# stupidest president - you can't be serious **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [June 22, 2001, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-president-you-cant-be-serious/69802 "2001-06-22T16:25:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Ned](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/848f3c/32.png) [@Ned](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ned)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2001, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-president-you-cant-be-serious/69802/101 "2001-07-14T01:18:30Z")
No idea whether this has any legitimacy but I found it amusing. > [@](#): > > The Intelligence of our Presidents > by Jennifer L. Borenstein of the Bakersville News Service > The intelligence of our presidents has never been seriously scrutinized at any time in our history until now. > There is a widespread perception that President G. W. Bush is not qualified for the position he holds. > That increasing awareness by the people has led to a study of the intellectual ability of all presidents > for the past fifty years. There have been twelve presidents in that time, from Roosevelt to G. W.Bush. > > All were rated based on scholarly achievements, writings that they alone wrote, their ability to speak > effectively, and a number of psychological factors. The conclusions of the study, conducted by an > independent think tank located in Scranton, Pennsylvania were surprising. > > This think tank includes high caliber historians, psychiatrists, sociologists, scientists in human behavior, > and psychologists. Among their ranks are Dr. Werner Levenstein, world-renowned sociologist, and > Professor Patricia A. Williams, a world-respected psychiatrist. All members of the think tank are experts > at being able to detect a person’s IQ from the criteria stated earlier. After four months of research, these > learned men and women have determined the IQs of each president within a range of five percentage points. > > The IQs listed below are the norms for each president. > > 147 Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) > > 132 Harry Truman (D) > > 122 Dwight D. Eisenhower ® > > 174 John F. Kennedy (D) > > 126 Lyndon B. Johnson (D) > > 155 Richard M. Nixon ® > > 121 Gerald Ford ® > > 175 James E. Carter (D) > > 105 Ronald Reagan ® > > 099 George HW Bush ® > > 182 William J. Clinton (D) > > 091 George W. Bush ® > > The non-partisan researchers who evaluated the twelve presidents determined that the six Republican > presidents for the past 50 years had an average IQ of 115.5, with President Nixon having the highest IQ, > at 155. President G. W. Bush was rated the lowest of all the Republicans with an IQ of 91. > > The six Democrat presidents had IQs with an average of 156, with Bill Clinton having the highest at 182. > President Johnson was rated the lowest of all the Democrats with an IQ of 126. The margin of error is > plus or minus five percent. This study was initiated on February 13, 2001 and completed on June 17, 2001. > This study validated the widespread feeling of people about the sitting president. President Bush was rated > low because of his inability to command the English language, his lack of any scholarly achievements, and > an absence of anything authored by him that would reflect an intellectual effort. ---
**Author:** ![bmorey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/76d3ee/32.png) [@bmorey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmorey)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2001, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-president-you-cant-be-serious/69802/102 "2001-07-14T09:47:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dr. Ennig \* > \*\*interesting > From the European perspective (and quite unanimously, I have to say), Dubya is considered to be dumb and a bad politician. he might do a few things right in the U.S., but on the international scene he is one big bomb. > Doc \*\* Ditto for Australia but, like Europe, Australian media are dominated by the left. Clinton could have raped half a dozen interns and the Australia press would have conveniently forgotten to mention it. Bush is a Republican and therefore automatically has no saving graces. The amount of Kennedy-worship that the press here still indulge in from time to time is sickening, despite the fact that on any objective analysis he was a prize creep. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2001, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-president-you-cant-be-serious/69802/103 "2001-07-14T19:51:16Z")
Ned, what are you quoting from? What think tank is in Scranton, Pennsylvania? I don’t know of anybody who can deduce IQ accurately without testing the person, so the claim that someone is an expert in doing that is dubious. ---
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2001, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-president-you-cant-be-serious/69802/104 "2001-07-15T02:09:56Z")
A google search reveals no “Bakersfield News Service,” either. A quick check took me to [http://home8.swipnet.se/~w-80790/Q&A/Q&A\_2.htm#10/14/00](http://home8.swipnet.se/~w-80790/Q&A/Q&A_2.htm#10/14/00) which provided this list of estimated and known IQs: U.S. President Presidency IQ George Washington 1789-1797 118 John Adams 1797-1801 137 Thomas Jefferson 1801-1809 138 James Madison 1809-1817 138 John Quincy Adams 1825-1829 153 Andrew Jackson 1829-1837 123 Abraham Lincoln 1861-1865 128 Andrew Johnson 1865-1869 143 Ulysses S. Grant 1869-1877 110 John F. Kennedy 1961-1963 117 Richard Nixon 1969-1974 143 William J. Clinton 1993-2001 137 George W. Bush 2001- 125 ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2001, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-president-you-cant-be-serious/69802/105 "2001-07-16T22:37:48Z")
