A study made by Dean Keith Simonton, a psychologist at the University of California Davis, applied a statistical algorithm to presidential biographies, polls, surveys, and other historical sources. He concluded that some of the US presidents had high intelligence quotient scores.
Topping the list was the sixth president, John Quincy Adams. His estimated IQ was between 167 and 175, Press Herald reported. Most people have IQ scores of 100.
Very stable genius
The study was cited in view of the tweet of US President Donald Trump that he is a genius. He cited his lifetime of success in business, TV, and politics as the basis of his claim that he is not only smart but a very stable genius.
Trump made the claim to counter the newly released book
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Besides his 2006 research, another IQ researcher, Catherine Cox, said in a 1926 study that there were eight American presidents who are geniuses; Adams was on the list.
She based her research on biographies of famous people and worked out a method to estimate their IQs based on their achievements during their childhood and adolescence. Cox’s study served as the basis of Simonton which he cross-referenced with biographical information to build an intelligence matrix for all the presidents until George W. Bush.
After Adams, Thomas Jefferson came in second place and John Kennedy in third place on Simonton’s list. In fourth place is Bill Clinton whose IQ Simonton estimated to be between 136 and 159. The psychology expert cited Clinton’s capacity to master impressive amounts of complex and detailed information, verbal eloquence, fluency, and logical adroitness and sophistication as the basis for calling the husband of Trump’s nemesis, Hillary Rodham Clinton, a genius.
Trump’s predecessor was not included in the study because it was published before Obama became president.
Intelligence and US
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He attempted to answer the question if the smartest presidents make the best presidents, and like Simonton discussed the case of George W, Bush’s IQ whose scores on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery – which is an IQ-like test the military uses to determine if a recruit is qualified to enlist – had been compared with John Kerry who had the higher score.
Simonton too noted that since Bush was elected to the presidency, there had been questions about his general intelligence. Some of the attacks were only internet hoaxes, while others were based on the frequent verbal slips of Bush.
However, Simonton stressed that Bush is definitely intelligent with an estimated IQ range between 111.1 and 138.5. Based on his SAT scores and Harvard MBA, another study placed Bush’s IQ beyond 115.
Predictors of presidential leadership
Simonton added that intellect is not the only predictor of presidential leadership since many other variables are involved, including personality traits and situational