Monday, February 16, 2009

New Presidential Rankings By C-SPAN (updated to include George W. Bush)

In time for President's Day, C-SPAN is releasing their new list of presidential rankings.

Here are parts of their overall list, with their 2009 rankings in the 1st column, 1999 rankings in the 2nd column, and some of my commentary in italics):

Top 10
01 - 01 - Abraham Lincoln
02 - 03 - George Washington
03 - 02 - Franklin D. Roosevelt
04 - 04 - Theodore Roosevelt
05 - 05 - Harry S. Truman
06 - 08 - John F. Kennedy
07 - 07 - Thomas Jefferson
08 - 09 - Dwight D. Eisenhower
09 - 06 - Woodrow Wilson
10 - 11 - Ronald Reagan (Ronny breached the top 10, baby; woohoo!)

Excerpts from the Middle of the List
12 - 12 - James Polk (Born in North Carolina)
15 - 21 - Bill Clinton (Holy crap, how did he jump up six spots?)
18 - 20 - George H. W. Bush
21 - 17 - Grover Cleveland (Wow, how'd he drop 4 spots? I thought he was a good one.)
23 - 33 - Ulysses S. Grant (Up 10 spots?!? Is he coming back from the grave and bribing historians?)
25 - 22 - Jimmy Carter

Bottom 10
33 - 26 - Rutherford B. Hayes
34 - 34 - Herbert Hoover
35 - 36 - John Tyler
36 - n/a - George W. Bush (Any surprise?)
37 - 35 - Millard Fillmore
38 - 38 - Warren G. Harding
39 - 37 - William Henry Harrison
40 - 39 - Franklin D. Pierce
41 - 40 - Andrew Johnson (President right after Lincoln)
42 - 41 - James Buchanan (President right before Lincoln)

C-SPAN also breaks down the list of Presidents by several categories. Here's how some of the presidents did in those categories:

Public Persuasion
01. Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR)
02. Lincoln
03. Reagan
04. Teddy Roosevelt (TR)
05. Washington
10. Clinton
30. GHW Bush
36. GW Bush

Crisis Leadership
01. Lincoln
02. FDR
03. Washington
04. Truman
05. TR
11. GHW Bush
12. Reagan
15. Clinton
25. GW Bush

Economic Management
01. Washington
02. Lincoln
03. Clinton
04. TR
05. FDR
17. Reagan
23. GHW Bush
40. GW Bush

Moral Authority
01. Wash
02. Linc
03. FDR
04. TR
05. Eisenhower
08. Reagan
19. GHW Bush
35. GW Bush
37. Clinton

International Relations
01. Wash
02. FDR
03. Linc
04. Truman
05. TR
08. Reagan
09. GHW Bush
16. Clinton
41. GW Bush

Administrative Skills
01. Wash
02. Linc
03. FDR
04. TR
05. Eisenhower
16. GHW Bush
20. Clinton
30. Reagan
37. GW Bush

Relations With Congress
01. FDR
02. Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ)
03. Linc
04. Wash
05. Jefferson
08. Reagan
19. Clinton
20. GHW Bush
36. GW Bush

Vision/Setting An Agenda
01. Linc
02. FDR
03. Wash
04. Wilson
05. TR
07. Reagan
15. Clinton
25. GW Bush
34. GHW Bush

Pursued Equal Justice For All
01. Linc
02. LBJ
03. Truman
04. Clinton
05. Carter
14. GHW Bush
16. Reagan
24. GW Bush

Performance Within Context of Times
01. Linc
02. Wash
03. FDR
04. TR
05. Truman
07. Reagan
16. Clinton
19. GHW Bush
36. GW Bush

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I agree with the presidential ranking.. I go for Lincoln.. Thank C-SPAN.. Hope that Obama will be motivated about this presidential ranking.. He must also do well to get a good ranking.. I think no one would want that they be ranked the worst, right?..