bulldozers at the White House

 

The East Wing was a portion of the White House complex in Washington, D.C. that was built in 1902, significantly expanded in 1942, and demolished in 2025. In the month prior to the demolition, site preparation began for a larger, replacement wing to include the proposed White House State Ballroom.

Situated on the east side of the Executive Residence, the building served as office space for the first lady and her staff, including the White House Social Secretary, correspondence staff, and the White House Graphics and Calligraphy Office, all of which have been relocated until the new East Wing is completed.

The East Wing was connected to the Executive Residence through the East Colonnade, a corridor with windows facing the South Lawn that housed the White House Family Theater and connected to the ground floor of the Executive Residence.

In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt oversaw an expansion and remodeling of the East Wing, which included the construction of the Presidential Emergency Operations Center beneath the building

President Thomas Jefferson added colonnaded terraces to the east and west sides of the White House, but no actual wings. Under President Andrew Jackson in 1834, running water was piped in from a spring and pumped up into the east terrace in metal pipes. These ran through the walls and protruded into the rooms, controlled by spigots. Initially, the water was for washing items, but soon the first bathing rooms were created, in the ground-level east colonnade. President Martin Van Buren had shower baths installed here.

The East Terrace was removed in 1866. For many years, a greenhouse occupied the east grounds of the White House.

The first small East Wing (and the West Wing) was designed by Charles Follen McKim and built in 1902 during the Theodore Roosevelt renovations, as an entrance for formal and public visitors. This served mainly as an entrance for guests during large social gatherings, when it was necessary to accommodate many cars and carriages. Its primary feature was the long cloak room with spots for coats and hats of the ladies and gentlemen.

An expansion and remodeling of the East Wing was instituted in 1942, during Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency. The two-story East Wing was designed by White House architect Lorenzo Winslow and added to the White House primarily to cover the construction of an underground bunker, the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC). Around the same time, Theodore Roosevelt's coatroom was integrated into the new building and became the White House Family Theater.

Trump’s illegal destruction of the East Wing faces significant legal challenges, which are detailed in the link below.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Wing#:~:text=The%20East%20Wing%20was%20a,1942%2C%20and%20demolished%20in%202025.

However, the destruction was not the first time that bulldozers were used to destroy part of the White House.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House_Reconstruction

The White House Reconstruction, also known as the Truman Reconstruction, was a comprehensive dismantling and rebuilding of the interior of the White House from 1949 to 1952. In 1948, after nearly a century and a half of wartime destruction and rebuilding, hurried renovations, additions of new services, technologies, the expanded third floor, and inadequate foundations, architectural and engineering investigations found that the Executive Residence portion of the White House Complex was facing near-imminent collapse, and it was deemed unsafe for occupancy. President Harry S. Truman, his family, and the entire residence staff were relocated across the street to Blair House, and over the next three years, the White House was gutted, expanded, and rebuilt.

When the Trumans moved into the executive mansion in 1945, they found it badly in need of repair after twelve years of neglect during the Great Depression and World War II. In 1946, Congress authorized $780,000 (equal to $12,877,986 today) for repairs. The mansion's heaving floors and mysterious sounds had been known by staff and first families for many years. For the first two years of his presidency, according to White House photographer Abbie Rowe, President Truman heard "ghosts" roaming the halls of the second-floor residence. Government agencies had expressed concern about the condition of the building, including a 1941 report from the Army Corps of Engineers warning of failing wood structure, crumbling masonry, and major fire hazards. The report was dismissed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

In early 1946, during a formal reception in the Blue Room, the First Lady noticed the very large crystal chandelier overhead swaying and its crystals tinkling. The floor of the Oval Study above moved noticeably when walked on, and a valet was then attending the president while he was taking a bath. Truman described a potential scenario of him in his bathtub falling through the floor into the midst of a Daughters of the American Revolution tea "wearing nothing more than his reading glasses." In early 1947, a "stretching" chandelier in the East Room and another swaying in the Oval Study caused further alarm. "Floors no longer merely creaked; they swayed."

