The Smartest And Not So Smart Presidents & Candidates Ranked By IQ

#1 Some Presidents Were Not The Sharpest Tools

You would think that anyone holding the most powerful office in the free world would be the smartest person ever, someone you wouldn't want to compete against on Jeopardy, but that's not the case. Some of these US Presidents didn't even have a college education while others went to Harvard and Yale. Others got an IQ over 173 which is above the genius level. Here are some of the smartest, and some of the slightly less intelligent men who were the leaders or want to be, of this great nation.

#2 George W. Bush

IQ: 124

The media constantly questioned the 43rd President of the United States' intelligence with his common verbal slip-ups, lack of geographical and historical knowledge, and his huge mistake of taking the country into war, but he is as smart as most college graduates in the United States.

#3 Ronald Reagan

IQ: 130

No matter what you think about Ronald Reagan, he was a fairly smart man who surrounded himself with even smarter men. Sure he was an actor and sold hand cleaning products in late night infomercials, but when it came to saying the right things, he was always saying the right thing to just the right person at the right time. As the 40th POTUS, he served from 1981 to 1989.

#4 Bill Clinton

IQ: 156

He earned a law degree from Yale University in 1973 and went on to become the governor of Arkansas by 1978. Known for his communication skills and his White House scandals, he is highly intelligent. The 42nd president who served his two terms from 1993-2001 won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University.

#5 John F. Kennedy

IQ: 158

Another super smart president, the 35th President of the United States only served three years before he was assassinated in 1963. He was a Harvard graduate who served in the Navy and World War II. He was remembered for helping to expand the US' economy and his fight for civil and equal rights.

#6 Barack Obama

IQ: 145

The first African-American President of the United States graduated in the top 15% of Harvard where he studied law and the constitution. He became a community organizer and then a constitutional law professor after graduation. His IQ is well above average, making him one of the smartest men to hold the office of President.

#7 George H.W. Bush

IQ: 130.1

Bush served in the Navy until the end of World War II. He then graduated from Yale University and was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon and the captain of the varsity baseball team. Despite the fact that his son was considered quite the dufus, he is actually regarded as pretty intelligent and effective.

#8 Gerald Ford

IQ: 127

Gerald Rudolph Ford was the 38th President of the United States. In high school, he excelled in both academics and athletics. He was in the honor society and played on the football team. After graduating, he went to the University of Michigan getting a degree in Economics and Political Science. He turned down an offer to play with the Green Bay Packers.

#9 Herbert Hoover

IQ: 129.77

Archie Bunker wished we could see a president like Herbert Hoover again, but in reality, he wasn't one of the most intelligent presidents in history. He was born and raised in a small town in West Branch Iowa and went on to the Friends Pacific Academy in Newberg, Oregon.

He got accepted into Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, though he barely passed the university's entrance exam. He majored in Geology and was the class treasurer for the baseball and football teams. He was known for being the President at the start of the Great Depression.

#10 Theodore Roosevelt

IQ: 149

As 26th President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt was the youngest president in the nation's history at the age of 43. He graduated from Harvard like many other presidents and in 1880 and went on to Columbia to study law. He is known as one of the best progressive presidents of the United States.

#11 James Earl “Jimmy” Carter

IQ: 153

He is known for being a screwup who goofed in the middle East, but Jimmy Carter was about the most intelligent man to hold the office of POTUS. Jimmy Carter was the 39th President of the United States from 1977 to 1981 when Ronald Reagan took over. He was awarded with a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for advancing human rights around the world. He graduated from the Naval Academy and enacted energy policies and civil service reform in his four-year term. He continues to work with Habitat For Humanity despite being stricken with cancer.

#12 Dwight D. Eisenhower

IQ: 131.9

Before he became the 34th President of the United States (1953-1961), he was a five-star general in the Army during World War II. During his time as president, he helped desegregate public school and signed the civil rights legislation to protect the right for African-Americans to vote. His peers considered him one of the most intelligent men to hold office.

#13 Franklin D. Roosevelt

IQ: 139.6

FDR was the 32nd President of the United Sates and one of the few presidents who had 12 years in the White House. He is thought of as one of the most intellectual presidents having a Harvard University degree. His IQ shows that he is in the 'genius' level.

#14 Richard Nixon

IQ: 131

Always referred to as being less than bright, probably because of his scandals and inability to communicate effectively, Nixon was not the dumbest guy to hold the highest office. The 37th President of the United States, Nixon earned his bachelor's from Whittier in 1934 and got his law degree from Duke University in 1937.

#15 Abraham Lincoln

IQ: 140

Old 'Honest Abe' is considered on of the best and most effective presidents in US history. He started out his younger years on the family farm in Southern Indiana and didn't have much of an education. But he was one of the few presidents to have a patent after inventing a device to free steamboats that had run aground. He practised law in Illinois before running for office and was sadly and tragically assassinated by a confederate sympathiser John Wilkes Booth.

#16 Mitt Romney

IQ: 142

Mitt Romney is known as being the first almost Mormon President Of The United States. He had a GPA of 3.97 at Brigham Young University. He also finished at the top of his class at Harvard Law and Harvard Business School graduating cum laude in 1975.

#17 Hillary Clinton

IQ: 140

Whatever you may think of her, Hillary Clinton is a very smart woman. She majored in political science at Wellesley College and went to Yale Law School. She's no stranger to the white house and she is making a run for it against Donald Trump in the 2016 Election. Her last two jobs were as a US Senator and the Secretary Of State to President Obama.

#18 Donald J. Trump

IQ: 102-122

Nobody knows for sure what his IQ is since he won't release that information, but some experts say that The Donalds IQ is somewhere between 102 and 122, based on his speaking ability and manner. He graduated from Pennsylvania with a Bachelor's of Science in economics and anthropology and has written a few books on business with a ghost writer. He is being pressured to release his tax forms as is refusing to do so, and now the media is asking to see his high school and college transcripts as well. If he is elected to office he may be one of the least intelligent Presidents in history.

#19 The Top & Bottom

So who had the lowest IQ of any president? With an estimated IQ of 119, Ulysses S. Grant had the lowest score. However, for that era, he was considered fairly intelligent and even attended United States Military Academy.

The smartest US President, so far? That honor would go to John Quincy Adams who had an IQ of 168.75. Thomas Jefferson had an IQ of 158.