re: Sad state of affairs for leftists

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However, he set the stage for the overbearing fattened pig of a federal government that we have today, which would certainly put him in the running for worst president of the 20th century, calling him the best is intellectually dishonest,

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Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
The Age of Roosevelt (three volumes, 1957, 1958, 1960)
American democracy has finally clasped FDR to its bosom. Polls show that Washington, Lincoln, and FDR are regarded beyond dispute as our three greatest Presidents. Newt Gingrich, no stouter-hearted Republican than Newt, rates FDR the greatest 20th-century President. FDR's New Deal is no longer to be condemned as a mortal threat to the American way of life. Instead, as President George W. Bush discovered when he tried to fool around with Social Security, New Deal reforms are generally blessed. And their architect is admired and adored.

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In the Shadow of FDR (1983; 3rd ed., 2001)
My most vivid recollection of the FDR centennial is a celebratory luncheon at the White House. Into the room swept the jaunty President of the United States, Ronald Reagan, his face wreathed in a radiant smile. He spoke with unbridled enthusiasm of what an inspiration Roosevelt had been to him, then asked us to raise our glasses in a toast—to "Happy Days!"

The biggest change over the past 25 years is that the United States will never again have a President in any meaningful way acquainted with FDR. For Reagan, Roosevelt was a palpable presence. He voted for him all four times; listened raptly to his fireside chats; and cited him approvingly in his inaugural address. In contrast, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were each born a year after Roosevelt died.

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General Findings

Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt and George Washington are consistently ranked at the top of the lists. Often ranked just below those Presidents are Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt. The remaining places in the top ten are often rounded out by Harry S. Truman, Woodrow Wilson, Dwight D. Eisenhower, James K. Polk, and Andrew Jackson. Presidents such as John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton tend to be rated among the greatest in public opinion polls, but do not always rank as highly among presidential scholars and historians. The bottom ten often includes Andrew Johnson, Franklin Pierce, Warren G. Harding, Millard Fillmore, James Buchanan, Herbert Hoover, Martin Van Buren, Zachary Taylor, John Tyler, and George W. Bush. Because William Henry Harrison (32 days) and James A. Garfield (200 days, incapacitated after 119 days) both died shortly after taking office, they are sometimes omitted from presidential rankings. Zachary Taylor also died after serving as president for only 16 months, but is usually included. In the case of these three, it is not clear if they received low rankings due to their actions as president, or because each was president for such a limited time that it is not possible to assess them more thoroughly.

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