The Presidential IQ Report

Check Snopes, false ^ | January 16, 2007 | The Lovenstein Institute

[the_devils_advocate_666]

WASHINGTON --In a published report, the Lovenstein Institute of Scranton, Pennsylvania has detailed findings of a four month study of the intelligence quotient of President George W. Bush. Since 1973, the Lovenstein Institute has published its research to the education community on each new president, which includes the famous "IQ" report among others.

According to statements in the report, there have been twelve presidents over the past 60 years, from F. D. Roosevelt to G. W. Bush who were all rated based on scholarly achievements, writings that they alone produced without aid of staff, their ability to speak with clarity, and several other psychological factors which were then scored in the Swanson/Crain system of intelligence ranking. The study determined the following IQs of each president as accurate to within five percentage points:

147	Franklin D. Roosevelt (D)
132	Harry Truman (D)
122	Dwight D. Eisenhower (R)
174	John F. Kennedy (D)
126	Lyndon B. Johnson (D)
155	Richard M. Nixon (R)
121	Gerald R. Ford (R)
176	James E. Carter (D)
105	Ronald W. Reagan (R)
98	George H. W. Bush (R)
182	William J. Clinton (D)
91	George W. Bush (R)

The six Republican presidents of the past 60 years had an average IQ of 115.5, with President Nixon having the highest IQ, at 155. President G. W. Bush was rated the lowest of all the Republicans with an IQ of 91.

The six Democrat presidents had IQs with an average of 156, with President Clinton having the highest IQ, at 182. President Lyndon B. Johnson was rated the lowest of all the Democrats with an IQ of 126.

No president other than Carter (D) has released his actual IQ, 176. Among comments made concerning the specific testing of President GW Bush, his low ratings were due to his apparent difficulty to command the English language in public statements, his limited use of vocabulary (6,500 words for Bush versus an average of 11,000 words for other presidents), his lack of scholarly achievements other than a basic MBA, and an absence of any body of work which could be studied on an intellectual basis.

The complete report documents the methods and procedures used to arrive at these ratings, including depth of sentence structure and voice stress confidence analysis. "All the Presidents prior to George W. Bush had a least one book under their belt, and most had written several white papers during their education or early careers.

Not so with President Bush," Dr. Lovenstein said. "He has no published works or writings, so in many ways that made it more difficult to arrive at an assessment. We had to rely more heavily on transcripts of his unscripted public speaking."

The Lovenstein Institute of Scranton Pennsylvania think tank includes high caliber historians, psychiatrists, sociologists, scientists in human behavior, and psychologists. Among their ranks are Dr. Werner R. Lovenstein, world-renowned sociologist, and Professor Patricia F. Dilliams, a world-respected psychiatrist. This study was commissioned on February 13, 2001, and released on July 9, 2001, to subscribing member universities and organizations within the education community.

[soccermom]

I remember when Gary Trudeau alluded to this report in an attack on Bush in his Doonsbury strip. I have to wonder about the I.Q. of the cartoonist who fell for this hoax.

[jackieaxe]

I would rather have a dumb stupid Conservative that a brilliant communist. Look at FDR, he started the Drug War and started the Great Big Huge Government snowball rolling.

[dangus]

Plainly, the authors associate throwing around big words with having a high IQ. For a Great Communicator, the ability to use a simple, precise vocabulary is a great virtue.

George W Bush doesn't impress me. But Reagan certainly does.

[techcor]

"Journalist" Bill Press got taken hook, line and sinker by this farce:

And all that idiot could do to defend himself was to use the old Dan Rather out "it was true but faked" line. He didn't have the decency to apologize.

[soccermom]

"This whole article is an IQ test. If you believe it, you failed." BINGO!

[linn37]

whoooo I passed.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

"The funny thing about Carter is, being a nyukular engineer, he pronounced the word the same way that the leftards make fun of Bush for."

The Queens' English used to be quite different from that used by we commoners in the Commonwealth. However she pronounced something was considered correct & a mark of her station. All other pronunciations indicated the lower social standing of the speaker -- likely a result of poor breeding. By that logic, however Bush pronounces a word is correct -- other pronunciations simply indicate poor breeding.

[chesley]

I've got a pretty high IQ, too. Although not in Mr. Carter's elevated class, I did manage to pick up a PhD in metallurgical engineering.

However, as my wife and co-workers would line up to tell you, I am utterly lacking in common sense and mechanical ability both.

Facility with words and numbers, does not add up to anything except facility with words and numbers. Clinton is hollow inside, with no moral center. Carter has a moral center, but something, perhaps a diet heavy in peanuts, has twisted and deformed it.

Neither was worth a spit as President. I could throw a rock at a FReeper picnic and hit a better president than either.

[GeorgefromGeorgia]

I have read that this so called report is a FRAUD.

[SMARTY]

"...based on scholarly achievements, writings that they alone produced without aid of staff, their ability to speak with clarity, and several other psychological factors which were then scored in the Swanson/Crain system of intelligence ranking."

My IQ (131 BTW) was NOT calculated in this way.

[soccermom]

"My IQ (131 BTW) was NOT calculated in this way." I would imagine not, since there is no such thing as the Swanson/Crain system.

[melancholy]

The sheeple who believe this report must have negative IQs!

[RightWhale]

It's mildly amusing that this report is posted time after time after time and dope-smoking Liberals still get a chuckle over it as if they never saw it before or don't remember.

[GSlob]

200 proof BS. Anyone with a capacity for extemporaneous wit and repartee has IQ above 130.

[MrB]

Carter was never a nuclear engineer.

Not serving on a nuclear submarine does not mean that he did not have a BS in nuclear engineering.

[Enchante]

This nonsensical "report" has been debunked over and over again:

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/presiq.htm

It serves the prejudices of liberals perfectly but is otherwise useless.

[Hatteras]

"In a published report, the Lovenstein Institute of Scranton, Pennsylvania has detailed findings of a four month study of the intelligence quotient of President George W. Bush."

If they are sooooooo smart, what the hell are they doing in Scranton?

[BBell]

I knew this couldn't be true! Thanks for catching it. I'm sure sure their are democrats and liberals everywhere quoting this.

[soccermom]

Uhhhh---yeahhhhhh....This has been making the rounds since 2001! Gary Trudeau fell for it. I don't know why, after all these years, people still fall for garbage that is passed along on the internet. Every time I get forwarded stuff like this, even when it is unflattering to liberals, I go to snopes. It should be a rule. Though shalt check snopes.com before passing it along!

[KarlInOhio]

174 John F. Kennedy (D)
176 James E. Carter (D)
182 William J. Clinton (D)

Does IQ stand for infidelity quotient? Jimmy got 80 bonus points for having "lust in his heart". Clinton and Kennedy got high scores the old fashioned way.

And as mentioned many times before, this "study" was debunked a long time ago.