Who was the most intelligent President?

[Randy Bobandy]

Reagan was probably the only unintelligent president we've ever had, by any definition.

[ConservativePopulist89]

Clinton

[sdu754]

I would say the two smartest were probably Nixon & Clinton, and they both got them selves in trouble with cover ups that they could have easily avoided.

In there days FDR & Lincoln were looked upon as being somewhat "dumb", so it's kind of funny that both are mentioned several times.

[MurrayBannerman]

Thomas Jefferson

[The Mikado]

Jefferson, John Quincy Adams, Wilson, and Hoover are all pretty solid candidates.

[politicus]

Herbert Hoover.

[morgieb]

I just noticed that nobody mentioned, Bush Sr. I think he's worth mentioning.

Really I think no President of the modern era could be said to be unintelligent, except for maybe Reagan.

Bush Jr. definitely didn't strike me as intelligent. Harding wasn't very bright either apparently.

[7,052,770]

Garfield needs more credit. The man came up with a proof of the Pythagorean Theorem that no one had even thought of.

[Spamage]

Reagan was probably the only unintelligent president we've ever had, by any definition.

[Potatoe]

None of them.

Listen, you don't go into office without at least some degree of intelligence, can the President have bad media skills and come off as stupid? Well, yeah, and that was Bush's problem, very well known of course, "The internets", "is our children learning" etc, but no President has actually, been proven to be below the average IQ standard (70).

The only president that could remotely be called stupid was Reagen, though that was due to the fact that he was a senile old man during his time in office.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

The only president that could remotely be called stupid was Reagen, though that was due to the fact that he was a senile old man during his time in office.

What is it about liberals that leads them to assert that Reagan only did what he did and believed what he believed because of the Alzheimer's he was diagnosed with five years after he left office?

[BaconBacon96]

Recently, probably Clinton.

Historically Lincoln, Taft, Wilson or Jefferson.

[MurrayBannerman]

The only president that could remotely be called stupid was Reagen, though that was due to the fact that he was a senile old man during his time in office.

What is it about liberals that leads them to assert that Reagan only did what he did and believed what he believed because of the Alzheimer's he was diagnosed with five years after he left office?

It fits their narrative.

[RR1997]

Wilson and Obama

[Nichlemn]

The only president that could remotely be called stupid was Reagen, though that was due to the fact that he was a senile old man during his time in office.

What is it about liberals that leads them to assert that Reagan only did what he did and believed what he believed because of the Alzheimer's he was diagnosed with five years after he left office?

He may have had early symptoms of Alzheimer's during his Presidency. It's not like Reagan was completely fine until the day of his diagnosis, Alzheimer's is a gradual disease.

[nolesfan2011]

Jefferson, followed by Madison

[v0031]

Bill Clinton.

[Mordecai]

The only president that could remotely be called stupid was Reagen, though that was due to the fact that he was a senile old man during his time in office.

What is it about liberals that leads them to assert that Reagan only did what he did and believed what he believed because of the Alzheimer's he was diagnosed with five years after he left office?

It fits their conservatives' narrative.

After all, if Reagan weren't mentally-impaired during his last years in office, that would have made him a traitor to the United States.

[Lincoln Republican]

One does not get to be a successful actor, a successful two term Governor of the nation's largest state, and an uncannily popular and successful two term President of the United States by being stupid.

The extreme leftist looney bin element are simply unwilling to give any credit at all to any politician who is not to the left of Karl Marx.

[SPC]

One does not get to be a successful actor, a successful two term Governor of the nation's largest state, and an uncannily popular and successful two term President of the United States by being stupid.

If so, then doesn't that defeat the purpose of asking who the most intelligent President of the United States is, if election to said office is taken as evidence of intelligence? Using your own circular criterion, it would seem that to answer your question would essentially require listing every President that achieved re-election and retrospective popularity among some segments of the populace.

[Vega]

"There is nothing that can better deserve our patronage than the promotion of science and literature. Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness."
- George Washington -

"Why should we subsidize intellectual curiosity?"
- Ronald Regan -

[Lincoln Republican]

One does not get to be a successful actor, a successful two term Governor of the nation's largest state, and an uncannily popular and successful two term President of the United States by being stupid.

If so, then doesn't that defeat the purpose of asking who the most intelligent President of the United States is, if election to said office is taken as evidence of intelligence? Using your own circular criterion, it would seem that to answer your question would essentially require listing every President that achieved re-election and retrospective popularity among some segments of the populace.

To be of the view that Reagan was not the most intelligent President is fine, I fully  concur with that view.  It is also fine for someone to state that Reagan was the most intelligent President, although I have not seen that expressed.  However, there is a big difference in holding the view that Reagan was not the most intelligent President and stating that Reagan was mentally impaired.  As has been pointed out, he was diagnosed five years after leaving office.

My point is simply that some on the left are completely unwilling to give credit to political leaders on the right simply because they do not agree with their ideology.     

[Mordecai]

There's not really much to give him credit for. You tried to list some things but they got shot down, remember?

It's also worth noting he believed in some pretty dumb things like astrology. He was no intellectual but, fair enough, he never aspired or claimed to be one either.

Edit: And I agree it's not accurate to describe Reagan as stupid, intellectually incurious would be a much better descriptor.

[TDAS04]

Jefferson, Garfield, Carter, and a few others are good contenders. 

[SPC]

Jefferson, Garfield, Carter, and a few others are good contenders. 

How could I forget the man who devised a proof of the Pythagorean theorem and wrote Greek and Latin simultaneously?