Oooh, and I love that “within a margin of five points”. It sounds so scientific! But of course this is meaningless. Even if such a study actually occured, there is no way to give reasonable confidence levels for it. You’d have to have some method of comparing your estimated scores to the actual scores. Which I imagine are not available. So even if the estimated scores are extremely accurate, there is no way to TELL that they are accurate. ---
**Author:** ![sjc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@sjc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sjc)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2001, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-president-you-cant-be-serious/69802/106 "2001-07-19T22:59:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chronos \* > \*\*Maybe the advisors he has are good… but he’s only just now finally getting around to appointing a science advisor. But heck, he doesn’t need a science advisor! Why, he already knows everything there is to know about global warning and the National Missile Defense. > > Meanwhile, I’m no historian, but I do happen to think that Wilson and Carter were two of our greatest Presidents. In both cases, I think that their failures in office can be mostly attributed to just being in the wrong place at the wrong time: It wasn’t Wilson’s fault that nobody accepted his Fourteen Points (which IMO would have prevented WWII), and the foreign crises of the seventies didn’t really help the career of any politician. \*\* I haven’t read down the thread yet so I don’t know if anyone else called you on this but the idea that Wilson was a great president is simplistic. This really is not on the topic of the OP so I’m not sure if I should write this or not but I do want to bring up the issue of what a jerk Wilson was. (I also think that Dubya is pretty stupid and that intelligence does effect the success of a presidency, hopefully positively.) Wilson _was_ smart. He was the only Phd to be president. He also happened to be a bigot and a jerk. Read “Lies My Teacher Told Me” by James Loewen. He resegregated the federal government for the first time since the Civil War. He sent troops to Mexico and Haiti and (I believe) several other Central American and Carribean countries in order to protect American commercial interests. He _didn’t_ support independance for the ‘browner races’. For example, he supported the french presence in Viet Nam. After WWI he sent troops to Russia to fight the communists there. (Is this a good or bad thing? Whatever your views on communism, it probably was a bad thing. The presence of Foriegn troops on Russian soil helped bolster support for the homegrown revolutionaries and gave an advantage to the more violent Bolsheviks.) At home he did some of the most damage to American citizens’ civil rights. Not only to minorities civil rights. He pushed through legislation during WWI that gave him and the federal government dictatorial powers. He held on to the powers after the war ended and used them to persecute minorities and left-leaning citizens. When Warren G. Harding called for ‘a return to normalcy’ a lot of people agreed with him and he was elected president. Although he was broken physically at that point, Wilson probably wanted to run for a third term against Harding. As it was his democratic successor lost to the idiotic and corrupt Harding. The Democrats should have been riding on the high generated by winning the war but everyone was pissed at Wilson. Honestly, Wilson was a jerk. Did a lot of really bad things. I’m not saying he was entirely awful, but he probably wasn’t someone you’d want to be president today. (And if you say “Yeah, but he was a product of his times! He couldn’t help it.” Well yes, he was, but there were people at that time who were much more enlightened than he was.) ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2001, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-president-you-cant-be-serious/69802/107 "2001-07-21T21:38:38Z")
Take a look at the top item in the “Currently Circulating” or “New Additions” section of snopes. It says that the IQ calculations that are quoted by Ned are bogus. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2001, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-president-you-cant-be-serious/69802/108 "2001-07-23T00:39:40Z")
You may well be right, **sjc**. Most of what I know of US history comes from high school at the latest, and it’s quite possible that I’m misremembering what I heard about Mr. Wilson, or that my textbooks didn’t say as much as they should have in the first place. I still think that his Fourteen Points were a good idea, though, even if he was a bit hypocritical on some of them. ---
