So You Want to Be President?
Alexander J. Hoffarth
SPLASH – FALL 2011
Alvin Felzenberg, author of The Leaders We Deserved (and a Few We Didn’t), wasn’t satisfied
with how vaguely, in his opinion, success and failure are defined in presidential evaluations.
Felzenberg teaches at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of
Pennsylvania and the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University. He
was the principal spokesman for the 9/11 Commission, and served as an adviser to the U.S.
Departments of Defense and State, in several senior staff positions at the U.S. House of
Representatives, and as New Jersey’s Assistant Secretary of State.
October 31, 2008
The Greatest US Presidents - The Times US presidential
rankings
Who is the greatest of them all? While Barack Obama and John McCain battle to become
the 44th President of the United States, we asked a panel of experts from The Times to
rank the previous Commanders-in-Chief in order of greatness.
1. Abraham Lincoln
1861-65 (Republican, National Union)
"Fought and won a just war, kept the United States united and created the ground for a
country which could live up to its constitution." Camilla Cavendish, columnist.
"Had the coolest-sounding presidential name of all time." Chris Ayres, Los Angeles
correspondent.
2. George Washington
1789-97 (No party)
"Inspired generalship and making it all possible." Ben Macintyre, writer-at-large.
3. Franklin D. Roosevelt
1933-45 (Democratic)
"FDR is top for me, because he navigated America out of depression and through the
Second World War." Tom Baldwin, Washington Bureau chief
4. Thomas Jefferson
1801-09 (Democratic-Republican)
"The cleverest man ever to occupy the presidency." Ben Macintyre.
5. Theodore Roosevelt
1901-09 (Republican)
"Controversially reset America's compass for the 20th century." Gerard Baker, US editor.
6. Dwight Eisenhower
1953-61 (Republican)
7. Harry Truman
1945-53 (Democratic)
"Prevented a possible Third World War by containing the Soviet Union." Camilla
Cavendish.
8. Ronald Reagan
1981-89 (Republican)
"Revived American self-confidence at its lowest ebb." Gerard Baker.
9. James Polk
1845-49 (Democratic)
"Trounced the Mexicans and dramatically increased the size of the Union, all in one
term." Chris Ayres.
10. Woodrow Wilson
1913-21 (Democratic)
11. John F. Kennedy
1961-63 (Democratic)
"Restored the romance." Ben Macintyre.
12. Lyndon Johnson
1963-69 (Democratic)
"Deserves more credit for civil rights than Kennedy." Tom Baldwin, Washington bureau
chief.
13. John Adams
1797-1801 (Federalist)
14. Andrew Jackson
1829-37 (Democratic)
"As one American friend of mine put it, 'he was a baddass', he also practically invented
populism." Chris Ayres.
15. James Madison
1809-17 (Democratic-Republican)
"Kudos for his pre-presidency Federalist Papers and a useful military disaster, which
many believe united the country." Chris Ayres.
16. John Quincy Adams
1825-29 (Democratic-Republican)
17. William McKinley
1897-1901 (Republican)
18. Ulysses S. Grant
1869-77 (Republican)
"Allowed the south to institutionailse racism after reconstruction, setting the scene for
100 years of oppression of the supposedly free." Camilla Cavendish.
19. Grover Cleveland
20. George H.W. Bush
1885-89 and 1893-97 (Democratic)
1989-93 (Republican)
"He was a tone deaf politician, hiking up taxes after that infamous 'read my lips' pledge."
Chris Ayres.
21. James Monroe
1817-25 (Democratic-Republican)
"My greatest president. . . he cannot boast a great cathartic moment, a spectacular
military victory, a triumph of will. But Monroe's low-temperature presidency became
known as the 'era of good feeling'. And that sounds just fine to me." Daniel Finkelstein,
chief leader writer.
22. Chester Arthur
1881-85 (Republican)
"His four years in office saw him turn widespread cynicism into grudging respect - the
opposite of the usual Presidential experience." Camilla Cavendish.
