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Ranking American Presidents
C-Span has released the second edition of its Historians Survey of Presidential Leadership. A cross section of 65 presidential historians ranked the 42 former Presidents on ten attributes of leadership.
Go to THIS LINK for complete details, including the Washington Journal segment about the survey and a list of the historians.
Here are the high and low scorers:
TOP Ten:
1. Lincoln
2. Washington
3. Franklin D. Roosevelt
4. Teddy Roosevelt
5. Harry Truman
6. JFK
7. Jefferson
8. Eisenhower
9. Wilson
10. Reagan
BOTTOM Ten:
33. Hayes
34. Hoover
35. Tyler
36. George W. Bush
37. Filmore
38. Harding
39. Pierce
40. Andrew Johnson
41. Buchanan
UPDATE: The L.A. Time’s Andrew Malcolm takes a closer, more detailed look at this list — including a “shocker” at the bottom.
10 Responses to “Ranking American Presidents”
Andrew Johnson is the worst. I have no idea why Warren Harding is so low.
Woodrow Wilson belongs in the bottom ten, not the top ten.
It's too soon to tell about George W. Bush. Though he does provoke strong reactions.
Nixon?
I'm surprised that JFK is ranked ahead of Thomas Jefferson! He was only in office less than 3 years, and was considered during his time to be a lightweight celebrity President- elected for his glamor and elegance. Probably he made it because of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Also, Interesting to see Clinton and Bush 41 near the top.
I disagree about Wilson- he was probably a racist- but so were many in his time- he did lead us successfully through WWI and fought for the League of Nations- the predecessor to the UN.
Proximity warps perspective. I think that Truman and Kennedy are both overrated. For many years Truman was seriously underrated. What we've got now is a reaction.
I also think that Jefferson is overrated as president, largely because it's difficult to seperate Jefferson as president from Jefferson as Founding Father and primary author of the Declaration of Independence.
I don't think George W. Bush was a good president but I think that history is likely to be kinder to him than his contemporaries are.
I'm surprised that Polk isn't on the list of ten best. Perspective again, I think.
I am shocked that they didn't already rank Obama as #1!
The ranking can vary depending on the criteria. He is an interesting article that uses a different criteria from what most rankings do, adherence to the US Constitution
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles/silveira4…
You will note at the bottom are Abraham Lincoln and FDR, this was written Pre George W. Bush so he would likely be down there as well due to his Constitutional violations. You will also note many of those on the bottom of many lists like James Buchanon and Franklin Pierce make it to the top of this list, why? because they adhered to the Constitution rather than violate it.
JFK at No.6?!!!?
Just nuts.
I also agree with Kritt about Wilson. After all, Wilson's agreement with the Versailles Treaty…and his failure to convince Congress to join the League of Nations…both directly and significantly contributed to the rise of the Nazi movement and the Second World War. I think the people consulted rated image factors — idealism as opposed to results — far too highly.
Why is Eisenhower in the Top Ten at all?
And LBJ doesn't even crack the Top Ten … after the Civil Rights Act, the Great Society and renewing the by-then stale New Deal liberalism of FDR.
(JFK wouldn't even let Sammy Davis Jr. appear at the Democratic Convention in 1960 — yes, that was a progressive thinker.)
Too bad about LBJ though. Clearly tarred with Vietnam (would Kennedy have done differently? No.)
Clearly, the august opinion makers consulted (Baby Boomers, one would imagine) still have fond memories of campus Sit-Ins…and chanting “Ho-Ho-Ho Chi Minh” amid clouds of marijuana smoke…while hoping to lose their viriginity with those hippie chicks who didn't wear bras and people said believed in Free Love.
Such is the Judgement of History!
CSPAN's new rankings only confirms my opinion that FDR is the most overrated president. Which is not to say that I agree with Leonidas that FDR belongs at the bottom of the list, but he certainly has a point that FDR had a pretty bad record in terms of adhering to the Constitution. I would go as far to say that FDR did more to enhance the power of the presidency (something that I strongly oppose) than any other president. I often find it surprising that those people who (rightly) criticize Richard Nixon and George W. Bush for their abuse of the Constitution are somewho strangly silent about FDR's lack of adherence to the Constitution.
Yes, he might have gotten us through the depression and World War II, but he also supported the Judiciary Reorganization Bill of 1937 (the courtacking scheme that allowed the president to add additional justices to the Supreme Court in order to tip the balance of the court to allow for the passing of some of the more controversial parts of FDR's New Deal) and as well as (the executive order issued during World War II that allowed the president to use his authority as Commander-in-Chief to exercise war powers to send Japanese-Americans to internment camps). Both of these actions, particularly the latter, should be considered inexcusable. And yet FDR defenders continue to admire him.
Also overrated:
Woodrow Wilson…
1) promised to keep America out of World War I and then went back on his word and got America involved anyway, despite the fact that it was a completely unnecessary war fought by a bunch of imperial powers (France, Germany, British Empire, Austrian-Hungarian Empire, Ottoman Empire) that we had no business joining
2) jailed protesters (i.e. Eugene Debs) for protesting against the draft
Harry S. Truman…
1) Authorized the dropping of not one but two atomic bombs on civilian populations, resulting in the deaths of 200,000 innocent people (an act that would universally considered a war crime were it commited today)
2) Unconstitutionally attempted to nationalize the steel industry and would have done so had the Supreme Court not prevented him from doing so
Lyndon B. Johnson…
1) Was more responsible than any other president in ramping up our involvement in the Vietnam, the most unnecessary and unpopular war that America has ever fought
2) Misled the American people about the events of the Gulf of Tonkin incident, without which, he probably would not have had the support of Congress and the American people in stepping up our involvement in Vietnam
how the hell is JFK in the top ten? he was a young, immature, unconfident president that was elected based on glamor. he brought us to the brink of nuclear war with the russians and lost hundreds of american lives in the bay of pigs where he got the COMPLETE wrong idea about the rule of castro
Obama is the worst presient yet. Our enemies are threatening to kill us and the car industries have left the nation. He so far has crippled our country and due to his lack of spine the North Koreans and pressing buttons. The man is a celebrity and arrogant he was WRONG about Iraq, which we have just about won thanks to heroism of our soldiers and the plan of General Petraeus (Not to mention the persistence of Dubya). Obama is also corrupting the morality of this nation and setting it up for moral decay. He is not a leader, just a sweet talker. You know there was another man who was a good sweet talker and his name was Hitler. For the sake of this nation do not glorify that traitor. John Maccain was not what the country needed either, but he was at least a good man and not a walking talking piece of shit.
TrueAmerican – Um. A little late to the party, aren't we?