Reference link: http://www.eoht.

info/m/page/American+Presidents+by+IQ

Title: American Presidents Ranked by Their Brilliance

Introduction:

The White House has been a home to a number of smart people worthy of being called the
president of the United States, and the ranking by IQ is a way to place them in a sort of a hierarchy
of smartness. In relation, the term “political genius” is used and as noted by Nietzsche for example,
this refers to people who are embodying higher laws than the ordinary person and have a certain
nobility of style. This term tends to be associated to political figures such as Abraham Lincoln,
Winston Churchill, Barack Obama and others.

Thomas Jefferson – IQ 190

Thomas Jefferson was the third President of the United States from 1801 to 1809 and he was the
main author of the Declaration of Independence. He was born and raised in Virginia which he
represented in the Continental Congress during the American Revolution. When he was a President
he was also concerned with the nation’s shipping and trade activities in regards to Barbary pirates,
as well as organizing the Louisiana Purchase that basically doubled the country’s territory.

Jefferson excelled at several skills including mathematics, mechanics and surveying. He was a
notable architect and a great philosopher. In fact, he was at the top of the American Philosophical
Society. He was also an eminent linguist and could speak a couple of languages. He even was the
founder of the University of Virginia. All of this contributed to him earning epithets such as the “last
person to know everything” and a “walking encyclopedia”.

https://www.biography.com/.image/t_share/MTE5NDg0MDU1MDEwMjQ4MjA3/thomas-jefferson-
9353715-1-402.jpg

James Madison – IQ 180

James Madison was the forth President of the United States from 1809 to 1817 who was known as
the “Father of the Constitution” due to his crucial involvement with the putting together of the
United States Constitution as well as the Bill of Rights. He was a member of the Virginia House of
Delegates and the Continental Progress in the times of the American Revolution. He contributed to
the production of The Federalist Papers and later alongside Thomas Jefferson he organized the
Democratic-Republican Party.

Madison was concerned with social physics and was a student of John Witherspoon. He was also
interested in the political ideas of Charles Montesquieu that dealt with theories of human behavior
influenced by certain works of Isaac Newton. The works of Newton in question refer to the logic of
Newtonian mechanics and the three laws of motion. A government which is based on this kind of
logic is called a Newtonian government. Therefore, this played a role in Madison’s contribution to
the framing of the US Constitution.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1d/James_Madison.jpg/1200px-
James_Madison.jpg

Abraham Lincoln – IQ 175

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States from 1861 to 1865 when he was
assassinated. He was the leader of the United State during the Civil War and he helped preserving
the Union as well as abolishing slavery and modernizing the economy. He was mainly self-educated,
became a lawyer and was elected to United States House of Representatives and opposed the
Mexican-American War. He also took part in very popular debates with his rival Stephen A. Douglas
who was a Democrat.

Lincoln is often ranked as the greatest President of the United States and applauded for his
heightened nationalism, sense for business, fight against violence amongst humans and adherence
to the principles of the Founding Fathers. Lincoln was also noted for using Euclidian geometry to aid
him in choosing right from wrong when it came to making important political decisions. In addition,
his actions were influenced by the principles of John Lock and Edmund Burke in regards to liberty
and tradition.

https://psmag.com/.image/t_share/MTI3NTgxNjM1NzcxMTU2NDkw/lincoln-portrait.jpg

John Adams – IQ 175

John Adams was the second President of the United States from 1797 to 1801. He was one of the
Founding Fathers and a lawyer, diplomat and statesman. He came up with a successful but
questionable legal defense of the British soldiers after the Boston Massacre because he stood by the
right to counsel and the “protection of innocence”. He helped prompting the Congress to declare
independence, assisted Thomas Jefferson in drafting the Declaration, and he played a role in
negotiating the peace treaty with Great Britain.

John Adams has been praised for his fight against radicals and labeled as perhaps the most
independent-minded of the founders. In fact, even though he was with the Federalists, he would still
disagree with them as equally as with the Democratic-Republicans. He would make good decisions
despite facing strong opposition which speaks for his qualities. Adams was especially proud of his
decision to aspire for peace with France, and even though this decreased his popularity he even had
it engraved on his tombstone.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Johnadamsvp.flipped.jpg
John Quincy Adams – IQ 170

John Quincy Adams was the 6th President of the United States from 1825 to 1829 and also a
diplomat, minister, ambassador and a treaty negotiator. He was adherent to U.S. republican values
which influenced his shaping of American foreign policy. His diplomatic skills helped with the
negotiation of treaties such as the Treaty of Ghent which put an end to the War of 1812. He was also
included in the negotiation with Great Britain over the U.S. border with Canada in 1818.

