In this episode of History of the Future, Jonathan Hofer and Caleb Petitt examine what makes a president “great” and how the criteria used to rank America’s leaders reflect our values and assumptions about leadership.
At its core, the episode asks a bigger question than which presidents deserve the highest rankings: should presidential greatness be measured by decisive action and crisis leadership, or by constitutional restraint, respect for institutions, and long-term consequences?
What You’ll Learn:
- Why presidential rankings often reward decisive action and crisis leadership over restraint
- How Jimmy Carter’s deregulation efforts and appointment of Federal Reserve Chair Paul Volcker shaped the economy beyond his presidency
- Why Franklin D. Roosevelt’s legacy deserves closer examination, including his court-packing proposal, Japanese American internment, and expansion of government surveillance
- How David T. Beito’s book The New Deal’s War on the Bill of Rights challenges conventional interpretations of FDR’s presidency
- Why wars of choice and their long-term consequences should factor into presidential assessments
- How the concept of “political time” helps explain the circumstances presidents inherit and their influence on presidential success or failure
- Why constitutional restraint, institutional respect, and long-term consequences offer an alternative framework for evaluating presidential leadership
- How historical reputation can change when presidents are judged by the lasting effects of their policies rather than their immediate accomplishments
