Historians Rank George W. Bush Among Worst Presidents
Lincoln and Washington were rated as the best
President George W. Bush is near the bottom of the heap in the latest survey of historians on presidential leadership.
Bush received an overall ranking of 36 out of 42 former presidents—in the bottom 10.
Ronald Reagan was rated 10th best, up from 11th in a similar survey taken in 2000; Bill Clinton was rated 15, up from 21 in 2000. George H.W. Bush went to 18 from 20.
The five best presidents, according to the historians, were Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, and Harry Truman, in that order. Rounding out the top 10 were John F. Kennedy at six, Thomas Jefferson, Dwight Eisenhower, Woodrow Wilson, and Reagan.
The worst presidents, according to the survey, were James Buchanan at 42, Andrew Johnson at 41, Franklin Pierce, William Henry Harrison, Warren Harding, Millard Fillmore, George W. Bush, John Tyler, Herbert Hoover, and Rutherford B. Hayes.
The survey was conducted for C-SPAN, the cable network, among 65 presidential historians and scholars, who ranked the 42 former occupants of the White House on 10 attributes of leadership: public persuasion, crisis leadership, economic management, moral authority, international relations, administrative skills, relations with Congress, "vision/setting an agenda," "pursued equal justice for all," and "performance within the context of his times."
Supervising the survey were historians Douglas Brinkley of Rice University, Edna Medford of Howard University, and Richard Norton Smith of George Mason University.
"How we rank our presidents is, to a large extent, influenced by our own times," Medford said in a news release. "Today's concerns shape our views of the past, be it in the area of foreign policy, managing the economy, or human rights. . . . Lincoln continues to rank at the top in all categories because he is perceived to embody the nation's core values: integrity, moderation, persistence in the pursuit of honorable goals, respect for human rights, compassion; those who collect near the bottom are perceived as having failed to uphold those values."
Among the historians and political scientists who participated in the ratings were H. W. Brands, Thomas Cronin, Robert Dallek, Alvin Felzenberg, Fred Greenstein, and James McPherson.
- Read more about the worst presidents of all time.
- Read more by Kenneth T. Walsh.
Reader Comments
if FOX news were to rank our Presidents, what would it say?
If FOX News were to list for us the best presidents, I imagine it would look something like this...
1.)IT IS FORBIDDEN TO TAKE THE NAME OF MASTER RONALD REGAN IN VEIN!!!
2.)Barack Obama is a Socialist
3.)Barack Obama is a Socialist
4.)Barack Obama is a Socialist
5.)Barack Obama is a Socialist
6.)Barack Obama is a Socialist
7.)Barack Obama is a Socialist
8.)Barack Obama is a Socialist
9.)Barack Obama is a Socialist
10.)Barack Obama is a Socialist
Bush is the worst
For this article, the authors took the results of 5 polls, 3 of which were taken before Bush "took" office. No wonder he doesn't make the list.
Just give it a little more time. As far as I know, Bush is the only president to sanction torture. That alone seals the deal.
But, wait, there's more!
Iraq, Abramoff, Blackwater, Hurricane Katrina, Terry Schiavo, Valerie Plame, Jeff Gannon, politicizing the Justice Dept, warrantless wiretapping, Abu Ghraib, the Great Recession, what am I forgetting?
Oh yeah, 9/11! He was warned by the Russians, he was warned by the Israelis, he was warned by the Germans. He was warned by his own National Security Advisor and by Richard Clarke. Still the towers fell, the worst attack on U.S. soil.
No way Bush gets excluded from this list. He worked hard to earn it.
Geez - This website is Fox News for liberals
LOL, these liberals crack me up. They try to write with such panache and as if they are completely unbiased. In the end, they forgive the sins of their liberal gods; then proceed to point out the flaws of conservative leaders and call them the worst presidents of all time. Come to grips with your crappy personalities you arrogant elitists. (Probably all school teachers and university staff making posts in here.)
advertisement