Another treaty that he negotiated was the so-called Adams-Onis Treaty which made room for the
purchase of Florida from the Spanish. Adams’ presidency was marked with his goals to modernize
the economy and to promote education. He even paid off a large part of the national debt. Adams
has been labeled the only child prodigy among the presidents due to his estimated IQ of 170. He was
fluent in several languages including Dutch and Latin, and he could read and write Italian, and
Ancient Greek.

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800px-JQA_Photo.tif.png

Woodrow Wilson – IQ 160

Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States from 1913 to 1921. He was a member
of the Democratic Party and was the leader of the country during World War I. At this time he
presented a foreign policy called “Wilsonianism” and was one of the key figures at the 1919 Paris
Peace Conference, where he brought up a new League of Nations though he didn’t get Senate
approval for the U.S. to partake in the league.

He earned a Ph.D. in political science and was a teacher at a number of schools. Later, he ran as the
Governor of New Jersey which earned him a favorable reputation as a progressive reformer. He was
noted to use Darwinian evolution logic as a basis in his presidency. He has earned high rankings in
several polls regarding U.S. Presidents. Wilson had a so-called “New Freedom” agenda that included
acts which established new economic regulations enforced by the federal government.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/70/President_Wilson_1919.jpg/800px-
President_Wilson_1919.jpg
John Kennedy – IQ 155

John F. Kennedy was the 35th President of the United States from 1961 until 1963 when he was
assassinated. During his presidency the Cold War was at its peak so much of Kennedy’s service was
in regards to managing the relations with the Soviet Union. He was a Harvard University graduate
and as a kid he was noted to score 199 on the Otis intelligence Test. He has been ranked as the 3rd
smartest president according to public polls.

One of Kennedy’s accomplishments was the winning of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography for his work
“Profiles in Courage”. He became a president at the age of 43 which marked him as the second
youngest to do so. As a president, he had to deal with high tensions with communist states such as
Cuba while at home, he oversaw the establishment of the Peace Corps and he supported the
African-American Civil Rights Movement. Kennedy has an average approval rating of 70% which puts
him above any other president in Gallup’s measurement history.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/John_F._Kennedy%2C_White_House_phot
o_portrait%2C_looking_up.jpg

Theodore Roosevelt – IQ 155

Theodore Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States from 1901 to 1909. He’s one of the
four faces depicted on Mount Rushmore and he played a major role in the Progressive Era in the
United States during the early 1900s. He was born with health problems such as asthma which he
managed to overcome. He had a wide range of interests showcased in his books such as “The Naval
War of 1812”.

In addition, Roosevelt was a war hero as he led the Rough Riders in the Spanish-American War. He
became President at age 42 which makes him the youngest one yet. He put forward his “Square
Deal” domestic policies which strived for fairness in regards to the common citizen. In fact,
Roosevelt prompted the buildings of numeral national parks, monuments and forests intended to
preserve national resources. On top of his achievements, he won the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize for his
efforts in ending the Russo-Japanese War.

https://www.biography.com/.image/t_share/MTE1ODA0OTcxNzcxOTg3NDY5/theodore-roosevelt-
9463424-1-402.jpg
Bill Clinton – IQ 150

Bill Clinton was the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001, as a member of the
Democratic Party. He attended more than one university including the University of Oxford and Yale
Law School. Prior to his presidency he was elected the Attorney General of Arkansas. During his run,
he passed several acts and reforms such as the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, the
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and a welfare reform.

When Clinton left office, he did so with the highest end-of-office approval rating since World War II
and has consistently been ranked in the top 3 of historical rankings of U.S. presidents. He has
assisted in peace processes like those of the Northern Ireland and the Israeli-Palestinian one. Clinton
has also created the “William J. Clinton Foundation” which deals with international concerns such as
the prevention of AIDS and global warming. Furthermore, he’s an author of his autobiography “My
Life”.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Bill_Clinton.jpg

Jimmy Carter – IQ 150

Jimmy Carter was the 39th President of the United States from 1977 to 1981. One of his notable
works is the co-founding of the Carter Center which won him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. Carter
was a graduate from the United States Naval Academy with a degree in science. He thereafter joined
the United States Navy and later became motivated by the racial segregation and the Civil Rights
Movement. In the meantime, he successfully expanded the Carter’s peanut business.

