
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, December 10, 1993                   TAG: 9312100066
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

HISTORIANS RANK REAGAN AS MEDIOCRE

He may have won the presidency in two solid landslides, but Ronald Reagan hasn't won over America's historians.

Asked to consider where Reagan fits in among the nation's presidents, the historians rated him on par with Zachary Taylor or John Tyler, both considered mediocrities.

In a survey participated in by 481 historians, 79 percent ranked Reagan as average or worse. Only 1 percent called him "great."

But the professors who conducted the study said these opinions may mellow over the years.

Even historians critical of Reagan policies applauded what he did for the country's morale, said Robert K. Murray of Penn State and Tim H. Blessing of Alvernia College in Reading, Pa.

They said that suggests "some grounds on which a Reagan revisionism could be based," noting that it generally takes 25 or 30 years for a president's place in history "to achieve a stable resting place."

Murray and Blessing surveyed the historians for a revision of their 1988 book, "Greatness in the White House."

They sent 164 questions to about 750 historians chosen at random from a list kept by the American Historical Association.

Overall the historians characterized Reagan's social policy as "wrongheaded and malignant" and his foreign policy as unnecessarily belligerent, Murray and Blessing said. Nine out 10 considered Reagan intellectually unqualified to be president.

Yet many applauded Reagan's leadership qualities.

by CNB