The Lovenstein Institute IQ Report

In July 2001 an e-mail (see below) began to circulate around the internet claiming that the Lovenstein Institute, a think-tank based in Scranton, Pennsylvania, had conducted research into the IQ of all the Presidents of the past 50 years and concluded that George W. Bush ranked at the bottom, with an IQ of only 91.

This news quickly gained attention from the international media. The London Guardian broke the story on July 19, and on August 26 Garry Trudeau featured the report in his Doonesbury comic strip.

Unfortunately both Trudeau and the Guardian had fallen for a hoax.

The e-mail had originated as a joke on a website called linkydinky.com. In its original version, the joke was pretty obvious. For instance, Linkydinky.com cited the Pennsylvania Court Observer as its source for the news, noting that this newspaper only had a circlation of five readers. Furthermore, it described Dr. Lovenstein as "living in a mobile home in Scranton, Pennsylvania."

As the joke made its way through people's inboxes, these textual clues were stripped away, until in the final version of the email it sounded as if the Lovenstein Institute was an actual research organization.

Once they learned of their mistake, both Trudeau and the Guardian published retractions.