23. Bill Clinton
1993-2001 (Democratic)
"Promised so much, delivered so little and embarrassed everyone." Ben Macintyre.
24. Andrew Johnson
1865-69 (Democratic, National Union)
"Nearly blew Lincoln's success." Gerard Baker.
25. Gerald Ford
1974-77 (Republican)
26. Calvin Coolidge
1923-29 (Republican)
"Probably the most modest man ever to hold the office. Disliked for his small-minded
isolationist tendencies but on balance, it's a shame there were not more like him."
Camilla Cavendish.
27. Rutherford B. Hayes
28. Zachary Taylor
1877-81 (Republican)
1849-50 (Whig)
29. William H. Taft
1909-13 (Republican)
29. Benjamin Harrison
1889-93 (Republican)
31. John Tyler
32. Jimmy Carter
1841-45 (Whig)
1977-81 (Democratic)
"Carter got just about everything wrong." Chris Ayres.
33. Millard Fillmore
1850-53 (Whig)
"Created a compromise on extending slavery that laid the ground for the US Civil War."
Camilla Cavendish.
34. James Garfield
34. Warren Harding
1881 (Republican)
1921-23 (Republican)
"Headed one of the most corrupt administrations." Gerard Baker, US editor.
36. Herbert Hoover
1929-33 (Republican)
"Unwittingly turned the 1929 crash into a global depression which weakened
democracies and prepared the ground for the Second World War." Camilla Cavendish.
37. George W. Bush
2001-2009 (Republican)
"Bush Jr. invaded Iraq based on faulty intelligence and then catastrophically
mismanaged the war, dragging America's name through the mud." Chris Ayres.
37. Richard Nixon
1969-74 (Republican)
"Cynical manipulation, bringinging the presidency into disrepute and changing the
language to the extent that even a whiff of scandal merits the suffix '-gate'." Ben
Macintyre.
39. William Harrison
40. Martin Van Buren
1841 (Whig)
1837-41 (Democratic)
"I found it hard to place high up on the list those who sanctioned the slaughter of Native
Americans." Tom Baldwin, Washington bureau chief.
41. Franklin Pierce
1853-57 (Democratic)
42. James Buchanan
1857-61 (Democratic)
“Failed to prevent the near disintegration of the nation.” Gerard Baker.
THE AMERICAN LEADERS ORGANIZATION
Ranking the Presidents
Much has been done over the years to answer the question--"Who
are the best and worst presidents of all time?" Here is our list
below, with an explanation link to follow.
"Legendary"
1) Franklin Roosevelt 2) Abraham Lincoln 3) George Washington
"Outstanding"
4) Thomas Jefferson 5) Dwight Eisenhower 6) Theodore Roosevelt
7) Woodrow Wilson 8) Harry Truman 9) John Kennedy
"Above Average"
10) John Adams 11) James Monroe 12) William McKinley
13) James Polk 14) James Madison 15) Ronald Reagan
16) Bill Clinton 17) Lyndon Johnson 18) John Quincy Adams
"Average"
19) Gerald Ford 20) Grover Cleveland 21) George H.W. Bush
22) William Howard Taft 23) Richard Nixon
"Below Average"
24) Andrew Jackson 25) Rutherford Hayes 26) Calvin Coolidge 27)
Jimmy Carter
28) Martin Van Buren 29) Ulysses Grant 30) Chester Arthur 31)
Zachary Taylor
32) Benjamin Harrison
"Regrettable"
33) George W. Bush 34) Herbert Hoover 35) John Tyler 36) Franklin
Pierce
37) James Garfield 38) Warren Harding 39) James Buchanan
40) William Henry Harrison 41) Andrew Johnson 42) Millard Fillmore
Want our justification for all this?
We used the following ratings in our studies: Vision, Integrity,
Domestic Policy, Foreign Policy, Speaking Ability, Team-Building,
Intelligence, Political Skill, Wall Street Journal Public Opinion
Poll 2005, and Wikipedia Poll 2006.
