Ranking America’s political dynasties

A study published Sunday in the Washington Post ranks America’s top political families.

At the top of his list, not surprisingly, is the Kennedy family. The Roosevelts are a close runner-up.

The research was done by Stephen Hess, a senior fellow emeritus at the Brookings Institution and author of America’s Political Dynasties.

Hess used a point system based on political office (president or chief justice equals 10 points, senator or governor equals 3 points, etc.) to assign scores to families. He then multiplied points by the number of times a family member was elected or appointed to a position. Additional points were awarded for the number of generations spanned by related politicians.

John F. Kennedy

In addition to the Kennedy and the Roosevelt clans, top-scoring families on his list were:

• Rockefeller
• Harrison
• Adams
• Bush
• Frelinghuysen
• Breckinridge
• Taft
• Bayard

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