FDR Rated Best President in Survey of 238 Scholars

LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. -- Franklin Delano Roosevelt is being ranked the top president in U.S. history by 238 scholars surveyed by Siena College.

Roosevelt has topped each of the five presidential scholar surveys conducted by the Albany, N.Y.-area college since 1982. Theodore Roosevelt came in at No. 2 in the survey released

Thursday, followed by Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

Scholars ranked the 43 presidents on attributes such as integrity, intelligence, leadership and communication, as well as their accomplishments.

Lincoln's beleaguered successor, Andrew Johnson, was rated the worst president. Also, in the scholars' bottom five, in ascending order, were James Buchanan, Warren G. Harding, Franklin Pierce and George W. Bush.