News / discussion
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Sep 13, 2012
Judging the worst presidents
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What do William Henry Harrison, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, and Warren Harding have in common? They each earned a one-star rating on our Visual History of the American Presidency. -
Sep 13, 2012
Rating the presidents – what makes a “great” president?
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For early reviewers, one of the most controversial sections of A Visual History of the American Presidency was its ranking section. We were often asked: What makes a good president, and how does a good president differ from a great president? -
Sep 13, 2012
The domestic economy and presidential success
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In an effort to chart the U.S. economy in relation to each presidency, we did extensive research to determine the best measure of business cycles over time. In the end, the two data points we chose to best represent the ebb and flow of the U.S. economy were the most basic: consumer price index (CPI) and gross domestic product (GDP). -
Sep 13, 2012
Calculating debt as a percentage of GDP
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What's a good measure of U.S. debt as a percentage of GDP over time? We take that into our poster History of the American Presidency. -
Sep 13, 2012
Discovering historical trends in presidential vetoes
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We work hard to make sure every data set in one of our visualizations tells a compelling story. One of our hardworking and fabulous research assistants recently collected a data set relating to presidential vetoes. The research quickly became much more complicated (and interesting) than we predicted...
What do William Henry Harrison, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, and Warren Harding have in common? They each earned a one-star rating on our 
For 
In an effort to chart the U.S. economy in relation to each presidency, we did extensive research to determine the best measure of business cycles over time. In the end, the two data points we chose to best represent the ebb and flow of the U.S. economy were the most basic: consumer price index (CPI) and gross domestic product (GDP).
What's a good measure of U.S. debt as a percentage of GDP over time? We take that into our poster 
We work hard to make sure every data set in one of our visualizations tells a compelling story. One of our hardworking and fabulous research assistants recently collected a data set relating to presidential vetoes. The research quickly became much more complicated (and interesting) than we predicted...