Posted on 09/22/2011 2:58:26 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
The Huffington Post recently released a copy of Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perrys college transcript from Texas A&M. The academic picture wasnt pretty. Perry struggled in some familiar classes (an F in organic chemistry, a D in economics) and some bizarre ones (a C in gym, a D in something the transcript labeled only as Meats”).
Are Perrys low college marks all that astonishing for a high-profile politician? Apparently not. Lets take a look at a few other big names who didnt light the academic world on fire.
1. Al Gore
Gores the brainiest politician around, right? Possibly, but you wouldnt know it from looking at his Harvard transcript. Gore apparently spent quite a bit of time loafing during his sophomore year, and some of his grades weren’t very good: a D, a C-minus, two Cs, two C-pluses, and a B-minus, marks that put him in the lowest fifth of his class. Strangely enough, the D came in a class that sounds like it would be right in Gores wheelhouse: Natural Sciences 6 (Mans Place in Nature).
2. George W. Bush
Gores foe in the 2000 presidential election takes a lot of ribbing for his intellect, but his college grades at Yale were more mediocre than embarrassing. Through his first three years at Yale, Bushs grades averaged out to 77 on a 100-point scale. He only received one D during his college career, in an astronomy course.
3. John Kerry
Like Bush, Kerry attended Yale. And he had some really rotten grades, particularly during his freshman year. As a Yale frosh, Kerry rang up Ds in geology, two history classes, and strangely enough for a future Senator political science. While Kerrys 2004 campaign presented him as a more cerebral alternative to Bush, the two mens grades at Yale were roughly equivalent.
4. Dan Quayle
Quayles academic struggles didnt start with his infamously ill-fated attempt to spell potato. According to a 1988 Cleveland Plain Dealer story, he wasnt a bang-up student at DePauw University, either. Quayles grades were so lousy that he wouldnt ordinarily have been able to earn admission into Indiana Universitys law school, but he secured a spot thanks to an equal opportunity program. During the 1988 presidential campaign a Quayle spokesman explained that high marks were simply hard to come by at DePauw.
5. George H.W. Bush
When Quayles middling college grades became a story during the 1988 campaign, running mate George H.W. Bush defended his eventual VP and revealed a bit of his own classroom struggle. Bush joked, ”I refuse to release my high school transcript because I failed chemistry and I don’t want anyone to know that.”
6. John McCain
McCain excelled at a lot of things during his time at the United States Naval Academy, including boxing. McCains classes knocked him out, though. His grades were so poor that in his graduating class of 899, he earned spot 894 in the rankings.
7. Joe Biden
By all accounts, Biden wasnt the worlds greatest student, but he made up for his academic shortcomings with sheer likability. Biden ranked 506th out of 688 students in the University of Delawares class of 1965, but a professor still recommended him for law school on grounds of personality and general promise. The future VP didnt exactly turn on the jets once he got to law school, either. He finished 76th in his class of 85 students at Syracuse, and admitted to plagiarism in his first year of law school. But again, a dean recommended him for a job on the basis of his confidence, general physical appearance, and general speaking ability.
8. Franklin Pierce
Its not just modern politicians who goofed around in college. When Pierce attended Bowdoin College, he spent so much time hanging out with friends, including a young Nathaniel Hawthorne, that at one point he was ranked dead last in his class. He eventually found some motivation and worked his way up to fifth in his class.
9. Richard Nixon
Unlike the other names on this list, Nixon was actually an excellent student. After Whittier College, Nixon went on to Duke Law, where he graduated third in his class in 1937. He also served as president of the Duke Bar Association. But we’re including him because his good grades didn’t earn him much respect from his alma mater.
In 1954, a committee recommended that then-VP Nixon be given an honorary Doctor of Laws degree, and Nixon agreed to be the graduation speaker. However, after vociferous debate, a faculty panel voted down the recommendation, and Nixon bailed on the commencement address.
Over a quarter-century later, Duke President Terry Sanford pushed to build Nixons presidential library on campus, even meeting with Nixon himself to work out the details. However, a similar faculty committee killed the idea. The Nixon Library ended up in Yorba Linda, California.
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In 1961 the offer was renewed and Nixon turned Duke down.
I don't know the details, but here's the source.
When Nixon died the graduating class of the law school petitioned for a tribute at their graduation. It looks like they didn't get the moment of silence they wanted, but there was a special memorial note published in the commencement program.
I have to wonder about articles like this one. How much of an idiot or lackey does the author have to be not to at least mention that we still haven't seen Obama's grades?
A number of our better presidents only attended the college of hard knocks as I recall.
I would love to see a list (not just Nixon) of presidents with high grades.
His humorous self-deprecating comment should be taken for what it is and nothing more.
But you know comparing grades from the 1940s or 1960s with grades today is like comparing apples with howitzers.
The standard is totally different today, especially in the humanities and especially at institutions like Harvard and Yale.
Kerry got a D in "rocks and blocks for jocks?" Geez. And I say that as a geologist. It does not get any easier.
zero didn’t even finish grade school, so how does that stack up against the field?
Wilson didn't, but his school didn't have a chapter at the time.
Others -- FDR, Truman, Carter -- were made honorary members later, which isn't the same thing.
Some unsavory characters were also PBK -- Alger Hiss, Angela Davis, Alfred Kinsey, JFK's Best and Brightest, and the gang running the economy now.
Jeb Bush made it at UT, Bobby Jindal at Brown. So did a lot of Supreme Court Justices.
Franklin Pierce's friends and classmates, Hawthorne and Longfellow, made it at Bowdoin, so maybe one of them should have been elected President.
Oh and Barack Obama made it as well. Barack Sr., that is, at UHawaii.
The “AA” making up for his pathetic grades, no doubt.
It’s an open secret they put him on law review because he was, to quote Joe Biden, a magic negro.
Was he a student at all? Don’t think we’ve seen any actual record. Everyone says he was, but who knows?
In fact, the quota system is precisely how he got there in the first place. Obama was "too black to fail" in the view of the leftist educrats.
When Clinton was attending Yale Law School all grades were Pass/Fail. I’m assuming he passed.
RE: Obama was a D+/C- student
Where did you get his record?
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Kinkos in Abeline.
It may be fake, but it’s accurate.
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