Lots of discussion today about Woodrow Wilson and how he got so overrated.
I think it’s pretty simple, actually. Every other president associated with a Major War that was Won By The Right Side is a widely believed to be a great president (Washington, Lincoln, FDR). So people assume that Wilson must also therefore be a great president.
He’s the guy who’s major argument for being in the Hall of Fame is “well, everyone else who reached X milestone is in, so I guess we need to induct him, too.” Even more, the achievements that do distinguish him are precisely the kind of things that are going to get overrated. They look flashy (ooooh, internationalism) but made very little material impact. Finally, his major problems (virulent racism, bad Supreme Court picks) are precisely the sort of thing that popular opinion is likely to ignore.
In short, he’s Lou Brock.
As compared to Andrew Jackson, who’s place among the greats is a lot more similar to Catfish Hunter in the “a goofy nickname and a big personality somehow convinced people that this guy was something special” sense. Although to the best of my knowledge, Catfish Hunter never committed genocide against any indigenous people. So the analogy isn’t perfect.