 A 2017 C-Span poll of historians also ranked Hoover as the 36th best president.Although Hoover is generally regarded as having had a failed presidency, he has also received praise for his actions as a humanitarian and public official.Biographer Glen Jeansonne writes that Hoover was "one of the most extraordinary Americans of modern times," adding that Hoover "led a life that was a prototypical Horatio Alger story, except that Horatio Alger stories stop at the pinnacle of success."