Historical rankings of U.S. Presidents

Many surveys have been conducted in order to construct rankings of the success of individuals who have served as President of the United States. Ranking systems are usually based on surveys of academic historians and political scientists.

Survey details

The 1948 poll was conducted by historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, Sr. of Harvard University (http://www.vicepresidents.com/new_page_14.htm). The 1962 survey was also conducted by Schlesinger, who surveyed 75 historians; the results of this survey are given in the book The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents by William A. Degregorio. Schlesinger's son Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. conducted another poll in 1996, not currently on the above chart.

Related Topics:
1948 - Arthur M. Schlesinger, Sr. - Harvard University - 1962 - Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. - 1996

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The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents also gives the results of the 1982 survey, a poll of 49 historians conducted by the Chicago Tribune. A notable change in results from the Schlesinger 1962 poll was the rise in ranking of President Eisenhower, from #22 to #9.

Related Topics:
1982 - Chicago Tribune - Eisenhower

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The Siena Research Institute of Siena College conducted surveys in 1982, 1990, 1994, and 2002. The 1994 survey placed only two Presidents, Franklin Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, above 80 points, and placed two Presidents, Andrew Johnson and Warren G. Harding, below 50 points. ( http://www.siena.edu/sri/results/95%20Presidency%20Survey.htm, http://www.siena.edu/sri/results/2002/02AugPresidentsSurvey.htm)

Related Topics:
Siena College - 1982 - 1990 - 1994 - 2002 - Franklin Roosevelt - Abraham Lincoln - Andrew Johnson - Warren G. Harding

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The 1996 column shows the results from a poll conducted from 1989 to 1996 by William J. Ridings, Jr. and Stuart B. McIver, and published in the book Rating the Presidents: A Ranking of U.S. leaders, from the Great and Honorable to the Dishonest and Incompetent. More than 719 people took part in the poll, primarily academic historians and political scientists, although some politicians and celebrities also took part. Participants from every state were included, and emphasis was placed upon getting input from female historians and "specialists in African-American studies", as well as a few non-American historians. Poll respondents rated the Presidents in five categories (leadership qualities, accomplishments & crisis management, political skill, appointments, character & integrity), and the results were tabulated to create the overall ranking.

Related Topics:
1996 - Female - African-American studies

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The C-SPAN Survey of Presidential Leadership was a 1999 survey of academic historians. It found that historians consider Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, and Franklin D. Roosevelt the three best presidents by a wide margin and William Henry Harrison, Andrew Johnson, Franklin Pierce, and James Buchanan the worst. (http://www.americanpresidents.org/survey/historians/performance.asp)

Related Topics:
C-SPAN - 1999 - Abraham Lincoln - George Washington - Franklin D. Roosevelt - William Henry Harrison - Andrew Johnson - Franklin Pierce - James Buchanan

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A 2000 survey by The Wall Street Journal deemed George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin Roosevelt to be the only "great" Presidents while Andrew Johnson, Franklin Pierce, Warren G. Harding, and James Buchanan were regarded the only "failures". The results were published in Presidential Leadership: Rating the Best and Worst in the White House, and are also available online. The participants consisted of an "ideologically balanced group of 132 prominent professors of history, law, and political science". This poll sought to include an equal number of liberals and conservatives in the survey, as the editors argued that previous polls were dominated by either one group or the other, but never balanced. The editors noted that the results of their poll were "remarkably similar" to the "mostly liberal" 1996 Schlesinger poll, with the main difference being the much higher ranking of President Ronald Reagan in the 2000 poll. According to the editors, this poll also included responses from more women, minorities, and young professors than the 1996 Schlesinger poll.

Related Topics:
2000 - The Wall Street Journal - George Washington - Abraham Lincoln - Franklin Roosevelt - Andrew Johnson - Franklin Pierce - Warren G. Harding - James Buchanan - Liberal - Conservatives - Ronald Reagan

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