The Public Buildings Administration was asked to investigate the condition of the White House, but no action was taken until January 1948. After the commissioner of the Public Buildings Administration, which had responsibility for the White House, noticed the Blue Room chandelier swaying overhead during another crowded reception, he and the White House architect conducted their own on-site investigation the next day. They discovered split and gouged-out beams supporting the ceiling and second floor above. He reported "that the beams are staying up there from force of habit only." The number of occupants in the second floor was restricted, temporary fixes were made to some of the beams, and scaffolding-type supports were erected throughout the first family's second floor living quarters.

On January 30, 1948, the president received a confidential report from the Commissioner of Public Buildings warning of the "imminent collapse" of the second floor of the mansion. In February, the president invited the president of the American Institute of Architects, Douglas Orr, and the president of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Richard E. Dougherty, to "make a structural survey of the safety of the White House". Their one-day investigation concluded with a report issued that same day which said the second-floor structure was a fire hazard and was in danger of collapse.

They recommended that the second floor should be reconstructed as soon as possible, electricity use be cut to a minimum, and that further investigations be undertaken. Congress provided $50,000 for a more thorough investigation. Additional engineers and other professionals were engaged from the private sector. Walls, ceilings, and floors were opened up to provide access to the investigators.

 

The scope of the project involved the complete removal of the interior of the White House, except for the third floor, and included salvage and storage of critical interior elements, excavation of new basement levels, and construction of new foundations, steel and concrete structure, masonry interior walls with plaster finish and wood paneling, custom plaster moldings, refurbished and replacement windows, and new heating, ventilation, air conditioning, plumbing, electrical, and communications systems.

The bulk of the work was to be accomplished within the exterior stone walls which were to be kept in place and repainted. Landscaping around the house was to be replaced. All workers were subjected to security clearance by the Secret Service. The West Wing was to be kept fully operational and occupied by the president and his staff. All work was to be completed for a total cost of $5.4 million and completed by late 1951, in 660 days, approximately 22 months.

This morning’s Washington Post provide more details on the issues that will either delay Trump’s ballroom, and possibly eliminate it altogether. Since an underground bunker was added during the 1942 renovation, there really is no compelling reason to build another one.

Truth be told, the entire project is nothing more than another vanity project for Trump, as was the renaming of the Kennedy Center and the proposed 250 foot tall arch just outside Arlington National cemetery.

 

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/05/26/courts-congress-have-so-far-created-barriers-trump-ballroom/

Trump has no appreciation or respect for history, which is why he had the Bonwit Teller frieze destroyed when Trump Tower was built.

Donald Trump’s relationship to the Metropolitan Museum of Art was permanently damaged early on. He refused to donate artworks that he had promised to the museum and instead had them destroyed, along with a venerable building that had played an important role in American art history.

At that site, the intersection of Fifth Avenue and 56th Street in Manhattan at which Trump constructed his prestige project Trump Tower between 1980 and 1982, the flagship store of the luxury department store chain Bonwit Teller and Co. had earlier stood. The 1929 building was the work of the same architects who had designed Grand Central Terminal, Whitney Warren and Charles Wetmore. It was intended originally to house the women’s department store Stewart. Bonwit Teller, who took over the building in 1930 and opened it anew, soon worked with world-famous artists. Starting in 1936, the Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dalí regularly decorated the windows with spectacular installations, for example in 1939, working with the theme “night and day.” In the 1950s, Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg worked for the company on the side as window dressers, using the pseudonym “Matson Jones.” Among other things, Johns displayed his now iconic painting Flag on Orange Field behind a mannequin in the windows in 1957. That same year in the same place, Rauschenberg showed his Red Combine Painting along with others. Two years earlier, the large photographic work Blue Ceiling Matson Jones could be seen in the background of the Bonwit Teller windows.

