Every US President's Hardest Decision Explained in 24 Minutes

0:00 From throwing Japanese Americans into internment camps to deciding whether to drop the most destructive weapon ever created to agonizing for 18 months over a move that could change the Civil War. This is every US president's hardest decision. And some of these are so impossible there's a reasons leave office with gray hair. Starting with George Washington. Cuz when France went to war with Britain, the country split in two. Half of America said, "We owe France. They helped us win our independence." And the other half said, "Another war could destroy us." But Washington made the final call and signed the Proclamation of Neutrality and the Jreaty. Basically saying, "We're

0:45 staying out of this." And man, were people furious cuz pro-French Americans burned him an effigy. And Thomas Jefferson even resigned as Secretary of State. But despite the outrage, Washington didn't budge. He believed that America needed peace to survive its infancy. Kind of like John Adams. Cuz during the quasi war with France, his fellow federalists demanded a full-scale fight. War would have united his base and probably won him re-election. But Adams thought it would destroy the country. So he went against his own party and chose peace. And although that was the right decision for America, his party abandoned him and he lost re-election. Guys, what are we doing?

1:31 But Adams went down with no regrets cuz he once said he wanted his gravestone to say, "Here lies John Adams who took upon himself the responsibility of peace with France." Which reminds me of Thomas Jefferson, who had to choose between his principles and a continent. Because Napoleon offered to sell 828,000 square miles for 15 million bucks. But nothing in the Constitution gave a president the power to buy foreign land. And Jefferson, Mr. Limited Government over here, knew it. If he took the deal, he'd be a total hypocrite. But even so, Jefferson swallowed his principles and signed the Louisiana Purchase. The deal was just too sweet to pass up on. Meanwhile, James Madison faced a choice

2:17 that haunted him to his core. Cuz for years, Britain had been seizing American ships and kidnapping sailors. And like the presidents before him, Madison didn't want another war. He even warned that war is the most dreaded enemy of liberty. But after years of getting bullied by the Fritz, the dude finally had enough and asked Congress to declare war. And just like that, the War of 1812 had begun. On the other hand, James Monroe had to face the first existential crisis over slavery cuz in 1820 the US were perfectly split. 11 free states and 11 slave states. All was balanced until Missouri wanted to join the Union as a slave state. So in came the Missouri

3:03 Compromise which said if Missouri joins as a slave state, then Maine joins as a free state. Everyone's happy, right? Well, everyone except James Monroe. Cuz privately he believed it was unconstitutional for the federal government to restrict slavery in new states. But at the same time, he knew the entire country would collapse if this didn't pass. So he threw his principles out the window and signed the Missouri Compromise. But at least Monroe got to pass some bills cuz John Quincy Adams was Cook from the start thanks to the election of 1824. When no one reached the 131 electoral votes needed to win. Andrew Jackson had 99, Quincy Adams had 84, William

3:50 Crawford had 41, and Henry Clay had 37. So the decision went to the house, and the speaker was Henry Clay. He dropped out and backed Adams, who then became president. But then came the tough call. Adams needed a secretary of state and he believed Clay was the best man for the job. The only problem, it looks super shady to appoint the guy who just handed you the presidency. But Adams did it anyway and Jackson's camp exploded, calling it a corrupt bargain. And from that point on, they blocked Adam's entire agenda. I think it was the wrong move, sir. But speaking of tough moves, Andrew Jackson chose land over lives.

4:36 Cuz native tribes were living on land across the southeast, land Americans demanded. And Jackson believed westward expansion was inevitable. But if he sat back, states would take the land on their own with chaos and violence. So the question wasn't if native tribes would be removed. It was whether Jackson would use the power of the federal government to do it himself. and he did with the Indian Removal Act. Even though the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional, Jackson just ignored them and forced the removal of at least 50,000 natives in the Trail of Tears. But then came Martin Van Beern, who stared down the ultimate economic dilemma. Because 5 weeks into his presidency, the panic of 1837 hit and

5:25 343 of 850 banks closed. People were desperate for help and Van Beerren faced a choice. Use federal money to bail out the economy and set a massive precedent or let the markets crash and people suffer. Van Beern chose to do nothing and then got destroyed in the next election 234 to 60. Ouch. But at least Van Beerren had time to make a decision cuz William Henry Harrison only lasted 31 days in office before dying. Leaving us with a question nobody had ever answered. When a president dies, does the VP become the real president or just act as president? Harrison's cabinet believe the VP becomes a temporary

