# Most & least intellectual US presidents... **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 28, 2008, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-least-intellectual-us-presidents/465533 "2008-09-28T02:53:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-least-intellectual-us-presidents/465533/21 "2008-09-28T15:02:50Z")
The Master speaks: [Who was the Stupidest U.S. President?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2310/who-was-the-stupidest-u-s-president). ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-least-intellectual-us-presidents/465533/22 "2008-09-28T15:28:53Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > Likewise, [Grant] pursued a conciliatory policy of peaceful and fair assimilation of the western Indian tribes… Cite? Because Grant’s appointee [Phil “The only good Indians I ever saw were dead” Sheridan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Sheridan) was not exactly noted for his conciliatory policies toward the Western tribes. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-least-intellectual-us-presidents/465533/23 "2008-09-28T16:32:46Z")
> [@spoke-](#): > > Cite? Because Grant’s appointee [Phil “The only good Indians I ever saw were dead” Sheridan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Sheridan) was not exactly noted for his conciliatory policies toward the Western tribes. Grant appointed Sheridan to that position before he was President, btw. He’s talking about Grant’s “peace policy”, which completely reformed the Bureau of Indian Affairs, institutionalized etucational and medical programs for Indians, put in more concilliatory generals, and turned a lot of responsibilities for the running of the reservations over to the churches. ---
**Author:** ![Amok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f17d59/32.png) [@Amok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amok)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-least-intellectual-us-presidents/465533/24 "2008-09-28T16:40:22Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Is this a whoosh? Seriously…are you kidding me? > > Read what? Archie comics? It’s hardly unknown that Bush reads a fair amount of books (more non-fiction than fiction), even if it doesn’t fit with people’s image of him. You can take your pick of cites: [A CNN article about Bush’s interest in Natan Sharansky’s The Case for Democracy.](http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/01/10/bush.readinglist.tm/) [A US News & World Report article from ‘06 that includes a sample of the books Bush read that year, including Camus’ The Stranger.](http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/060817/17bushbooks.htm) [A New York Times article from '05 that notes Bush is a fan of Tom Wolfe, having read all of his novels.](http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/07/politics/07letter.html) (registration may be required) And there are tons of others out there. In fact, I’d say not knowing such a widely reported fact speaks to a lack of intellectual curiosity in the person who expresses it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-least-intellectual-us-presidents/465533/25 "2008-09-28T16:41:37Z")
Paul Johnsonk, in _A History of the American People,_ described Andrew Jackson as the most “intellectually incompetent” president ever. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-least-intellectual-us-presidents/465533/26 "2008-09-28T16:44:52Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Is this a whoosh? Seriously…are you kidding me? Nope. I remember a press conference at the end of one of his summer vacations where he did this. His vacation reading list is not super extensive, but I assume he has piles of other stuff to work his way through, things that certainly make my eyes glaze over. > **[Bush Salts His Summer With Eclectic Reading List](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-aug-16-na-bushread16-story.html)** > > He is tackling three historical sagas while on vacation, impressing even the authors. > [@](#): > > According to the White House, one of three books Bush chose to read on his five-week vacation is “Salt: A World History” by Mark Kurlansky, who chronicled the rise and fall of what once was considered the world’s most strategic commodity. > > The other two books he reportedly brought to Crawford are “Alexander II: The Last Great Tsar” by Edvard Radzinsky and “The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History” by John M. Barry. The Barry book is ironic, because Bush in 2005 just before Katrina should have been reading Barry’s classic _Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America_. If he had, well, history and America might have been changed indeed. > **[Why is George Bush reading Camus?](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2006/08/why-is-george-bush-reading-camus.html)** > > On his summer vacation in Crawford, Texas, George Bush read Albert Camus' novel The Stranger. I'm not sure what to make of this. It's usually college... > [@](#): > > On his summer vacation in Crawford, Texas, George Bush read Albert Camus’ novel The Stranger. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-least-intellectual-us-presidents/465533/27 "2008-09-28T17:41:59Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > Taft was on the Supreme Court after his presidency - intellectual lightweights don’t end up there. Clarence Thomas ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-least-intellectual-us-presidents/465533/28 "2008-09-28T17:52:04Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > I think Andrew Johnson was the last president who didn’t go to college (had no formal education at all, for that matter). Truman’s the last US President not to have gone to college. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-least-intellectual-us-presidents/465533/29 "2008-09-28T18:12:55Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Grant appointed Sheridan to that position before he was President, btw. He’s talking about Grant’s “peace policy”, which completely reformed the Bureau of Indian Affairs, institutionalized etucational and medical programs for Indians, put in more concilliatory generals, and turned a lot of responsibilities for the running of the reservations over to the churches. Custer’s last campaign occured during the Grant administration, following an order by Grant for the Lakota and Cheyenne to report to reservations or be considered “hostile.” Still doesn’t sound “conciliatory” to me. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-least-intellectual-us-presidents/465533/30 "2008-09-28T20:58:21Z")
Opinions on Theodore Roosevelt? I’d rank him in the more mentally active set. Remember: merely because he was interested in athletics, doesn’t mean he was dull-witted. ---
