Greatness in the White House: Rating the Presidents, From Washington Through Ronald Reagan [Paperback]

Robert Murray (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 31, 1988

Murray and Blessing have picked up the baton, as it were, from Schlesinger as the recorders of temporal evolution in the opinions of historians regarding U.S. presidents. The results of their recent update poll, subsequent to the publication of Greatness in the White House, of just under five hundred historians-the first such poll to include Ronald Reagan-were presented at a meeting of the Organization of American Historians in April, 1991. . . . The most ambitious objective of studies of presidential greatness, suggested in the authors' summary, is to identify the characteristics which make a successful president, in order to predict the performance of candidates. Murray and Blessing provide a fairly comprehensive survey of the studies that attempt this.-Maryland Historical MagazinePraise for the first edition"Greatness in the White House provides us with the latest of the presidential polls, and the finest. . . . In seven chapters and a concluding section, [Murray and Blessing] discuss the ratings game, past polls as well as their own. Successive chapters follow on appearance, background, character, personality, and administrative achievements-as rating criteria- and reactions to presidential rankings."-The Historian"Those who criticize presidential ranking 'games' for attempting to quantify the unquantifiable should welcome this report, possibly as much for what it tells us about American historians as for its specific tabulations."-The Journal of Southern HistoryA narrative account of the survey of almost 1,000 professional historians on what constitutes a successful performance in the presidency, this survey tells us almost as much about the thinking and biases of historians as it does about the nature of the American presidency.Besides comparing past presidential polls and constructing a ranking list of the nation's chief executives, this study examines why historians rate presidents the way they do, and it analyzes those qualities and traits historians look f

Editorial Reviews

Review

Murray and Blessing have picked up the baton, as it were, from Schlesinger as the recorders of temporal evolution in the opinions of historians regarding U.S. presidents. The results of their recent update poll, subsequent to the publication of Greatness in the White House, of just under five hundred historians-the first such poll to include Ronald Reagan-were presented at a meeting of the Organization of American Historians in April, 1991. . . . The most ambitious objective of studies of presidential greatness, suggested in the authors' summary, is to identify the characteristics which make a successful president, in order to predict the performance of candidates. Murray and Blessing provide a fairly comprehensive survey of the studies that attempt this. --Maryland Historical Magazine

Greatness in the White House provides us with the latest of the presidential polls, and the finest. . . . In seven chapters and a concluding section, [Murray and Blessing] discuss the ratings game, past polls as well as their own. Successive chapters follow on appearance, background, character, personality, and administrative achievements-as rating criteria- and reactions to presidential rankings. --The Historian

Those who criticize presidential ranking 'games' for attempting to quantify the unquantifiable should welcome this report, possibly as much for what it tells us about American historians as for its specific tabulations. --The Journal of Southern History

About the Author

Robert K. Murray is Professor Emeritus of History at the Pennsylvania State University. Tim H. Blessing is Associate Professor of History at Alvernia College.

Product Details

• Paperback: 180 pages
• Publisher: Pennsylvania State Univ Pr; 2 Updated edition (December 31, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0271024860
• ISBN-13: 978-0271024868
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,376,409 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Greatness is Greatness, March 28, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Greatness in the White House: Rating the Presidents, From Washington Through Ronald Reagan (Paperback)

Greatness in the White House by Drs. Blessing and Murray may be a bit outdated, but is worth the read to get an idea about how historians view Presidents and how they rank them. Explores factors in how Presidents are ranked by historians based upon where the professors studied, gender, area of expertise, etc.