Presidential Performance

Presidential rankings emerged in 1948 when Life Magazine published an article by the prominent historian, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Sr., who had selected 55 experts on the presidency and asked them to rank the presidents. He asked his respondents to rank presidents into categories of "Great," "Near Great," "Average," "Below Average" and "Failure." The result was a substantial article that attracted wide public attention. His work and similar studies have not escaped criticism, however. Many general