The Bad News Buckeyes

Happy President's Day from Gehio!

Ohio figures prominently in Presidential history. During Presidential elections, the focus is on Ohio since our voters have correctly picked the winning Presidential candidate in the last 12 election cycles. I suppose that Ohio represents the average middle of the road American.

Ohio could also be known as the Home of the (Worst and Most Trivial) Presidents. 19% of the 43 Presidents called Ohio home. That's eight if you count adopted Buckeye William Henry "King of Trivia" Harrison who was born in the Virginia Territory but spent most of his adult life and lived in Ohio when he was elected. 

The state of Virginia has the distinction of having the most Presidents born in their state as they include Harrison in their tally as well for a grand total of eight. I think we can at least call Ohio Harrison's stepmother. 

There was a high mortality rate among the eight Ohio Presidents. 50% of them died in office. In fact, only eight Presidents in total from all states have died in office. Of the Ohioans, two were shot (McKinley and Garfield) and the other two of natural causes (WH Harrison and Harding) although there are rumors that Harding's death was suspicious.

Harding and Grant are considered by many to be the most corrupt administrations of any US President although to be fair neither seemed to be directly involved in the scandals that occurred during their terms. They just surrounded themselves with despicable people I guess.

The four that managed to survive their terms, Grant, Hayes, B. Harrison, and Taft all finish in the bottom half when rankings are averaged by historians but Harding is considered the #1 worst overall. Finishing out the list, WH Harrison (5th), Grant (7th), B. Harrison (11th), Garfield (14th), Hayes (19th), Taft (21st) and McKinley (23rd). 

Go Ohio!