4. Franklin Pierce
SRI Ranking: 40
Brookings Ranking: 40
Franklin Pierce ranks 4th in our list of least successful presidents of all time. His presidency saw the passing of the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which was considered as one of the major stepping stones leading to the disastrous Civil War just a few years later. His inability to reconcile slave owners and abolitionists only further divided already disunited country, leading to high political tensions that culminated in armed conflict between North and South. According to his contemporaries, he was an honest man, but simply lack the skill to weather the crisis that has befallen the nation during his time.
