# G. W. Bush least educated president? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 13, 2002, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-w-bush-least-educated-president/142437 "2002-12-13T04:41:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Alietta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecb155/32.png) [@Alietta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alietta)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2002, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-w-bush-least-educated-president/142437/1 "2002-12-13T04:41:59Z")
Considering educational background, is Bush the least educated president? I can’t think of any degrees he has. ---
**Author:** ![Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/57b2e6/32.png) [@Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2002, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-w-bush-least-educated-president/142437/2 "2002-12-13T04:52:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Alietta \* > \*\* I can’t think of any degrees he has. \*\* Well, that says more about you than it does about him. He has degrees from Yale and Harvard. [http://www.whitehouse.gov/president/gwbbio.html](http://www.whitehouse.gov/president/gwbbio.html) ---
**Author:** ![Amok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f17d59/32.png) [@Amok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amok)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2002, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-w-bush-least-educated-president/142437/3 "2002-12-13T04:53:14Z")
No. G. W. Bush has a Bachelor’s from Yale and a MBA from Harvard From a [SD column about whether Reagan was the least educated president of this century](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_133.html), we learn that: > [@](#): > > [Reagan] wasn’t the least educated president of the century, though. President Truman, for one, had only a couple years of night courses at Kansas City Law School, while Reagan received a bachelor’s degree at Eureka College. So, that’s at least 2 presidents that G. W. Bush is better educated than (at least in terms of earning college degrees). ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2002, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-w-bush-least-educated-president/142437/4 "2002-12-13T04:53:24Z")
He has a bachelor’s in history from Yale, and an MBA from Harvard. The President with the least amount of formal education in the past century was Harry Truman. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2002, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-w-bush-least-educated-president/142437/5 "2002-12-13T04:56:39Z")
George W. Bush has a BA from Yale and a MBA from Harvard Business. Not bad. For the least formal education, [Truman](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_133.html) never received a degree in anything. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2002, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-w-bush-least-educated-president/142437/6 "2002-12-13T04:57:35Z")
I see Cecil has taught us well, fellow grasshoppers. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2002, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-w-bush-least-educated-president/142437/7 "2002-12-13T05:14:49Z")
He has a Bachelors degree from Yale, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Start getting your news from someone other than “Bush is dumb” late-night comedians and/or liberal pundits. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2002, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-w-bush-least-educated-president/142437/8 "2002-12-13T05:20:02Z")
For what it’s worth, several U.S. Presidents didn’t attend college at all. Among them (this is not a comprehensive list) are George Washington, Andrew Jackson, Millard Fillmore, and Abraham Lincoln. George W. Bush’s two degrees put him ahead of most Presidents- only one, Woodrow Wilson, ever earned a doctorate. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2002, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-w-bush-least-educated-president/142437/9 "2002-12-13T13:39:00Z")
Which presidents since 1900 have had a bachelor’s degree, and only a bachelor’s degree? ---
**Author:** ![Oblong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c0e974/32.png) [@Oblong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oblong)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2002, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-w-bush-least-educated-president/142437/10 "2002-12-13T14:51:47Z")
I’ll include those that just attended college. McKinley: Attended Allegheney College T. Roosevelt:Graduated from Harvard Wilson:Graduated from Princeton (doesn’t mention Ph.D) Harding:Graduated from Ohio Central College Coolidge:Graduated from Amherst Hoover:Stanford FDR:Graduated frm Harvard, attended Columbia Law School Truman:Attended college Eisenhower:Graduated from West Point JFK:Graduated from Harvard LBJ:Graduated from Southwest Texas Teacher’s College Carter:Graduated from US Naval Academy Reagan:Graduated from Eureka College George H.W. Bush:Graduated from Yale This makes no distinction between a Bachelor and Master’s, but I would think it would list both if they got two degrees from same school. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2002, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-w-bush-least-educated-president/142437/11 "2002-12-13T15:51:33Z")
Oh, Woodrow Wilson MUST have had a graduate degree. He didn’t just graduate from Princeton, he was its President. Wouldn’t he have had to have been a professor there first? Didn’t know about Hoover at Stanford…I see he graduated in 1895…wow, he must’ve majored in cattle-rustling or something. ---
**Author:** ![Yossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/9de0a6/32.png) [@Yossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yossarian)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2002, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-w-bush-least-educated-president/142437/12 "2002-12-13T16:06:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ukulele Ike \* > \*\* > Didn’t know about Hoover at Stanford…I see he graduated in 1895…wow, he must’ve majored in cattle-rustling or something. \*\* Ahem! Herbert Hoover earned his B.S. in **Geology**. (Colin Powell also has a B.S. in Geology, BTW.) This episode of “What you can do with a degree in Geology” was brought to you by your local Geology professor. ---
**Author:** ![tullius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tullius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tullius)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2002, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-w-bush-least-educated-president/142437/13 "2002-12-13T16:16:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ukulele Ike \* > \*\*Oh, Woodrow Wilson MUST have had a graduate degree. He didn’t just graduate from Princeton, he was its President. Wouldn’t he have had to have been a professor there first? \*\* Wilson earned a Ph.D in Political Science from Johns Hopkins. Before that, he had attended law school at UVa and, I think, practiced law briefly in Virginia. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2002, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-w-bush-least-educated-president/142437/14 "2002-12-13T16:22:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Pantellerite \* > \*\*Ahem! Herbert Hoover earned his B.S. in **Geology**. > > (Colin Powell also has a B.S. in Geology, BTW.) > > This episode of “What you can do with a degree in Geology” was brought to you by your local Geology professor. \*\* Hoover’s area of expertise was mining, and he worked as a mining engineer in China for many years. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2002, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-w-bush-least-educated-president/142437/15 "2002-12-13T23:56:31Z")
so, does all of the preceding mean that he is the best educated president, barring woodrow wilson? ---
**Author:** ![Psi\_Cop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@Psi\_Cop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Psi_Cop)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-w-bush-least-educated-president/142437/16 "2002-12-14T00:06:08Z")
No. There’s a difference between being well-educated, and having had access to the best education on the planet. One can argue whether Princeton, Harvard, or Yale is the best school around (or whatever other school you feel justified in adding to the debate), but Bush has indeed had the opportunity to get one of the best formal educations possible. This doesn’t mean, however, that he’s the most educated president. Only that he’s had the opportunity to be among that top tier of them. -Psi Cop