Hall of Shame - US Party Platform Retrospective

Individuals, policies, and parties ranked by their retrospective grades across all analyses (Bottom 50 in each category). This is the reverse scale of the Hall of Fame: lower grades mean worse long-term outcomes and impact.
A = Prescient/effective B = Generally successful C = Mixed results D = Failed to deliver F = Harmful/abandoned

Individuals

#1 F

Southern Democratic leadership

1860 Democratic

#2 F

James Buchanan

#3 D-

John C. Breckinridge

1860 Democratic

#4 D-

Andrew Johnson

1868

#5 D

Lewis Cass

1848

#6 D

Franklin Pierce

1852 1856

#7 D

Joseph Lane

1860 Democratic

#8 D

Democratic National Leadership 1864

1864

#9 D+

Clement Vallandigham

1864

#10 C-

Herbert Hoover

1928 1932 1936

#11 C-

Horatio Seymour

1868

#12 C-

Dick Cheney

2000 2004

#13 C-

Paul Ryan

2012

#14 C-

Ronna McDaniel

2024

#15 C-

Stephen A. Douglas

1852 1856 1860

#16 C

Donald Trump

2016 2024

#17 C

William O. Butler

1848

#18 C

George B. McClellan

1864

#19 C

August Belmont

1872

#20 C

Winfield Scott Hancock

1880

#21 C

Adlai E. Stevenson I

1892

#22 C

Richard P. Bland

1896

#23 C

Thomas R. Marshall

1916

#24 C

John Edwards

2004

#25 C

Rutherford B. Hayes

1876 1880

#26 C

James A. Garfield

1880

#27 C

Andrew Mellon

1928

#28 C

George W. Bush

2000 2004 2008

#29 C

Bill Frist

2004

#30 C

Republican congressional leadership

2012

#31 C+

Warren G. Harding

1920 1924

#32 C+

Calvin Coolidge

1924 1928

#33 C+

Horace Greeley

1872 1872

#34 C+

Alton B. Parker

1904

#35 C+

James M. Cox

1920

#36 C+

Hillary Rodham Clinton

1992

#37 C+

Lyman Trumbull

1872

#38 C+

Henry Cabot Lodge

1912 1920

#39 C+

Alf Landon

1936

#40 C+

Richard Nixon

1960 1968 1972

#41 C+

Jeane Kirkpatrick

1984

#42 C+

Dan Quayle

1992

#43 C+

Karl Rove

2000

#44 C+

James G. Blaine

1876 1884 1888 1892

#45 B-

Robert A. Taft

1940 1952

#46 B-

Grover Cleveland

1884 1888 1892

#47 B-

House Democratic leadership

1876

#48 B-

John W. Davis

1924

#49 B-

Tip O'Neill

1984

#50 B-

Chuck Schumer

2020

Policies

#1 F

Condemnation of abolitionist efforts as dangerous to the Union

1840

#2 F

Defense of state control over slavery and condemnation of abolitionist agitation

1844

#3 F

States’ rights and congressional noninterference with slavery

1848

#4 F

Condemnation of abolitionism as dangerous extremism

1848

#5 F

Non-interference by Congress in state slavery and strict enforcement of Fugitive Slave Act

1852

#6 F

Commitment to end slavery ‘agitation’ and treat Compromise of 1850 as final

1852

#7 F

Non‑interference with slavery in states and territories

1856

#8 F

Support for the Fugitive Slave Act and Compromise of 1850 enforcement

1856

#9 F

Suppression of slavery ‘agitation’ and sectional parties

1856

#10 F

Kansas–Nebraska popular sovereignty as the ‘only sound’ solution to slavery in territories

1856

#11 F

Obedience to Supreme Court decisions on slavery in the territories

1860

#12 F

Condemnation of state personal liberty laws and defense of the Fugitive Slave Act

1860

#13 F

Use of constitutional-legal mechanisms to manage slavery rather than confronting its morality

1860

#14 F

Equal right of slaveholders to settle in Territories with their 'property'

1860 Democratic

#15 F

Federal duty to protect slavery in the Territories

1860 Democratic

#16 F

Defense of Fugitive Slave Act and opposition to state personal liberty laws

1860 Democratic

#17 F

Implicit opposition to emancipation and racial egalitarian Reconstruction

1864

#18 F

State control of suffrage and opposition to Congressional Reconstruction Acts

1868

#19 F

Restriction of Chinese immigration and opposition to 'Mongolian' labor

1876

#20 F

Home rule and opposition to federal 'centralization' in the South

1880

#21 F

Protection of the 'free ballot' by opposing federal troops and marshals at elections

