5. Millard Fillmore
SRI Ranking: 38
Brookings Ranking: 37
Millard Fillmore ranks 5th in our list of least successful presidents of all time. He marked the end of an era in the United States in several ways. He was the last Whig president and also the last president who wasn’t a member of either Republican or Democratic Party. Although he did have some noted successes in foreign policy and avoided the war with Great Britain in a very perilous time for the United States, his inability to secure stable relations with the southern states ultimately marred his presidency. In fact, many historians agree that he only made things worse between abolitionists and slaveholders and paved the way for the Civil War.