Prior to his presidency he was elected the Governor of Georgia and he stood for affirmative action
for ethnic minorities. Another notable moment for Carter was his pardoning of all evaders of the
Vietnam War drafts. In addition, he established a national energy policy as well as the departments
of energy and education. Carter became the longest-retired president in U.S. history in 2012. He’s
also a noted world-traveler with his intentions of conducting peace negotiations and preventing
deceases in developing countries.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/JimmyCarterPortrait2.jpg

James Garfield – IQ 150

James Abram Garfield was the 20th president, he was elected and started serving at March 4 in the
year 1881, but shortly after he started serving as a president he was assassinated by shooting in his
back at a downtown train station. Garfield fought for his life for 80 agonizing days, but his severely
infected gunshot wound eventually led to his death.

Garfield lived and was raised by his single mother in small and humble farm located in Ohio. Growing
up in order to survive he had to work everything, including on a canal boat in his youth. Starting
from his 17th years Garfield attended several Ohio schools, after what he studied at Williams College
in Williamstown Massachusetts, he graduated in 1856 and year after that he started his career in the
politics as a Republican. Before he was elected President of the United States, Garfield served nine
terms in the House of Representatives and was elected to the Senate, but he declined the Senate
seat once he was elected for president. Garfield is the only sitting House member to be ever elected
president.

https://cdn.history.com/sites/2/2016/07/hith-garfield-assassinatiion-Jgarfield-V.jpeg

Franklin D. Roosevelt – IQ 150

Franklin D. Roosevelt served as a governor of New York when he was elected as 32nd president of
United States of America. During the start of his presidency USA was deeply into monetary trouble
better known as the Great Depression, so in order to remedy the situation Roosevelt acted in a way
to restore the public confidence, by proclaiming a bank holiday and speaking directly to the people
in a series of radio broadcasts also known as “fireside chats”.

Roosevelt was born in New York, he attended Gorton School, Harvard College and Columbia Law
School, he started to practice law in New York and in 1905 he married his cousin, they had six
children together. Roosevelt won the elections to the New York Senate in 1910, and served as
Assistant Secretary of the Navy during the World War 1. Roosevelt was the only president to be
elected four times in a row, his third and fourth terms were dominated by the World War 2, he is
often rated as one of the greatest U.S. Presidents, along with George Washington and Abraham
Lincon. Roosevelt died in office in April 1945.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/30/FDR_1944_Color_Portrait.tif/lossy-
page1-800px-FDR_1944_Color_Portrait.tif.jpg

Chester Arthur- IQ 145

Chester Alan Arthur was one of the few presidents that were never elected, he took the office after
James Garfield’s assassination and served nearly full term. Arthur was originally and American
attorney and his early involvement with New York’s Republican political machine caused him later
lot of headache because it made to him to have slightly negative reputation.

Arthur’s politics didn’t particularly please other republicans, this lead to him be one of the few
Presidents to fail to win his party nomination for re-election. Some historians suspect that this
maneuver was planed, and that Arthur purposely didn’t campaign very aggressively because he
knew about his fatal kidney disease, that he kept secret from all. In the end his kidney disease lead
to his death less than two years after the end of Arthur’s mandate as a president.

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John Tyler – IQ 145

John Tyler was the 10th President of the United States, after briefly being the tenth Vice President in
1841 he ascended to the presidency after William Henry Harrison’s death (who passed away from
pneumonia one month after was elected). Tyler was the first vice president to become chief
executive due to the death of his predecessor.

Tyler was born on March 29 ,1790 in a good standing family in Virginia. He began his political career
in 1811, when he was elected to the Virginia legislature at age of 21. He served as United States
representative (1817–21), as state governor (1825–27), and as United States senator (1827–36).
After the end of his presidency Tyler moved to his 1200 acre plantation and raised his family with his
second wife. Tyler died at age 71 on January 18, 1862 in Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tyler#/media/File:Tyler_Daguerreotype_crop_(restoration).jpg

Rutherford Hayes – IQ 145

Rutherford Birchard Hayes was an American congressman, governor of Ohio and 19th president of
the United States from 1877 to 1881. Hayes was lawyer who defended slaves in court proceedings,
he fought and was seriously wounded in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Hayes
presidency started during the Reconstruction Era, that made possible for the African Americans to
have the same level of freedom and education as the rest of the citizens.

Hayes was born in Delaware, Ohio, on October 4,1822, he was educated at schools in Delaware and
Norwalk, Ohio and Middletown, Connecticut. In 1842, he graduated at the top of his class from
Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. Three years later, in 1845, he earned a law degree from Harvard
University. In 1876, Hayes was elected president in one of the most contentious elections in national
history.

https://cdn.history.com/sites/2/2013/11/Rutherford_B_Hayes-H.jpeg

Barack Obama – IQ 145