Most under-rated President in U.S. history?

Last week an unscientific survey of historians found that 61% believed George W. Bush to be the worst president in U.S. history. Among the comments left by a particpating historian was this gem,

“No individual president can compare to the second Bush,” wrote one. “Glib, contemptuous, ignorant, incurious, a dupe of anyone who humors his deluded belief in his heroic self, he has bankrupted the country with his disastrous war and his tax breaks for the rich, trampled on the Bill of Rights, appointed foxes in every henhouse, compounded the terrorist threat, turned a blind eye to torture and corruption and a looming ecological disaster, and squandered the rest of the world’s goodwill. In short, no other president’s faults have had so deleterious an effect on not only the country but the world at large.”

I don't think I would quibble with one word of that assesment. That said picking George W. Bush as the worst president in history isn't all that intellectually interesting an exercise. Of course he's the worst president.

So how about this question, first raised by the libertarian blog The Volokh Conspiracy, who is our most under-rated president? For their part they choose Warren G. Harding. I'll let them explain,

However, Harding's achievements in ending Wilson's harmful policies and his laudable efforts on behalf of civil rights greatly outweigh the relatively limited harm caused by his corrupt underlings. And, by all accounts, Harding himself was clean (though many of his appointees definitely weren't).

Harding is an interesting choice given that the great scandal of his administration was the Tea Pot Dome Scandal in which federal lands were given to Sinclair Oil (then known as Mammoth Oil) through a dubious bidding process. It later came to light that Harding's Secretary Of the Interior, Albert B. Fall, had received some $404,000 in gifts from Sinclair and another oil magnate who was given access to federal lands in exchange for personal loans at no interest. In essence Harding's administration was the first U.S. administration to become corrupted by the influence of Big Oil. Sound familiar?

Over at Lawyer's Guns & Money history professor "D" refutes the Harding pick,

As I said, I think Somin makes the best possible case on Harding's behalf, but I don't think he offers much to cut against the essential awfulness of his presidency. He seems to have been a nice guy, but he was rubbish as a president and deserves his bottom-feeder status.

For the sake of sticking my own neck out, I'll offer up Martin Van Buren as my nomination for most underrated. He got hammered by economic problems that weren't of his own making; he told Texas to take a hike; and his sideburns rank second only to Chester Arthur's on the (admittedly small) list of the Coolest Presidential Facial Hair. Also, he used to have a blog.

The point-counterpoint debate I linked above is very good and my quotes are meant to whet your appetite, not to be a full summary of the debate. I highly recommend reading both posts in full, they are very interesting and well thought out.

For my money, and so long as we're resurrecting the reputations of president's whose administrations had corruption issues that the president was oblivious to, I'll take Grant. He believed in Reconstruction but he didn't push for occupation of the south. He fought for civil rights for African-American's moreso than any president until Harry S. Truman.