This is the first episode in a two-part series, “Let’s Rank the Presidents,” with presidential historians Jeremi Suri and Jeffrey Engel. Part one will cover the most successful presidents in U.S. history.
What makes a great president?
Americans may agree that intelligence, influence, integrity, communication skills, vision, and successful domestic and foreign policies are among the right qualities to measure a chief executive. But determining which presidents rate highly in these categories is a matter of endless debate, one that often reflects our own political biases rather than the actual accomplishments (or failings) of an individual leader.
In this episode of History As It Happens, scholars Jeremi Suri of the University of Texas at Austin and Jeffrey Engel of Southern Methodist University share their views on the presidents who usually sit at or near the top of the rankings.
“It’s very important to try to figure out what it is we’re looking for in a successful, highly qualified, competent president. And the best way to think that through is to look over the course of our more than 200 years of history and figure out what elements led to success in certain circumstances,” said Mr. Suri, the host of the This is Democracy podcast.
“We can ask if a president is influential, whether their policies had great consequence over the long term, good or bad, or we can ask, as I do in my strategy class, whether a president achieved the things he wanted to do. I’m shocked by the number of presidents who actually didn’t have a plan or a vision of where they wanted to go,” said Mr. Engel, who hosts a president-focused podcast, The Past, The Promise, The Presidency.
In its most recent survey, the Siena College Research Institute ranked 44 presidents across 20 categories in interviews with dozens of historians and political scientists. (The reason the list covered 44 instead of all 46 presidential administrations was the current occupant of the Oval Office, Joseph Biden, was not included, and Grover Cleveland, who served non-consecutive terms, was counted once).
George Washington ranked No. 1, followed by Franklin Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. Ronald Reagan was ranked 13th.
To listen to Jeremi Suri and Jeffrey Engel discuss and debate the best presidents in U.S. history, download this episode of History As It Happens.