 

Donald Trump Has a History of Pulverizing Historic Buildings

Congress has finally awakened to the fact that it is supposed to be a check on presidential power, which is why it is unlikely that the $1.776 billion "slush fund" will pass.

As for the final status of the ballroom?

Your guess is as good as mine.

How to start an argument

 

 

One of the first rules I learned when I joined Toastmasters International in the 1980’s was to try to avoid discussing religion or politics.

The reason is simple.

Nobody’s opinion is wrong.

It is simply their opinion.

It may not be based on facts, but there is always SOME reason why a person thinks the way they do.

There is no end to which topics we can disagree one, but let’s keep it simple and just pick one.

How about if we tried to determine who are best president is/was.

There have been numerous studies done to determine the proper ranking, but they do not always measure the same thing.

Here is where it gets complicated:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_rankings_of_presidents_of_the_United_States

In political studies, since the mid-20th-century, surveys have been conducted in order to construct historical rankings of the success of the presidents of the United States. Ranking systems are usually based on surveys of academic historians and political scientists, or popular opinion. The scholarly rankings focus on presidential achievements, leadership qualities, failures, and faults. Among such scholarly rankings, Abraham Lincoln is most often ranked as the best, while his predecessor James Buchanan is most often ranked as the worst. Popular-opinion polls typically focus on recent or well-known presidents.

A 1948 poll was conducted by historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Sr. of Harvard University. A 1962 survey was also conducted by Schlesinger, who surveyed 75 historians. Schlesinger's son, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., conducted another poll in 1996. The Chicago Tribune surveyed 49 historians in 1982.

The Siena College Research Institute (SCRI) began conducting surveys in 1982 and continued in 1990, 1994, 2002, 2010, 2018, and 2022 during the second year of the first term of each president since Ronald Reagan These surveys collect presidential rankings from historians, political scientists, and presidential scholars in a range of attributes, abilities, and accomplishments.^[9] The 1994 survey placed only two presidents (Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt) above 80 points and two presidents (Andrew Johnson and Warren G. Harding) below 50 points.

In 1996, William J. Ridings Jr. and Stuart B. McIver conducted and published a poll and in 1997, an accompanying book on the poll results. 719 people took part in the poll, primarily academic historians and political scientists, although some politicians and celebrities also took part. Participants from every state were included and emphasis was placed upon getting input from female historians and "specialists in African American studies" as well as a few non-American historians. Poll respondents rated the presidents in five categories (leadership qualities, accomplishments, crisis management, political skill, appointments, and character and integrity) and the results were tabulated to create the overall ranking.

2000–2017

A 2005 presidential poll was conducted by James Lindgren for the Federalist Society and The Wall Street Journal. As in the 2000 survey, the editors sought to balance the opinions of liberals and conservatives, adjusting the results "to give Democratic- and Republican-leaning scholars equal weight". Although Franklin D. Roosevelt still ranked in the top three, editor James Taranto observed that Democratic-leaning scholars rated George W. Bush the sixth-worst president of all time while Republican scholars rated him the sixth-best, giving him a split-decision rating of "average" In 2008, The Times daily newspaper of London asked eight of its own "top international and political commentators" to rank all 42 presidents "in order of greatness".

The C-SPAN Survey of Presidential Leadership consists of rankings from a group of presidential historians and biographers. The C-SPAN Survey of Presidential Leadership has taken place four times: in 2000, 2009,^[2017, and 2021. The 2021 survey was of 142 presidential historians, surveyed by C-SPAN's Academic Advisor Team, made up of Douglas G. Brinkley, Edna Greene Medford, Richard Norton Smith, and Amity Shlaes. In the survey, each historian rates each president on a scale of one ("not effective") to 10 ("very effective") on presidential leadership in ten categories: Public Persuasion, Crisis Leadership, Economic Management, Moral Authority, International Relations, Administrative Skills, Relations with Congress, Vision/Setting An Agenda, Pursued Equal Justice for All, and Performance Within the Context of His Times—with each category equally weighed The results of all four C-SPAN surveys have been fairly consistent. Abraham Lincoln has taken the highest ranking in each survey and George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Theodore Roosevelt have always ranked in the top five while James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, and Franklin Pierce have been ranked at the bottom of all four surveys.

