As I write this, we Americans are in the 88th day of President Trump’s administration.  Much has been written about what he promised to accomplish in the first hundred days, and much angst is seen by those who oppose him and those who support him as he has not been able to get his program off to the start he wanted.

But to judge a President on one hundred days at the beginning of his term is a false narrative.  By that standard, Trump was destined to fail, for it promises more than anyone can deliver in so short a time.

A little history is in order here.  Napoleon, defeated by the European coalition in 1814, was sent into exile on the island of Elba, an Italian (Tuscan) island in the Mediterranean.  A scant 300 days into his rather easy “imprisonment”, the former French emperor escaped and began his spectacular reconquest of France, only to be defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in July 1815.  Upon welcoming King Louis XVIII back to Paris, Gaspard, comte de Chabroi, used the phrase les Cent Jours, as the Hundred Days of Napoleon’s second reign was over.  That may or may not have been the genesis of the 20th and 21st century’s fascination with the time period by which we seem to judge newly crowned Presidents today.

More properly, the idea of this important period after a man is inaugurated for the first time caught the public’s attention with the ascension of Franklin Roosevelt to the Presidency in 1933.  Mired in a deep Depression, the country’s economy was in need of immediate and drastic repair.  FDR focused on the first one hundred days to turn the nation around.  In that time, he managed to get through a pliant Congress fifteen major bills.  (Even Hamilton Fish, a conservative Republican from New York, pledged his party’s help to the new Chief Executive.)

Among the bills proposed by FDR and passed by Congress were these:  a bank holiday; the Federal Emergency Relief Act; the Homeowners Loan Act; the Agricultural Adjustment Act, the Civilian Conservation Corps; the National Industrial Recovery Act and the Tennessee Valley Authority.  But there are three major problems with making Roosevelt’s accomplishments the benchmark for future Presidents.

First, this was done in a time of unprecedented economic crisis in the United States.  Previous depressions did not impact as large a segment of the nation, for they occurred in times when the country was still an agrarian society.  With the urgent need for action, it was far easier to set an agenda and fulfill it.

Second, what was done did not get the populace back to work.  None of the bills were “shovel ready”, in the terms of a former President.  A gap in time to get the money appropriated and the plans made meant that it was months, even years, before the legislation passed had a practical effect on the economy.  And some of those laws were declared unconstitutional by a conservative Supreme Court.  Even New Deal historians now reluctantly agree that only the advent of war in Europe raised us, finally, out of the Great Depression.

Third, as pertains to the Trump administration, no other President has taken office in a time of radical polarization of politics, making swift action and effective solutions much harder to achieve.  Usually, new Presidents are given a “honeymoon” period where little harsh criticism is seen,  but Trump’s honeymoon did not even last until the end of his inaugural address.

Serious students of history also realize that judging our Presidents’ performance is impossible in so short a time.  When ranking the men who have held the office, no place is afforded to those who held the Presidency too briefly.  William Henry Harrison died just one month into his term, and James Garfield died from his assassin’s bullet six months after taking office.  In addition, Zachary Taylor, Warren Harding and John Kennedy did not live out a full term, making judgments on their performances difficult.   Those who are writing off Trump after less than 90 days need to step back and get some perspective on American history.  Judge him toward the end of his first term, on his record, his triumphs and failures.

Yet, with all that said, so far the President has had some significant achievements in these 88 days.  Foremost was the nomination and confirmation of Neil Gorsuch as a conservative Supreme Court Justice.  Many regulations have been rescinded or pared back by Trump’s executive orders, just as he promised.  Most important of these affect the coal industry and the oil pipelines that have been in limbo for years.  However flawed the optics of it, the “great wall” between the U. S. and Mexico has begun to be built.  Contrary to the previous administration, the “red line” of using poison gas in Syria was crossed and Trump reacted with military action, and he has taken a much harder line toward the nuclear nation of North Korea, as one of our aircraft carriers is now in Korean waters and missile defense materiel is on the way to the area.  He withdrew from the Tans Pacific Partnership, and under his Attorney General,  much more aggressive action is being taken toward undocumented immigrants.  Sanctuary cities are now in the crosshairs of Trump’s administration, which has caused some of those to change their policies of not enforcing the law.  Also done has been the denial of federal dollars to those organizations who perform abortions, both at home and abroad.  A hiring freeze for federal jobs and a new regulation about lobbying by administration figures for foreign governments is in place.

Pundits and politicians eagerly await the end of the First Hundred Days, like the college freshmen who look to their class finals to see how they fared.  But for both Trump and the 19 year olds beginning college, judge them when the term is over and the last class is finished.  It is the only fair and honest way to go.