Their names linger in memory mainly as punch lines, synonyms for obscurity: Millard Fillmore, Chester Arthur, Calvin Coolidge. They conjure up not the White House so much as a decaying middle school somewhere in New Jersey. But many forgotten presidents, writes Michael J. Gerhardt, were not weak or ineffective. They boldly fought battles over constitutional principles that resonate today.
Chapter 1: Martin Van Buren, 1837–1841
Chapter 2: William Henry Harrison, March–April 1841
Chapter 3: John Tyler, 1841–1845
Chapter 4: Zachary Taylor, 1849–1850
Chapter 5: Millard Fillmore, 1850–1853
Chapter 6: Franklin Pierce, 1853–1857
Chapter 7: Chester Arthur, 1881–1885
Chapter 8: Grover Cleveland, 1885–1889
Chapter 9: Benjamin Harrison, 1889–1893
Chapter 10: Grover Cleveland, 1893–1897
Chapter 11: William Howard Taft, 1909–1913
Chapter 12: Calvin Coolidge, 1923–1929
Chapter 13: Jimmy Carter, 1977–1981