The executive branch is one of the three branches of the United States government, along with legislative and judicial branches. In this branch, the president is the leader of the executive officials and has important powers. According to the second amendment, presidents of the United States can make treaties, appoint officials, convene Congress, and so on. Therefore, the president apparently plays a significant role in the US government. Accordingly, developing a comprehensive rating system to assess the presidents is worthy of practice. Arthur Schlesinger conducted a poll to devise a ranking of US presidents in 1996, which will be referenced as a proof to the arguments. Based on the history of previous and current presidents in the US, the three crucial features of a great president are concluded into the effectiveness of the use of executive powers, the capability of appointing the right officials, and the willingness to make good connections with the remaining branches in the US government, especially the Congress.

Since the Constitution granted the president many powers to facilitate his job, the president should have the awareness of how to correctly use the powers at the right time and on the right issues. National crisis potentially occurs at any time, including economic downturns, internal or external conflicts, and natural disaster. The president should step in and use his power to address the crisis, especially the major ones. Otherwise, people lose confidence for the president because the social problems are not resolved. For example, when the Great Depression started, President Hoover believed in the idea that the economy could fix itself and therefore did not take enough government interference in the economy. As a result, when the economy was not recovered in a natural process, Hoover’s inaction wasted time to rescue it, leading to people’s belief that he did not realize the severity of people’s suffers. People had to sell their personal belongings, including cars and houses at an extremely low price, and wait in breadlines as means to stay alive. Many of them even had to dwell in poorly-constructed shantytowns known as “Hoovervilles”. On the contrary, after Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated, he issued many executive orders to deal with the Great Depression. New Deal introduced by F.D.R. includes Federal Emergency Relief Administration which helped states provide aids to the unemployed people and Civil Works Administration which created federal jobs. The list still goes on. F.D.R issued the highest number of executive orders – 3721. His proper use of his executive powers explains his high ranking with a mean score of 3.97 in Schlesinger’s article on rating US presidents. In the ranking, Washington and Lincoln, two presidents who also lead the scoreboard, also made major contributions to solving national problems. The juxtaposition of Hoover and F.D.R. reveals the importance of using executive powers correctly for an exemplary US president.

The greatness of a president is not only embodied by the ways to tackle national crises, but also by his ability to make the right appointment for those with whom he works. Obviously, the president is not the only person in the executive branch. He is the leader and the core of executive officials, including cabinet members. Moreover, the president also appoints judges to the Supreme Court. Therefore, the president takes the responsibility to appoint capable and suitable people to take the jobs. President John Adams serves as a good example of a president who knows how to appoint officials. John Marshall was appointed by Adams to be the Chief Justice. Through three significant Supreme Court cases, Marshall made major contributions to the modification of the federal system and further cleared the relationship between national and state governments. In this case, when a president appoints an official who offers great performance, the president himself earns a good impression from his people. However, President Harding appointed corrupted officials during his presidency. Even worse, a cabinet secretary was sent to the prison first time in the history. Harding was involved in the Teapot Dome scandal, because the secretary of the interior, Albert Bacon Fall, accepted money for his corruptive deal with oil companies. Current US president, Donald Trump, is also questioned on his appointment to the Supreme Court. Brett Kavanaugh, as Trump’s nominee, faced a Senate hearing on sexual assault claims. While Harding ranked the last with a score of negative 48 in Schlesinger’s ranking, future comments and attitude on Trump’s presidency can be expected to be similar as well.

Even though the Second Amendment granted the president of the United States veto power, a veto by a president can also be overridden by the Congress by two-thirds votes in both the Senate and the House. Therefore, the president’s relationship with the Congress is also significant with the idea of check and balances. The president needs to know how to convince the Congress and the electorate to believe in his course. The three branches are supposed to support each other’s work, instead of arguing with conflicting ideas. President Andrew Johnson made 29 vetoes during his presidency, but 15 of them were overridden. The percentage of his vetoes overridden by Congress exceeded 50 percent. Andrew Johnson was clearly being questioned by the Congress on his idea of governing the nation. When the Congress and the president do not agree on the same path, a country faces obstacles moving forward. As a result, Andrew Johnson ranked third last with negative twenty-three points in Schlesinger’s ranking. Regarding the relationship with Congress, F.D.R. again becomes a model again. He had only 9 out of 635 of his vetoes overridden, which also explained why he is so highly ranked.

Since the presidency is such a significant role in our society, rating the presidency is a worthy exercise. With Schlesinger’s ranking and historical events as qualitative proofs, the top three factors that should be used to evaluate a president include: the wisdom to use executive powers, decisions on the appointment, and ability to establish a good relationship with the Congress.