Admittedly it’s not a crowded field, but…

James Poulos asks an excellent question, perfect for parlour-game speculation:

Yesterday or the day before I was hanging out in the grad lounge with a sane Americanist who was scrolling through a polling compilation of Our Presidents Ranked By The Experts. Blithely I asked after the top ten Commanders-in-Chief, knowing damn well why I asked it like that, and sure enough in came the returns: War Heroes all. So then I asked who was the highest-ranking President who didn’t see us through a war..?

So, yeah, tell me who you think deserves the medal for Top Peace-Time President?