3 Most Notable Democratic Presidents in US History

Andrew Jackson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Lyndon B. Johnson stand alone within the Democratic Party’s presidential legacy, leaving significant marks on American history. From Jackson’s founding of the party and expansion of executive power precedent to Roosevelt and Johnson transforming its values and platform, the leaders shaped the party’s evolution, forming the modern Democratic Party’s identity, which resonates with its votes to this day.

However, it must also be kept in mind that the dichotomy between the political sentiments and morals that make a president “great” during their respective time in office and the same ones pushing them out of favor with the passage of time is a testament that the only constant in history is change.

When it comes to rating American presidents, there is likely no better blueprint than the Schlesinger father and son duo, who conducted the first-of-its-kind influential poll among historians to rank US presidents based on their performance and impact. Arthur M. Schlesinger, Sr., an influential American historian and Harvard University professor, conducted the first survey in 1948, and his son, Arthur Jr., a prominent historian in his own right, conducted his in 1962.

Both Schlesinger’s collected opinions of top historians and scholars on all presidents using specific criteria, including leadership, accomplishments and crisis management, political skill, character and integrity, and foreign policy. Since then, the Siena College Research Institute has continued the blueprint of periodically ranking US presidents with their latest comprehensive poll in 2022. The following presidents on this list were selected based loosely off of these rankings.

The Democratic Party traces its roots to the Democratic-Republican Party founded by Thomas Jefferson in the 1790s. Still, its modern reiteration began with Andrew Jackson, who championed populist ideals and expanded suffrage for white men in the 1820s. The party underwent a few significant changes, and it is no coincidence that it was during these paradigm shifts in ideology that we saw the emergence of some of the party’s most influential leaders.

The Democratic Party’s defining moments include its creation, its realignment during the Great Depression, and its test of strength during the tumultuous 1960s. Since the latter, the party has become increasingly diverse, with its leadership priding itself on and advocating for a strong federal government role in economic regulation, social welfare, and civil rights—an ideology that evolved from its early beginnings and through the presidencies of those who make our list.

No list of the top Democratic Party presidents would be complete without the one considered the party’s founder. Although history still regards Andrew Jackson’s presidency as complex, often contradictory, and uneven in its mission of dispersing democratic ideals to all Americans, it undisputedly began and set the stage for the modern Democratic Party.

Jackson was born in 1767 in the Carolinas and rose to prominence as a military leader during the War of 1812. He became a national hero for defeating the British in the Battle of New Orleans, and his fame propelled him into the House of Representatives, the Senate, and, in 1828, the presidency of the United States.

The seventh president’s claim to fame comes from helping usher in a new era of democratic participation by expanding voting rights to more white men. Jackson’s supporters reflected the growing power of the West and the ideals of participatory democracy when they formed the Democratic Party and proclaimed Jackson its leader. Returning the favor, the former general popularized the spoils system of easing the path for commoners to government jobs and battled the Second Bank of the United States to allow the “common man” access to federal loans and participation in the capitalist system.

As is often the case when judging presidents by modern standards, Jackson was not without faults. One of the darkest stains on his legacy was signing the Indian Removal Act, which forced Native American tribes east of the Mississippi through brutal displacement that resulted in immense suffering.

The presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) is one of the most significant in the history of the Democratic Party and the United States. Born in 1882 to a wealthy New York family, the governor of his home state entered the White House at the height of the Great Depression in 1933. Once in office, FDR built a broad coalition that included labor unions, urban ethnic groups, African Americans, Southern whites, and intellectuals, a blunt departure from the Democratic Party he took over that was dominated by Southern politicians who upheld segregation and opposed civil rights for African Americans.

FDR’s New Deal program set off to achieve economic security for all citizens, with policies aimed at reducing poverty, unemployment, and economic disparity. Before Roosevelt’s presidency, the Democratic Party advocated for state rights and limited government intervention. In contrast, under the new president, it embraced modern liberalism, including social welfare programs designed to provide a safety net for those in need. Policies introduced by FDR, such as Social Security, unemployment insurance, labor rights protections, and economic regulation, would become the party’s platform for decades to come.

Although Roosevelt’s record on civil rights was mixed, the New Deal coalition set a precedent for the Democratic Party to become more supportive going forward. This shift became more pronounced in the 1960s with the next president on this list.

3. Into the Modern Era: Lyndon B. Johnson

Like Andrew Jackson more than a century before him, President Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ) is considered a complex and polarizing figure in American history, especially considering his record of presiding over American history’s most contentious foreign conflict, the Vietnam War. Yet, when it comes to lists of the most domestically influential American presidents, not many match Johnson’s output.

Although LBJ’s presidency witnessed significant civil unrest and riots in cities across the nation, partly driven by racial tensions and opposition to the Vietnam War, the thirty-sixth president introduced the most programs since FDR to reduce poverty. Some of his more famous programs included Medicare and Medicaid, which provided health insurance to the elderly and the poor.

Johnson’s domestic program, the Great Society, pushed through Congress federal funding for education, provided financial assistance to students, job skills training, and early childhood education for low-income families, and created laws to protect the environment. The president also spearheaded the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which abolished the national origins quota system and promoted a more diverse and inclusive immigration policy.

Johnson’s most significant legacy is signing two pieces of landmark civil rights legislation. The first was the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, ended segregation in public places, and banned employment discrimination. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 came next and aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels preventing African Americans from exercising their legal right to vote.

Unfortunately, the prolonged and increasingly unpopular war overshadowed Johnson’s domestic achievements and contributed to his decision not to seek re-election in 1968. And while his Vietnam policy remains a blemish on his legacy, modern historians now agree that LBJ’s domestic achievements were groundbreaking and transformative for the entire nation.