In political studies, since the mid 20th-century, surveys have been conducted in order to construct historical rankings of the success of the presidents of the United States. Ranking systems are usual
In the 1920s, sculptor Gutzon Borglum and President Calvin Coolidge selected (from left to right) George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln to appear on Mount Rushmore. It later became an iconic symbol of presidential greatness, chosen to represent the nation's birth, growth, development, and preservation, respectively.