Historians Rank Bush in the Top 10 of America's Worst Presidents

Posted by Amanda Terkel, Think Progress at 6:18 AM on February 16, 2009.

Yesterday, C-SPAN released its second Historians Survey of Presidential Leadership, in which "65 presidential historians ranked the 42 former occupants of the White House on ten attributes of leadership." Coming in first was Abraham Lincoln, followed by George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, and Harry Truman. Finishing last was James Buchanan. George W. Bush came in 36th, just beating out Millard Fillmore, who ranked 37th. A look at how historians judged Bush on measures such as his "economic management" and "moral authority":

Looks like Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) was wrong when, in 2007, he predicted that Bush's "ratings among the historians will be greater than his ratings in the polls today."

Tagged as: history, joe lieberman, george w. bush, worst presidents

Amanda Terkel is Deputy Research Director at the Center for American Progress and serves as Deputy Editor for The Progress Report and ThinkProgress.org at the Center for American Progress.