{"id":1539,"date":"2018-02-19T11:38:06","date_gmt":"2018-02-19T16:38:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.duke.edu\/polis\/?p=1539"},"modified":"2018-02-19T11:38:06","modified_gmt":"2018-02-19T16:38:06","slug":"presidential-march-madness-americas-best-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/polis.duke.edu\/presidential-march-madness-americas-best-president\/","title":{"rendered":"Presidential March Madness: Who Is America&#8217;s Best President?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sites.duke.edu\/polis\/files\/2018\/02\/Presidential-March-Madness-Entry-Bracket.xlsx\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1524 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/sites.duke.edu\/polis\/files\/2018\/02\/spring-breakthrough-bracket-copy-1024x789.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"493\" srcset=\"https:\/\/polis.duke.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2018\/02\/spring-breakthrough-bracket-copy-1024x789.png 1024w, https:\/\/polis.duke.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2018\/02\/spring-breakthrough-bracket-copy-300x231.png 300w, https:\/\/polis.duke.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2018\/02\/spring-breakthrough-bracket-copy-768x592.png 768w, https:\/\/polis.duke.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2018\/02\/spring-breakthrough-bracket-copy-1536x1184.png 1536w, https:\/\/polis.duke.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2018\/02\/spring-breakthrough-bracket-copy.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Do you fill out a March Madness bracket every year?\u00a0 And do you have at least a passing interest in U.S. presidential history?<\/p>\n<p>If so, read on.<\/p>\n<p>Starting on Selection Sunday (March 11), POLIS Director Fritz Mayer and POLIS Associate Director B.J. Rudell will co-teach a special five-day course titled \u201cPresidential March Madness.\u201d \u00a0Sponsored by Duke University\u2019s Office of Undergraduate Education as part of its annual \u201cSpring Breakthrough\u201d curriculum, the class will empower students to closely examine each U.S. president and determine which ones were \u201cbetter\u201d than others.\u00a0 They\u2019ll also define what it even means to be \u201cbetter\u201d when factoring all of the opportunities and crises that have benefited and befallen each presidency.<\/p>\n<p>By the end of the class, each student will possess the skills to more thoroughly scrutinize elected officials\u2014a vital step in one\u2019s development as an engaged citizen.\u00a0 And along the way, they will have reached consensus on each of the presidential tournament\u2019s 43 matchups, from the first round to the title game.<\/p>\n<p>Who will be crowned as \u201cthe best president?\u201d\u00a0 Washington?\u00a0 Honest Abe?\u00a0 FDR?\u00a0 Or will a dark horse emerge?<\/p>\n<p>As with the NCAA tournament, there are plenty of interesting storylines, including:<\/p>\n<p>The Southeast Region is brutal, with four formidable Founding Fathers on a Sweet 16 collision course.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, beyond #1 seed Abraham Lincoln, the Great Lakes Region is wide open, meaning anyone from James Garfield to William McKinley could make an Elite Eight run.\u00a0 Exciting!<\/p>\n<p>The bracket also has its fair share of grudge matches:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>William Henry Harrison vs. his grandson, Benjamin<\/li>\n<li>John Quincy Adams vs. George W. Bush, in a battle between two sons of presidents<\/li>\n<li>Franklin Pierce vs. James Buchanan . . . and the question of who was more responsible for the Civil War<\/li>\n<li>And John F. Kennedy vs. Lyndon Johnson: Did JFK lay the groundwork for LBJ\u2019s success, contribute to LBJ\u2019s eventual failings, or none of the above?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Here\u2019s where you come in:<\/strong> If you enjoy friendly (and free) competition, <a href=\"http:\/\/sites.duke.edu\/polis\/files\/2018\/02\/Presidential-March-Madness-Entry-Bracket.xlsx\">fill out a Presidential March Madness bracket<\/a> and <a href=\"mailto:bj.rudell@duke.edu\">e-mail it to B.J. Rudell<\/a>\u00a0before March 11.\u00a0 The submitted bracket that comes closest to matching the students&#8217; picks (based on standard March Madness bracket point scoring) will be declared the winner, and will receive a POLIS t-shirt and a big-time social media shout-out.<\/p>\n<p>No need to wait, and no need to overthink this. <a href=\"http:\/\/sites.duke.edu\/polis\/files\/2018\/02\/Presidential-March-Madness-Entry-Bracket.xlsx\">Download the bracket<\/a> and <a href=\"mailto:bj.rudell@duke.edu\">send it in.<\/a>\u00a0 Your country will thank you.<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center\"><div class=\"su-youtube su-u-responsive-media-no\"><iframe width=\"560\" height=\"320\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zXy3j6BOLpg?\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture\" title=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div>\n<div>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em>Listen to Fritz Mayer and B.J. Rudell discuss Presidential March Madness with the Dean of the Sanford School, Kelly Brownell:<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>[soundcloud]https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/sanford-school-duke\/presidential-march-madness[\/soundcloud]<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Do you fill out a March Madness bracket every year?\u00a0 And do you have at least a passing interest in U.S. presidential history? If so,&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/polis.duke.edu\/presidential-march-madness-americas-best-president\/\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Presidential March Madness: Who Is America&#8217;s Best President?<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":1540,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Presidential March Madness: Who Is America&#039;s Best President? - Polis: Center for Politics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/polis.duke.edu\/presidential-march-madness-americas-best-president\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Presidential March Madness: Who Is America&#039;s Best President? - Polis: Center for Politics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Do you fill out a March Madness bracket every year?\u00a0 And do you have at least a passing interest in U.S. presidential history? 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