6:11 placeholder. But John Tyler, the VP himself, said, "Nope, I'm the president now. put some respect on my name. And though his haters called him his accidenty, Tyler ended up being right cuz every successor since has followed the Tyler president. You tell him, sir. On the other hand, James Pulk didn't wait for a crisis. He kind of manufactured one cuz Pulk campaigned on expanding into California, New Mexico, and the entire Southwest. And he had one term to do it. The only problem, Mexico wasn't selling. So Poke faced a tough choice. Accept the current borders or provoke a war. So Poke chose to send troops into disputed territory, provoke

6:58 Mexico into firing first and then tell Congress that Mexico had shed the blood of our fellow citizens on our own soil. Yep, that's pretty much all he needed to declare war. But speaking of expansion, the question of slavery wasn't going away cuz every new territory raised the same issue, free state or slave state. And now Zachary Taylor had to answer it. Even though he personally owned over 120 slaves, he actually opposed expanding slavery into the new western territories. He went so far as threatening to hang secessionists if they tried to break up the Union. However, Taylor suddenly died before the crisis was resolved, leaving Millard Filillmore to pick up the pieces, and he

7:45 personally hated slavery. But after Taylor's death, the only deal holding the country together was the compromise of 1850. And it came with an explosive twist, the Fugitive Slave Act, a law that forced citizens, even in free states, to help capture escape slaves. Should Filillmore sign something he hated to save the Union or stand on principle and risk civil war? It was a tough choice, but Filillmore signed it. Kind of like Franklin Pierce, who threw his weight behind the Kansas Nebraska Act, a bill that repealed the Missouri Compromise and ignited Bleeding Kansas. A situation where pro and anti-slavery settlers flooded into Kansas and fought each other all over that same question.

8:33 what to do about slavery. And this next president couldn't solve it either. Cuz after seven states began to secede the Union, James Buchanan faced a moment that demanded action. He could use federal force and stop them or do nothing. And Buchanan chose nothing. Although he knew secession was illegal, he believed the Constitution didn't give him the power to stop it. So he just packed his bags and left it for the next guy to figure out. Abraham Lincoln, who for 18 months agonized over the Emancipation Proclamation, an executive order that would free millions of slaves, but also potentially fracture the North and cost him the war. Lincoln could sign it or hold off and keep

9:20 fighting a war that felt increasingly pointless. The stakes could not be higher and the future of the nation hung in the balance. But after the battle of Antidum, Lincoln pulled the trigger and signed the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves in rebel areas henceforward shall be free. And it transformed the war into a crusade for human freedom and freed 3.5 million slaves. God bless that man. But after Lincoln's courage came Andrew Johnson's collapse. Cuz Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866, the first Civil Rights Bill in American history. And guess what Johnson did? He vetoed it, arguing it went too far, too fast.

10:07 However, Congress overrode his veto, marking it the first time a major presidential veto had been successfully overturned. They vetoed your veto, sir. Meanwhile, Ulissiz Srant faced a similar debacle cuz the Ku Klux Clan was terrorizing black citizens across the South, and he had to decide whether to take a soft or hardline approach. And oh boy, did he choose the latter cuz Grant suspended habius corpus, declared martial law, and sent the cavalry after the KKK, resulting in over 600 clan suspects arrested and 3,000 indicted. Sir, there's one more over here. Clan members were getting locked up left and right until Rutherford be. Hayes took office.

10:54 Cuz after the disputed election of 1876, Hayes secured the presidency through a backroom deal. And it was pretty shady. The Democrats allowed Hayes to take the presidency in exchange for him removing federal troops from the South. And yep, Hayes took the deal and ended reconstruction overnight. But speaking of devastating consequences, James Garfield made one that got him killed. Cuz at the time, Washington ran on patronage, handing out government jobs as political favors. But Garfield didn't play that way. He awarded jobs to people who earned it. And boy, did he make some enemies, cuz months later, a deranged office seeker assassinated him for it. Taking us to Chester Arthur, who was

11:40 forced to clean up the mess. The only problem, Arthur's entire career was built on the patronage machine. Cuz he wasn't an outsider. He was the system. But when the Pendleton Act hit his desk, a bill that would require government jobs to be earned on merit, he had a choice. Protect the system that made him or destroy it. And to everyone's surprise, he destroyed it. Signing the bill into law and betraying the very allies who had put him in power. That's a brave move, sir. But then came Grover Cleveland and the Pullman strike of 1894. When the Pullman Company slashed wages, workers went on strike and railroads shut down in 27 states. The economy was

