1. **Lyndon B Johnson.** Signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which ended Jim Crow laws and banned segregation, the Voting Rights Act which ensured the universal right to vote in the US without discrimination, and the Fair Housing Act which ended redlining and allowed ensure equal housing opportunities for Americans. Signed the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 which created the Office of Economic Opportunity, Job Corps, Head Start, and Work-Study programs to aid underprivileged Americans. Passed Clean Air Act and other environmental legislation, wilderness preservation (9.1 million acres), and safety standards for consumers. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 provided massive federal funding to schools, particularly for students in low-income districts. Created the HUD Department. Signed the Highway Beautification Act, expanded the interstate system, and signed the Highway Safety Act which has saved 500,000 American lives since through necessary safety laws such as seatbelts. Also started Medicare and Medicaid which lifted tens of millions of Americans out of poverty, but fell short of universal coverage.
2. **Abraham Lincoln.** Worked tirelessly to get the 13th amendment passed Congress which ended slavery. By winning the Civil War and therefore preserving the union, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation (effective on 1/1/1863) which allowed soldiers to rescue former slaves and led to African-Americans joining the US military. Also signed the Morrill Land-Grant Act which funded public universities, established the Department of Agriculture to support farmers, and signed the Pacific Railroad Act authorized the construction of the transcontinental railroad. The Homestead Act also gave land for free to settlers out west. Funded the war effort through the National Banking Act and the first income tax ever, so the federal government remained solvent. However, he suspended habeas corpus and restricted some freedom of the press but these might have been necessary at the early stages of the civil war. The atrocities against the indigenous in the early 1860s are not a fair blight against Lincoln who was not involved in them.
3. **Theodore Roosevelt.** [The Square Deal inspired all domestic policy packages afterwards](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_Deal). Broke up monopolies (Northern Securities Co.) and regulated trade through acts like the Hepburn Act and Elkins Act. TR passed the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act of 1906, ensuring safer food and medicine. Protected millions of acres of land and removed 194 million acres of land from commercial use, setting aside national parks, started the National Forests, and wildlife preserves under the Antiquities Act. First US president to stand up to big business when he resolved the coal strike of 1902. Stood up to the worker, advocating for aid to farmers and collective bargaining rights.
4. **Franklin Roosevelt.** [The New Deal was the most comprehensive policy package in US history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Deal#:~:text=During%20Roosevelt's%20first%20hundred%20days,Deposit%20Insurance%20Corporation%20(FDIC)) and prevented a recession as bad as the Great Depression from happening again as long as it was still in place. Signed the Social Security Act which provided pensions for the elderly and unemployment insurance, the Wagner Act which supported labor unions and collective bargaining rights and created the NLRB, the Banking Act which created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Agricultural Adjustment Act which boosted farm prices by reducing supply to combat the Dust Bowl. The creation of the SEC was also vital for regulating the financial sector. The Civilian Conservation Corps and Civil Works Administration employed millions in public works which made the US a much better country. However, he also interned over 120,000 Japanese in concentration camps without due process and confiscated gold from all Americans, and the New Deal housing projects further entrenched systemic inequality since African-Americans were excluded from them.
5. **John F Kennedy.** [The New Frontier was a forerunner to the Great Society](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Frontier). Presided over one of the most productive legislative sessions. Signed [Executive Order 10925](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_10925) which created the Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity and required government contractors to "take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed and that employees are treated during employment without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin." JFK also sent troops to ensure protestors in the south were safe from law enforcement and that schools integrated peacefully. He limited pollution by strengthening the Clean Water Act. He created the Navy Seals. In order to combat the Soviets, he rapidly increased funds for NASA which revolutionized STEM research in the US and put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. Also proposed the Clean Air Act, Medicare, and the most significant ever Civil Rights Act but died before it could come to fruition. He also increased the minimum wage, championed the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 to reduce tariffs, signed EO protecting collective bargaining rights, and established economic aid programs for economically distressed areas, most notably Appalachia.
