Historians rank Reagan #8 among presidents

Wall Street Journal ^ | November 16, 2000

[Cableguy]

More than 3 years old, but still valid. Clinton should go down next time, given his failures on Al Qaeda and North Korea. Reagan will probably move up.

------------------ The Wall Street Journal Survey on Presidents

RANK NAME MEAN GREAT 1 George Washington 4.92 2 Abraham Lincoln 4.87 3 Franklin Roosevelt 4.67 NEAR GREAT 4 Thomas Jefferson 4.25 5 Theodore Roosevelt 4.22 6 Andrew Jackson 3.99 7 Harry Truman 3.95 8 Ronald Reagan 3.81 9 Dwight Eisenhower 3.71 10 James Polk 3.70 11 Woodrow Wilson 3.68 ABOVE AVERAGE 12 Grover Cleveland 3.36 13 John Adams 3.36 14 William McKinley 3.33 15 James Madison 3.29 16 James Monroe 3.27 17 Lyndon Johnson 3.21 18 John Kennedy 3.17 AVERAGE 19 William Taft 3.00 20 John Quincy Adams 2.93 21 George Bush 2.92 22 Rutherford Hayes 2.79 23 Martin Van Buren 2.77 24 William Clinton 2.77 25 Calvin Coolidge 2.71 26 Chester Arthur 2.71 BELOW AVERAGE 27 Benjamin Harrison 2.62 28 Gerald Ford 2.59 29 Herbert Hoover 2.53 30 Jimmy Carter 2.47 31 Zachary Taylor 2.40 32 Ulysses Grant 2.28 33 Richard Nixon 2.22 34 John Tyler 2.03 35 Millard Fillmore 1.91 FAILURE 36 Andrew Johnson 1.65 37 Franklin Pierce 1.58 38 Warren Harding 1.58 39 James Buchanan 1.33

[Bonaventure]

This seems about right. Reagan may belong above Truman.

[nuffsenuff]

Reagan needs to be in the Great category at Number 3.

Clinton and Carter need to be bumped down.

[Servant of the 9]

RANK	NAME	MEAN
GREAT
1	George Washington	4.92
2	Abraham Lincoln	4.87
3	Franklin Roosevelt	4.67
NEAR GREAT
4	Thomas Jefferson	4.25
5	Theodore Roosevelt	4.22
6	Andrew Jackson	3.99
7	Harry Truman	3.95
8	Ronald Reagan	3.81
9	Dwight Eisenhower	3.71
10	James Polk	3.70
11	Woodrow Wilson	3.68
ABOVE AVERAGE
12	Grover Cleveland	3.36
13	John Adams	3.36
14	William McKinley	3.33
15	James Madison	3.29
16	James Monroe	3.27
17	Lyndon Johnson	3.21
18	John Kennedy	3.17
AVERAGE
19	William Taft	3.00
20	John Quincy Adams	2.93
21	George Bush	2.92
22	Rutherford Hayes	2.79
23	Martin Van Buren	2.77
24	William Clinton	2.77
25	Calvin Coolidge	2.71
26	Chester Arthur	2.71
BELOW AVERAGE
27	Benjamin Harrison	2.62
28	Gerald Ford	2.59
29	Herbert Hoover	2.53
30	Jimmy Carter	2.47
31	Zachary Taylor	2.40
32	Ulysses Grant	2.28
33	Richard Nixon	2.22
34	John Tyler	2.03
35	Millard Fillmore	1.91
FAILURE
36	Andrew Johnson	1.65
37	Franklin Pierce	1.58
38	Warren Harding	1.58
39	James Buchanan	1.33
The number listed above is the mean score of all the scholars' rating of each president. On this scale, five is the highest possible score.

[2banana]

William Clinton = average? The average president gets impeached?

[bigeasy_70118]

The fact that there isn't a separate category called Abject Failure and Total Disgrace with the name of William Jefferson Clinton means this list is without merit.

Reagan should be in the top three, IMHO.

And what the hell is Woodrow Wilson doing so high?

[sawmill trash]

How did klintoon stay out of the FAILURE column ?

[Cableguy]

Remember, this is a survey of historians, many of whom are liberal.

[Maceman]

I think Silent Cal Coolidge deserves to be ranked as near great. If he were running today, I think most Freepers would wildly support him.

[Recovering_Democrat]

Seems about right...though I might make him trade places with Teddy R.

[dirtboy]

Bill Clinton at average. Jimmy Carter at below average. Both should be well-embedded in FAILURE.

