Americans Say Reagan and Clinton Were Better than Lincoln and Washington

Monday was Presidents’ Day, an artificial holiday created by Congress a few decades back. It was inconvenient to celebrate Abe Lincoln’s birth on February 12 and George Washington’s on February 22. So instead, the people lost these holidays and got this monstrosity called Presidents’ Day which falls on the third Monday of February and is celebrated mainly with car and electronics sales. However, soft news comes out about the presidency around this time, and according to Gallup, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton are the two best presidents ever according to the American people, the fools.

According to Gallup, Reagan had a plurality of fans with 20% of those surveyed saying he was the greatest. Mr. Clinton got 15% while Abraham Lincoln was third at 14%. FDR and JFK tied at 12% each. Apparently, winning American independence, refusing to accept the crown at the hands of an angry and underpaid army, and denying himself more than two terms (thus setting a precedent for presidents) wasn’t enough to get George Washington, Father of His Country and the guy whose birthday used to be celebrated, into the top 5.

The good people at Gallup also broke these responses down by party affiliation. Republicans gave 42% of their support to the Gipper while only 14% thought the Great Emancipator was great at all. On the other side of the aisle, Gallup said Democrats put Mr. Clinton “far in the lead over FDR.” FDR only pulled America through the Depression and the Second World War and created Social Security. Meanwhile Mr. Clinton managed to get impeached for lying about sex under oath. Independents proved to be the most reasonable group, giving their top three as Lincoln, FDR and Kennedy.

Of course, Americans are terrible at history, including their own. So, it is not surprising that people picked presidents they actually could remember. The 18-to-29 year-olds favored Mr. Clinton, the next cohort at 30-49 thought Mr. Reagan was the bees knees, while boomers aged 50-64 loved the fallen Mr. Kennedy. Those drawing Social Security, 65+, thanked FDR.

Out of the 43 president in US history, there have been a few disasters (Wilson, Grant, and both Johnsons), a few that merit a “nice-try” response (Carter and J.Q. Adams) but the truly great ones are the obvious ones. Washington, founder; Jefferson, real estate purchaser; Lincoln and FDR, preservers; and T. Roosevelt, reformer. The current president W is closer to Mr. Wilson than to Mr. Washington.


© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.

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