6. **Dwight D Eisenhower.** Signed the first major civil rights bills since Reconstruction. He also built the Interstate Highway System which led to suburbanization. He expanded Social Security and raised the minimum wage. He also enforced school desegregation in Little Rock by sending the National guard. He established the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. His major achievement was the National Defense Education Act (1958) to improve science and education after Sputnik and the creation of NASA and the ARPA, allowing the US to become the leader in STEM research in the world. Unfortunately, the Lavender Scare led him to prohibit LGBT people from working in the government by EO. And Operation Wetback saw the deportation of thousands of US citizens.
7. **Ulysses S Grant.** Signed the Enforcement Acts to fight the KKK, the 1875 Civil Rights Act to prohibit racial discrimination by private business owner and signed the first civil service reform legislation and established an advisory board to regulate federal employment practices. Grant actively championed the ratification of the 15th Amendment in 1870, securing voting rights for Black men. Unfortunately, he enforced assimilation and allowed the continuation of the policy of the extermination of the American buffalo, which led to cultural loss and starvation in the plains, but he did support education for them. Reconstruction ultimately failed as the Democrats took back Congress and federal troops couldn't prevent voting intimidation.
8. **Barack Obama.** Signed the Affordable Care Act (2010) into law, providing health insurance to millions, banning insurance discrimination based on pre-existing conditions, and expanding Medicaid. Saved the auto industry from failure and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was transformative in relief during the Great Recession. He implemented financial regulation to reduce risks in the banking sector and established the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to protect consumers, promoted funding for clean energy initiatives and launched the BRAIN Initiative to enhance neuro-technology research. One of the best presidents in environmental policy, as his EPA targeted reductions in carbon emissions from power plants, significantly reducing the nation’s coal plant capacity. He supported equal pay for equal work in signing the [Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act](https://www.google.com/search?q=Lilly+Ledbetter+Fair+Pay+Act&rlz=1C1FGUR_enUS1122US1123&oq=obama+domestic&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqDAgAEAAYFBiHAhiABDIMCAAQABgUGIcCGIAEMgwIARAAGBQYhwIYgAQyBggCEEUYOTIHCAMQABiABDIHCAQQABiABDIICAUQABgWGB4yCAgGEAAYFhgeMggIBxAAGBYYHjIICAgQABgWGB4yCAgJEAAYFhge0gEIMzkxNGowajeoAgCwAgA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&ved=2ahUKEwiNtfS3obmTAxXqFVkFHYhANdMQgK4QegYIAQgDEAY), making it easier to challenge pay discrimination. He increased background checks for buying guns. He issued an EO banning discrimination by federal contractors on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Unfortunately, he maintained the Bush tax cuts and the policy of NSA surveillance on smartphones, and was unable to bring back domestic manufacturing jobs to the Rust Belt.
9. **Harry Truman.** [The Fair Deal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Deal) increased minimum wages, federal aid to education, and expanded social security. The Housing Act increased fair housing and led to the creation of suburbs. Signed the Employment Act of 1946 created the Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) to ensure government commitment to maintaining full employment. He desegregated the federal bureaucracy and the military. Unfortunately, he set price controls on items like meat which led to severe shortages and lost public confidence, and he established a "loyalty program" by EO to investigate suspected communists within the federal government in response to pressure from the House Un-American Activities Committee. A conservative Congress prevented him from accomplishing much of his domestic agenda.
10. **William Howard Taft.** Busted nearly 80 trusts, including major cases against Standard Oil and the American Tobacco Company. Signed the Mann-Elkins Act which empowered the Interstate Commerce Commission to suspend railroad rate hikes and set rates, enhancing government oversight of interstate commerce. Signed the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act which reduced tariffs on much more items than it raised. He started the Department of Labor, established a postal savings system and Bureau of Mines. He supported a progressive federal income tax through the 16th Amendment, which was passed and ratified during his term. He also supported the direct election of Senators in the 17th Amendment which was passed during his term but not ratified until a few weeks after he left office. Unfortunately, his civil rights policy was very conservative as he removed African-American workers from federal posts in the south, started the segregation of the federal bureaucracy, and told WEB Dubois to prioritize education over liberation.