The 2011 survey, the first poll asking UK academics to rate American presidents, was conducted by the United States Presidency Centre (USPC) at the Institute for the Study of the Americas (located in the University of London's School of Advanced Study). This polled the opinion of British specialists in American history and politics to assess presidential performance. They also gave an interim assessment of Barack Obama, but his unfinished presidency was not included in the survey (had he been included, he would have attained eighth place overall).

In 2012, Newsweek asked a panel of historians to rank the ten best presidents since 1900. The results showed that historians had ranked Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson, Woodrow Wilson, Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, and Obama as the best since that year. A 2015 poll administered by the American Political Science Association (APSA) among political scientists specializing in the American presidency had Abraham Lincoln in the top spot, with Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, Truman, Eisenhower, Clinton, Andrew Jackson, and Wilson making the top 10. 2016 survey of 71 British specialists by the Presidential History Network produced similar results to the 2011 USPC survey, with Obama placed in the top quartile.

Since 2018

A second Presidential Greatness Project Expert Survey was sent to members of the Presidents and Executive Politics section of the APSA in 2018. It ranked Donald Trump for the first time, putting him in the last position. In the 2024 edition, Trump scored 10.92 out of 100, easily the worst, while self-identified Republican historians rated Trump in the bottom five. The study organizers observed a drop in recent Republican presidents' scores by speculating that respondents valued presidents that respected political and institutional norms. The first version of this poll was conducted in 2015

The 2018 Siena poll of 157 presidential scholars reported George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Thomas Jefferson as the top five U.S. presidents, with SCRI director Don Levy stating, "The top five, Mount Rushmore plus FDR, is carved in granite with presidential historians."^[9] Trump—entering the SCRI survey for the first time—joined Andrew Johnson and James Buchanan among the bottom three U.S. presidents. George W. Bush, whom presidential scholars had rated fifth lowest in the previous 2010 survey, improved in position to 12th lowest. The 2022 Siena poll had Franklin D. Roosevelt first, Lincoln second, and Washington third, with the bottom three as Trump, Buchanan, and Johnson.

The 2021 C-SPAN poll showed a continued recent rehabilitation of Ulysses S. Grant, showed George W. Bush improving, Barack Obama remaining high, and Trump with the fourth lowest ranking. After Trump's election to a non-consecutive second term, C-SPAN postponed its planned 2025 survey, explaining that "with a former president returning to office, conducting the survey now would turn it from historical analysis to punditry.

Scholar survey summary

 

2010 Siena College

Abbreviations

Bg = Background

PL = Party leadership

CAb = Communication ability

RC = Relations with Congress

CAp = Court appointments

HE = Handling of economy

L = Luck

AC = Ability to compromise

WR = Willing to take risks

EAp = Executive appointments

OA = Overall ability

Im = Imagination

DA = Domestic accomplishments

Int = Integrity

EAb = Executive ability

FPA = Foreign policy accomplishments

LA = Leadership ability

IQ = Intelligence

AM = Avoiding crucial mistakes

EV = Experts' view

O = Overall

 

2011 USPC

In September/October 2010, the United States Presidency Centre (USPC) of the Institute for the Study of the Americas at the University of London surveyed 47 British specialists on American history and politics. Presidents were rated from 1 to 10 in five categories:

1.     Vision/agenda-setting: "did the president have the clarity of vision to establish overarching goals for his administration and shape the terms of policy discourse?"

2.    Domestic leadership: "did the president display the political skill needed to achieve his domestic objectives and respond effectively to unforeseen developments?"

