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

[1smallVoice]

Placing Impeached Bill Clinton above Nixon who resigned for the good of the Office and Country is a disgrace.

[Tennessean4Bush]

Ditto that. If Washington wanted he could have become a dictator and no one in all of history would have batted an eye. His humility and toughness and commitment to republican government will keep all Americans always in his debt.

[Militiaman7]

My list.

Great

1 Washington
2 Jefferson
3 Reagan
4 Lincoln

Near Great

5 Roosevelt F
6 Eisenhower
8 Nixon
9 Madison
10 Monroe
11 Roosevelt T
12 Bush GHW
13 Truman
14 Wilson
15 Jackson

Average

15-41 Take your pick

Failure

42 Carter

Utter Failure and disgrace

43 Clinton

[Graybeard58]

How 78 scholars in history, political science, and law rated the men from Washington to Clinton.

78 people with political opinions - Completely meaningless.

I could make up my own rankings and it would have just as much significance

[Undertow]

DITTO!!!

www.ccmf.org

[ClearCase_guy]

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.

I see real parallels between Buchanan and Clinton. Both were weak men, ill-suited to the Presidency. Buchanan had opportunities to address sectional divisions in the country, but did nothing. Maybe he could not have prevented the coming war, but he did not contribute to a solution in any way. Just so, Clinton had many opportunities to address Terrorism, but he did not. The War started after these Presidents had left office, but each war had become inevitable during their administrations.

Buchanan and Clinton were clear failures. Everyone else needs to be ranked somewhere above them.

[Protagoras]

No way Johnson was above average.

Way above average in damage done to the Country.

[SAJ]

Jefferson was arguably the most brilliant man to serve as president, but his presidency was not nearly in the same class. Part of this unfortunate result was due to the political side effects of the almost laughably screwy election of 1800 (the Florida fiasco in 2000 had nothing on 1800), which poisoned the political waters for at least his first term.

[Undertow]

DITTO!!!

www.ccmf.org

[Oztrich Boy]

And what the hell is Woodrow Wilson doing so high?

With liberal historians intentions are what counts.

I recall a newspaper article article where the writer considered 20th century Presidenmts in terms of how they mastered the Presidency. Did they fulfil the role as they saw it, and did they leave the legacy they wanted?

On thar basis the greats were Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Ronald Reagan.

The others I remember were Eisenhower as Near Great, and Woodrow Wilson as Failure.

[F.J. Mitchell]

Here in the south, students think Polk is an edible weed used in a dish called Poke Sallet.

Up north, students think Polk is short for a Polka, a dance for the way not cool.

[Coroner]

how did FDR get so high???

[Madame Dufarge]

New category: INFAMOUS.

For FDR.

[RexFamilia]

Kennedy is overrated. I can't think of any major legislation passed during his administration. Everything that is attributed to him was enacted during LBJ's term.

Nixon and "Silent Cal" should be, in my opinion, higher.

Clinton and Carter are complete fiascos.

[stillnoprotestsagainstmuslims]

John Adams should be way up higher. He did a hell of a lot more for the US than Jefferson, although Adams wasn`t President at he time.. Jefferson sat on his azz while Adams was touring the globe looking for help against the British, almost died from malaria, led the push for independence plus he was vehemently opposed to slavery while Jefferson owned hundreds (ask George Jefferson)but I guess they are just judging them by what they did while in office. Bill Clinton shouldn`t even be on that list, that dude is probably in the bottom 3.

[Give Piece A Chance]

I agree with most of the survey. FDR, Truman and LBJ are a bit overrated - I would drop each down a category. Woodrow Wilson was average - at best. Also, John Adams should probably move up to the 'Near Great' category, but Washington was a tough act to follow.

Thankfully, the survey doesn't deify JFK, in my view one of the worst presidents in history. As long as I live, I will never understand the idolatrous veneration of JFK and the rest of the Kennedy cabal by the fellow travelers of the left.

[Positive]

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

But remember that liberals as we now know them didn't come into being until LBJ. Compared to LBJ and all liberals since, the prior Presidents would have been considered Conservatives...including JFK.

[glorgau]

I think Wilson is over-rated.

His wife was acting president after his stroke, and he was nothing short of lying in running "He kept us out of war", while declaring it just after he was inaugarated.

[MattinNJ]

Silent Cal BTTT. Definitely deserves top 10 ranking

Wilson #11 ???????????? He was an abject failure.

[SkyPilot]

William Clinton = average? The average president gets impeached?

Exactly.

But, give it about 20 years. History has a way of getting to the real truth.