12)
    • 1917-1918. U.S. American Death toll in WWI = 53,402 to 106,000. 204,002 are injured. (13, 15)
    • 1918. Train Wreck kills 101 in Nashville. (12)
    • 1918. Spanish Flu Epidemic kills 500,000 (12)
    • 1919. Hurricane in Fl Keys and S TX kills over 600 (11)
    • 1919. Racial Violence kills over 100 in the during the "Red Summer". Twenty-six race riots jarred Chicago, Illinois; Washington, D.C.; Elaine, Arkansas; Charleston, South Carolina; Knoxville and Nashville, Tennessee; Longview, Texas; Omaha, Nebraska, and other cities. There was an annual average of sixty-two lynchings for the years 1910 to 1919. (12)
29. President Warren G. Harding (1921 - 1923) Republican
30. President Calvin Coolidge (1923 - 29) Republican
    • Tristate tornado of 1925, which killed 695 in Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. (2, 5, 12)
    • 1926 Hurricane in FL/MS/AL kills 243 (11)
    • Great Okeechobee flood and hurricane in 1928, which killed 1,836. (2, 11)
31. President Herbert Hoover (1929 - 1933) Republican
32. President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933 - 1945) Democrat
    • 1935. Florida Keys Hurricane, also known as the Labor Day Hurricane, killed more than 400. (2)
    • 1930's. Dust Bowl of the 1930s, when drought swept the Great Plains and plunged thousands into poverty as farmers abandoned their land to seek better lives elsewhere. (2, 12)
    • 1935. "Labor Day" hurricane in FL Keys kills 408 (11, 12)
    • 1938. New England hurricane kills over 600 and causes millions in damage from New York to Boston. (2, 11, 12)
    • 1942 Boston, Mass. nightclub fire kills 491.
    • 1941-1945. WWII. Between 291,000 and 400,000 American Soldiers die (Around 200-250 casualties per day). 670,846 are injured. (5, 12, 13, 15)
      • 1941. Pearl Harbor Japanese air attack left about 2,400 (2,388-2,403) Americans dead, most of them military personnel. (3, 5)
      • 1944. D-Day. 3,000 American troops die as they stormed ashore at Omaha Beach in Normandy, France. (5)
      • 1944. Over six weeks, 19,000 Americans died in the Battle of the Bulge (5)
      • 1944. During three days, 1,000 Marines and sailors were killed in action against Japanese forces on a tiny rocky atoll in the Pacific called Tarawa. (5)
    • 1944 Hurricane in Northeast U.S.kills 390 (11)
33. President Harry S. Truman (1945 - 53) Democrat
    • 1947, Fire and subsequent explosion on the French freighter Grandcamp destroyed most of Texas City, TX, killing 515. (12)
    • 1950. "Storm of the Century" brought snow and hurricane-force winds to 22 states and claimed 383 lives. (2)
    • 1950-1953. The Korean War kills 33,000 to 103,284 Americans. (13, 15)
    • 1952. Polio Epidemic kills 3000. (12)
34. President Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953 - 1961) Republican
    • 1957 Hurricane Audrey (SW LA/N TX) kills 390 (11)
    • 1955 Hurricane Diane kills 184 (11)
35. President John F. Kennedy (1961 - 1963) Democrat
    • 1963. 129 killed as US atomic-powered submarine Thresher sinks.
36. President Lyndon B. Johnson (1963 - 1969) Democrat
    • 1964-1975. US Casualties in Vietnam War = 46,000-89,000. 303,475 are injured. (13, 15)
    • 1965, Tornadoes kill 256 in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan. (12).
    • 1965-1968. Racial Violence kills 195 in LA (Watts 35), Newark, NJ (23), Detroit (43), Atlanta, Buffalo, Cambridge (Maryland), Cincinnati, Grand Rapids, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Tampa, and Plainfield (New Jersey). Twenty-eight other cities had serious disorders, lasting 1 to 2 days. (12)
37. President Richard M. Nixon (1969 - 1974) Republican
    • 1964-1975. US Casualties in Vietnam War = 46,000-89,000. 303,475 are injured. (13, 15)
    • 1969. Hurricane Camille claimed 256 lives. (2, 11)
    • 1972. Hurricane Agnes kills 122. (11)
38. President Gerald R. Ford (1974 - 1977) Republican
    • 1974. Tornado outbreak from the Great Lakes to Alabama and Mississippi kills 315 people. (2)
    • 1976. Big Thompson Canyon near Denver kills 140. (12)
39. President Jimmy Carter (1977 - 1981) Democrat
    • 1978. Jim Jones induces 914 of his followers to commit suicide. (5, 12)
    • 1979. Chicago: American Airlines DC-10 crash kills 272. (12)
    • 1980. Volcano Eruption and Landslide at Mt. St. Helens, OR kills 57. (12)
40. President Ronald Reagan (1981 - 1989) Republican
    • 1981. Building walkway collapse in Hyatt Regency Hotel kills 113. (12)
    • 1983. Bombing of U.S. military barracks at Beirut airport kills 241 Marines (12)
    • 1985. Tornadoes in PA and Ohio kill 75. (12)
    • 1986. Challenger Space Shuttle explosion kills 7. (12)
    • 1988. Heat Wave and drought in Central and Eastern US kills at least 5000 (12)
    • 1988. Bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killed 270. (5, 12)
41. President George Herbert Walker Bush (1989 - 1993) Republican
    • 1989. Exxon Valdez spills 11 million gallons of oil, polluting 1,300 miles of Alaskan shoreline and killing an estimated "250,000 seabirds, 2,800 sea otters, 300 harbor seals, 250 bald eagles, up to 22 killer whales, and billions of salmon and herring eggs." Cleanup cost at least $2.1 billion, but was never completed.(6, 12)
    • 1989. United Airlines DC-10 crash kills 111 (12).
