Anonymous
The late modern history period began approximately in the mid-18th century; notable historical milestones included the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, the Great Divergence, and the Russian Revolution. Thus, all US presidents are part of modern history.
The word "best" is subjective especially by the way you consider Ford the best because he did nothing to help Americans.
With "doing nothing to help Americans" as your parameter, I pick Garfield. He was assassinated after only about 7 months. Other contenders are Coolidge (silent Cal) and Buchanan.
As others have noted, when Ford failed to hold Nixon accountable, I think that severely hurt Americans. The leniency emboldens politicians to corruption/dishonesty.
However, Ford was president for only 2 1/4 yrs. He didn't have much time to get anything done either. Exclude the Nixon incident and Ford moves up to first or second in my opinion.
Athena
How in the world did he HELP Americans, with his WIN buttons ?
sophomrecritic
i would recommend putting your own answer in the additional detail. otherwise it looks like you're simply trying to preach. although everyone does that anyway.
um, no, eisenhower or first term nixon
Richard
I might be weird, but I think he was a pretty good president - with the exception of not allowing Nixon to face a criminal trial.
He was not as dumb as some people think, and since I am a moderate, I liked his middle-of-the-road politics.
Pearl
i think he was the best republican president in rnodern history too