10 U.S. Presidents with the Highest IQs

Are you curious about how smart you need to be to be president? Well, academics Kathryn Cox and Dean Keith Simonton can give you answer you are looking for. They calculated and the released president's IQ score. For your information, the average IQ of a person is between 85 and 115.

1. John Quincy Adams - 175

John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States, was the smartest president of all time. He has an IQ of 175, which was higher than 99.999943% of the people in the world at the time. With such high intelligence, he was destined to do something great. Not even love can stop him. He reportedly gave up one of his true loves, a local woman at Harvard, to pursue a political career.

2. Thomas Jefferson - 160

As one of the founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson had such impressive intelligence. Plus, he may also be the most versatile president of all time. He was a surveyor, lawyer, planter and mathematician. He is also an expert of architecture and grasp multiple languages.

3. James Madison - 160

James Madison studied political philosophy at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University). It’s not surprising that he then fought for civil rights and political freedom. He is now known as the "Father of the Constitution" for his remarkable contributions.

4. John F. Kennedy - 159.8

Kennedy was ranked by many historians as one of America's most accomplished presidents, and he certainly lived up to that reputation. However there have also been reports that he had multiple affairs with women during his marriage, including Marilyn Monroe, Gunilla von Post, Judith Campbell, Mary Pinshaw Meyer, Marlene Day Derry, Mimi Alford and Pamela Turner, his wife's press secretary. It seems that to deal with so many women you have to be smart, right?

5. Bill Clinton - 159

Bill Clinton had a chance to meet Kennedy when he was still in high school. This meeting apparently inspired his later political career. He became a faculty member at the University of Arkansas after graduation from Yale Law School. He was later elected governor of Arkansas and worked his way up to the top state office.

6. Jimmy Carter - 156.8

Jimmy Carter was born in a wealthy family. His family used to run a peanut-growing business, but the business failed, so the family had to move into public housing. Carter grew up studying agriculture and accounting with his wife Rosalynn, and the couple finally saved the company. Then Carter switched to a political career and was elected the governor of Georgia in 1971, and then becoming president in 1977.

7. Woodrow Wilson - 155.2

Woodrow Wilson is probably one of the smartest presidents of all time, but he once dropped out from law school. He then passed the Georgia bar exam and opened a law firm, which he gave up because he felt it boring. It is fate that finally brought him back to school to study political science, and he was proven to be an excellent statesman.

8. John Adams - 155

Even by today's standards, John Adams had an extremely high IQ. No wonder he is one of the America's Founding Fathers. Unfortunately, Adams died of typhoid fever on July 4, 1826, but his legacy will be remembered by the public.

9. Theodore Roosevelt - 153

President Roosevelt was one of the youngest and best men to hold this office. He used his talent to bring clean food and medicine to the United States. Roosevelt received numerous honors for his prominent contributions, including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906.

10. James A. Garfield - 152.3

Garfield may have only served for six months, but his contributions are remembered by us. Garfield came from humble beginnings. He worked as a boatman and carpenter, but he worked his way up to become president of the United States with his intelligence and perseverance.