Foreign policy leadership: "was the president an effective leader in In 2016, the Presidential History Network surveyed 71 named British and Irish specialists. The questions were the same as in the USPC survey, which was directed by some of the same people. Some respondents did not rate presidents that they were not familiar with. The minimum number of responses (62) were for the rather obscure and inconsequential presidents Rutherford B. Hayes, Chester A. Arthur, Grover Cleveland, and Benjamin Harrison. 69–70 rated all recent presidents, from Franklin D. Roosevelt on.

Abbreviations

 

VSA = Vision/Setting an agenda

DL = Domestic leadership

FPL = Foreign-policy leadership

MA = Moral authority

HL = Historical legacy (positive significance of)

O = Overall

3.    promoting US foreign policy interests and national security?"

4.    Moral authority: "did the president uphold the moral authority of his office through his character, values, and conduct?"

5.    Positive historical significance of legacy: "did the president's legacy have positive benefits for America's development over time?"

 

2017 C-SPAN

Abbreviations

PP = Public persuasion

CL = Crisis leadership

EM = Economic management

MA = Moral authority

IR = International relations

AS = Administrative skills

RC = Relations with Congress

VSA = Vision/Setting an agenda

PEJ = Pursued equal justice for all

PCT = Performance within context of times

O = Overall

2018 Siena College

On February 13, 2019, Siena released its sixth presidential poll. The poll was initiated in 1982 and occurs one year into the term of each new president. It is currently a survey of 157 presidential scholars across a range of leadership parameters. The ranking awarded the top five spots to George Washington, Franklin Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Thomas Jefferson, in keeping with prior surveys. Washington had been ranked fourth in all previous surveys, and Franklin Roosevelt first.

Note

·         The numbers below do not match the source where there are ties in the rankings. They have instead been counted as ties are in other polls (e.g. 26, 27, 27, 27, 30 rather than 26, 27, 27, 27, 28), so that all categories span the range 1–44.

Abbreviations

Bg = Background

Im = Imagination

Int = Integrity

IQ = Intelligence

L = Luck

WR = Willing to take risks

AC = Ability to compromise

EAb = Executive ability

LA = Leadership ability

CAb = Communication ability

OA = Overall ability

PL = Party leadership

RC = Relations with Congress

CAp = Court appointments

HE = Handling of economy

EAp = Executive appointments

DA = Domestic accomplishments

FPA = Foreign policy accomplishments

AM = Avoiding crucial mistakes

EV = Experts' view

O = Overall

2021 C-SPAN

Abbreviations

PP = Public persuasion

CL = Crisis leadership

EM = Economic management

MA = Moral authority

IR = International relations

AS = Administrative skills

RC = Relations with Congress

VSA = Vision/Setting an agenda

PEJ = Pursued equal justice for all

PCT = Performance within context of times

O = Overall

2022 Siena College

The Siena College Research Institute released their seventh poll results on June 22, 2022. The best 10% and worst 10% remain unchanged from their 2018 poll (top five: F. D. Roosevelt, Lincoln, Washington, T. Roosevelt, Jefferson; bottom five: A. Johnson, Buchanan, Trump, Harding, Pierce). 41% of the scholars polled said that if a president were to be added to Mount Rushmore, it should be FDR. 63% believed that the president should be elected by a national popular vote; whereas, 17% supported the Electoral College

A year into his term, Joe Biden entered the ranking in the second quartile, at nineteenth place out of 45. Among recent presidents, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama moved up in the rankings, while George W. Bush and Donald Trump moved down, though part of the downward shift was due to the addition of a new president to the poll. Counting from the other direction, Trump remained unchanged at third place from last. The changes were relatively small (one or two places), apart from Obama, who moved up six places (14%) to eleventh place, in the first quartile. Notable shifts among earlier presidents included the continuing rehabilitation of Lyndon Johnson, up 8 places into the first quartile, and of Ulysses Grant, up 3 places (up 8 in the individual evaluations) into the second quartile; and the lessening appreciation of Andrew Jackson, down 4 places to the median (down 7, into the third quartile, in the individual evaluations); Ronald Reagan, down 5 places, remaining in the second quartile; and Zachary Taylor, down 6 places into the fourth quartile.^[43]

