@genoves,
Here, Drew Dad,for your edification, is evidence that, despite the hoots of the far left wing, Reagan was listed by Presidential Historians as the tenth best president we have ever had. I have already posted this but you don't seem to be aware of it.
Note:
C-SPAN RELEASES SECOND HISTORIANS SURVEY OF PRESIDENTIAL LEADERSHIP
Abraham Lincoln Retains Top Position;
Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton Advance Since 2000 Survey;
George W. Bush Ranks 36th Overall By Historians
(Washington, DC, February 15, 2009) -- Timed for Presidents Day 2009, C-SPAN
today releases the results of its second Historians Survey of Presidential
Leadership, in which a cross-section of 65 presidential historians ranked the
42 former occupants of the White House on ten attributes of leadership.
As in C-SPAN's first such survey, released in 2000, Abraham Lincoln received
top billing among the historians, just as the nation marks the bicentennial of
his birth. George Washington placed second, while spots three through five were
held by Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, and Harry Truman, in that
order.
Based on the results of historians surveyed, George W. Bush received an overall
ranking of 36. Among other recent Presidents, Bill Clinton who was ranked 21 in
the 2000 survey, advanced six spots in 2009 to an overall ranking of 15; Ronald
Reagan moved from 11 to 10; George H.W. Bush went from 20 to 18, and Jimmy
Carter's ranking declined from 22 to 25.
As in 2000, C-SPAN was guided in this effort by a team of academic advisors:
Dr. Douglas Brinkley, Professor of History at Rice University; Dr. Edna Greene
Medford, Associate Professor of History, Howard University; and Richard Norton
Smith, Scholar in Residence at George Mason University. The team approved the
ten criteria, which were the same used in C-SPAN's 2000 Survey, reviewed the
list of invited participants, and supervised the reporting of the results.
Harvey C. Mansfield, William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Government at Harvard,
also consulted on the names of invited historians with an overall goal of
geographic, demographic, and ideological diversity.
"Bill Clinton and Ulysses S. Grant aren't often mentioned in the same sentence
- until now. Participants in the latest C-SPAN survey of presidential
historians have boosted each man significantly higher than in the original
survey conducted in 2000. All of which goes to show two things: the fluidity
with which presidential reputations are judged, and the difficulty of assessing
any president who has only just recently left office," said Richard Norton
Smith.
"As much as is possible, we created a poll that was non-partisan, judicious and
fair minded, and it's fitting that for the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln
that he remains at the top of these presidential rankings," noted Dr. Douglas
Brinkley. "How we rank our presidents is, to a large extent, influenced by our
own times. Today's concerns shape our views of the past, be it in the area of
foreign policy, managing the economy, or human rights. The survey results also
reinforce the idea that history is less about agreed-upon facts than about
perceptions of who we are as a nation and how our leaders have either enhanced
or tarnished that image we have of ourselves. Lincoln continues to rank at the
top in all categories because he is perceived to embody the nation's avowed
core values: integrity, moderation, persistence in the pursuit of honourable
goals, respect for human rights, compassion; those who collect near the bottom
are perceived as having failed to uphold those values," concluded Dr. Edna
Medford.
Methodology C-SPAN's academic advisors devised a survey in which participants
used a one ("not effective") to ten ("very effective") scale to rate each
president on ten qualities of presidential leadership: "Public Persuasion,"
"Crisis Leadership," "Economic Management," "Moral Authority," "International
Relations," "Administrative Skills," "Relations with Congress," "Vision/Setting
An Agenda," "Pursued Equal Justice for All," and "Performance Within the
Context of His Times."
Surveys were distributed to 147 historians and other professional observers of
the presidency, drawn from a database of C-SPAN's programming, augmented by
suggestions from the academic advisors. Sixty-five agreed to participate.
Participants were guaranteed that individual survey results remain
confidential. Survey responses were tabulated by averaging all responses in a
given category for each president. Each of the ten categories was given equal
weighting in the total scores.
