Woodrow Wilson IQ

Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia, in 1856, the son of a Presbyterian minister, and was slow to learn to read as a child. He graduated from Princeton, studied law and earned a PhD in political science at Johns Hopkins in 1886. He became president of Princeton and governor of New Jersey, then the 28th US president from 1913 to 1921. He led the US into the First World War and proposed the League of Nations, but he also segregated the federal workforce. He died in 1924.

He was never tested. Dean Keith Simonton's 2006 historiometric study gives him 155 in version II-C, and the four versions average about 145. That places him in the top group of presidents alongside Carter and Garfield.

Possibly. He could not read until about age 10, and some historians and psychologists have suggested developmental dyslexia. Others point to a disrupted Civil War childhood. He became a prolific scholar and author either way.

He championed international cooperation and self-determination, but he also allowed the segregation of federal offices and held racist views. After a severe stroke in 1919 his wife and doctor concealed his condition while he was largely incapacitated.

Wilson reasoned like a scholar: from principles to policy, stated with great eloquence. The same confidence in principle made him refuse compromises that could have won the Senate over to the League, a sign that intelligence and political judgement can diverge.

What supports it

• Simonton (2006) gives Wilson 155 in version II-C.
• He earned a PhD and published widely on government.
• He received the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize.

What it cannot prove

• Simonton built most presidential figures statistically from expert ratings, so neighbouring presidents cannot really be told apart.
• Academic credentials raise ratings of intellectual brilliance.
• His racial policies are part of the record and say nothing about ability either way.

Woodrow Wilson's IQ is represented here by a retrospective estimate of 155, not a verified test result. Woodrow Wilson is best known for exceptional academic reasoning. The useful question is what the surviving evidence shows, not whether a precise modern score can be recovered.

Brilliant, moralistic and rigid. A professor who saw politics as a crusade and could not compromise.

The dominant archetype here is The Professor. This archetype shapes decision patterns: what feels natural, what creates friction, and what blind spots tend to emerge.

Estimated IQ is 155. This is a rough estimate based on documented accomplishments and contemporary accounts, not a literal measurement.

He kept a flock of sheep on the White House lawn during the First World War to save on mowing and raise wool for the Red Cross.

Woodrow Wilson's estimate of 155 falls in the genius level IQ range. Want your own number rather than Woodrow's? Take the free IQ test or the quick IQ test. See what an IQ of 155 means, place it on the IQ chart or check how rare it is with the IQ rarity calculator.