Calvin Coolidge at average. Reagan at near great.

Yep, this must be the same bunch of historians who signed that letter that Clinton shouldn't be impeached.

[wrathof59]

and also disbarred from his home state during his presidency, which is also a total failure.

[Slipperduke]

Now, I'm just being objective here so don't flame me, but the full article cites Clinton's 'wearing of short shorts' as one of his major failings.

By that rationale, Bush Jnr's Sedgeway/Mountian Bike/ Pretzel Choking/Dropping the Dog on his head antics could put him in the bottom 3.

Wouldn't this be a better survey if they ignored trivia and just concentrated on the policy?

Very interesting table though, thanks for this. Guided me nicely to the end of another working day!

[goodnesswins]

OKAY...Let's RE-TITLE This LIST.....

Intellectual SNOBS opine about how THEY THINK President's rank.....

[AmishDude]

Thanks. I would take Truman out of the top 8, but the remaining 7 are the top 7 (without regard to order) in my book. The greatness of a president can often be measured about the era (good or bad) that he ushered in -- how he influenced presidencies to come. On that scale, Washington is always #1, FDR should rank high as well as Jackson, Reagan and TR. Lincoln and Jefferson were influential but they didn't have their own "era". Washington was the model until Jackson, Jackson was the model until the Civil War, it was really a mish-mash (there wasn't a Lincolnite president after Lincoln) until TR, who influenced until FDR, who reigned until Reagan, who changed the world.

And it should be noted that FDR's, Lincoln's and Truman's presidencies were driven by war. Reagan could have very easily passed the buck on the USSR to the next generation, but he was proactive. That's key and what makes him comparable to Jefferson and TR only. And he comes out much better compared to them.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Any survey that doesn't have Calvin Coolidge in the top three is suspect, imho.

[Recovering_Democrat]

James Polk was a good president.

And Chester Alan Arthur ought to be ranked higher than "average". At least higher than Clinton. Arthur came in on a fluke: Garfield's assassination. Everyone thought he was going to be a corrupt administrator, and he wasn't. He rose to the occasion.

Impeached42, otoh, came in promising, "the most ethical administration ever", and he was rotten to the core.

[oceanview]

Eisenhower should be lower - they are including his military service as part of his presidency. Had it not been for the decision to drop the bomb on Japan, Truman would have been lowered.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Only a lefty would think of FDR as "near great". He'll come down dramatically as time goes by.

[mak5]

I would drop Truman, Kennedy and Johnson and raise Polk, Reagan and Ford, who did the best with what he had at the time. We can see now that Carter was worse than below average.

[KJacob]

"And what the hell is Woodrow Wilson doing so high?"

Years ago either the American Specator or National Review had their own ranking of the Presidents. They had Wilson as a failure.

[KC_Conspirator]

Reagan needs to be ahead of Truman, but Truman was still a good president.

What exactly makes Jackson so great? Why do liberals like him?

Why is LBJ ranked so high? He needs to be dropped lower because despite the civil rights legislation he signed, he screwed the country up in everything else he did.

Why is Cal Coolidge ranked so low? By all accounts he had a quiet, but successful presidency.

Jimmy Carter needs to be ranked at the bottom.

[Thebaddog]

Nixon, above average.
Clinton Failure.

These historian guys and girls are qualified by their own acclamation. We should make our own list up and get it published.

[Centurion2000]

They should put him above FDR .... he defeated the Soviets who actually had a MUCH better chance of destroying this country than the Nazis

[Semper Paratus]

And what the hell is Woodrow Wilson doing so high?

With liberal historians intentions are what counts.

[F.J. Mitchell]

Clinton and Carter need to be bumped off.............Off the list of Presidents I mean..off the list of Presidents.

We need a special list for them:

Presidential wannabe's who were elected to the office, sit in the Oval office for one or two terms and left office
still just Presidential wannabes.

[Thebaddog]

And put Woodrow lower. I feel the pain of all rational Wilson's to wonder what got into him for the League of Nations. Perhaps the wife wrote that one while he was incapacitated.

[RogueIsland]

FDR great? Not in my book. His socialist policies really did little to end the Great Depression and WWII was won on the strength of great commanders, fighting men, industry and grit, not the briliance of FDR. All he accomplished was to set this country on a path to Johnson's Great Society.

[familyofman]

Who/how do we FReep? How about a boycott?

[RightWhale]

They are wrong about Harding. But, time runs out too soon for some.

[sphinx]

One can always quibble about rankings but this is actually an intelligent list. I was going to make some remark about there being some hope for the historians, but then I noticed the Federalist Society put the panel together.

