The Most Narcissistic Presidents in Modern U.S. History Ranked

A study has revealed the most and least narcissistic U.S. presidents who served between 1897 and 2009.

According to the rankings, the president that scored highest on measures of narcissism among the 19 who held office over this period was—Lyndon Johnson.

Johnson, who served between 1963 and 1969, was followed by Teddy Roosevelt (1901–1909) and Richard Nixon (1969-1974).

William McKinley (1897–1901) was rated as the least narcissistic, with William Taft (1909–1913) and Calvin Coolidge (1923–1929) coming in just above him.

Compiling the Data Effectively

The ranking was created by John Harden, an assistant professor of political science at Ripon College, and it features in a study published in the Journal of Conflict Resolution authored by the researcher.

To create a narcissism score for each president, Harden used a previously existing dataset put together by three researchers to assess the personalities of these leaders.

The three researchers produced the dataset by providing various presidential historians and experts with personality related questions about the given leader that they had studied.

Harden took the results of these personality tests and analyzed aspects of them that related to the so-called Big 5 personality facets associated with narcissism: low modesty (high self-importance); low straightforwardness (willingness to bend truths to get ahead); low compliance (socially aggressive and insulting in response to interpersonal conflicts); high excitement-seeking behavior (love of crowds and thrills); and high assertiveness (preference for taking the lead and acting first).

"I relied on the average opinion across historians (left-, middle, and right-wing) regarding personality facets that are related to narcissism in the general population," Harden told Newsweek.

"While this is more complicated than asking historians to take narcissism measures on behalf of presidents directly—it arguably overcomes potential bias."

"I always encourage people to try to think about leaders through [the Big 5 facets]," he said. "That way you're not biasing yourself as much as if you asked yourself whether someone is a narcissist, which is often considered a 'bad' trait but may not always be 'bad.'"

The Full List

The full list shown in the study, ranked by standard narcissism scores from highest to lowest, can be seen below. Any score over zero is considered above average.

1. Lyndon Johnson (1963–1969): 2.167
2. Theodore Roosevelt (1901–1909): 1.528
3. Richard Nixon (1969–1974): 1.412
4. Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933–1945): 0.903
5. Bill Clinton (1993–2001): 0.649
6. John F. Kennedy (1961–1963): 0.630
7. Woodrow Wilson (1913–1921): 0.526
8. George W. Bush (2001–2009): 0.314
9. Ronald Reagan (1981–1989): -0.153
10. Herbert Hoover (1929–1933): -0.242
11. Harry Truman (1945–1953): -0.538
12. Warren Harding (1921–1923): -0.739
13. Jimmy Carter (1977–1981): -0.775
14. Dwight Eisenhower (1953–1961): -0.780
15. George H.W. Bush (1989–1993): -0.864
16. Gerald Ford (1974–1977): -0.912
17. Calvin Coolidge (1923–1929): -1.007
18. William Taft (1909–1913): -1.032
19. William McKinley (1897–1901): -1.087

Ranking Trump and Biden

While the list only include presidents up to 2009 when George W. Bush left office, Harden said presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama would likely rank in the top half, while Joe Biden would probably be nearer the bottom

"Personally, I think Trump is quite high for grandiose narcissism, but may be below figures like Lyndon Johnson, who showed his genitalia to staffers in the White House, and Teddy Roosevelt, who actively found challenges [outside politics] to overcome in order to demonstrate his greatness," Harden said.

"I think Obama may be somewhere around Clinton or J.F.K.—somewhat high. Finally, I imagine Joe Biden is closer to Eisenhower, Carter, or Truman. While seemingly sensitive to criticism, he is also fairly modest and not as assertive as his contemporaries."

Rather than simply ranking presidents by their narcissism scores, the main aim of Harden's Journal of Conflict Resolution study was to examine whether there is a link between presidential narcissism and the length of wars that the United States engaged in during the period 1897 to 2009.

Harden completed part of the research while he was affiliated with The Ohio State University (OSU).

"I often felt like the traditional literature seemed to give our leaders the benefit of the doubt. In other words, research—with few exceptions—assumes wars are being fought solely for political objectives (for example, territory, policy, and so on) and that leaders pursue the good of their country above all else," Harden said.

Linking War and Self Esteem

"Most people I talked to—both inside and outside academia—were easily able to pull on historical anecdotes which suggest that there are times when leaders make inefficient decisions for the sake of puffing themselves up, even when they are not up for re-election. Therefore, I began this study to ascertain which types of leaders are more likely to engage in this sort of behavior," he said.

In analyzing the data, Harden found that U.S. wars tended to last longer under presidents who scored highly for narcissism.

The study showed that eight presidents who scored above average for narcissism—George W. Bush and above—spent an average of 613 days at war, compared to an average of 136 days for those leaders who scored below average.

Many factors are involved in any decision to go to war and how long any given war lasts. But the link between narcissism and war length remained strong even when controlling for these other variables.

"Within this time period, results indicate that the relationship between U.S. president narcissism and war duration is extremely strong," Harden said. "I also have little reason to expect the relationship to be weaker today or in other countries. Putin—who is certainly a grandiose narcissist—made a poorly executed thrust into Ukraine. Much of my theory has been on display here."

Presidential Self Interest

According to the study, presidents high in narcissism focus on maintaining their inflated self-image during war by striving desperately for victory. These narcissistic leaders will tend to only exit wars if they can say they have won.

"Resolve at war is not always a bad idea," Harden said. "However, this study uses case history to demonstrate that for more narcissistic leaders, it's often less a question of resolve for the sake of extracting material concessions from an opponent. It's often more a question of who looks like a winner."

Narcissistic leaders have a desire to appear heroic, strong and competent, even if it means extending a conflict unnecessarily.

For example, Franklin Roosevelt and Nixon, who were both involved in lengthy wars "had difficulty separating their own needs from state interests," Harden said in an OSU press release.

"Presidents don't always look rationally at the evidence to make their wartime decisions. Many presidents have done that, but others are more interested in their own self-interest than the interest of the state."

The least narcissistic leaders, meanwhile, "separated their personal interests from state interests, saw war as a last resort and pursued speedy exits," he said.

Assessing the Outliers

There are some notable outliers in the rankings. For example, Theodore Roosevelt never led the U.S. to war despite scoring second-highest for narcissism. But Harden wrote in the study that Roosevelt approached the prospect of war like a narcissist, and almost took the U.S. into conflict with Germany during the Venezuelan crisis of 1902–1903.

"Roosevelt did not shy away from war. Roosevelt believed war strengthened people. This is fitting as narcissists initially see war as a means to promote an image of strength," Harden wrote in the study.

Another outlier is Truman, who remained in the Korean War for years despite his relatively low narcissism.

"Given that my theory is probabilistic, not every observation will fit the theory perfectly," Harden wrote. "The Korean War occurred at the height of the Cold War. Truman, and many of his contemporaries, saw a great deal at stake in Korea. Truman devoted serious effort to finding a peace deal."

"Regardless, narcissism is not the only determinant of war duration," he said. "Rather, it is a consistently important factor. Notably, the U.S. was in combat against relatively powerful China. Therefore, it is understandable that this war was relatively long given the lack of a clear power imbalance."