| The amount of thought that goes into the rankings is actually pretty interesting. Over 200 presidential scholars rank the presidents based on: 6 personal attributes (background, imagination, integrity, intelligence, luck, and willingness to take risks); 5 forms of ability (compromising, executive, leadership, communication, and overall); and 8 areas of accomplishment (economic, other domestic affairs, working with Congress, working with their party, appointing supreme court justices, appointing members of the executive branch, avoiding mistakes, and foreign policy). If you want to know more, check out: http://www.siena.edu/uploadedfiles/home/parents_and_community/community_page/sri/independent_research/Presidents%20Release_2010_final.pdf |