Top 10 Most Forgettable Presidents of the United States
The top presidents who weren't remembered for much just that the fact that they were president.
William Henry Harrison was an American statesman who served as the 9th President of the United States from March 4, 1841 until his death on April 4, 1841. The cause of death of William Henry Harrison was pneumonia, after a cold and wet inauguration. Being at the top of lists about forgotten things ironically makes someone more remembered. Harrison was only president for 30 days and didn't do anything significant for his country. It's very sad that his term was so short.
Also, most of the presidents after James Monroe and before Teddy Roosevelt are largely forgotten.
Harrison died after just a month in office. Trivia time: This was because he went out to his inauguration on a cold, rainy day without an overcoat or hat, having been called old one too many times on the campaign trail.
He was also president way back in 1841, which is another reason he's forgotten.
Rutherford Birchard Hayes was the 19th President of the United States from 1877 to 1881, an American congressman, and governor of Ohio. Hayes was a lawyer and staunch abolitionist who defended runaway slaves in court proceedings. What's there to remember about him? At least we all know William Henry Harrison as a war hero general and the guy who died a month after taking office.
Hayes is probably the only U.S. president who I don't really know much about and immediately forget afterward.
I feel like it's bad, but he's the only president I actually didn't know existed.
Millard Fillmore was an American politician who served as the 13th President of the United States from 1850 to 1853. He was the last Whig president, and the last president not to be affiliated with either the Democratic or Republican parties. They won't even put a picture of this guy on here because he's so forgettable. Maybe even because he doesn't actually exist! I'm getting ahead of myself, though - every president after Jackson (except for Garfield and Gerald Ford) clearly doesn't exist anyway.
Hear that? That's the sound of everyone reading this list Googling these presidents.
Nobody knows who Millard Fillmore is.
James Abram Garfield was the 20th President of the United States, serving from March 4, 1881, until his assassination later that year. I want to vote for a lot of the presidents listed here, particularly the ones between Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln. However, the only thing I can really remember about Garfield is that his last name is the same as a comic strip character. Very sad.
He was assassinated halfway through his first year.
He was assassinated six months into his presidency, so he's kind of forgettable.
Benjamin Harrison was the 23rd President of the United States; he was the grandson of the ninth President, William Henry Harrison. This guy gave the longest inaugural speech, then got pneumonia, and that killed him.
I remember him as the grandson of the president who had the shortest term.
Warren Gamaliel Harding was the 29th President of the United States, serving from March 4, 1921 until his death in 1923. He even said, Forget I am president. I will play golf with my friends and beat the heck out of them.
Martin Van Buren was an American statesman who served as the eighth President of the United States from 1837 to 1841. Martin Van Buren - I remember him by his name.
Chester Alan Arthur was an American attorney and politician who served as the 21st President of the United States; he succeeded James A. Garfield upon the latter's assassination.
Zachary Taylor was the 12th President of the United States, serving from March 1849 until his death in July 1850. Before his presidency, Taylor was a career officer in the United States Army, rising to the rank of major general. This guy died after a little over a year in office. He ate too many cherries and drank too much milk.
Franklin Pierce was the 14th President of the United States. Pierce was a northern Democrat who saw the abolitionist movement as a fundamental threat to the unity of the nation. I think he's only this far down because everyone forgot about him here too.
John Calvin Coolidge Jr. was an American politician and the 30th President of the United States. A Republican lawyer from New England, born in Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor. Kind of underrated too. Good businessman.
I remember him as Harding's Vice President.
William McKinley was the 25th President of the United States, serving from March 4, 1897 until his assassination in September 1901, six months into his second term.
Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. was an American politician who served as the 38th President of the United States from August 1974 to January 1977. I remember him as Vice President under Richard Nixon.
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American businessman, television personality, politician, and the 45th President of the United States.Born and raised in Queens, New York City, Donald J. Trump received an economics degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania... read more
Not as well known as some presidents, but he's a good president in my opinion!
In the future, we could forget him.
John Tyler was the tenth President of the United States. He was also, briefly, the tenth Vice President, elected to that office on the 1840 Whig ticket with William Henry Harrison. Sometimes, I forget every president except the famous ones. John Tyler is one of them.
I remember him as being Vice President during a one-month term.
Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation through the American Civil War and succeeded in preserving the Union, abolishing slavery,... read more
James Buchanan, Jr. was the 15th President of the United States, serving immediately prior to the American Civil War. He shouldn't be forgotten. He started the Civil War, that dip.
William Howard Taft served as the 27th President of the United States and as the tenth Chief Justice of the United States, the only person to have held both offices.
James Knox Polk was the 11th president of the United States, serving from 1845 to 1849. He previously was Speaker of the House of Representatives and governor of Tennessee. He annexed states from Mexico, though.
Stephen Grover Cleveland was an American politician and lawyer who was the 22nd and 24th President of the United States, the only president in American history to serve two non-consecutive terms in office. We had a president named Grover? But he was famous for being the 22nd and 24th president.
Andrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. Johnson became president as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of [Abraham Lincoln]. Andrew Johnson was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. Johnson assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of Abraham Lincoln's assassination. A Democrat who ran with Lincoln on the National Union ticket, Johnson came to office as the Civil War concluded.
He favored the quick restoration of the seceded states to the Union. However, his plans did not provide protection to former slaves, leading to conflicts with the Republican-dominated Congress. This conflict culminated in his impeachment by the House of Representatives, though he was acquitted in the Senate by one vote. Johnson's main accomplishment as president is often considered to be the Alaska purchase.
Herbert Clark Hoover was an American engineer, businessman and politician who served as the 31st President of the United States from 1929 to 1933 during the Great Depression. I can't forget the biggest villain of our country.
I remember him for his last name - Hoover Dam!
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th President of the United States from 1913 to 1921. Born in Staunton, Virginia, he spent his early years in Augusta, Georgia and Columbia, South Carolina.
Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. He was the first African-American president of the United States... read more Boring Barack. Nice guy, but mediocre president.
He wasn't a bad president, but in 50 years, he will barely be remembered.
Ulysses S. Grant was an American soldier and statesman who served as Commanding General of the Army and the 18th President of the United States, the highest positions in the military and the government of the United States. Here is one that I think should be ranked much higher. Many people don't even realize that Grant was a president. He's just thought of as the Union general during the Civil War.
Let's just say he was a much better general than he was a president.
He's not that forgettable compared to others, but I agree with the comment that says we all thought he was just a Union general because I did too until a couple of months ago.