Popular opinion polls regarding Presidential Rankings
C-SPAN viewer survey
C-SPAN asked viewers in 1999 to rank
the presidents, and 1,145 people
participated. The results of the viewer
survey were similar to the results of the
1999 C-SPAN historian survey, with a
few notable differences.
1. Ronald Reagan
2. Abraham Lincoln
3. Theodore Roosevelt
4. Franklin D. Roosevelt
5. Thomas Jefferson
6. Harry S. Truman
7. Dwight D. Eisenhower
8. James Monroe
9. James Madison
10. John Adams
11. Lyndon Baines Johnson
12. Woodrow Wilson
13. Andrew Jackson
14. John Quincy Adams
15. George H.W. Bush
16. James Polk
17. William McKinley
18. Richard Nixon
ABC poll
An ABC News poll about presidential
greatness, taken 16–20 February 2000,
asked 1012 adults nationwide, "Who do
you think was the greatest American
president?"
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Abraham Lincoln (19%)
John F. Kennedy (17%)
Franklin Roosevelt (11%)
No opinion (10%)
Ronald Reagan (9%)
George Washington (8%)
Bill Clinton (7%)
Theodore Roosevelt (4%)
9. George H.W. Bush (4%)
10. Thomas Jefferson (3%)
11. Harry Truman (2%)
12. Richard Nixon (2%)
13. Jimmy Carter (1%)
14. Dwight Eisenhower (1%)
Rasmussen Reports poll
A Rasmussen Reports poll taken June
13–24 of 2007 asked 1,000 randomly
selected adults to rate America's
presidents.
Favorably-viewed Presidents
1. George Washington (94%
favorable)
2. Abraham Lincoln (92%
favorable)
3. Thomas Jefferson (89%
favorable)
4. Theodore Roosevelt (84%
favorable)
5. Franklin D. Roosevelt (81%
favorable)
6. John F. Kennedy (80%
favorable)
7. John Adams (74% favorable)
8. James Madison (73% favorable)
9. Ronald Reagan (72% favorable)
10. Dwight Eisenhower (72%
favorable)
Unfavorably-viewed Presidents
1. George W. Bush (66%
unfavorable)
2. Richard Nixon (60%
unfavorable)
Washington College poll
Gallup poll
A Washington College poll about
presidential greatness, taken 11 February
2005, asked 800 adults nationwide,
"Thinking about all the presidents of the
United States throughout history to the
present, who would you say was
America's greatest president?"
A Gallup poll about presidential
greatness, taken February 9–11, 2007,
asked 1006 adults nationwide, "Who do
you regard as the greatest United States
president?"
1. Abraham Lincoln (20%)
2. Ronald Reagan (15%)
3. Franklin D. Roosevelt (12%)
4. John F. Kennedy (11%)
5. Bill Clinton (10%)
6. Other/Don't Know (9%)
7. George W. Bush (8%)
8. George Washington (6%)
9. Theodore Roosevelt (3%)
10. Dwight Eisenhower (3%)
11. Jimmy Carter (2%)
12. Thomas Jefferson (2%)
13. Richard Nixon (1%)
14. John Adams (<1%)
15. Andrew Jackson (<1%)
16. Lyndon Johnson (<1%)
1. Abraham Lincoln (18%)
2. Ronald Reagan (16%)
3. John F. Kennedy (14%)
4. Bill Clinton (13%)
5. Franklin Roosevelt (9%)
6. Other/None/No opinion (8%)
7. George Washington (7%)
8. Harry Truman (3%)
9. George W. Bush (2%)
10. Theodore Roosevelt (2%)
11. Dwight Eisenhower (2%)
12. Thomas Jefferson (2%)
13. Jimmy Carter (2%)
14. Gerald Ford (1%)
15. George H.W. Bush (1%)
16. Richard Nixon (0%)
APA News Release
August 2000
WHAT MAKES A GOOD PRESIDENT?