1880

#22 F

Restrictive immigration targeting 'Mongolians' and 'servile races'

1884

#23 F

Support for Chinese exclusion and extension to other Asian races

1900

#24 F

Single presidential term and bar on reelection

1912

#25 F

Asiatic immigration exclusion

1924

#26 F

Vietnam commitment and Gulf of Tonkin posture

1964

#27 F

Limiting and restricting Chinese immigration

1880

#28 F

Sustaining and strengthening Chinese immigration restrictions

1884

#29 F

Chinese Exclusion and broader Asian labor exclusion

1904

#30 F

Restrictionist immigration and assimilationist policies

1924

#31 F

High protective tariffs and revision of the Fordney–McCumber system

1928

#32 F

Strict Prohibition enforcement (Eighteenth Amendment)

1928

#33 F

Isolationist foreign policy and rejection of ‘entangling alliances’

1936

#34 F

Elimination of the Department of Education and federal role in schooling

1980

#35 F

Opposition to legal recognition of same-sex relationships and LGBT civil rights

1992

#36 F

Iraq regime-change and assertive Middle East strategy

2000

#37 F

Same-sex marriage opposition, DOMA defense, and call for federal marriage amendment

2008

#38 F

Assertion that homosexuality is incompatible with military service and support for DADT

2008

#39 F

Balanced Budget Amendment and supermajority tax-increase rule

2012

#40 F

Constitutional amendment defining marriage and defense of DOMA

2012

#41 F

Balanced budget, spending restraint, and Balanced Budget Amendment

2016

#42 D-

Adherence to Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions (states’‑rights creed)

1856

#43 D-

Acquisition of Cuba

1860 Democratic

#44 D-

Non-interference by Congress or Territories with 'rights' of person and property

1860 Democratic

#45 D-

Call for immediate cessation of hostilities and peace convention

1864

#46 D-

War on drugs with drug czar, interdiction, and opposition to legalization

1988

#47 D-

Local responsibility for relief and rejection of large federal relief programs

1932

#48 D-

Hard-line anti-Communist strategy seeking ‘victory for freedom’ and decisive win in Vietnam

1964

#49 D

Non-interference by Congress with slavery in the states

1840

#50 D

Anti-centralization stance on slavery in territories and domestic institutions

1840

Parties

#1 D

Democratic Party 1856

1856

#2 D

Democratic Party (Douglas faction) 1860

1860

#3 D

Democratic Party (Breckinridge faction) 1860

1860 Democratic

#4 D+

Democratic Party 1852

1852

#5 D+

Democratic Party 1864

1864

#6 D+

Democratic Party 1868

1868

#7 D+

Republican Party 1928

1928

#8 D+

Republican Party 1932

1932

#9 C-

Democratic Party 1848

1848

#10 C-

Democratic Party 1876

1876

#11 C

Democratic Party 1840

1840

#12 C

Republican Party 1924

1924

#13 C

Republican Party 1936

1936

#14 C

Republican Party 2024 Platform

2024

#15 C+

Democratic Party 1844

1844

#16 C+

Democratic Party 1872

1872

#17 C+

Democratic Party 1880

1880

#18 C+

Democratic Party 1884

1884

#19 C+

Democratic Party 1892

1892

#20 C+

Democratic Party 1896

1896

#21 C+

Liberal Republican Party 1872

1872

#22 C+

Republican Party 1876

1876

#23 C+

Republican Party 1880

1880

#24 C+

Republican Party 1884

1884

#25 C+

Republican Party 1916

1916

#26 C+

Republican Party 1920

1920

#27 C+

Republican Party 1940

1940

#28 C+

Republican Party 1964

1964

#29 C+

Republican Party 1972

1972

#30 C+

Republican Party 2000 Platform

2000

#31 C+

Republican Party 2004 Platform

2004

#32 C+

Republican Party 2008

2008

#33 C+

Republican Party 2012 platform

2012

#34 C+

Republican Party 2016

2016

#35 B-

Democratic Party 1900

1900

#36 B-

Democratic Party 1904

1904

#37 B-

Democratic Party 1916

1916

#38 B-

Democratic Party 1964

1964

#39 B-

Democratic Party 1976

1976

#40 B-

Democratic Party 1980

1980

#41 B-

Democratic Party 1992

1992

#42 B-

Democratic Party 2004

2004

#43 B-

Democratic Party 2024

2024

#44 B-

Republican Party 1872

1872 Republican

#45 B-

Republican Party 1912

1912

#46 B-

Republican Party 1944

1944

#47 B-

Republican Party 1968

1968

#48 B-

Republican Party 1976

1976

#49 B-

Republican Party 1984

1984

#50 B-

Republican Party 1988

1988