Etc.

FDR: As presidents go, he might rate a place in stone

If a granite likeness of a fifth president of the US could be carved into Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, whose should it be? If a group of 65 presidential historians had to choose, Franklin D. Roosevelt would get the nod. The White House scholars participated in cable channel C-SPAN's 2009 Survey of Presidential Leadership and ranked FDR right behind the Big Two – Lincoln and Washington – and ahead of the other two Rushmore giants, Theodore Roosevelt and Thomas Jefferson. The panelists favored 20th-century presidents, with seven of the Top 10 serving in the Oval Office during the 1900s. The presidents were judged on a 1-to-10 scale in 10 leadership categories, among them moral authority, public persuasion, and relations with Congress. The best US presidents, with their scores in total points, according to the results of the survey:

• 1. Abraham Lincoln 902
• 2. George Washington 854
• 3. Franklin D. Roosevelt 837
• 4. Theodore Roosevelt 781
• 5. Harry S. Truman 708
• 6. John F. Kennedy 701
• 7. Thomas Jefferson 698
• 8. Dwight D. Eisenhower 689
• 9. Woodrow Wilson 683
• 10. Ronald Reagan 671