Gene Healy on the Legacies of Warring Presidents

Last week, economists David Henderson and Zachary Gouchenour released a study, "War and Presidential Greatness." It's a sober, scholarly paper that comes to an absolutely horrifying conclusion: "military deaths as a percentage of population is a major determinant of greatness in the eyes of historians." While historians may eventually award extra credit for spending American blood and treasure, writes Gene Healy, ordinary Americans generally don't.