Who was the most intelligent President?

[ScottieF]

Ten come to mind, some based on differing descriptions of "intelligence":

Jefferson
Madison
J.Q. Adams
Lincoln
Wilson
Kennedy
Johnson
Nixon
Clinton
Obama

[Mr. Smith]

Thomas Jefferson decisively rounds them all out.

But pretty much every Democrat after Grover Cleveland sans LBJ (Wilson,FDR, Truman, JFK, Carter, Clinton, Obama) makes a case for place two.

As for the bottom, hard call between A. Johnson, Harding and Pierce.

Other than those bottom three, Jefferson, and the Post-Cleveland Democrats (sans LBJ, his foreign policies knock him down a lot despite everything else)...it's a really hazy call the rest of them. Besides the bottom 3 which literally got canoodled into office, I'm one to believe the rest of them had to be really intelligent still, even if in many cases it meant appearing stupid.

But Jefferson takes the top so far.

[Mister Mets]

It's probably between Jefferson, Lincoln, Nixon and Garfield.

Ulyssess S Grant is overlooked. He excelled at two very different fields, as an exceptional General and writer.

And we can make the obvious point that you've got to be smart to be accomplished enough to make it to the presidency. I wouldn't be surprised if all are in the top ten percent.

[Mister Mets]

The Siena College poll tried to rate Presidents on attributes like imaginiation, and executive ability.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_rankings_of_Presidents_of_the_United_States

By their standards, the smartest Presidents were...
1. Thomas Jefferson
2. James Madison
3. Abraham Lincoln
4. Woodrow Wilson
5. John Quincy Adams
6. Theodore Roosevelt
7. John Adams
8. Barack Obama
9. Bill Clinton
10. FDR
11. JFK

The Adamses are overlooked, and I definitley forgot about Teddy (naturalist and military expert.) Madison was also certainly well-educated, and used his brains as the father of the bill of rights.

From what I've read of FDR, his intellect probably isn't in the top half of American Presidents.

[The Mikado]

Hoover's definitely a candidate for that list, maybe put in where FDR is.

Very surprised Lincoln's above JQA and Wilson, but Lincoln was certainly more successful than either. He just didn't have the same level of "book smarts" that these things usually mention to rank with the top dogs in this survey.

I suppose that's where the executive ability part comes in. Few people can match Lincoln in that category and it makes up for his weaknesses.

[Cassius]

I don't think that this question is really answerable, since one can't really measure intelligence (well, you can theoretically, but things like IQ are somewhat suspect in my opinion). More to the point, even if we could accurately measure intelligence, how can we do that to the 39 Presidents who are no longer with us. Seems pretty pointless.

Also, if we look at 'intelligence' more subjectively, its an umbrella term that has so many different meanings. For example, whilst I don't think anyone would say that Reagan was the most erudite President, that, in no way, shape or form made him stupid. He was clearly extremely emotionally intelligent and extremely good at crafting a message, as well as being good at recognising his own limitations and seeking advice and help from others. George H.W. Bush on the other hand, although he probably 'knew more' than Reagan, wasn't as good with 'people' (although, to be fair, this perception may in of itself be inaccurate), and, of course, would go down to defeat against the man who practically defines 'people skills' (whilst combining that with a great degree of erudition). People are intelligent in different ways, and the fact that intelligence is a subjective quality makes it very difficult, if not impossible to assess which President was the most intelligent.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

I'm going to somewhat agree with Cassius here.

I don't think intelligence really correlates with greatness as a President. The classic example is Washington. While the first president was certainly not stupid, he was no way near as intellectually brilliant as the likes his contemporaries (Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton etc.) But ultimately that doesn't matter, and Washington's status is far greater than those guys, because he was great in other ways. All of the others  suffered from ego and it detracts from their legacies. Madison's hubris in the 1812 war almost managed to destroy the entire country, to give one example. Washington was great because he knew his own flaws, he knew how to delegate, he knew when people (Hamilton) were getting too big for their boots and he knew to stay out of petty personal bulls*** for the most part.

Classically intelligent presidents, due to their smarts, sometimes have a tendency to think the world as eight-dimensional chess and have it all collapse when everything doesn't go their way. ( see: Wilson's micromanaging of WWI both during and after; anybody called "Adams" tring to deal with congress; Nixon's entire life). Nixon and Wilson also offer another disturbing point in that these "chessmasters" often do very wicked things and rationalise that it's for a greater good. Compare to the most "uneducated" and unlikely chief executive Harry Truman, who - whatever you may think of him - did what he thought was right, and damn the consequences.

Obviously I'm falling in a very generalised (and somewhat anti-intellectual) trap at this point. Intelligent presidents aren't by default Machiavellian crooks and conversely "Presidents of a lesser intelligence" aren't all Washington. People like Warren Harding and Andrew Johnson were both terrible leaders and dumb SOB's. I guess this is more a reaction against people saying stuff like "Oh PRESIDENT I DISLIKE is soooo dumb!!!" When you're POTUS you don't need to be intelligent per se. You have advisers for that crap. It is more important to have a good sense of character, to pick battles wisely and to tell the public what the Christ you're doing.

[Lincoln Republican]

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.

Bush Jr.

B.A. in history from Yale
M.B.A. from Harvard

Two degrees from two of the most prestigious ivy league universities in the U.S.

Not too shabby.

I am not saying that he was among the most intelligent Presidents, but he does have an impressive education.

[dusvar123]

I would say Washington, Adams (1st One), Lincoln, FDR, JFK, LBJ

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

It's not the first thing that comes to mind about Theodore Roosevelt, but he was a first class intellectual. We tend to remember him as some kind of wild cowboy, but at the same time the man was a true book worm, reading various volumes in diffrent languages per day. He was an accomplished history writer and accumulated an impressive expert knowledge about wildlife.

TR is certainly a good contender here.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

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.

Bush Jr.

B.A. in history from Yale
M.B.A. from Harvard

Two degrees from two of the most prestigious ivy league universities in the U.S.

Not too shabby.

I am not saying that he was among the most intelligent Presidents, but he does have an impressive education.

Getting a degree from a fancy college=/=being intelligent.

As for the OP, Adams, Jefferson, JQA, Lincoln, Garfield, TR, Wilson, and Obama all spring to mind. 

[Mr. Smith]

Especially given Harry Truman never went to college, yet he was definitely incredibly intelligent.

[beaver2.0]

Richard Nixon.

[HankW501]

I think wisdom is worth far more than intelligence.

My vote goes to Abraham Lincoln.

[Thunderbird is the word]

FDR wasn't the smartest guy but he was always willing to surround himself with the brightest in his brain trust.

[RFayette]

I think wisdom is worth far more than intelligence.

My vote goes to Abraham Lincoln.