ABSTRACT
This chapter makes our own examinations of historical records and polls of American historians, and we came to an unpopular conclusion, which goes against the conventional wisdom: Presidents from high-social class backgrounds have performed better in office and been ranked as more effective than presidents from lower-class origins. Curiously, in all the thousands of tedious hours devoted to analyzing the biographical factors which most contribute to success in the Oval Office, nobody has ever considered the ascribed social class origins of our presidents as significant for explaining their performance in office. Pessen is a prolific writer on a wide variety of subjects in American history. Pessen was surprised to find that only seven of our presidents were born to middle-class status or below, and that the vast majority were born into families of privileged upper-middle-class status or better. Abraham Lincoln's marriage was of course the classic example of a man-on-the-make marrying well.