**Author:** ![2nd\_Law](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/f475e1/32.png) [@2nd\_Law](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2nd_Law)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2001, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-president-you-cant-be-serious/69802/109 "2001-07-24T20:42:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wendell Wagner \* > \*\*Take a look at the top item in the “Currently Circulating” or “New Additions” section of snopes. It says that the IQ calculations that are quoted by Ned are bogus. \*\* Quite right, Wendell. Here’s the [link](http://www.snopes2.com/inboxer/hoaxes/presiq.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Ed\_Zotti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/fbc32d/32.png) [@Ed\_Zotti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ed_Zotti)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2001, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-president-you-cant-be-serious/69802/110 "2001-07-25T16:58:53Z")
christophercampbell writes: > [@](#): > > Dan Quayle was thought stupid because he couldn’t spell potato, but then it is hard to argue that the great Cecil himself is any smarter when he uses “data” as a singular noun. I know everyone does it, but that doesn’t make it right. Sure it does. That’s how language works. Do you say “here are my agenda”? By your reasoning you should - it’s a Latin plural, singular agendum. Usage always trumps logic, unless you’re one of those holdouts who says “It is I.” ---
**Author:** ![IzzyR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/2acd7d/32.png) [@IzzyR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IzzyR)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2001, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-president-you-cant-be-serious/69802/111 "2001-08-02T13:24:27Z")
More evidence that GW Bush is a [genius](http://www.theonion.com/onion3726/bush_finds_error.html). 😃 ---
**Author:** ![december](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/838e76/32.png) [@december](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/december)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2001, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-president-you-cant-be-serious/69802/112 "2001-08-02T22:31:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by IzzyR \* > \*\*More evidence that GW Bush is a [genius](http://www.theonion.com/onion3726/bush_finds_error.html). 😃 \*\* Cute spoof, but here’s a real world analogue. A few days ago I saw (on Fox News) a sound bite. GW Bush was explaining that during a meeting with an Italian leader, the real-time translator had made an error. The erronious translation had the Italian leader saying something like, “Bush was leading the press.” (IIRC the proper translation said that Bush was leading the press _stories_.) After explaining the error, W said, with a grin, “Of course, no American President can direct the press.” Anyhow, I was guessing that Bush might have recognized the error himself, since the Italian language is close to Spanish. Or, maybe the American translator pointed it out to him. Does anyone know whether or not he was the one who picked up this error? ---
**Author:** ![OFFMYBACK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/34f0e0/32.png) [@OFFMYBACK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OFFMYBACK)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2001, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-president-you-cant-be-serious/69802/113 "2001-08-05T18:57:41Z")
Well, the medical opinion I most recently heard as to the cause of WHH’s death is that he could NOT have died as a result of his hatless inaugural address. The germs from a cold (and their effects) evidently do not have a “shelf-life” that extends as long as it took him to expire. (Meaning he would have been dead long before he actually was had he died from a cold germ that was contracted on that memorable day.) The more acceptable notion (with this medical theorist) is that since he shook so many hands after that period when he was making the social rounds at parties and the like, and hands go to mouth, well…that’s more likely how it happened that he contracted the germ that did him in. And it would necessarily have been done at a later date given the incubation time-frame. As to being stupidest, well this can’t be THAT exclusive a club can it?? And in that era, everyone was “stupid” when it came to germs and personal hygiene. (Um… they still are I think.) Anyway, what else could he possibly be credited with in only a month’s tenure that could earn him the title? A month long presidency can’t be THAT bad. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2001, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-president-you-cant-be-serious/69802/114 "2001-08-05T19:49:36Z")
**OFFMYBACK** said > [@](#): > > Anyway, what else could he possibly be credited with in only a month’s tenure that could earn him the title? A month long presidency can’t be THAT bad. . ::wondering who’ll be the first to respond:: :eek: ---
**Author:** ![jinty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dbc845/32.png) [@jinty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jinty)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2001, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-president-you-cant-be-serious/69802/115 "2001-08-06T12:09:40Z")
christophercampbell: “the Campbells in America manage to get along perfectly well with the McDonalds here – the same cannot be said in Scotland even today.” Well, actually, it CAN be said. Scotland certainly has its share of social/religious/sectarian problems, but clan feuds are NOT one of them. They’re a thing of the past. Even the Campbell/MacDonalds. I have no problem with you citing my country’s _real_ problems in order to make a point, but please don’t make up fictional nonsense like this. ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2001, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-president-you-cant-be-serious/69802/116 "2001-08-06T22:19:01Z")