    • 1989. San Fransico Earthquake causes $6 billion in damage, kills 62, and leaves more than 12,000 homeless. (10)
    • 1990-1991. Gulf War kills 147-1,300. (15)
    • 1991 Oakland Hills, CA fire results in damages of $2.2 B amd kills 13. (12)
    • 1992. Race riots in Los Angeles kill 54. (12)
    • 1992. Hurricane Andrew destroys over 125,000 homes, killed 61 people and caused over $25.0 billion dollars worth of damage.(2, 8, 12)
42. President William Jefferson Clinton (1993 - 2001) Democrat
    • 1993 Great Midwest Flood claimed 48 lives and caused $18 billion in damage. (2)
    • 1993 Winter superstorm claimed 79-270 lives. (2, 12)
    • 1993 Train Wreck Mobile, Ala kills 47. (12)
    • 1993 Fire following cult battle with ATF and FBI kills 100 (12)
    • 1993 World Trade Center Bombing kills 6. (12)
    • 1994 Northridge, CA Earthquate causes $15 B in damages and kills 71. (12)
    • 1994. Tornadoes in Ala., Ga., and N.C. kill 42. (12)
    • 1994. USAir Boeing 737 crashed into a ravine, killing 132. (12)
    • 1995. Oklahoma City Federal Building bombing by Timothy ?McVeigh kills 168. (12)
    • 1996, TWA flight crashes off LI, NY, killing 230 people. (8, 12)
    • 1996. East Coast Blizzard kills 187. (12)
    • 1996. ?ValuJet DC-9 crashes, killing 110.
    • 1998. American Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 killed 25 (5)
    • 1999. Nantucket Island: ?EgyptAir Boeing 767-300, Flight 990, from N.Y. to Cairo crashes, killing 217. (12)
    • 1999. Oklahoma-Kansas tornado outbreak kills at least 44 (2, 12)
    • 1999. Hurricane Floyd causes $6 B damage. Kills 75.
    • 2000. Attack on Navy destroyer Cole kills 17. (5, 12)
    • 2000. Cerro Grande Fire in New Mexico causes $1 billion damage (12)
43. President George W. Bush (2001 - Present) Republican
    • 2001. 9/11 Death Toll 3063-3,173. (4, 12)
    • 2001. Wash. DC: Anthrax scare kills 6 (12)
    • 2001 American Airlines Airbus A-300 crash in Queens residential neighborhood kills 260 (12)
    • 2003 Nightclub fire in RI kills 100. (12)
    • 2003 Columbia Space Shuttle destroyed, killing 7 (12)
    • 2003 California wildfires in San Diego County and surrounding area cause more than $2 billion damage. 22 are killed. (12)

Sources:

(1)	List of Presidents from From http://www.allamericanpatriots.com/m-wfsection+article+articleid-622.html
(2)	United States Worst Weather of the Century. From http://www.disasterrelief.org/Disasters/991227centuryweather/
(3)	from http://www.nationalreview.com/nr_comment/nr_comment091101.shtml
(4)	From http://www.softsynth.com/faces/
(5)	Day of infamy. From http://www.messenger-inquirer.com/news/attacks/3589500.htm
(6)	http://www.evostc.state.ak.us/facts/qanda.html
(7)	http://www.chicagohs.org/fire/ruin/
(8)	Historical Disasters. http://americanhistory.about.com/cs-new/histdisasters/
(9)	http://history1900s.about.com/cs/sfearthquake/p/sfquake.htm
(10)	http://www.sfmuseum.net/alm/quakes3.html#1989
(11)	http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/E10.html
(12)	http://www.geocities.com/dtmcbride/hist/disasters-war.html
(13)	http://www.santacruzpl.org/readyref/files/t-z/wars.shtml
(14)	http://www.rra.dst.tx.us/c_t/History1/WORLD%20WAR%20I.cfm
(15)	http://www.va.gov/pressrel/amwars.pdf