In American history, who do you think was the most influential president and why

Question:I guess it depends on what they were influencing. Influence in the modern era Im gonna say Kennedy but thats mostly because he was young and handsome at a time when media was growing heavily. Influential in government, Jefferson was very influential before he was a president. During presidency its gotta be Franklin Roosevelt, he kept our country together during times of prosper, the great depression and war. He also established alot of govt programs that are still going on today like social security (not that our generation will see any of that)

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I guess it depends on what they were influencing. Influence in the modern era Im gonna say Kennedy but thats mostly because he was young and handsome at a time when media was growing heavily. Influential in government, Jefferson was very influential before he was a president. During presidency its gotta be Franklin Roosevelt, he kept our country together during times of prosper, the great depression and war. He also established alot of govt programs that are still going on today like social security (not that our generation will see any of that)

I think you'd have to go by periods. Washington brought the new country together as no one else probably could have. Lincoln kept the union together, and freed slaves, which changed the economics of the South. Franklin Roosevelt pulled the country out of depression, and expanded the federal government like no other president before or after (social programs and oversight of banks for instance).

Clinton...

1. he played the saxophone
2. he was the heaviest President
3. he got on well with the interns
4. he made higher education available to me
5. he liked fleetwood mac

but if a shallow response isnt appropriate, I would say FDR and my reason would be because of his leadership during WW2 and the social implications he helped steer of a wartime economy.

Going only by "influence," it comes down to two: George Washington, because he created the template for the job and had to define what the office of the President would be, and Franklin Roosevelt, because he served longer than any President ever has or ever will. Besides guiding the nation through WWII, he began many social programs and really transformed the basic function of the US government. Prior to FDR, you wouldn't even think of turning to the government for help--you were pretty much on your own. Whether you think that's a good thing or not, FDR changed that forever.

In the book about top 100 military leaders that influence the world, George Washington rank #1, pretty sure it would be the same for president

George Washington. The founding fathers wanted him to be KING and rule over everything but instead chose to create a new form of government that shaped society. He was humble, which is something lacking in later year presidencies.

To my mind there are three, and it's difficult to choose between them.

1. George Washington - First President, set the tone for those who would follow by serving only two terms and using his truly massive prestige to keep the infant United States together and under some degree of order.

2. Abraham Lincoln - Expanded the Presidency and took the unprecidented stand of making war in order to prevent the disintigration of the Union. The Emancipation of slaves was also certainly a powerful symbolic act, and his speaches at Gettysburg and upon both of his annaugerations were some of the finest political and social statements in American History

3. Franklin Roosevelt - Kept the nation together and comforted it during the Great Depression, and his programs helped to stave off the possibility of communist revolution. Then, with the comming of the War, he led the largest war effort, with the almost complete conversion of the US economy to the war effort, in histroy, and was one of the three most influential men on the planet until his death in April, 1945.

George Washington. Every other president is still measured according to him.

I suppose it is reliant on your application of the word influential and where this influence was exerted. Of course Washington, Lincoln, FDR, JFK and others were exceptionally great leaders. I firmly agree with this - however, if I apply influence as the ability to make happen - I would probably go with someone a little less obvious.

Taft - exerted great influence with the economic aristocracy of his day.
Jackson - influenced a whole congress to despise him through his laxidaisical attitude to leadership.
Roosevelt (Theodore) - influenced the morale of a nationn based on lies around his heroism during war and used this upswell to fuel a program later picked up by his (cousin I think) to create a national infrastructure program which we still maintain (although not very well.)

In all, I would probably say that the most influential president was Harry Truman. I think he had to make the hardest decision any human has ever made when he authorized the Atom bomb's use on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Washington, Lincoln, and others all clearly knew they were building a nation and had the general support of hte people (yep even Lincoln facing a Civil War) in moving forward their agenda. Truman inherited the war from his predecessor, faced economic and political pressures to move differently, but understood the impact of his decision and died feeling guilty everyday for having made it. In all, I believe that fortitude and sacrifice for our nation was the most compelling and influential decision one ever made and I appreciate it.

Arthur M. Schlesinger believes it was Abe Lincoln.

Kennedy?

James Madison, hands down. The Father of the Constitution certainly had the greatest impact and influence on the United States.

GEORGE W. BUSH

then maybe George Washington