By the Maui Curmudgeon (5th in a 43-part series)

How do the U.S. Presidents stack up? I thought I’d find out by reading biographies of all 43 presidents, in the order of their administrations. Here are briefly the pros and cons of my discoveries, the interesting bits, and how I’d rank him. For comparison, I give you the 1982 Murrary-Blessing ranking, a survey of hundreds of leading historians who ranked each president by number. This survey is the gold standard of presidential rankings and is most cited when this kind of thing needs bringing up in media.

JAMES MONROE: 1817-1825 ~ 5th U.S. President

The last of the Republican Trio - Jefferson, Madison, being the first two - James Monroe oversaw what many historians call the “late phase of the early republic.” Of average height and build, Monroe was considered very handsome by the ladies. He was a war hero - fighting beside Washington and was badly wounded at Trenton. Before serving under Madison as sectretary of war and state, Monroe was a Virginia legislator, a U.S. Senator, a Minister to France, and a member of the Confederation Congress.

He was not charasmatic, nor did he particularly inspire loyalty, but he was to many in his time, the last of his generation to remind the country of the heady days of revolution, George Washington, and the hope of a new country, and it is on this basis many historians think he was elected so easily to the presidency.

THE BAD

• Sidestepped slavery, though he presided over the Missouri Compromise. In it, the slave holding south agreed no further states north of Missouri would hold slaves, and the north allowed Missouri statehood while holding slaves. Monroe said the compromise saved the union.
• Yet another person bad with personal financies, he begged the U.S. for $60,000 in back dues to help him pay for out of pocket expenses during his years of service to the country. The Congress said no.
• Oversaw the nation’s first recession, the panic of 1819, and minimized the depression in his annual state of the union address, calling merely for “time and patience” to solve the country’s ills.

THE GOOD

• No major wars, and it is because of this that people remember his presidency fondly.
• At Trenton, beside Washington, Monroe took a huge shot in the shoulder, which severed his artery. He would have died in minutes had not a surgeon been crawling by at the very instant Monroe fell.

Murray-Blessing Ranking: #15

My Score: 45%

Interesting reading: James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity by Harry Ammon