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