FDR tops list of successful U.S. presidents

Franklin D. Roosevelt, who led the United States through the Great Depression and World War II, has been voted the most successful of all time among U.S. presidents.

According to the BBC report, the poll was conducted by U.K. academics on U.S. presidential performance and was published by the U.S. Presidency Center of the Institute for the Study of Americas on Monday.
 
Roosevelt was the nation's 32nd U.S. president, holding the office from 1933 to 1945. He came in first on three out of five categories measured ― vision and agenda setting, domestic leadership and foreign policy.

George Washington, the nation's first president, rated most highly in the category of moral authority while Abraham Lincoln topped the list in most positive historical significance.

Later presidents holding the job between 1977 and 2009 ranked poorly on the survey compared to early White House occupants. Ronald Reagan was the only president to make the top 10 among the five presidents from 1977 to 2009. Meanwhile, George W. Bush, who presided over the unpopular Iraq War, ranked among the bottom 10.

In contrast, early U.S. presidents ― Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865), George Washington (1789-1797) and Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809) took spots two through four after Roosevelt.

Had Barack Obama been included in the poll, he would have ranked 8th, the British academics projected. William Henry Harrison and James Garfield, who both died shortly after taking office, were also excluded.

(jurie777@heraldcorp.com)