Psychologists Assess the Personality Of Every President in American History
Washington - Stubbornness and disagreeableness may not be traits you want in a
neighbor or a spouse, but researchers say that these two traits are associated with great
presidents. In research to be presented at the American Psychological Association's
(APA) 108th Annual Convention in Washington, D.C., August 4 - 8, the personality traits
of all 41 U.S. presidents to date were analyzed and compared with historian's views of
presidential greatness.
As part of their The Personality and the President Project, psychologist Steven J
Rubenzer, Ph.D., of Houston, Texas and co-authors Thomas Faschingbauer, Ph.D., of
Richmond Texas and Deniz S. Ones, Ph.D., of the University of Minnesota, used several
objective personality instruments to analyze the assessments made by more than one
hundred presidential experts who were instructed to assess the lives of presidents they
studied. The experts were instructed to look only at the five-year period before their
respective subject became president to avoid the influence that life in the White House
might have had on their behavior.
Results of the research indicate that great presidents, besides being stubborn and
disagreeable, are more extraverted, open to experience, assertive, achievement striving,
excitement seeking and more open to fantasy, aesthetics, feelings, actions, ideas and
values. Historically great presidents were low on straightforwardness, vulnerability and
order.
Achievement striving was found to be one of the best correlates of greatness in the oval
office and competence was also a big predictor of presidential success. "Presidents who
succeed set ambitious goals for themselves and move heaven and earth to meet them,"
said the researchers. They say Teddy Roosevelt was such a man but Grant and Harding
were not. And don't look for great presidents to have neat desks in the Oval Office. "It
seems that being a bit disorganized, like Lincoln, is somewhat of an asset for attaining
historical greatness," explained the authors.
The researchers gave special attention in their study to the personalities of George
Washington and Abraham Lincoln. They note that both men have been in the top three of
every historian's poll of presidential greatness, but besides being very tall and imposing
men, they seemingly had little in common. Washington scored very high on
conscientiousness but scored lower than typical Americans today on openness,
extraversion and agreeableness. He also scored quite low on vulnerability, which
indicates an exceptional ability to tolerate stress and adversity. He also scored low on
openness to values, which indicates that he was traditional in his morals and relied on
leadership from church and religious figures in these matters. Additionally, Washington
scored high on achievement striving, competence, self-discipline and deliberation.
Lincoln scored high on openness, but his highest score was on depression, which the
authors say is consistent with reports that he occasionally suffered periods of deep
despair. Lincoln scored low on straightforwardness. "He was willing to bend the truth,"
said the authors, "although he was usually seen as honest and well intentioned."
The authors say that nearly all presidents could be classified into one or more of eight
presidential types, with some belonging to more than one group. These include The
Dominators (Nixon, Andrew Johnson, Lyndon Johnson, Jackson, Polk, Teddy Roosevelt
and Arthur), The Introverts (John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Nixon, Hoover,
Coolidge, Buchanan, Wilson and Benjamin Harrison), The Good Guys (Hayes, Taylor,
Eisenhower, Tyler, Fillmore, Cleveland, Ford and Washington), The Innocents (Taft,
Harding and Grant), The Actors (Ronald Reagan, Warren Harding, William Henry
Harrison, Bill Clinton and Franklin Pierce), The Maintainers (McKinley, Bush, Ford and
Truman), The Philosophes (Garfield, Lincoln, Jefferson, Madison, Carter and Hayes),
and the Extraverts (FDR, Kennedy, Clinton, Theodore Roosevelt, Reagan, William
Harrison, Harding, Jackson and LBJ).
It may come as no surprise that the research shows that most modern presidents are
clearly extraverts. However, the data indicates that the early presidents scored below
average on this factor. Does that mean that presidents are becoming more extraverted, or
that the entire population has become more extraverted? The researchers say their data
can't answer that question, but "given the increasing role of the media in presidential
elections, the more plausible explanation is that the change is limited to the presidents
and not the general population."
The American Psychological Association (APA), in Washington, DC, is the largest
scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States
and is the world's largest association of psychologists. APA's membership includes
more than 159,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students.
Through its divisions in 53 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 59 state,
territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance psychology as
a science, as a profession and as a means of promoting human welfare.