from michigan, by historian and author richard norton smith. via zoom by historian and author amity shlaes. and from here in washington, d. c., professor edna greene medford of howard university. good morning to all of, you thanks for joining us this morning. doug brinkley to start with you this morning, start by explaining the criteria that we use here. how do we kim may pair the man, they're all men at this point, who have held the office of presidency over 230 years? how we decided to make that comparison? >> well, c-span has but together a group, all of us that are on the air today are advisers to it, on how to actually rank these presidents. we want to make sure people realize this is not a scientific ranking. that the purpose of, it in many ways, is to be fun and enlightening. to perhaps stoke a conversation around the nation about various presidents, to story tell. but what we really did, do it's not just one, ranking your breaking them up in the categories. so, a president will be judged on his foreign policy making or race relations or

richard norton smith? >> that's an excellent question. when i was the ripe old age of ten, there was a book published called, when the cheering stopped. and it reflected, i think, probably the prevailing view in the academy. it was a book about the last years of woodrow wilson. but the years, after his crippling stroke. it was a very sympathetic account, it's been a while since i read it, but i don't think there is any reference to the issue of race. and wilson's segregationist views, wilson very much a southerner of the post civil war decker generation. in fact, because we looked at wilson, and the media reflected it. hollywood made a movie in 1944 caldwell's. and i can guarantee you there is nothing there about wilson's racial attitudes. well some of the scene as a heroic, figure the creator of the new frontier. the champion of the league of nations, a visionary. the fact of the matter is, even now, for the last hundred years, american presidents, most of them have been will sonia's and their approach to foreign policy. believing that t

top 15 says not top tent richard norton smith on ronald reagan. it illustrates the fact that it has been 40 years since ronald reagan took the oath of office. even people who disagree with him, according him the status of a consequential president. ian even ate transformative president. what do i mean by that? franklin roosevelt change the political weather. after 1933 people fundamentally whether they liked it or not, whether they voted for it or not, recognize there is a fundamental change underway in the relationship between the average american and their government. brought about first by the great depression and the second world war. in much of the same way franklin roosevelt's consensus about the rule of government prevailed like historical stature standing in the top ten. when he talked about in his own time in the next 40 years arguably as change in the political consensus. we were no longer talking about centralizing power in washington, personalizing power in the presidency. an activist if you will, a proactive approach of the nation's p

from michigan, historian and author, richard norton smith. via zoom, historian and author, amity shlaes. and from here in washington, d.c., professor edna greene medford at howard university. thank you all so much for your time this morning. -- including cox. >> homework can be hard, but squatting in a diner for internet work is even harder. that's why we're providing lower income students access to affordable internet. so homework can just be homework. cox connect to compete. >> cox, along with these television, companies support c-span 2 as a public service. present this m >> i am honored to present this morning's speaker is. they are both exceptional people. our first speaker will be professor gary w. gallagher, who is the john l no, it's not the way it's pronounced? and a u -- professor americas in the history of the civil war and director of the center for civil war history at the university of virginia. he's the author, co-author, and editor of numerous civil war era works. he has served as president of the society of civil war historia

with richard norton smith, douglas brinkley, edna medford

with richard norton smith, douglas brinkley, edna medford. >> since the 2000 each time there's been a change in administration, we have asked historians and professional observers of the presidency to participate in c-span historian survey of presidential leadership or this morning we drove our team of historian advisers who oversaw the fourth survey for a deep dive into those results rejoin from texas by professor doug brinkley of white university from michigan