Presidential Audits — Volume 1
Foundations of Presidential Evaluation
This volume explains the purpose, scoring framework, confidence standards, audit process, and interpretation rules used throughout the Presidential Audits project.
What This Volume Does
Volume 1 is the methodology and explanation volume for the Presidential Audits project. It does not serve as an individual president audit. Instead, it explains how the audit system works, why the project uses separate categories, how evidence should be handled, and why scores must be read alongside written analysis.
The goal is to replace vague debates about presidential “greatness” with clearer questions: What did the president achieve? Did the president strengthen democratic self-government? Did the president faithfully execute the office? Was there corruption or misuse of public power? Did the presidency damage democratic institutions, rights, public trust, or constitutional norms?
This volume is the reference point for readers who want to understand how the numbers, categories, confidence labels, audit standards, and final score profiles are built.
Core Framework
Five-Score Audit Model
The project separates Achievement, Democratic Strengthening, Oath of Office, Corruption, and Democratic Damage so that one kind of evidence does not erase another.
Evidence Before Scores
The audit process is designed so scores emerge from the evidence. Evidence should not be selected merely to justify a preferred conclusion.
Confidence and Uncertainty
The framework distinguishes facts, evidence, hypotheses, popular opinion, and creative framing so readers know how strongly each claim is supported.
Assets and Liabilities
Achievement, Democratic Strengthening, and Oath of Office are asset categories. Corruption and Democratic Damage are liability categories.
Net Legacy Score
Net Legacy summarizes the balance sheet, but it does not replace the written audit or the separate category scores.
Not a Personality Contest
The framework judges presidential actions, consequences, constitutional conduct, and evidence. It is not designed to reward popularity or punish personality alone.
How to Use This Volume
Readers should use Volume 1 before interpreting the individual president pages or the score comparison chart. It explains why the project does not rely on one overall greatness ranking, why assets and liabilities are separated, and why a president can be highly effective while still carrying serious democratic or corruption liabilities.
This volume is also the place to review the rules for current-president caution, confidence labeling, historical finalization status, and the distinction between stable audit material and provisional Living Record material.
The individual president pages apply this framework. They do not re-explain every formula or scoring rule. Readers who want to challenge a score should first identify which category is being debated and then compare the evidence to the rules in this volume.
Full Volume Review
This page is the public overview. The full Volume 1 document remains the detailed reference for methodology, scoring rules, confidence labels, audit standards, examples, and interpretation guidance.