Recarving Rushmore

Recarving Rushmore
ISBN	9781598130225
Dewey Decimal	973.09/9

Recarving Rushmore: Ranking the Presidents on Peace, Prosperity, And Liberty is a non-fiction book authored by

ranked the officials, the author applies his libertarian approach in terms of using different criteria to judge each president.^[2]

U.S. Libertarian Party praised Recarving Rushmore as well in a blog post about the book, with Eland's writing lauded as being "direct and fair".^[3]

A revised version of the book came out in 2014.[2]

The title alludes to the famous American monument Mount Rushmore, also known as the Shrine of Democracy.

Background and contents

Eland has served as a senior fellow at the Independent Institute. In terms of public service, he has spent fifteen years working for the U.S. Congress on foreign affairs, particularly focusing on national security issues.^[3] As a libertarian commentator, his writings have appeared within multiple publications.^{[citation needed]}

Starting with

conservative-based takes on history, Eland additionally considers Jimmy Carter to have been a better president than Carter's immediate successor, Ronald Reagan,^[2] and he goes so far as to label Carter as the best modern president in U.S. history.^[1]

In some cases, the author agrees with past criticisms of particular presidents undertaken by more conventional historians. For instance, Eland condemns

California Gold Rush. The author additionally blames Franklin Pierce for pushing policies that benefited slavery and ultimately led to the American Civil War in Eland's opinion.^[2]

Using the tripartite model of evaluating leaders based on promoting

U.S. economy, and proliferating liberty, the author ultimately concludes that John Tyler was the greatest American president. Grover Cleveland and Martin Van Buren take the second and third ranks on the list, respectively. Woodrow Wilson, in Eland's opinion, was the worst president in U.S. history.^{[citation needed]} In sum, Eland writes that Wilson "made the world safe for war, autocracy, and colonialism".^[1]

In terms of the previous president (when the book was initially published, in 2009), the author expresses a dim view of George W. Bush. He asserts that the leader implemented "aggressive foreign policies" that "undermined the republic at home".^[1]

Reception

Abbeville Institute. Although finding fault with Eland's approach at times, with McClanahan remarking that Constitutional "restraint sometimes means doing nothing even if doing nothing is politically incorrect or out of step with modern libertarian ideology", McClanahan considered Eland's willingness to slaughter "several sacred cows in the process" of making broader arguments laudable in contrast to "establishment groupthink". McClanahan also stated that Eland's "breezy writing and short chapters allow for a quick and punchy read."^[2]

The official website of the

U.S. Libertarian Party published a supportive blog post about the book in February 2009, with Eland's writing praised as being "direct and fair".^[3]