In honor of Presidents Day, CSPAN released the results of their poll asking who is the best president in American history. Not surprisingly, Abraham Lincoln (once again) topped the chart, but the regular last place finisher, Andrew Johnson, was replaced today by the last president born in the 18th century, James Buchanan.

Why is he considered the worst president? Reading through several sources, it appears that President Buchanan is seen as the man who could have stopped the War Between the States (or Mr. Lincoln’s War, as it’s known here in the South). His “lack of action” is what earns him last place.

I find this interesting. The President who did his best to avoid invading the South, leading to the death of hundreds of thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers, is viewed as the worst in history, because he did not stop the war from happening. And yet the President, under whose watch the war started and who authorized the invasion of the Confederate sovereign states is seen as the best.

I’ll assume that Lincoln’s popularity is mostly based on his legacy of outlawing slavery, but I still find the results of the poll a bit of a paradox.

Who would you pick as your favorite and least favorite American President?

My picks- Thomas Jefferson for best, FDR as the worst.