C-SPAN's Presidential Rankings

Surveying 65 historians, the presidents were ranked in order, being judged as effective (10) or not effective (0). The results, as compared with the 2000 rankings.

PRESIDENT            2009  2000

Abraham Lincoln         1  1
George Washington       2  3
Franklin D. Roosevelt   3  2
Theodore Roosevelt      4  4
Harry S. Truman         5  5
John F. Kennedy         6  8
Thomas Jefferson        7  7
Dwight D. Eisenhower    8  9
Woodrow Wilson          9  6
Ronald Reagan          10 11
Lyndon B. Johnson      11 10
James K. Polk          12 12
Andrew Jackson         13 13
James Monroe           14 14
Bill Clinton           15 21
William McKinley       16 15
John Adams             17 16
George H.W. Bush       18 20
John Quincy Adams      19 19
James Madison          20 18
Grover Cleveland       21 17
Gerald R. Ford         22 23
Ulysses S. Grant       23 33
William Howard Taft    24 24
Jimmy Carter           25 22
Calvin Coolidge        26 27
Richard M. Nixon       27 25
James A. Garfield      28 29
Zachary Taylor         29 28
Benjamin Harrison      30 31
Martin Van Buren       31 30
Chester A. Arthur      32 32
Rutherford B. Hayes    33 26
Herbert Hoover         34 34
John Tyler             35 36
George W. Bush         36 NA
Millard Fillmore       37 35
Warren G. Harding      38 38
William Henry Harrison 39 37
Franklin D. Pierce     40 39
Andrew Johnson         41 40
James Buchanan         42 41