Who Was Greatest US President?

Michael Leland, Voice of America
February 19, 2001

A new public opinion poll in the United States has found Ronald Reagan named most often as the country's greatest president. The poll, by the Gallup organization, is conducted each year just ahead of the President's Day holiday, which was celebrated Monday.

Presidents Day at the Chicago Historical Society featured historians dressed as different United States presidents, delivering some of their better-known speeches. Among the "presidents" on hand was Abraham Lincoln, speaking from the White House balcony three days after the election of 1864, when his re-election was still in doubt.

"Now, the people have spoken, but as of yet, I have not heard their voices," Mr. 'Lincoln'. "They have spoken with their votes. Now, we must wait for their votes to be counted, so that we can know exactly what it is they have said."

Chicago resident Dave Miller says Ronald Reagan was a good president, but Abe Lincoln, who served during the U.S. Civil War, was better. "Just because of the period of time that he was president," he said. "He had a great deal of problems. I think the way the situation eventually ended, it took a strong person with integrity to have it come out the way it did."

Elaine Carlson lives in a suburb of Chicago and thinks Mr. Reagan is a good choice to top the list of greatest U.S. presidents. She thinks he will still be among the country's better-known leaders a hundred years from now. "He was the one that kind of ended the Cold War, brought down the Iron Curtain, got rid of that," she said.

The Gallup Poll of 529 adults was conducted earlier in February, just after Mr. Reagan celebrated his 90th birthday on February 6. Of those responding, 18 percent considered Mr. Reagan the country's greatest leader. John F. Kennedy came in second with 16 percent of those surveyed, and Abraham Lincoln was third. Last year, Mr. Kennedy topped the list and two years ago, Abraham Lincoln was most-often named as the country's greatest president.

Dan Van Loon says from what he has seen since Inauguration Day this year, President Bush could find himself atop this list one day. "I really respect him for the action he has taken, the rapidity of his action as a president," said Mr. Van Loon. "He is a man of action."

Mr. Van Loon says, for him, what the country's greatest presidents have in common is they are men of principle. "All the presidents, they are just humans and are all imperfect in their various ways, but the ones who take a stand, especially on moral things, and stand fast in the face of public opinion, those are the men I admire most," he said.

Former President Clinton was named the country's greatest leader by nine percent of those responding to the survey, good enough for fourth place on this year's list.

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