The Weakness of Academic Presidential ‘Greatness’ Rankings

Presidential biographer George Nash begs to differ with liberal academia.

Daniel J. Flynn February 24, 2018

The American Political Science Association (APSA) released its periodic rankings of American presidents earlier this week. The list tells us more about the APSA than the presidents.

The survey strangely ranks Harry Truman, Barack Obama, and Lyndon Johnson in the top ten. Woodrow Wilson comes in at 11. Calvin Coolidge and Grover Cleveland, just as strangely, appear in the bottom half of the list. Warren Harding, a worn punching bag for academics, appears at 39 despite returning America to “normalcy” after foreign adventures and ushering in prosperity through a massive tax cut. Although Ronald Reagan cracks the top ten, presidents championing the free market over an activist state generally fare poorly. And Donald Trump, perhaps unsurprisingly given his unpopularity on campus, ranks dead last despite his work-in-progress presidency.

“Such snapshots of academic opinion can sometimes yield clues about trends in scholarship concerning individual presidents,” historian George Nash tells The American Spectator. “Thus Reagan and Eisenhower, for instance, have tended to go up in the rankings with the passage of time. But in general, polls of this kind seem to me to have little value.”..........To Read More....

My Take - Here are my rankings for the the best to the worst President of the 20th and 21st centuries, and I think a better one, and I will explain my positioning. 
 
1. Calvin Coolidge
2. Ronald Reagan
3. Warren G. Harding

Calvin Coolidge, Ronald Reagan and Warren G. Harding were the only three conservative Presidents in the 20th century, and I've listed them as I see their accomplishments.   Harding has been misrepresented for a lot of years. 

4. Dwight D. Eisenhower
5. Gerald R. Ford
6. William H. Taft
7. Harry S. Truman
8. John F. Kennedy
9. George Walker Bush
19. George Bush
10 Bill Clinton
11. Herbert Hoover

Eisenhower, Ford, Taft, Truman, Kennedy, the Bush's and Bill Clinton are pretty much interchangeable, with the exception of Hoover.  He belongs at the bottom of that list.

12. Lyndon B. Johnson
13. Richard M. Nixon
14. Franklin D. Roosevelt
15. Woodrow Wilson
16. Jimmy Carter
17. Barack Hussein Obama
18.Theodore Roosevelt

Why is Teddy Roosevelt at the bottom?  Because he was the first Progressive President and gave personality to the Progressive movement.  As a result the Progressives took over government and 16th and 17th amendments were passed and the FED was created in 1913.  He laid the foundation for the effort to overturn the Constitution, which he believed was an impediment to human progress.  A view he shared with the first fascist President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson.  As for Carter and Obama - It's hard to find a spot low enough for the two dumbest Presidents the nation has ever known, but I think this is the right positioning.  Finally Carter can rejoice, he isn't the dumbest any longer.