12:26 on the brink of collapse and Cleveland had a choice. Side with the workers and risk total economic collapse or restore order by force. And Cleveland chose force and sent 2,000 federal troops in to crush the strikes with an iron fist. Man, the average American just getting smoked in this era. Cuz Benjamin Harrison did something similar. He stared down the McKinley tariff, a proposal to raise tariffs even higher to protect American industry. The only problem, higher tariffs and higher prices. And that's exactly what happened. Harrison signed it. tariffs soared to 50% and voters were furious. So two years later they booted him out

13:12 of office. But that's nothing compared to William McKinley who was pressured into fighting a country. Cause after the USS Maine exploded in Havana Harbor, the press and public demanded war. Even Teddy Roosevelt called McKinley weak. But McKinley knew war was a gamble. So he resisted for a year before finally giving in. And fortunately, the SpanishAmerican War transformed America into an imperial power overnight. But speaking of empires, Teddy had to decide how far he'd go to build one. Cuz Colombia had just rejected his treaty to build a canal through Panama. And while most presidents would simply take no for an answer, Teddy hatched a pretty risky plan. When Panama rebelled against

13:58 Colombia, Teddy sent warships to support Panama's independence. And within days, he secured the right to build a canal. That's just Teddy being Teddy. But diplomacy is exactly what William Taft needed. Cuz when Gford Pincho, Teddy Roosevelt's best friend, publicly attacked his cabinet, Taft had a choice. Keep Pincho and let him publicly undermine his authority or fire him and risk blowing up his relationship with Roosevelt. Taft chose to fire him. Because Teddy turned on Taft, launched a third party run and split the Republican party in two, allowing for Woodro Wilson to take the White House. And sadly, this man broke his biggest promise cuz World

14:43 War I was raging in Europe. And Wilson campaigned on keeping the US out of war. But when Germanot were sinking American ships, Wilson was caught between a rock and a hard place. and he chose to send millions of Americans into the bloodiest war the world had ever seen. But while Wilson agonized, Warren G. Harding didn't think hard enough. Cuz the hardest choice he made was whether to trust his friends with power. And he said, "Yeah, sure, why not?" and filled his cabinet with his BFFs. But then what followed was the Teapot Dome scandal, one of the biggest corruption scandals in American history. and several of his friends were thrown in prison. Maybe vet your buddies next time, sir. On the

15:29 other hand, Gulage chose ideology over reality cuz by the 1920s, crop prices collapsed, farms went bankrupt, and farmers were drowning in debt. So, Congress passed the McNary hogin farm relief bill, a plan for the government to buy crops. The bill was so popular even his own VP supported it. But Coolage vetoed the bill, arguing that government price controls would do more harm than good. Kind of like how Herbert Hoover chose politics over economics. Cuz in the 1930s, the economy was slipping into a crisis. So, Congress passed the Smoot Holly tariff, a bill that would raise tariffs and protect American industry. On paper, it sounded pretty helpful until a thousand

16:16 economists came out and begged Hoover not to sign the bill into law. Well, guess what? Hoover signed it. Global trade collapsed by 65% and the depression went global. A thousand economists, sir. But if Hoover bent to political pressure, Franklin Roosevelt bent to wartime hysteria. Cuz after Pearl Harbor, FDR faced a choice. Trust Japanese Americans. despite zero cases of disloyalty or lock up 120,000 of them in the name of national security. And in the end, fear won cuz FDR signed Executive Order 90066 and relocated Japanese Americans into internment camps during World War II. But speaking of

17:01 impossible choices, nothing compares to Harry Truman cuz he learned about the atomic bomb only after becoming president. And now he had to decide whether to use it. He could either invade Japan and lose another half a million American lives or drop the most destructive weapon ever created on a civilian population. On August 6th, 1945, Truman gave the order. A 100,000 people were killed and the nuclear age had begun. That might be the hardest decision any president has ever made. But after the bomb came the battle for equality cuz Arkansas Governor Fobis used the National Guard to block nine black students from entering Central High School, directly defying the

