The Presidents Ranked by Historians

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Presidential rankings according to 65 historians and professional observers of the presidency surveyed by the cable channel C-SPAN. Participants ranked each president by 10 leadership attributes.

President: 2009 rank in order

Abraham Lincoln
George Washington
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Harry S. Truman
John F. Kennedy
Thomas Jefferson
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Woodrow Wilson
Ronald Reagan
Lyndon B. Johnson
James K. Polk
Andrew Jackson
James Monroe
Bill Clinton
William McKinley
John Adams
George H.W. Bush
John Quincy Adams
James Madison
Grover Cleveland
Gerald R. Ford
Ulysses S. Grant
William Howard Taft
Jimmy Carter
Calvin Coolidge
Richard M. Nixon
James A. Garfield
Zachary Taylor
Benjamin Harrison
Martin Van Buren
Chester A. Arthur
Rutherford B. Hayes
Herbert Hoover
John Tyler
George W. Bush
Millard Fillmore
Warren G. Harding
William Henry Harrison
Franklin D. Pierce
Andrew Johnson
James Buchanan


Kennedy is so overrated, the first five is right, I believe.

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My List:

1. Abraham Lincoln
2. Franklin Roosevelt
3. George Washington
4. Harry S. Truman
5. Theodore Roosevelt
6. Woodrow Wilson
7. Ronald Reagan
8. Thomas Jefferson
9. Andrew Jackson
10. Dwight Eisenhower

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JFK would deserve that 6 ranking if he lived, because his administration was the makings of a great presidency: (Tax Cuts, increased defense spending, sending a man to the moon, desegregating) he was amazing. The on;ly blemish wa the bay of pigs disaster, which isn't his fault. but he didn't live, as Johnson killed him.

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Kennedy's my second favorite democratic president. It's too bad Johnson killed him.

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I very much like Reagan, in fact, he's my favorite president since Truman and Economically my political hero. Now he doesn't deserve number one. He deserves number 7 or 8. Swap Eisenhower and Reagan and it'll be fine. (except for Kennedy, who was a great president, but deserves the top 15, not 10)

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1.   Theodore Roosevelt
2.   Abraham Lincoln
3.   Ronald Reagan
4.   George Washington
5.   Dwight Eisenhower
6.   John Adams
7.   John F. Kennedy
8.   Calvin Coolidge
9.   Chester A. Arthur
10.   Harry Truman
11.   John Quincy Adams
12.   George Bush
13.   Grover Cleveland
14.   William McKinley
15.   Warren Harding
16.   James Monroe
17.   James Madison
18.   Thomas Jefferson
19.   Bill Clinton
20.   Franklin D. Roosevelt
21.   Ulysses S. Grant
22.   John Tyler
23.   George W. Bush
24.   James K. Polk
25.   Richard Nixon
26.   Zachary Taylor
27.   William Howard Taft
28.   William Henry Harrison
29.   James Garfield
30.   Jimmy Carter
31.   Woodrow Wilson
32.   Benjamin Harrison
33.   Rutherford B. Hayes
34.   Gerald Ford
35.   Millard Fillmore
36.   Martin Van Buren
37.   Herbert Hoover
38.   Franklin Pierce
39.   James Buchanan
40.   Lyndon B. Johnson
41.   Andrew Johnson
42.   Andrew Jackson

Theodore Roosevelt is my favorite President. But what's your beef with Ol' Hickory?

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I've always liked JFK, but he is very overrated.  He wasn't even a great President, like Lincoln or FDR.  I just don't see why people love him so much.

He was young, handsome, a symbol of hope, and tragically died. If he had lived, he *may* have made that list, but Vietnam could have hurt him and his popularity ala LBJ. I very much like JFK, he is my second favorite Democratic President of last century.

(Tons of People do not know the TRUE JFK however, as in cheating on his wife, losing classified information, etc.)