If I had to narrow my historical interests down to one thing, it would probably be the American presidents. I guess you could say that this area is my “expertise.” I don’t think I’m alone in that regard as historians have built entire professions based on the presidency. It’s always a cornerstone topic of political debate and the main focus of the TV news cycle. We even equate the passage of time to the presidency, “I was born in the Reagan years” or “back in the Obama days.” Everything good that happens can be attributed to the president, and everything bad that happens can be blamed on the president. That’s not really how the founding fathers intended the office to work, but that’s where we are. Prior to the creation of the office, monarchs and other leaders had almost no limit to their powers. The presidency is unique in human history because it was specifically designed with limited powers and checks on abuse of powers in line.

So, while I find the office of president intriguing because of its unique place in human history, it’s also fun to talk about because there have been so many of them. And like albums, movies, quarterbacks, TV shows, or any other topic where you have a large pool of candidates to pull from, they’re fun to rank. Google “greatest presidents lists” and you’ll find hundreds of results. It’s an interesting topic that historians have debated for years. I decided to do a deep dive into presidential history in 2018 when I committed to reading one cradle-to-grave biography on every president (something I’ll write about at a later date). I used the excellent My Journey Through the Best Presidential Biographies to help me decide which books to read, and I completed my mission in 2020.

It’s very easy to find books on Abraham Lincoln or Franklin Roosevelt, but what about guys like Warren Harding or Millard Fillmore? For whatever reason, I have always been interested in the lesser-known aspects of all of my interests, whether that be film, music or in this case, history. My reading project helped me fill in a lot of gaps that are often ignored by popular historians. In my journey, I discovered that I enjoyed learning about the Pierces and Arthurs more than the Roosevelts and Kennedys. A big reason why I started this blog was to shine light on some of these lesser-known presidents.

In addition to history, I am also an avid artist. I was looking to add a display piece to my library and came across some old figurines of the U.S. presidents from the 1950’s. I found out they were produced by Louis Marx and Company. Marx was an industry giant in those days, making everything from cowboys & Indians to plastic green army men. They also made 3″ figurines of every president up to Lyndon Johnson (click here for more info on Marx & Co.’s presidents). Great, I think I found my display piece! The only problem? These are toys from the 1950’s. Mass-produced toys that were painted in China. Not exactly as detailed as the toys you find on the shelves at Target and Walmart today, but I’ll let you be the judge of that:

Not exactly quality stuff by 2022 standards. I liked the idea of having a display of all the U.S. presidents, but these weren’t cutting it. Not ready to quit just yet, I did some more research and found out that Marx & Co. made unpainted versions. These are actually pretty nice. Without the globs of paint slapped on them by children working for slave wages, you can really appreciate the detail that Marx put into the sculpts and likenesses:

Maybe I found my library display after all. As mentioned, I am also an artist. So, I decided to track the unpainted versions of these down and paint them myself. Painting this small is tricky (these are 3″ tall), but I’m proud of my finished product. Here is Chester Arthur:

I’m sharing Arthur first because in my opinion, he is the coolest looking president, and I’m a fan of the obscure. Why don’t presidents still sport facial hair like that? Maybe I’ll have to write up a “best looking presidents” list. Anyways, I will continue to post my works throughout the year. I have yet to paint all 44 of them, but I’m about halfway through. Wait, 44? I thought Lyndon Johnson, the 36th president, was the last figurine Marx & Co. made? You are correct, they stopped making these in the sixties. Then how do I have 44 presidents? Well, that’s a story for another day. Stay tuned. And to keep this related to history, I will include one fun fact per president.

Chester Arthur fun fact: In 1883, Arthur signed the Pendleton Act into law. Arthur was not originally elected president. James Garfield was, and Arthur was his VP. Garfield was tragically assassinated a few months into his term (he was shot on July 2, 1881 but did not die until September 19, 1881). Garfield and Arthur were Republicans, and civil service reform was a big campaign promise of Garfield’s Republican party. Many had reason to worry once Arthur assumed the presidency. He was often viewed as nothing more than a crony for Roscoe Conkling’s NY political machine and had a history of corruption allegations from his time as Collector of the Port of New York. But Arthur did a 180 when he became president and made reform the focus of his presidency. Up until 1883, federal appointees were made by patronage, aka “the spoils system.” President Andrew Jackson was notorious for appointing those who were close to him. They even gave his patronage system a name, “the kitchen cabinet.” The Pendleton Act that Arthur signed into law got rid of the spoils system. Now, federal positions could be filled by civil service exams. It became illegal to fire or demote these individuals for political reasons. Merit over patronage.

But was this a good thing? The constitution gives the president the power to make appointments. This is known when the voters go to the polls. If he does make bad appointments, the political process has corrective measures in place. He can be voted out, and his “kitchen cabinet” with him. The Pendleton Act did something unique in that it created an entirely separate branch of government, the permanent political class. FBI, CIA, CDC, these are all branches of government that suffer no political consequences. We cannot vote these people out. And most of the time, the president cannot remove them either. This was not the original intent of the Pendleton Act. It originally only applied to 10% of federal employees. But it did open Pandora’s box to the point that now nearly all federal employees are immune to political consequences. I generally like Arthur, but the Pendleton Act is a good example of how a law that sounds good on paper can do something completely different in practice.