The Leaders We Deserved (and a Few We Didn't) : Rethinking the Presidential Rating Game

514 Pages·2010·2.54 MB·English

by  Felzenberg

Table of Contents

Title Page
Dedication
PREFACE

Chapter 1 - THE RATING GAME

Chapter 2 - CHARACTER
George Washington: The Founder
Abraham Lincoln: The Savior
Theodore Roosevelt: The Umpire
Gerald R. Ford: The Healer
Ronald Reagan: The Lifeguard
Thomas Jefferson: The Philosopher
Franklin Pierce: The Weakling
James Buchanan: The Blockhead
Woodrow Wilson: The Prime Minister
Richard Nixon: The Cynic

Chapter 3 - VISION
Thomas Jefferson
Abraham Lincoln
Theodore Roosevelt
Lyndon B. Johnson
Ronald Reagan

Chapter 4 - COMPETENCE
Thomas Jefferson
Abraham Lincoln
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Ronald Reagan
James Madison
Herbert Hoover
Lyndon B. Johnson
Jimmy Carter

Chapter 5 - ECONOMIC POLICY
George Washington
James Madison and James Monroe
Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren
Abraham Lincoln
Theodore Roosevelt
Woodrow Wilson
Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge
Franklin D. Roosevelt
John F. Kennedy
Richard Nixon
Jimmy Carter
Ronald Reagan
Bill Clinton

Chapter 6 - PRESERVING AND EXTENDING LIBERTY
The Founding Presidents
Andrew Jackson
James K. Polk
Zachary Taylor
Millard Fillmore
Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan
Abraham Lincoln
Andrew Johnson
Ulysses S. Grant
Rutherford B. Hayes
Benjamin Harrison
Theodore Roosevelt
Woodrow Wilson
Warren G. Harding
Calvin Coolidge
Herbert Hoover
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Harry S Truman
Dwight D. Eisenhower
John F. Kennedy
Lyndon B. Johnson
Richard Nixon
Gerald R. Ford
Jimmy Carter
Ronald Reagan

Chapter 7 - DEFENSE, NATIONAL SECURITY, AND FOREIGN POLICY
George Washington
John Adams
Thomas Jefferson
James Madison
James Monroe
James K. Polk
Abraham Lincoln
Harry S Truman
John F. Kennedy
George H. W. Bush
Bill Clinton
George W. Bush

Chapter 8 - WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?
What to Look for in Presidential Candidates
What to Avoid in Presidential Candidates

AFTERWORD
Acknowledgements
ECONOMIC DATA SOURCES
NOTES
INDEX
Copyright Page

To my friend, Robert P. O’Quinn,
who patiently tries to teach me economics.
PREFACE
What makes a president a great president? Since the presidency was established
in 1789, Americans have asked themselves that question. In order to help answer
it, historians and other experts have surveyed their peers. Most of these
assessments say more about what evaluators thought of the nation’s presidents
than about the criteria they used in forming their conclusions.
Most of these surveys place the nation’s presidents into one of six categories:
great, near great, high average, low average, below average, and failure.
These surveys suffer from a number of weaknesses. For example, their results
often reflect the ideological predilections of the evaluators. While this flaw can
easily be remedied by assuring greater balance in the choice of participants,
other problems inherent in this process cannot. Failure to set forth precise
criteria has been already noted. Equally troubling has been the tendency of some
jurors to reflect the findings of past surveys. Being too far out of step with the
prevailing consensus among one’s peers may call one’s status as an expert into
question.
In the dozen or more surveys since Arthur M. Schlesinger Sr. commenced
what this book calls “the presidential rating game” in 1948, only two presidents
have seen their ratings substantially change. Because scholars’ interpretation of
the Reconstruction era began to change during the civil rights revolution of the
1960s, Andrew Johnson, once considered an average president, is now rated a
failure. The opening of Dwight D. Eisenhower’s papers a decade or so after he
left office shed new light on his managerial style and administrative competence.
Consequently, survey participants have moved Ike from the ranks of low average
into the company of the near greats. In most other cases, the uniformity of
presidential rankings in most surveys bears a closer resemblance to an echo
chamber than to a serious attempt to interpret history and impart knowledge.
Even the briefest perusal of presidential biographies suggests that very few
presidents performed equally well or equally poorly in all areas. Those ranked
among the near greats sometimes failed, while many average or worse presidents
performed some tasks admirably. These are seldom reflected in their ratings.
Woodrow Wilson, for instance, traditionally rated as near great, set back the