The source for Nixon’s IQ of 143, below, is A Question Of Intelligence, by Dan Seligman, page 34. In this 1991 Fortune article, [THE MOST IMPORTANT STAT,July 15, 1991] Seligman sources it to Nixon biographer Roger Morris, who apparently cites an Otis test taken by Nixon at Fullerton High in California.

Nixon attended Fullerton between 1926-1928, when he would have been no more than 15, and the Otis Test, which is not precisely an IQ test, has certain error factor, but there’s no doubt that Nixon was a really bright fellow–Seligman wrote in Fortune that

Nixon biographer Roger Morris says RMN tested at 143 when he was in Fullerton High School in California. Kennedy biographer Thomas C. Reeves tells us JFK tested at 119 just before entering Choate Academy. That last figure looks low. Might there have been some kind of testing error? The ‘’standard error” for the Otis test — the one taken by both future Presidents — was six IQ points. That means there are two chances out of three that the true IQ is within six points of the reported score. So maybe Jack really was entitled to 125. But then maybe Nixon was worth 149.

One reason we know so little about the IQ of famous people, Seligman points out, is that they tend to be shy about it, either afraid of looking dumber than the other fellow (it really griped John Kerry to think that George Bush had scored higher than him on a military aptitude test) or because they’re afraid to look like eggheads.

When John McCain was released by the North Vietnamese in 1973, he began to participate in a series of psychiatric and medical exams by U.S. doctors, the American Ex-Prisoners of War study, that went on for two decades. In late 1999, he let several news organizations paw through a big stack of his records from this project (with some parts redacted, which apparently referred to his first marriage).

Does anybody know if these (and other military) records of McCain’s are online anywhere? The news reports from 1999 make it sound like he just let some of his (favorite?) reporters read through them to summarize, rather than release them to the public.

In 2004, John Kerry posted a whole bunch of his military papers online, from which I was able to figure out how his performance on his military officer aptitude test compared to George W. Bush’s on a similar test: a little lower (just as Kerry’s GPA at Yale was revealed, after the election, to be slightly lower than Bush’s GPA at Yale). Kerry’s documents were scanned images of papers, so they weren’t Googleable. I didn’t find out about Kerry’s documents until the fall of 2004, so I imagine it’s unlikely that McCain has posted much yet.

The military shrinks gave McCain good marks for mental stability. The main bad-sounding thing that anybody published (other than one embarrassing medical condition) is that he has a “histrionic pattern of personality adjustment“ (i.e., he’s a big drama queen), but probably anybody who wants to campaign for President is kind of like that.

They tested his IQ twice. I can only find the second (and presumably higher) result. Time wrote in 1999:

Included in the records is a 1984 IQ test. His score, 133, would rank him among the most intelligent Presidents in history.

How exactly Time would know that 133 “would rank him among the most intelligent Presidents in history” is not explained. The only known tested IQ is JFK’s (which was in the 115-120 range at prep school). I’d long heard that Nixon scored 143; when I tried to verify it a couple of years ago, I found lots of webpages saying that Nixon’s IQ was 143, but all their supporting links pointed to a 1999 article by … me. And I’ve forgotten where I got that figure. (I would guess I got it from the late historian Jim Chapin, who would certainly be a reliable source, but I don’t know for sure where I got it.)

It all sounds pretty good, but there aren’t any records from other POWs to compare them to in order to tell whether the POWs’ examining doctors were playing it straight or were accentuating the positive.

Here’s the latest report from states-enforcing-laws-that-the-federal-government-refuses-to front:

House cracks down on undocumented workers

By Charlotte Eby, Sioux City Journal, April 17, 2008

DES MOINES — Trying to deal with an influx of illegal immigrants, the Iowa House moved forward Wednesday with a measure meant to reduce the employment of undocumented workers.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, D-Des Moines, said Democrats wanted to send a message to the federal government and try to deal with a problem Iowans have been concerned about.

“The symbolic statement is a plea to the federal government to start enforcing the law and have a comprehensive, logical immigration policy,” McCarthy said.

The measure, which cleared the House on an 84-16 vote, requires employers to check driver’s licenses or other state-issued photo identification from Iowa or the surrounding states and verify it within 10 business days of a hire. Employers or their designee must sign a form under penalty of perjury confirming they have examined the ID and “facially validated” the employee.

The measure also would mean aliens who are arrested would be denied bail, and local law enforcement agencies would be required to notify the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The measure seeks to stop employers from paying employees cash or misclassifying them as independent contractors. Backers say the practice has been used in the construction industry and means employees can’t get unemployment or workers’ compensation benefits.

Employers who misclassify those employees could face misdemeanor criminal penalties.

Failure to follow the law could result in civil penalties and those who make false statements or conceal material facts could be charged with a Class D felony and face a possible five-year prison term.

Reps. Elesha Gayman, D-Davenport, and Phil Wise, D-Keokuk, offered an amendment accepted by the House that would make it an aggravated misdemeanor for anyone to make or obtain identification cards that would assist an illegal alien in gaining employment.

Gayman said voters asked during the campaign what could be done about illegal immigration.

“Since our identification systems are run at a statewide level, I do believe that it is appropriate for our state to take action on this,” Gayman said.[More]

Of course, there are people complaining–

Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, D-Ames, [Send her mail]voted against the bill. She pointed to what she called a humanitarian crisis and reminded fellow lawmakers of Iowa’s tradition of lending a helping hand to immigrants.

“I wonder what I would do or any of us in this chamber would do if we were not able to feed our children. Would we break the law or would we allow our children to starve?” Wessel-Kroeschell said.

I have a hot flash for Ms. Wessel-Kroeschell–people aren’t starving in Mexico. There’s poverty, and crime, and corruption in Mexico, but there is not starvation. A quick Google search turned up a New York Times article–from 1915.

If, however, Ms. Wessel-Kroeschell wants to stop hunger in Mexico, she should consider sending them some of that Iowa-grown produce, rather than helping Mexicans come north illegally. That’s because the poverty, crime, and corruption in Mexico aren’t caused by the climate. They’re caused by the people.