Presidential Legacies
Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909) “Trust-Buster” Sherman Anti-Trust Act Conservation (opened 3 new national parks) Yosemite Yellowstone Grand Tetons Panama Canal
Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921) Women’s Suffrage / Woman’s vote (19th Amendment) League of Nations Federal Reserve Act
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1933-1945) “New Deal” WWII Elected to four terms 22nd Amendment Expansion of government and the Executive Branch “Fear itself”
Harry Truman (1945-1953) Atomic bomb decision Desegregation of military Marshall Plan NATO Korean War “The buck stops here”
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961) Supreme Allied Commander in Europe during WWII Ended Korean War Interstate Highway System Warned against the “Military- Industrial complex” Frances Gary Powers fiasco Sputnik 25th Amendment
John F. Kennedy (1961-1963) Youngest elected president War Hero (PT-109) Bay of Pigs disaster Cuban Missile Crisis Moon challenge Peace Corps Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Assassinated 1963 in Dallas,Texas by Lee Harvey Oswald
Lyndon Baines Johnson (1963-1969) Civil Rights Act 1964 Tax Cut of 1964 “Great Society” Vietnam War
Richard M. Nixon (1969-1974) Vietnam War expansion China relations “Détente” with USSR Watergate scandal First president to resign
Gerald Ford (1974-1977) Nixon pardon First unelected President Confronted high inflation problem A terrible golfer Two assassination attempts
Jimmy Carter (1977-1981) Elected as an “outsider” Dealt with extreme economic conditions Camp David Accord Panama Canal Treaty Iran Hostage Crisis
Ronald Reagan (1981-1989) Oldest elected president “Reaganomics” “Ended” Cold War Known as “Great Communicator” Iran-Contra scandal
George H.W. Bush (1989-1993) Persian Gulf War Americans with Disabilities Act Pardoned major Iran-Contra scandal figures
William Jefferson Clinton (1993-2001) Largest tax increase Created first federal budget surplus Somalia and Bosnia Sex scandal with Monica Lewinsky 2nd president to be impeached
George W. Bush (2001-2009) Won 2001 election by slimmest Electoral margin in history Rearranged government after 9/11 Bush Doctrine (Pre-emptive war) Iraq war Largest deficits in U.S. history Financial crisis when leaving office
Barack H. Obama (2009 – Present) First minority president Inherited deep recession Nobel Peace Prize (2009) Healthcare Reform passed Committed US forces to the conflict in Libya