[Dog Gone]

Eisenhower should be lower - they are including his military service as part of his presidency.

Frankly, I wouldn't rate Washington as a great President for precisely the same reason.

[atomicpossum]

Kennedy is too high.

Wilson is too high.

Teddy Roosevelt? Johnson?

John Adams is a bit low, IMHO. Nixon, despite Watergate, has a more positive legacy that he should receive more credit for. Hey, he met Elvis.

Clinton's where he belongs...in the forgotten middle.

Carter is WAY high. Buchanan still probably did more positive things while in office than he did.

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

Theodore Roosevelt gave us our Panama Canal, a tremendous building feat and coup at that time in history, which brain dead Carter gave away. I would rank this president much higher and Carter much, much lower, not only because of the Panama Canal but because of everything else he mucked up. I would rank Carter and Clinton at the same level of zero.

[Cableguy]

I think Truman belongs in the 2nd tier. Anyone with enough guts to use the a-bomb to save American lives deserve great respect. He was also tough against the Soviets. Truman is respected by most politicans, and even Bush quotes him sometimes.

[Fiddlstix]

Bill Clinton at average. Jimmy Carter at below average. Both should be well-embedded in FAILURE.

Actually they both should have another category: DISMAL FAILURE

[r9etb]

William Clinton = average? The average president gets impeached?

It's far too soon to give an objective answer on Clinton: in essence, the historians are having to predict into the future in order to assess his actions. My sense is that his ratings will go way down after there's been some time for the hype to shake out, and the true consequences of his presidency to become clear.

I think in terms of 9-11, and foreign matters in general, Clinton's legacy is already becoming clear, and he's headed to the failure column. In terms of domestic policy he was at best "average," and (because he was largely ineffective) probably closer to failure.

It's even somewhat early to judge Bush 41, but he will probably remain basically where he is.

[ampat]

I think Nixon is way underrated. If the the truth be known, there probably would be a lot of watergate type scandals. Nixon's record places him above average.

[jpsb]

Truman and Wilson sucked, big time.

[F.J. Mitchell]

"How did Klintoon stay out of the FAILURE column?"

It was already filled up before he got there.

[Porterville]

It goes Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, then Reagan.

[ken5050]

What's VERY surprising is Polk as "near great"..I concur, but I'd wager that 7 out of 10 HS seniors today wouldn't know who Polk was..

[HamiltonJay]

I don't know if I'd put FDR in 3rd place, and I don't think Truman was of nearly same stature as Reagan.. but other than that, in general the list seems pretty good.

[bigeasy_70118]

We should make our own list up and get it published.

Here are my thoughts:

TEN BEST

1) Washington

2) Lincoln

3) Reagan

4) Teddy Roosvelt

5) Andrew Jackson

6) FDR

7) Thomas Jefferson

8) George W. Bush

9) Calvin Coolidge

10) Harry Truman

FIVE WORST:

1) Buchanan

2) Andrew Johnson

3) Jimmy Carter

4) Grant

5) Wilson

6) Harding

AND A SPECIAL CATEGORY FOR THE DEVIL INCARNATE:

WILLIAM JEFFERSON KLINTOON

[HamiltonJay]

I don't know if I'd put FDR in 3rd place, and I don't think Truman was of nearly same stature as Reagan.. but other than that, in general the list seems pretty good.

[Austin Willard Wright]

The one is badly underrated is Harding in my view. He brought economic prosperity, lower taxes, released Woodrow Wilson's political prisoners, and had a good civil rights record. As to corruption, Harding was a amateur compared to Nixon, LBJ, for Kennedy.

[bobjam]

My top 5:
1) George Washington
2) Theodore Roosevelt
3) Abraham Lincoln
4) Ronald Reagan
5) Thomas Jefferson
honorable mention: Andrew Jackson, Woodrow Wilson

My bottom 5:
38) Ulysees Grant
39) Lyndon Johnson
40) Jimmy Carter
41) Warren Harding
42) James Buchanan
* only 42 different men have been President

Most overrated:
1) Franklin D Roosevelt
2) John F Kennedy
3) Harry S Truman

Most under appreciated
1) Calvin Coolidge
2) James Knox Polk
3) James Monroe

[Rockitz]

Clinton and Carter need to be bumped down.

Agreed.

[Tennessean4Bush]

Reagan should be above Truman and possibly even Jackson. I am trying to remember exactly what Jackson accomplished. I know he was very effective but my memory does not serve me well right now.