In a survey among 65 historians conducted by C-Span, Abraham Lincoln was picked as the greatest President, followed by George Washington, Franklin Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt and Harry Truman.

Here is a link to C-Span for a complete listing.

George Bush came in 36^th out of the 42 men who have held the office, excluding Barack Obama. Ronald Reagan placed 10^th, Bill Clinton 15^th, George H.W. Bush 18^th, and Jimmy Carter 25^th.

That may be a disappointment for some Bush haters, but 36 is about right for Bush. His ranking probably improved in the last year because Iraq has shown signs of stability.

The worst President was James Buchanan who placed 42^nd. Buchanan preceded Lincoln and did nothing as states seceded from the Union and the Civil War began. Andrew Johnson was 41^st. Johnson was Lincoln’s Vice-President and the only other President besides Clinton impeached. Franklin Pierce was next and Buchanan’s predecessor. The next two were William Henry Harrison and Warren Harding. Harding’s administration was probably the most corrupt in history. Millard Fillmore, the predecessor of Franklin Pierce places just behind Bush at 37^th.

Generally, I have to agree with these rankings with a few alterations.

William Henry Harrison only lived 32 days as President. That strikes me as a bit hard to put him at 40^th.  How much can a President do in a month? It appears that the historians penalized him for dying.

I also find it interesting that Lincoln is ranked as First, but he is preceded and succeeded by men who rank as the worst Presidents in history. Can you imagine if one of those fellows was President during the Civil War?

The historians ranked Richard Nixon at 27^th, only two places behind Jimmy Carter. Without Watergate, he probably would have made it into the teens. Whatever you think about him, he did achieve some notable foreign policy accomplishments.

Lyndon Johnson comes in 11^th, right behind Ronald Reagan. His enormous domestic accomplishments, especially in civil rights, outweigh his blundering of the Vietnam War by these historians. I’m not so sure he should be that high.

Eisenhower made it to eighth. He keeps improving in these rankings despite not doing much except seeing the end of the Korean War, developing the interstate highway system and letting the Russians jump to the lead in space.

Kennedy is sixth, right behind Truman and ahead of Jefferson. Kennedy had the potential to be a great President, but he also bungled a few things like the Bay of Pigs, and his Presidency remains more of what could have been than what was. He seems too high. Jefferson should be ranked higher.

Finally, that leads us to Lincoln. Believe me, he was a giant of a man. Yet it is always overlooked that he ordered the violation of political rights during the Civil War. Fraudulent elections were held in border states to put in pro-Union governments, habeas corpus was suspended, thousands were jailed and censorship imposed. It appears that George Bush took much of his playbook from Lincoln. Still, Lincoln deserves somewhere in the top five because of his accomplishments, but probably behind Washington.