11. **Bill Clinton.** Signed the 1994 Crime Bill which included a ban on assault weapons and the Violence Against Women Act. The Brady Bill required federal background checks for handgun purchases. Clinton expanded the Earned Income Tax Credit, created the per-child tax credit, and introduced Hope Scholarship Tax Credits for higher education. He also raised taxes on the wealthy, cut spending, and reduced the deficit to become the first president to balance the budget in decades. These measures helped create over 22 million jobs, the lowest unemployment since the 60s, and sustained economic expansion. Also established the Children’s Health Insurance Program and signed the Family Medical Leave Act. He also signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act which put more welfare control to the states and added work requirements, but also forced welfare recipients to be in unhealthy marriages. Signing the Telecommunications Act which also was seen as a net-negative. His biggest domestic gripe was the mass incarceration due to the 1994 Crime Bill, the GLB Act which deregulated the finance sector, the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy which essentially forbade homosexuals from the US military, or the loss of manufacturing jobs to other American countries or China.
12. **Jimmy Carter.** In response to energy shortages, Carter established a national energy policy, deregulated domestic petroleum prices to stimulate production, and promoted renewable energy. To combat stagflation, he promoted deregulation to increase competition in the airline, trucking, railroad, and communications industries. He created the Departments of Education and Energy. He passed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act which protected over 100 million acres of land and also created the "Superfund" to clean up toxic waste sites. He pardoned Vietnam-era draft resisters. He increased oversight over the CIA by signing the Intelligence Oversight Act of 1980, which allowed Congress and members of the agency to be included in important decisions and operations carried out by the CIA. He signed the Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978, ending discrimination over indigenous religion, and returned land to tribes such as the Taos Pueblo. Despite political risks, he appointed Volcker to the Federal Reserve which fixed inflation and created a 20-year boom. Signed the Refugee Act of 1980 which brought many refugees to the US fleeing communist regimes. Inspector General Act increased internal oversight in agencies. He advocated for the Equal Rights Amendment and passed the Pregnancy Discrimination Act. He strengthened OSHA and expanded the Head Start program in adding 43,000 families. He signed the the Community Reinvestment Act to protect borrowers from redlining which had discriminated against people for decades at that point, the Monetary Control Act of 1980, the Fair Debt Collection Act, the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 which overhauled the federal bureaucracy to improve efficiency/accountability, the Mental Health Systems Act which proposed to continue the federal community mental health centers program, and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act of 1978. He also expanded the earned income tax credit which helped working-class Americans, strengthened minimum wage enforcement, founded the Compassionate Investigational New Drug program to provide federally-produced cannabis to a limited number of patients, and created the office of Minority Business Enterprise.
13. **George Washington.** Advocated for the passage of the Bill of Rights. Hamilton as Sec of the Treasury instituted a Whiskey Tax which was controversial (and Washington led the charge to establish the authority of the federal government by stopping a rebellion against the tax) to reduce the national debt and establish executive power, and his plan to assume state debts and create a National Bank and National Mint is what led to the US continuing to exist as a nation. The Jay Treaty maintained US neutrality during the Coalition Wars and maintained peace with Britain despite Jefferson and the people's protest, which was also great for the economy. The Judiciary Act of 1789 established the Supreme Court, with John Jay as the first Chief Justice, and created lower federal courts to enforce federal law. As white settlers moved west, Washington sought to manage conflict by treating Native American nations as sovereign, attempting to secure lands via treaties, and creating a formal Indian affairs policy. He signed the Patent Act and the Copyright Act. Instead of staying in power, he chose to step down after two terms. He did unfortunately sign the Fugitive Slave Act but it was written already in the Constitution.

Who were the top ten best presidents for domestic policy?