Presidential Leadership: Rating the Best and the Worst in the White House

Book Overview

Where does your favorite president rank?

Based on a completely new nationwide survey prepared exclusively for this edition of Presidential Leadership, two of America's most prominent institutions, The Wall Street Journal and the Federalist Society, explore just what it is that makes a president great and then rank each from best to worst. Now with updated chapters on Bush and "Leadership in the Midst of Controversy," a...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743274083
• ISBN13: 9780743274081
• Release Date: September 2005
• Publisher: Free Press
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

presidential leadership

this is a very valuable, useful, efficient way through which to understand the essence of our american presidents, especially for those who do not have the time or patience to read anything of greater detail and depth. the book rates the presidents using very reliable, trustworthy criteria. perhaps the biggest surprise i had in reading it is that the little known democratic president, grover cleveland, was rated as one of the greater presidents, while john f kennedy was rated mediocre at best, and terribly overrated.

Pull up a chair, sit down, and have at it....

According to the 132 prominent authorities who rated "the best and worst in the White House" using a 5-point scale, the envelope please. The winners are... George Washington 4.92 Abraham Lincoln 4.87 Franklin Roosevelt 4.67 and the losers are Andrew Johnson 3.36 Franklin Pierce 3.36 Warren Harding 3.33 James Buchanan 3.29 Now that we have that out of the way, I hasten to explain that co-editors James Taranto and Leonard Leo have done far more than merely conduct a survey and then publish the results. What we have here is a chronological sequence of analyses from Richard Brookhiser's of George Washington until Paul A. Gigot's of George Walker Bush. There is a separate chapter devoted to each of the 43 presidents, all of them written by an expert on the given president. I especially appreciate the reader-friendly checklist of key facts which precedes each of the commentaries. Contributors include Lynne Cheney (on James Madison) and John S. McCain (on Theodore Roosevelt) and both have much of substantial value to say about their subjects, as do all of the others. Presidents are classified within six categories: Great, Near Great, Above Average, Average, Below Average, and Failure. Some rankings surprised me as being too high (e.g. Dwight Eisenhower as Near Great and John Kennedy as Above Average) or too low (e.g. Richard Nixon as Below Average) but such reactions are no doubt indicative of my lack of expertise. In any event, I was grateful to learn the reasons for various rankings. Other sections of special interest include William J. Bennett's Foreword, Steven G. Calabresi's Introduction, and four brilliant essays on various "Issues in Presidential Leadership" (i.e. economic policy, during wartime, the judiciary, and after disputed elections). If you share my keen interest in issues such as these and would enjoy examining similarities and dissimilarities between and among the 43 U.S. presidents, this is a "must read."

One man's view

The idea to rate the Presidents is a daunting task. No matter how you rate them, someone is going to be critical. James Taranto, Leonard Leo, and William J. Bennett do this job justice. While I may not agree with all their rankings, I find their rationale fair and non-partisan. The essays about each President also give a description of each man that set the tone for their terms in office.Well, done!

A Superb Book

This book opens with a question "What Makes A President Great?" It proceeds to answer this by ranking every President with a range from "Failure" to "Great". The rank was awarded by a mixed group of 78 liberal and conservative scholars.A numerical score determined the rank. I believe the book arrived at a fair ranking system. This is in contrast to previous rankings by mostly liberal university professors who would rank Reagan average, and Clinton above average. A series of essays about each presidency is written by eminent and distinguished contributors. Every chapter is readable, exciting, and fascinating. Christopher Buckley's essay on James Buchanan was amusing and memorable. Ater reading, you will never forget the ill-suited, fecklesss, hand-wringing bachelor Buchanan. Paul Johnson, a British historian, has written a chapter on Clinton that was right on the money. Jay Winik's essay on Lincoln was good, but his book, April 1865, was superior to the too-brief chapter. Overall this book is a good reference and makes excellent reading. I think it is superior to comparable books of because of its brevity and evenhandedness.

A Masterpiece on the Presidents

Leonard Leo and James Taranto beautifully orchestrated this amazing leaugue of respected authors to compile a book much in need today. Most books on Presidents have either an overwhelmingly in-depth look at one president or are simply a collection of interesting facts and data about all of them. This book attempts to give to its readers insight into the actual presidency and how America, as a people, see are leaders. Each President has not a biography, but an analysis. This idea is new and makes the presidents that we all know much more accessible to an older crowd with a wide-array of information without drowning the reader with obscurities.