What makes a President a "great" President?
An analysis of expert rankings of Presidents yields six key factors that are correlated with whether or not a president is considered "great:"
- Longer service in office = higher ranking
- Service during time of war = higher ranking
- Scandal = lower ranking
- War hero = higher ranking
- Intellectual brilliance = higher ranking
- Assasination = higher ranking
Dean K. Simonton. 1987. Why Presidents Succeed: A Political Psychology of Leadership. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press