Who is the greatest President of all time and of each century?

[ink]

Hmm well i'm never humble so I didn't know that.

Well said BMD.

[ink]

Hi Ned,

I think I once said on the Dodger forum that no one who uses the letters IMHO, actually is humble in their opinion, and I include myself when I use the infamous IMHO.

As a teacher, which I am part time, I tell my classes that I do not claim to be the expert on most subjects, but I do have a talent of knowing who is. In the case of greatest presidents, I am in no way arguing with who YOU think is the greatest, but the almost universal opinion, is that Lincoln, Washington, and FDR are the greatest presidents that we have had, as shown by prior postings of experts. The latest and most current survey was from the CSPAN which was posted earlier with a link.. You might follow the link and see how these historians graded the presidents, and of equal importance, why they did.

Interesting chart here, giving a broader survey of polls about the subject ...

[ari1013]

WSJ put Bush at 18 in 2005? Eek.

He might not have been 36th at the time, but he definitely was never an above-average president. Most of the people that I know who voted for him in 2004 did it with the "evil you know vs. evil you don't know" mantra. That's a far cry from above average.

[ink]

FDR through to Lyndon Johnson seems to be the golden age in terms of modern presidents. Can someone answer an uninformed question about the popularity of Eisenhower and Truman? Is it just the post WWII glow that affects their rankings?

[cabernetluver]

Truman's popularity has grown as the enormity of his tasks and how well he handled them has become better understood. From the successful ending of WWII to the the rebuilding of Europe, to the rebuilding of a civillian USA.

Ike's is based more on the building of the infrastructure of America in all aspects as well as the general understanding that he made a difficult world look easy.

[ari1013]

Ike's policies are those of modern-day Democrats. Not adverse to spending when necessary; aiming for stability. Ike got us out of Korea and built highways. I hope to see Obama get us out of Iraq and build bridges.

[cabernetluver]

Amen

[ink]

Ike's policies are those of modern-day Democrats. Not adverse to spending when necessary; aiming for stability. Ike got us out of Korea and built highways. I hope to see Obama get us out of Iraq and build bridges.

In every sense of the word.

[ari1013]

In every sense of the word.

qft -- I hadn't thought about that

[Zep]

qft -- I hadn't thought about that

I remember back when I was a forum youngin and someone quoted something that I had said with "qft".

I had no idea what it meant at the time and thought that he was saying "quit ****ing talking".