The Presidents Ranked by Historians

[Psychic Octopus]

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.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Here's my amateur ranking:

George Washington (Federalist, 1789-1797)
Abraham Lincoln (Republican, 1861-1865)
Franklin Roosevelt (Democrat, 1933-1945)
Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican, 1801-1809)
Theodore Roosevelt (Republican, 1901-1909)
Woodrow Wilson (Democrat, 1913-1921)
Harry S. Truman (Democrat, 1945-1953)
Andrew Jackson (Democrat, 1829-1837)
James K. Polk (Democrat, 1845-1849)
Dwight D. Eisenhower (Republican, 1953-1961)
John Adams (Federalist, 1797-1801)
James Madison (Democratic-Republican, 1809-1817)
Lyndon B. Johnson (Democrat, 1963-1969)
John F. Kennedy (Democrat, 1961-1963)
James Monroe (Democratic-Republican, 1817-1825)
Chester A. Arthur (Republican, 1881-1885)
Grover Cleveland (Democrat, 1885-1889, 1893-1897)
William McKinley (Republican, 1897-1901)
John Quincy Adams (Democratic-Republican, 1825-1829)
Bill Clinton (Democrat, 1993-2001)
William Howard Taft (Republican, 1909-1913)
Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican, 1877-1881)
Martin Van Buren (Democrat, 1837-1841)
George H.W. Bush (Republican, 1989-1993)
Gerald Ford (Republican, 1974-1977)
Ronald Reagan (Republican, 1981-1989)
Richard Nixon (Republican, 1969-1974)
Jimmy Carter (Democrat, 1977-1981)
Benjamin Harrison (Republican, 1889-1893)
Calvin Coolidge (Republican, 1923-1929)
John Tyler (Whig, 1841-1845)
Millard Fillmore (Whig, 1850-1853)
Ulysses S. Grant (Republican, 1869-1877)
Hebert Hoover (Republican, 1929-1933)
Andrew Johnson (Democrat, 1865-1869)
Franklin Pierce (Democrat, 1853-1857)
Warren G. Harding (Republican, 1921-1923)
James Buchanan (Democrat, 1857-1861)
George W. Bush (Republican, 2001-2009)

[Marokai Backbeat]

Reagan being at #10 is obviously absurd, but other than that, it's a fairly decent ranking. They pu Bush in the bottom 10 where he belongs and FDR definitely belongs in the top 3.

[Franzl]

Indeed, Reagan is obviously too high.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Truman's too low. Most of the others aren't too bad.

[Wall St. Wiz]

Ronald Reagan being that low and Jimmy Carter being that high is a joke.

[Mint]

What an absurd list. Kennedy in the top ten, above Jefferson? Seriously? Also Wilson, Reagan, Johnson, and Jackson should be no where near that high up. There's others but those seem the least defensible to me.

[Lief 🗽]

Polk is too low, and Reagan and JFK are too high.

[Rob]

My Top Ten [ranked from best to worst]

Franklin Roosevelt
Abraham Lincoln
Lyndon Johnson
Ulysses Grant
William Howard Taft
William Henry Harrison
Warren Harding
John Kennedy
Zachary Taylor
Benjamin Harrison

My Bottom Ten [ranked from best to worst]

Richard Nixon
Calvin Coolidge
Grover Cleveland
William McKinley
Woodrow Wilson
Andrew Johnson
Franklin Pierce
James Buchanan
Ronald Reagan
George W. Bush

[paul718]

Too high:  FDR, Eisenhower, LBJ, Bush-41

Too low:  Coolidge, Clinton, Bush-43

Kennedy is about where I'd rank him.   

I have an open question for the forum...Why is Truman so highly regarded?  I'm not challenging the general opinion of him.  I'm just find it curious that so many people like him, both Democrat and Republican.   I should do my research, but the first things that come to mind are the atomic bombs and the Korean War.  I suppose he gets the credit for ending the war in the Pacific.  Is that generally why he's so popular? 

[Daniel Z]

Too High: JFK, Ike, Reagan, Jackson, Carter, W.

I don't have a major problem with any of them being too low other than maybe Arthur

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

FDR
Lincoln
........
Buchanan
George W Bush

[Keystone Phil]

I hope this country gets over its JFK obsession relatively soon.

[Brittain33]

Truman better than Jefferson? Could someone remind my why he's considered such a remarkable success nowadays?

[Psychic Octopus]

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

[Mint]

I hope this country gets over its JFK obsession relatively soon.

It's getting to be more absurd the older the Boomers get. I don't like your party's mancrush on Reagan either, but at least Reagan has a lot of clear policies you can point to and judge. All we really have to go on for JFK is tax cuts, the Bay of Pigs/Missile Crisis, and pretty much the bulk of the LBJ administration (what a success that was). It's totally unwarranted.

[7,052,770]

Why is Andrew Johnson so low?  He did a lot to ease tensions after the Civil War...just imagine how bad the South would have had it if Congress had had their way with it.

[Psychic Octopus]

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.

[Sbane]

I hope this country gets over its JFK  Reagan obsession relatively soon.

Fixed.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

JFK is obviously a joke ranking, and Nixon is far too low as well. Why on earth is he below Jimmy Carter? If it wasn't for Watergate, he would have gone down as one of our best Presidents. But really....JFK is the 6th best President we've ever had? Really?

[Marokai Backbeat]

I hope this country gets over its JFK  Reagan obsession relatively soon.

Fixed.

[Eraserhead]

Washington outranking Roosevelt is illogical.

[anvi]

Lincoln was surely our country's greatest president, with Washington and FDR following him.  I generally agree with the sentiment that Kennedy is an overrated president, although his maneuvering of the country and world through the Cuban Missle Crisis was obviously his greatest acheivement.  Truman was truly a great president for many reasons; bringing the second World War to a successful conclusion, recognizing correctly the threat of the Soviet Union and positioning the United States on strong footing for the Cold War by advocating the Marshall Plan and holding ground against Soviet advances, and especially for desegregating the military in the face of powerful political opposition.  I'm a little baffled by the high ranking James Polk gets on some lists.  Granted he acquired more territory for the United States than any president in history, but he did it through a war of aggression, and his administration eventually opposed the Wilmont Proviso in congress, which would have prevented slavery from expanding into the new southern and western states, and then they stood in favor of extending the Missouri Compromise.  To me, Polk represents as much of a failure of American ideals as Truman represents a protection of them.  Thumbs down on Polk.

[Nixon in '80]

JFK is obviously a joke ranking, and Nixon is far too low as well. Why on earth is he below Jimmy Carter? If it wasn't for Watergate, he would have gone down as one of our best Presidents. But really....JFK is the 6th best President we've ever had? Really?

I know it's kind of ironic, considering my user name, but Watergate is a huge demerit... he permanently scarred the psyche of the country.

Other than that, I agree, he was a great President.

[Franzl]

I hope this country gets over its JFK Reagan and JFK obsession relatively soon.