**Author:** ![Mustafa\_Al-Habib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Mustafa\_Al-Habib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mustafa_Al-Habib)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-least-intellectual-us-presidents/465533/31 "2008-09-28T23:41:54Z")
> [@Amok](#): > > It’s hardly unknown that Bush reads a fair amount of books (more non-fiction than fiction), even if it doesn’t fit with people’s image of him. > > You can take your pick of cites: > > [A CNN article about Bush’s interest in Natan Sharansky’s The Case for Democracy.](http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/01/10/bush.readinglist.tm/) > > [A US News & World Report article from ‘06 that includes a sample of the books Bush read that year, including Camus’ The Stranger.](http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/060817/17bushbooks.htm) > > [A New York Times article from '05 that notes Bush is a fan of Tom Wolfe, having read all of his novels.](http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/07/politics/07letter.html) (registration may be required) > > And there are tons of others out there. In fact, I’d say not knowing such a widely reported fact speaks to a lack of intellectual curiosity in the person who expresses it. 😃 The fact that he read all those books doesn’t necessarily imply his comprehension of them. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-least-intellectual-us-presidents/465533/32 "2008-09-28T23:41:54Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Opinions on Theodore Roosevelt? > > I’d rank him in the more mentally active set. > > Remember: merely because he was interested in athletics, doesn’t mean he was dull-witted. He [wrote 18 books,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_roosevelt#Writer) FWIW. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-least-intellectual-us-presidents/465533/33 "2008-09-29T00:06:03Z")
> [@spoke-](#): > > Custer’s last campaign occured during the Grant administration, following an order by Grant for the Lakota and Cheyenne to report to reservations or be considered “hostile.” > > Still doesn’t sound “conciliatory” to me. This is a complicated subject, but that was definitely not Grant’s policy or desire. Neither was Sheridan’s actions in general, as noted above. Grant’s initiated a massive reform of the Indian Affairs system, which beggared the indians and was slowly killing them off through booze and no medical care. The change was huge, but it was also uneven and imperfect. Some Indians refused to see reason (they were pretty bloody-minded as a group) and kept doing things like raids or the odd massacre. This undercut Grant’s policy, although he was able to improve a lot of things. In the long run, of course, no good deed goes unpunished and the reforms themselves were turned into more corruption. But that was after Grant. I’d have to look up the exact circumstance, but Sheridan came to Washington one time and basically said, we’ve got no choice, and it’s either protect American citizens on American land (this was near the big mines discovered in the post-Civil War) or protect Indian rebels. Grant was initially in favor of a conciliatory position, but he really, really trusted Sheridan, who was a jerk but had performed well in every post given to him. Plus, Sheridan had been on the ground in that area for years. Grant oprdered the area be pacified with as little bloodshed as possible. As it turned out, Sheridan was _extremely_ anti-Indian, and he started the semi-genocidal campaign afterward. Grant could hardly do anything about it until it was far too late, and could hardly repudiate his own general he’d specifically sent on the mission. He was steamed about the mess, though, and never really trusted Sheridan again. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-least-intellectual-us-presidents/465533/34 "2008-09-29T01:21:07Z")
> [@42fish](#): > > Truman’s the last US President not to have gone to college. according to another of **Cecil’s** column [What if the U.S. President and Vice-president-elect die before being sworn in?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/122/what-if-the-u-s-president-and-vice-president-elect-die-before-being-sworn-in), Truman did take some night classes at the Kansas City Law School, but didn’t graduate. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-least-intellectual-us-presidents/465533/35 "2008-09-29T01:31:17Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > Some Indians refused to see reason (they were pretty bloody-minded as a group) and kept doing things like raids or the odd massacre. :dubious: No, really: :dubious: What, they were illegal enemy combatants? ---
**Author:** ![Milkman\_Dan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Milkman\_Dan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milkman_Dan)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-least-intellectual-us-presidents/465533/36 "2008-09-29T01:52:20Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > Some Indians refused to see reason (they were pretty bloody-minded as a group) and kept doing things like raids or the odd massacre. How would YOU respond to genocide being committed against your people? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Clu-Me-In](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@Clu-Me-In](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clu-Me-In)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-least-intellectual-us-presidents/465533/37 "2008-09-29T02:09:07Z")
George Bush. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-least-intellectual-us-presidents/465533/38 "2008-09-29T02:13:15Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Opinions on Theodore Roosevelt? > > I’d rank him in the more mentally active set. > > Remember: merely because he was interested in athletics, doesn’t mean he was dull-witted. TR was the first president I thought of when I saw this thread. He may have written more books that the other 41 presidents put together. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-least-intellectual-us-presidents/465533/39 "2008-09-29T02:28:42Z")
> [@Frostillicus](#): > > TR was the first president I thought of when I saw this thread. He may have written more books that the other 41 presidents put together. Carter has written 23 books. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-least-intellectual-us-presidents/465533/40 "2008-09-29T02:32:03Z")
Wilson and Jefferson were the first ones I thought of on seeing the title. But TR is a strong contender, as is Jimmy Carter. Remember, too, that intellectual is not a synonym for ‘effective in the role of President’. Hoover is supposed to have been one hell of a smart guy and a good engineer. That doesn’t mean things didn’t go south on his watch and remain that way. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-least-intellectual-us-presidents/465533.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-least-intellectual-us-presidents/465533.md?page=3)