Arthur A. Ekirch

Retired professor of history, State University of New York, Albany

Most overrated:

John F. Kennedy. He was charming in speech and person, which helped make him overrated. I voted for him in 1960, the only time ever I have voted for a presidential winner. And I lamented that vote after the Bay of Pigs fiasco, the culmination of his own demagogic campaign rhetoric.

Most underrated:

Dwight D. Eisenhower. He was much denigrated by liberal intellectuals, chiefly over McCarthyism and the civil rights movement. In each instance he moved about as fast as he could in terms of American public opinion and showed considerable adroitness. In his two terms he did a better job of controlling inflation, militarism, and jingoism in diplomacy than any President since World War II.