Abbreviations

Bg = Background (family, education, experience)

Im = Imagination

Int = Integrity

IQ = Intelligence

L = Luck

WR = Willing to take risks

AC = Ability to compromise

EAb = Executive ability

LA = Leadership ability

CAb = Communication ability (speak, write)

OA = Overall ability

PL = Party leadership

RC = Relationship with Congress

CAp = Court appointments

HE = Handling of U.S. economy

EAp = Executive appointments

DA = Domestic accomplishments

FPA = Foreign policy accomplishments

AM = Avoiding crucial mistakes

PV = Present overall view [the average ranking of the polled experts]^[i]

O = Overall rank [the average of the individual parameters]^[j]

2019 Tillery–Greer

In May 2019, Alvin Tillery of the Center for the Study of Diversity and Democracy at Northwestern University and Christina Greer of Fordham University "conducted a poll of 113 academic researchers and asked them to rate the 14 modern presidents on both their overall leadership and rhetoric on diversity and inclusion using a scale ranging from 0 to 100. Survey respondents were significantly more liberal than the national average, "with only 13 percent of the respondents describing themselves as either moderate, slightly conservative, or conservative."^[

2010 Gallup poll

A Gallup poll taken on November 19–21, 2010, asked 1,037 Americans to say, based on what they know or remember about the nine most recent former presidents, whether they approve or disapprove of how each handled his job in office.

1.     John F. Kennedy (85% approval/10% disapproval)

2.    Ronald Reagan (74% approval/24% disapproval)

3.    Bill Clinton (69% approval/30% disapproval)

4.    George H. W. Bush (64% approval/34% disapproval)

5.    Gerald Ford (61% approval/26% disapproval)

6.    Jimmy Carter (52% approval/42% disapproval)

7.    Lyndon B. Johnson (49% approval/36% disapproval)

8.    George W. Bush (47% approval/51% disapproval)

9.    Richard Nixon (29% approval/65% disapproval)

2011 Vision Critical/Angus Reid Public Opinion poll

A Vision Critical/Angus Reid Public Opinion poll taken on February 18–19, 2011, asked 1,010 respondents about 11 former presidents plus the current president and whether each was a good or bad president.

1.     John F. Kennedy (80% approval/6% disapproval)

2.    Ronald Reagan (72% approval/16% disapproval)

3.    Bill Clinton (65% approval/24% disapproval)

4.    Dwight D. Eisenhower (61% approval/6% disapproval)

5.    Harry S. Truman (57% approval/7% disapproval)

6.    Jimmy Carter (47% approval/28% disapproval)

7.    George H. W. Bush (44% approval/38% disapproval)

8.    Barack Obama (41% approval/33% disapproval)

9.    Gerald Ford (37% approval/25% disapproval)

10. Lyndon B. Johnson (33% approval/27% disapproval)

11.  George W. Bush (30% approval/55% disapproval)

12. Richard Nixon (24% approval/54% disapproval)

 

2011 Public Policy Polling poll

A Public Policy Polling poll taken between September 8–11, 2011, asked 665 American voters whether they held favorable or unfavorable views of how each of the nine most recent former presidents performed their job

John F. Kennedy (74% favorability/15% unfavorability)

1.     Ronald Reagan (60% favorability/30% unfavorability)

2.    Bill Clinton (62% favorability/34% unfavorability)

3.    George H. W. Bush (53% favorability/35% unfavorability)

4.    Gerald Ford (45% favorability/26% unfavorability)

5.    Jimmy Carter (45% favorability/43% unfavorability)

6.    Lyndon B. Johnson (36% favorability/39% unfavorability)

7.    George W. Bush (41% favorability/51% unfavorability)

8.    Richard Nixon (19% favorability/62% unfavorability)

2014 Quinnipiac poll

A Quinnipiac University poll taken June 24–30, 2014, asked 1,446 American registered voters who they believed were the best and worst presidents since World War II.

