Historical estimate

The scholar-president IQ myth

Degrees and books are not IQ tests. Wilson’s doctorate and Adams’s 175 sit on different kinds of evidence.

QuestionDid the most scholarly presidents have the highest IQs?
01

Adams 175 and Jefferson 160

The two presidents most often called scholarly sit at the top of 2C. That correlation with reputation is expected in a biography-based model.

John Quincy AdamsThomas Jefferson
02

Wilson’s doctorate is not 155

Woodrow Wilson’s II-C is 155.2, displayed as 155. The doctorate is an achievement record. It does not authenticate the integer.

Woodrow Wilson
03

Garfield’s classroom career is not 152

James A. Garfield taught and served in Congress before 1881. His 2C of 152 is still a published estimate, not a school-administered adult IQ.

James A. Garfield
What the evidence supports

Woodrow Wilson’s II-C is 155; John Quincy Adams is 175; Jefferson is 160. Those are Simonton 2C estimates. A Ph.D. or a library is not a Full Scale IQ.

Primary trail

Sources used in this investigation

peer-reviewed researchPresidential IQ, Openness, Intellectual Brilliance, and Leadership: Estimates and Correlations for 42 U.S. Chief ExecutivesPolitical Psychology (Wiley) · 2006