Rating the Presidents, 1916–2006

Woodrow Wilson (D) 1913-1921 — When Margaret Sanger was arrested for violating the Comstock laws by mailing "indecent" material (notably, her thoughts on contraception), Wilson received numerous letters supporting Sanger. In 1918, N.Y. State Court of Appeals Judge Frederick Crane handed Sanger's cause a victory, ruling that contraception prescribed by a physician and used "for the cure or prevention of disease" was not illegal. Despite Wilson's silence on reproductive rights, he ultimately supported one of the most important advances in women's rights in U.S. history — the right to vote granted by the 19^th amendment in 1920.

Warren G. Harding (R) 1921-1923 — Like his predecessor, Harding did not make birth control or women's reproductive health care a priority of his brief administration. Harding died of a heart attack in 1923.

Calvin Coolidge (R) 1923-1929 — Coolidge steered clear of the controversial issue of birth control, even in 1927, when the first modern pregnancy test was invented. He chose not to run for reelection in 1928, retiring just in time for the Great Depression.

Herbert Hoover (R) 1929-1933 — Margaret Sanger voted for Hoover to protest the anti-birth control Democratic candidate Al Smith. Not long after he was elected, the stock market crashed and the Great Depression began. In a 1932 radio address to the women of America, Hoover said, "The gravity of the issues of the campaign affect women and men equally. When the women of America attained the vote they naturally forced certain questions into the wider attention of the Nation."

Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) 1933-1945 — Franklin D. Roosevelt was the only president to be elected to four terms, and when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, FDR led the United States into War World II. In a 1935 Message to the Fifth Annual Women's Conference Roosevelt wrote, "When our economic system fails to sustain an adequate standard of life, it is the women who face the most poignant privation." His New Deal program brought about Social Security, a progressive tax system, federal control over banks, and a work relief program for the unemployed, among other things. But because FDR did not want to alienate his Catholic constituents, family planning wasn't included in the New Deal. However, back in the '20s, before Roosevelt was elected governor of New York in 1928, his wife, Eleanor, was a board member of the American Birth Control League, which Margaret Sanger founded and which later became PPFA. Eleanor spoke at a 1931 event honoring Margaret Sanger, but soon after fell silent on the issue because of fears it might harm her husband's political career. In 1935 the Roosevelt administration set up the Puerto Rico Emergency Relief Administration (PRERA), which made free contraceptive instruction and supplies available there.

Harry S. Truman (D) 1945-1953 — When FDR died in office in 1945, Vice President Truman took over. It was Truman who ordered the use of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which led to the surrender of the Japanese and the end of World War II. Truman's Fair Deal introduced the country to expanded Social Security, the Fair Employment Practices Act, and public housing, but not pregnancy prevention. Ten years after he left office he joined former President Eisenhower in accepting the chairmanship of a Planned Parenthood fundraising campaign.

Dwight D. Eisenhower (R) 1953-1961 — In a 1956 speech Eisenhower, a Republican, said, "We have come a long ways in recognizing the equality of women. Unfortunately, in some respects, it is not yet complete. But I firmly believe it will soon be so." Eisenhower finally earned his "I like Ike" campaign slogan when, two years after he left office, he joined former President Truman in endorsing government involvement in family planning and co-chairing a Planned Parenthood fundraising campaign.

John F. Kennedy (D) 1961-1963 — JFK was the first Roman Catholic president and the youngest man ever elected president. Kennedy championed new civil rights legislation and founded the Peace Corps. Kennedy didn't think the president's job included addressing family planning.

Lyndon B. Johnson (D) 1963-1969 — Vice President Johnson became president when President Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963. A few weeks later, Johnson signed the Fulbright bill into law, which funded international population research and assistance. In 1964 Johnson said, "America's progress toward a society of decency has been marked and measured by our attitudes toward the role and toward the rights of women." Remembered for the Vietnam War, the War on Poverty, and the Great Society, Johnson was also the first U.S. president to back federal support for birth control in social welfare and public health programs (at the urging of a Republican representative from Texas, George H. W. Bush). Margaret Sanger died midway through Johnson's presidency in 1966, shortly after the 1965 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Griswold v. Connecticut, which legalized birth control for married people. Also in 1966, Johnson accepted a Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) Margaret Sanger Award, our highest honor, for his foreign policy on family planning (although he didn't show up at the event).

