-Caveat Lector- HAIL TO THE CHIEF Click here to see which U.S. presidents are most underrated. OpinionJournal WSJ.com go directly to Select a PageEditorial PageLeisure & ArtsFront PageAsia ViewEurope ViewMarketplaceWeekend JournalMoneyTech CenterWine Federalist Society - The Wall Street Journal Survey on Presidents Normally, in the weeks after the presidential election the country settles down and gets used to who its new chief executive will be: Not this year. This election leaves many questions on how and who we should choose for president. We thought it would be helpful to take a look back at all the presidents, so "Hail to the Chief," which will run through Dec. 10, asks scholars to do just that. In this section we have the overall rankings and two essays on how the presidents were rated. We also have a list of some of our favorite presidential Web sites and a daily quiz on presidential trivia. Watch for a list of overrated presidents this week and underrated presidents the week of Dec. 4. Also look for essays on why some presidents don't deserve their ranking. RANK NAME MEAN GREAT 1 George Washington 4.92 2 Abraham Lincoln 4.87 3 Franklin Roosevelt 4.67 NEAR GREAT 4 Thomas Jefferson 4.25 5 Theodore Roosevelt 4.22 6 Andrew Jackson 3.99 7 Harry Truman 3.95 8 Ronald Reagan 3.81 9 Dwight Eisenhower 3.71 10 James Polk 3.70 11 Woodrow Wilson 3.68 ABOVE AVERAGE 12 Grover Cleveland 3.36 13 John Adams 3.36 14 William McKinley 3.33 15 James Madison 3.29 16 James Monroe 3.27 17 Lyndon Johnson 3.21 18 John Kennedy 3.17 AVERAGE 19 William Taft 3.00 20 John Quincy Adams 2.93 21 George Bush 2.92 22 Rutherford Hayes 2.79 23 Martin Van Buren 2.77 24 William Clinton 2.77 25 Calvin Coolidge 2.71 26 Chester Arthur 2.71 BELOW AVERAGE 27 Benjamin Harrison 2.62 28 Gerald Ford 2.59 29 Herbert Hoover 2.53 30 Jimmy Carter 2.47 31 Zachary Taylor 2.40 32 Ulysses Grant 2.28 33 Richard Nixon 2.22 34 John Tyler 2.03 35 Millard Fillmore 1.91 FAILURE 36 Andrew Johnson 1.65 37 Franklin Pierce 1.58 38 Warren Harding 1.58 39 James Buchanan 1.33 The number listed above is the mean score of all the scholars' rating of each president. On this scale, five is the highest possible score. William Henry Harrison was president for a mere 30 days and James Garfield served for only six months. Many of our scholars thought their early deaths in office made it too difficult to evaluate them, so they are not included in this survey. Ranking Methodology By James Lindgren How 78 scholars in history, political science, and law rated the men from Washington to Clinton. Thursday, November 16, 2000 12:01 a.m. EST PRINT FRIENDLY FORMAT HOME TOP OF PAGE December 10, 2000 12:48pm EST <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
