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As we learned of President Jimmy Carter’s passing, it is a good time to revisit where the Georgian ranks among the United States Presidents in terms of the best. Over the years, the actions of the former President have raised his profile. But perhaps looking at his life of service after leaving the Oval Office, as well as considering his term in office, he might still rise higher among presidential historians.

U.S. News and World Report gathered the best rankings of presidents from historians and other presidents. “In compiling its 10 Worst Presidents rankings, U.S. News averaged presidential rankings from three separate sources: Siena College’s 2022 Presidential Expert Poll, C-SPAN’s 2021 Presidential Historians Survey and the Presidential Greatness Survey conducted by professors at the University of Houston and Coastal Carolina University in 2024.”

That survey produced a ranking putting Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, George Washington, Theodore Roosevelt and Thomas Jefferson in the top five. Following them are Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Barack Obama and Lyndon B. Johnson. Numbers 11 through 14 are James Madison, Woodrow Wilson, James Monroe and Ronald Reagan. I’d personally rank Reagan higher for his accomplishments, especially in foreign policy.

Following that group is John Adams, Bill Clinton, John Quincy Adams, Ulysses S. Grant, James K. Polk, George H. W. Bush (20th), William McKinley, Andrew Jackson, William Howard Taft, and Jimmy Carter, followed by Grover Cleveland, who is 25th on the list.

I feel that often we judge presidents on whether they were reelected or not, what they did before they were president, magnify their shortcomings in office, and sometimes downgrade their post-presidential service. Moreover, for crises and problems, we don’t look enough at whether the problems were of their own making, or something they inherited.

A year ago, my students and I researched Jimmy Carter’s term in office. His success in the Camp David Accords brought a long-term peace between Egypt and Israel. Accounts of those accords show that he was the most active player, and not just some neutral host. His record on civil rights, the foresight to carve out an energy policy, defusing political tensions with China and Panama, showed his power of diplomacy. My students also found he had the administration with the fewest political scandals in recent history.

Critics of Carter will point to the twin i’s: inflation and Iran, as reasons to lower his ranking. Both were inherited problems. Inflation was already high from the second Nixon term through Ford, a combination of removing price stability policy and oil shortages prompted by Middle Eastern anti-Israeli actions targeting the United States. Those oil price hikes which nearly tripled fuel costs were solely responsible for inflation. As for Iran, Carter was not responsible for the rise of the Shah or the overthrow of the prior Iranian regime, and it’s clear that the extremists’ goal in holding our hostages was only in hurting the U.S. President in the election, nothing more.

I would keep John Adams, Bill Clinton, George H. W. Bush, William McKinley, and Andrew Jackson in the top 19. But for his accomplishments in office, Carter belongs with them in the Top 20. Were we to give him his proper due as perhaps the greatest post-presidency for his work with Habitat for Humanity, the Carter Center’s work with tackling tropical diseases and monitoring elections, his Nobel Peace Prize work, and restoring respect to American service, Jimmy Carter should undoubtedly rise even higher among these rankings.