Richard M. Nixon (R) 1969-1974 — Nixon declared birth control a national priority, seeking "adequate family planning services [for] … all those who want them but cannot afford them." President Nixon signed Title X into law, which made contraceptives available regardless of income. Nixon also nominated U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun, who wrote the 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion nationwide. The decision was handed down a few weeks after Nixon was sworn in as president for a second term. In 1974 Nixon resigned from office as a result of the Watergate scandal.

Gerald R. Ford (R) 1974-1977 — When Nixon resigned in 1974 to avoid impeachment, Vice President Ford became president. While Ford was opposed to the Roe v. Wade decision, he also opposed a constitutional amendment proposed by the Senate to make abortion illegal, saying, "I think that people who have moral convictions and beliefs can handle the problem of abortion in the right way, and I have faith in people that they will. And I don't think they should be bound on the one hand by a certain decision of a Supreme Court or by a rigid constitutional amendment on the other." Ford must have meant this only in a federal sense, because later that year he said, "There should be a constitutional amendment that would permit the individual States to make the decision based on a vote of the people of each of the States."

James E. Carter (D) 1977-1981 — In 1977 Jimmy Carter promised, "Under the new and revised welfare system, we'll do everything we can to provide a permanent, nationwide system of family planning, to make sure that … every child is a wanted child. And we'll try to give families a chance to make sure that they can avoid unwanted pregnancy with adequate instruction, to provide birth control opportunities for those who believe in them, and also make sure that there is a government attitude to discourage abortions as much as possible." Unfortunately, however, Carter supported the Hyde Amendment, which, to this day, limits the use of federal Medicaid funds for abortion services. Americans held Carter responsible for the Iran hostage crisis, in which 52 American embassy staff members were held hostage for 14 months, and elected Republican Ronald Reagan in 1980.

Ronald Reagan (R) 1981-1989 — Reagan, a former actor, was the first president to strongly and openly oppose abortion. In 1983, on the 10^th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Reagan said, "I favored legislation to end the practice of abortion on demand … I will continue to support it in the new Congress." In 1984, Reagan instituted the "Mexico City policy," now known as the global gag rule, which banned federal funding for any international organization that engaged in any activities relating to abortion services, including providing counseling or medical information, even with non-U.S. funds. He also nominated Judge Sandra Day O'Connor to be the first woman justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, amid objections from anti-choice hardliners.

George H. W. Bush (R) 1989-1993 — As a congressman, Bush had been a leader on family planning issues until 1980, when he turned his back on reproductive health care to be Reagan's running mate. In 1991 Bush led America to victory over Iraqi forces that had invaded Kuwait; however, his presidency was troubled by struggles with economic policy. His determination to make the United States "a kinder and gentler nation" apparently did not extend to women's reproductive rights: Bush continued Reagan's Mexico City policy and endorsed anti-choice legislation, saying, "[I] believe that Roe v. Wade was incorrectly decided and should be reversed."

William J. Clinton (D) 1993-2001 — The first Democrat since FDR to win a second term and the second president to be impeached, Bill Clinton was a supporter of the women's movement. In one of his first acts in office, he repealed the Title X "gag rule," which prohibited low-income patients from receiving medical information, counseling, or referrals for abortion services. That same day, Clinton overturned Reagan's Mexico City policy and reversed the ban on abortions in military hospitals. He famously said that abortion should be "legal, safe, and rare." In 1994, Clinton signed into law the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which protects reproductive health care providers. Clinton also vetoed federal abortion bans twice. In November, the Supreme Court will address a similar ban signed into law by President Bush.

George W. Bush (R) 2001-present — Bush picked up where his father left off and led the United States into a second war with Iraq. This isn't the only war history will connect to this President Bush — since day one the Bush administration has been waging a nonstop war on women; and their reproductive rights. Read the War on Women document; it is stark evidence that women's reproductive freedom has never been more under siege.

But let's not dwell on the worst; let's look at our strongest leaders in terms of reproductive rights and women's health and safety. Certainly, Bill Clinton made great strides to restore to women their constitutional rights and protections. That may be less surprising than Richard M. Nixon, who declared family planning a national priority, which benefited all women, including the poor.

In 2008 we will have a new president. Let's hope she or he will be one who would have earned Margaret Sanger's vote.

© 2006 Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. All rights reserved.