Donald Trump recently claimed he is the “greatest” US president in history, posting on social media last week to position himself above prominent figures like Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and George Washington. Historians have a different perspective.
Very few presidential historians would agree that Trump deserves such an honor. After all, Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Washington-the three leaders usually recognized as America’s finest-did not incite an insurrection. They were never impeached. And none faced felony convictions related to hush-money payments to a pornstar-turned-ghost hunter.
Trump has been vocal about his view on his presidency. But does his self-rating align with reality?
“It’s not consistent with the findings of the surveys we’ve conducted,” said Justin Vaughn, a political science professor at Coastal Carolina University and co-creator of the Presidential Greatness Project, which polls experts to evaluate US presidents. “It’s also not consistent with other surveys that have been conducted over the last several years.”
Trump shared his presidential rankings last Thursday. He categorized US presidents into six groups ranging from “greatest” to “failures”: he stands alone in the “greatest” category. The image in his post seems adapted from a 1948 article in Life magazine where historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr discussed “what makes a president great or a failure”-the original publication date explains why some presidents like Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, and both Bushes are absent.
The original image didn’t include a “greatest” category-someone created that later-and Joe Biden, Jimmy Carter, and Barack Obama have all been placed in the “failures” group. Bill Clinton was surprisingly labeled as “average,” despite Trump often criticizing him.
However, recent findings from the Presidential Greatness Project survey showed quite another picture.
In this survey of 154 academics regarding past presidents’ rankings, Trump came in dead last-even below James Buchanan, who is often blamed for failing to prevent the Civil War. Academics rated each of the 45 presidents on a scale from 0 to 100; with 0 indicating “failure” and 100 meaning “great.” Lincoln topped this list with an average score of 93.87 while Trump received just 10.92.
In a Siena University poll conducted in 2022 involving 141 presidential scholars, Trump performed slightly better by ranking third-to-last-just ahead of Buchanan and Andrew Johnson who succeeded Lincoln but opposed federal protections for enslaved people seeking citizenship rights.
The Siena study also had scholars rank presidents across various categories such as “background,” “executive ability,” and “leadership ability.” In terms of integrity and intelligence categories specifically, Trump ranked dead last out of all 45 presidents.
Nevertheless, Trump might take comfort in uniting academics across both sides of the political spectrum.
“We break down our results between self-identified Democrats or self-identified conservatives or Republicans,” Vaughn explained. “When you look at statistics from Republican respondents versus Democratic ones, even Republicans rate Trump poorly.”
Davis Ingle, a White House spokesperson stated: “President Trump is solely focused on fighting every day to deliver the strong, safe, and prosperous country that we all deserve. The only legacy President Trump is concerned with is making America greater than ever before.”
“But when all is said and done this President will undoubtedly go down as the most successful and consequential president in modern American history.”
Whether this statement holds true will depend on how future generations assess Trump’s presidency. Americans tend to view former presidents through a favorable lens over time,” said Barbara Perry, a professor specializing in presidential studies at the University of Virginia who noted that leaders’ rankings can change over decades as their legacies are reconsidered.
Regardless, Tump’s personal rankings provide insight into which past leaders he admires. The sole name listed under “greatest” was himself; while those deemed “great” included Lincoln, Rosevelt, and Washington.”Near great” contained Theodore Roosevelt along with Grover Cleveland who served nonconsecutive terms similar to Trump’s tenure as president.
Sadly, Perry took issue along with Vaughn about Trump’s placement.”In no universe among scholars would Donald trump be considered ‘great,’ ‘the greatest,’ or even ‘near great,'” she remarked.
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