All I know is that Campbell’s is better at making soup than McDonald’s is at making hamburgers. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2001, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-president-you-cant-be-serious/69802/117 "2001-08-07T14:40:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jinty \* > \*\*I have no problem with you citing my country’s _real_ problems in order to make a point, but please don’t make up fictional nonsense like this. \*\* Hell, you missed the best of **christophercampbell’s** “wisdom”: > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by christophercampbell \*\*\* > [ul][li] As for snooty, aristocratic Europeans, they hate Americans in general anyway, so who gives a damn what they think?[/li][li]It is highly doubtful that there would be any semblence of democracy in Europe today if it were not for the influence of the United States[/li][li]Europe still thinks that the answers to its problems lie in solutions that are fundamentally totalitarian: socialism, restricted trade, and appeals to tribal loyalties[/li][li]How many more times are we going to have to save Europe before Europeans really do learn something from their mistakes, anyway?[/li][li]hypocrisy reigns as the dominant feature of European culture[/li][/ul]_\* You know, I’d love to see some cites for any of the above. Failing that, he can shove his misinformed, racist, opiniated drivel up his ass, where hopefully they’ll prevent him voicing any more opinions. ---
**Author:** ![OFFMYBACK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/34f0e0/32.png) [@OFFMYBACK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OFFMYBACK)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2001, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-president-you-cant-be-serious/69802/118 "2001-08-07T16:06:36Z")
Well, I know that quotes can be taken out of context–and it changes the total meaning. I didn’t read all of the “drivel” which Mr. Kumquat attributes christophercampbell’s quotes come from. That said, Mr. Kumquat, the actual words you quoted aren’t TOO far off the mark. I don’t think they are “racist”–What “race” is he denigrating? Europeans?? Ahem. Europeans R’ Us, sir. “Misinformed”–?? With a few minor adjustments to the verbiage, I’d say he was quite informed. Many Europeans DO hate Americans. Perhaps you will recall the efforts to start-up Euro-Disney, and the total hatred for American culture spewed forth from the French. (Mickey Mouse was a capitalist rat to them. —though he has brought a few zillion francs into their economy!) Disney had to kiss-up to all the various and sundry French labor unions just to get the HIGHWAY opened so tourists could enter the gate and spend money—never mind the work-force in the park itself. Have you ever tried to get permission to WORK in France if you are American, Mr. Kumquat?? Nigh’ on to impossible. They grudgingly let you visit there and spend your money—just don’t expect to be allowed to EARN any there. Broke? Adieu! And considering that WWII (the big one) would have resulted in a population of Europeans that would be goose-stepping now (if not extinct) save the sacrifice of American blood…it does seem to me as though we DID save their derrieres. So to speak. And there is that tendency in the European community to be clubbish (if not clannish) certainly proven so with the Euro-dollar, high import tarrifs and economic discouragements to any foreign business. Try selling anything to a European if you are in the U.S. They ask you to lie on the postal forms as to value. The tax is PUNITIVE to them for daring to buy out of their own economy. So, I can’t disagree with Mr. Campbell’s quote on those subjects. The only part that is far-fetched is the part at the end where he asks how many times we have to save Europe before they learn from their mistakes. A thousand times would not be enough, and one time would be too many. There can be no military “next-time” --let’s hope. And PLEASE don’t throw that “racist” chestnut at me. I am French, Swiss, and Scotch-Welch–. Not a drop of non-European blood. And I have relatives by marriage who are German. So What? If I were a martian, the truth would still be the truth. We ALL need to work harder at acceptance and appreciation of our fellow humans. Please don’t tell me where I should shove THAT. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2001, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-president-you-cant-be-serious/69802/119 "2001-08-07T17:16:21Z")
Gary Kumquat - you have used language inappropriate to this forum. Please report to the SDMB woodshed for an SDMB spanking, and don’t do it again. As much as I love to see discussions re: the Amurricans being the sole saviours of Europe’s butts in World War II, this is not the time nor the place. * * * moderator, «[**Comments on Cecil’s Columns**](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=1)» [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-president-you-cant-be-serious/69802.md?page=5)