How are Presidents actually Judged? Arthur Schlesinger Sr.’s 1948 survey of historians on the grade of each president “great” “near great” “average” “below average” &“failure” Does evaluation of presidents change over time? Not much, but some exceptions Truman (↑) and Eisenhower (↓) Do scholars and citizens employ different evaluation standards? What standards would you use when you evaluate presidents?
Ratings of Presidential Performance WSJ Survey in 2000 C-SPAN 2009 Survey http://legacy.c-span.org/PresidentialSurvey/presidential- leadership-survey.aspx Leadership Characteristics (C-SPAN) Public Persuasion Crisis Leadership Economic Management Moral Authority International Relations Administrative Skills Relations with Congress Vision/Setting An Agenda Pursued Equal Justice For All Performance within Context of Times
C-SPAN 2009 Survey (Top 1st through 25th)
C-SPAN 2009 Survey (26th through 42nd)