United States Presidency Centre
UK Survey of US Presidents
Results

Foreign Policy Leadership

Was the president an effective leader in promoting US foreign policy interests
and upholding national security?

Category
Ranking
President
Score
Overall
Ranking
1
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1933-1945
8.77
1
2
George Washington, 1789-1797
7.89
3
3
Abraham Lincoln, 1861-1865
7.73
2
4
Harry S. Truman, 1945-1953
7.72
7
5
Theodore Roosevelt, 1901-1909
7.61
5
6
Woodrow Wilson, 1913-1921
7.5
6
7
Dwight David Eisenhower, 1953-1961
7.21
10
8
Thomas Jefferson, 1801-1809
7.14
4
9
James Monroe, 1817-1825
7.08
13
10
Ronald Wilson Reagan, 1981-1989
7.06
8
11
John Adams, 1797-1801
7.05
12
12
Richard Milhous Nixon, 1969-1974
6.83
23
13
George Herbert Walker Bush, 1989-1993
6.64
22
14
James Knox Polk, 1845-1849
6.5
16
15
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 1961-1963
6.41
15
16
William Jefferson Clinton, 1993-2001
6.39
19
17
William McKinley, 1897-1901
6.28
17
18
Andrew Jackson, 1829-1837
6.08
9
19
James Madison, 1809-1817
5.75
14
20
John Quincy Adams, 1825-1829
5.69
20
21
James Earl Carter, Jr., 1977-1981
5.62
18
22
Grover Cleveland, 1885-1889
5.16
21
23
Gerald Rudolph Ford, 1974-1977
4.89
24
24
William Howard Taft, 1909-1913
4.73
25
25
Herbert Clark Hoover, 1929-1933
4.72
26
26
Ulysses Simpson Grant, 1869-1877
4.64
29
27
Martin Van Buren, 1837-1841
4.55
27
28
Zachary Taylor, 1849-1850
4.13
33
29
Calvin Coolidge, 1923-1929
4.02
28
30
John Tyler, 1841-1845
4
37
31
Andrew Johnson, 1865-1869
3.92
36
32
Lyndon Baines Johnson, 1963-1969
3.87
11
33
Rutherford Birchard Hayes, 1877-1881
3.81
30
34
Benjamin Harrison, 1889-1893
3.75
34
35
Millard Fillmore, 1850-1853
3.72
35
36
Chester Alan Arthur, 1881-1885
3.68
32
37
Warren Gamaliel Harding, 1921-1923
3.62
38
38
George Walker Bush, 2001-2009
3.62
31
39
Franklin Pierce, 1853-1857
3
39
40
James Buchanan, 1857-1861
2.91
40