Best president since World War II:

1.     Ronald Reagan (35%)

2.    Bill Clinton (18%)

3.    John F. Kennedy (15%)

4.    Barack Obama (8%)

5.    Dwight Eisenhower (5%)

6.    Harry S. Truman (4%)

7.    Lyndon B. Johnson (tie) (3%)

7.    George H. W. Bush (tie) (3%)

9.    Jimmy Carter (2%)

10. Richard Nixon (tie) (1%)

10. Gerald Ford (tie) (1%)

10. George W. Bush (tie) (1%)

 

Worst president since World War II:

1.     Barack Obama (33%)

2.    George W. Bush (28%)

3.    Richard Nixon (13%)

4.    Jimmy Carter (8%)

5.    Lyndon B. Johnson (tie) (3%)

5.    Ronald Reagan (tie) (3%)

5.    Bill Clinton (tie) (3%)

8.    Gerald Ford (tie) (2%)

8.    George H. W. Bush (tie) (2%)

10. Dwight Eisenhower (1%)

11.  Harry S. Truman (tie) (<1%)

11.  John F. Kennedy (tie) (<1%)

 

Sadly, that is not even the complete list of surveys, but here is my suggestion:

The Presidential Greatness Project, a partnership of Jusin Vaughn and Brandon Rottinghhaus.

It was mentioned in the first presidential debate of 2024.

https://presidentialgreatnessproject.com/

 

Justin Vaughn, Ph.D., is a professor of political science at Coastal Carolina University. A scholar of American politics and culture, particularly the American presidency, he has published several books, including "Czars in the White House" (University of Michigan Press, 2015) and "Women & the White House" (University of Kentucky Press, 2012), which received the Popular Culture Association’s Susan Koppelman Award and the SWPACA’s Peter Rollins Award. He is also the founder and co-director of the Presidential Greatness Project and co-editor of the Journal of Political Science. His work on Presidential Greatness has been mentioned by sitting presidents and covered internationally, including by the New York Times, BBC, NPR, CNN, CBS, Politico, and Newsweek. He earned his Ph.D. in political science at Texas A&M University.

 

Brandon Rottinghaus is a Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Houston.  He holds a Ph.D. in political science from Northwestern University.  His teaching and research interests include the presidency, political scandals, public opinion, and Texas politics. He is the author of the books Inside Texas Politics, Current Debates in the Lone Star State, Inside American Government (all Oxford University Press), Rick Perry:  A Political Life (University of Texas Press), and Scandal:  How Politicians Survive Controversy in a Polarized Era (Columbia University Press).  He is the co-director of the Presidential Greatness Project.  He is the co-host of Party Politics, a PBS TV8 program, radio show, and podcast on Houston Public Media, a political analyst for KHOU 11 in Houston, and the creator and host of Texperts, a political primer podcast and radio segment on Hello Houston on Houston Public Media.  

Education

Ph.D., Northwestern University
M.A., Northwestern University
B.A., Purdue University

 

To save you time, skip the mechanics of the survey, and just look at the final results.

Like many surveys, it ranks Lincoln at the top, closely followed by FDR.

If you just look at the presidents who were elected after the year I was born (1947) , here is the summary:

Truman - #5

Obama - #6

Ike - #7

LBJ - #8

JFK - #9

Clinton - # 11

Biden - # 14

Reagan - #16

Bush 1 - #19

Carter - #22

Ford - #27

Bush 2 - #30

Nixon - #33

Trump - #45

I’m not saying that my opinion is right, but at least it is an informed opinion.

I normally read 4 newspapers a day, I read about 50 books a year, I have read roughly 25 books about Trump, and the only thing we watch on Fox is sporting events.

Our new neighbor in New Mexico has a Trump flag in his garage, but he is actually a pretty decent guy.

Even though it is hard sometimes, It is best to simply accept the fact that he has the right to his opinion – and I have the right to mine.