Presidents with the worst first 100 days

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has — not surprisingly — given President Donald Trump a big fat “F” for his first 100 days in office.

If hypothetically, President Trump deserves an “F” as Senator Warren asserts with hyperbole, then what would constitute a worse first 100 days? 

{mosads}By Warren’s standard, John F. Kennedy’s first 100 days would be considered an abysmal failure based solely on the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, which took place near the end of his first 100 days in April 1961. 

Abraham Lincoln would have flunked, too. After his election but before his inauguration, seven states seceded from the Union. In Lincoln’s first 100 days in 1861, four more states seceded. 

Ronald Reagan was shot in his first 100 days in 1981. Second only to dying, an assassination attempt is not an ideal way to start a presidency.

Speaking of dying, the president with the worst first 100 days in office was William Henry Harrison. After talking too long in the cold during his inaugural address on March 4, 1841, he contracted pneumonia and died exactly a month later. 

Except for Harrison, the first 100 days for Lincoln, Kennedy, and Reagan proved to be an ineffective way to measure a presidency.

After the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, President Kennedy deftly handled the Cuban Missile Crisis 18 months later. Ronald Reagan gave one of the best speeches of his career after his assassination attempt, when he spoke to Congress about his tax reform plan, which passed in August 1981. Abraham Lincoln was able to end the Civil War and succeeded in his goal of keeping the United States together as one nation. 

Although William Henry Harrison was the first president to die in office, his successor Vice President John Tyler became president and proved that America could have a peaceful transfer of power under the worst of unexpected circumstances.

Because she represents his opposition, Senator Warren will probably always give President Trump an “F” no matter what he does or does not do.

It’s true that hyperbole in politics gets more attention than the history of politics. But it’s also true that objective facts measured over a full term are a better way to assess a president’s success than the first 100 days. The records of Kennedy, Lincoln and Reagan prove it.

A former White House webmaster, Jane Hampton Cook is the author of nine books including her newest, The Burning of the White House: James and Dolley Madison and the War of 1812, which is slated to become a movie. Find her on Twitter: @janehamptoncook.  

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