17:48 Supreme Court's order to desegregate schools. Now Dwight Eisenhower had a choice. Stand back and let the governor ignore federal law or step in and use military force against American citizens. and Dwight sent in the 101st Airborne Division to escort the students into school, enforcing the Constitution at gunpoint. But speaking of being held at gunpoint, John F. Kennedy faced the Cuban Missile Crisis when the Soviet Union placed missiles in Cuba, close enough to hit most American cities in under 5 minutes. So JFK faced an impossible choice. except Soviet missiles 90 mi from Florida or attack and possibly end civilization. Now, luckily, Kennedy chose a third

18:34 option, a naval quarantine, and bought us enough time to make a deal with the Soviets. Meanwhile, Lynden Johnson chose to ignore his own gut, cuz in private, he literally said, "I just don't think it's worth fighting for." Referring to the Vietnam War. He could withdraw from Vietnam and be the president who lost Southeast Asia or escalate and prey and Johnson chose escalation. 535,000 troops and 58,000 Americans killed. On the other hand, Richard Nixon had all three branches of government turn against him. His own party even said he'd be convicted for the Watergate scandal. So, what could he do? fight it out and become the first president forcibly removed or resign and become

19:22 the first president to quit. Sounds like a lose-lose, sir. Nixon chose to quit and became the only president to ever walk away from the job. And then Gerald Ford had to decide how to move forward cuz 62% of Americans wanted Nixon to stand trial. But a trial would consume the country for years. So Ford made the tough choice to pardon Richard Nixon and let the nation move on. And yeah, the entire country didn't trust Ford after that. Bringing us to Jimmy Carter, who made a gamble that never paid off. Cause after 5 months of failed diplomacy over the Iran hostage crisis, Carter had to choose. Keep negotiating with no guarantee or launch a high-risk military

20:08 rescue. And he launched Operation Eagleclaw. But tragically, helicopters broke down, eight service members died, and the hostages were free. Tough luck, sir. But sometimes the hardest choice is walking away from everything you ever wanted. Cuz at the Reikovich summit, Mikail Gorbachov offered to eliminate all of the USSR's nuclear weapons, but only if Reagan abandoned his strategic defense initiative, aka Star Wars. Reagan could take the deal and literally end the Cold War right there. But instead, he walked away. And within months, he made a new deal with the Soviets. And just a few years later, the Berlin Wall came down.

20:54 Nice move, sir. I wouldn't have shut down Star Wars either. But speaking of gambles, George HW Bush had to choose between a promise and a math problem. because he staked his presidency on read my lips, no new taxes. The only problem, the deficit was exploding. So Bush broke his promise, raised taxes, and his base never forgave him. But Bill Clinton faced a different kind of pressure. Haunted by inaction during the Rwanda genocide, Clinton had to decide whether to bomb Serbia or stop ethnic cleansing in Casovo. There was no UN authorization, no appetite for ground troops, and no guarantee it would work. But Clinton bombed anyway, and

21:39 eventually Serbian forces withdrew. And that's a stark contrast to George W. Bush, who had to decide whether intelligence on Iraq's WMDs was strong enough to justify invasion. And to be fair, the man was getting peppered left and right with pressure to invade Iraq. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu even testified before Congress and said there was no question whatsoever that Saddam was pursuing nuclear weapons. So Bush chose invasion and just like that we got the Iraq war. But on the other hand, Barack Obama faced a coin flip with his presidency on the line cuz the intelligence that Osama bin Laden was in an Abata bad compound was only 50/50. and even his VP Joe Biden recommended

22:25 waiting. But Obama chose to act. On May 2nd, 2011, Navy Seals carried out the raid. Bin Laden was killed, and a decade long manhunt was over. But speaking of highstakes military calls, Donald Trump had to decide whether to assassinate the second most powerful man in Iran. And in January 2020, he ordered the strike on General Casm Solommani. What Pentagon officials called the most extreme option. Kind of like when Joe Biden had to choose between forever and failure. Cuz military advisers wanted to keep 2500 troops in Afghanistan. And pulling out meant risking a Taliban takeover. But Biden argued after 20 years and $2 trillion, how long is long enough? So,

23:12 we pulled out the troops. The photos were a mess, and the Afghan government collapsed in 11 days. Not the best ending, but hey, at least we got out of there. And if you're wondering how these presidents dealt with so much stress, it's because their first ladies helped them relax at night. This is every US president's love life. From writing love letters so steamy they had to be sealed for 50 years to getting caught with a White House intern on national television to marrying a woman 30 years younger and having 15 kids while still being president. Some of these are so romantic I'm going to need you to click right here and keep watching.