What President had the most lasting impact on this nation?

2015-07-16T13:28:46-04:00

For me it would be the Creator of the Declaration of Independence, Developer of the Bill or Rights, 2 time Governor of Virginia, Ambassador to France, Designer of the University of Virginia, Farmer, and President, Thomas Jefferson

Response by CH (MAJ) William Beaver made Jul 16 at 2015 1:30 PM

2015-07-16T13:30:47-04:00

FDR

Response by LTC Stephen F. made Jul 16 at 2015 1:38 PM

2015-07-16T13:38:33-04:00

1st George Washington's insistence on leaving office after 2 terms and a peaceful election of his successor were unusual at the time, the checks and balances groundwork laid at that time still influences our nation,
2nd Abraham Lincoln stand for unity of the nation despite a bloody cost and the freedom of all American citizens, and
3rd Monroe - the Monroe Doctrine still influences our interaction with central and south America

Response by CW3 Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 16 at 2015 1:51 PM

2015-07-16T13:51:00-04:00

I think Washington had the greatest impact. He played a key role not only as a statesman but also a warrior, and helped to solidify our country's place in the world. Being the first at something is always the most difficult, and he not only held the office of the President of the United States as a selfless servant leader but he kept our country together at a critical time in history before a sense of loyalty to our nation was fully engrained in the citizens.

Response by CW4 Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 16 at 2015 1:59 PM

2015-07-16T13:59:23-04:00

My vote is for President Lincoln. Although we lost many American lives, I feel that what he did for equality of our nation was the most vital turning point for our great nation to move forward. It's unfortunate that we are still not a complete nation of one. Hopefully one day in my lifetime I will see that day with my own eyes.

Response by SFC(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 16 at 2015 2:03 PM

2015-07-16T14:03:53-04:00

Easy one. Lincoln. No other president before or since has done so much to increase the power of the executive branch, bypass congress as commander in chief. Even his assassination led to presidential protection becoming the secret services primary mission (rather than combatting counterfeiting). Most scholars agree that Lincoln by far was the most influential for all the presidents that followed.

Response by LTC Bink Romanick made Jul 16 at 2015 2:32 PM

2015-07-16T14:32:22-04:00

I would say FDR for several reasons. The first being that his programs were the key to the recovery from the depression. Secondly he was a commander-in-chief during the greatest war this nation has ever fought and won. FDR oversaw the greatest alliance ever assembled to fight a two front war and decisively defeat the greatest evil that the world eve faced.

Response by Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS made Jul 16 at 2015 2:54 PM

2015-07-16T14:54:54-04:00

I lean towards Jefferson as well. He set the Philosophical tone of the country in many ways, as well as having the largest increase in land mass (LA Purchase). However Washington provided the initial leadership that the country needed, so he would be tied for first.

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 16 at 2015 5:53 PM

2015-07-16T17:53:00-04:00

I would have to say Woodrow Wilson, due to the lasting effect of many of the laws and policies he instituted. He is the boogeyman for Liberatarians everywhere.
Wilson induced a Democratic Congress to pass a progressive legislative agenda, unparalleled until the New Deal in 1933. This included the Federal Reserve Act, Federal Trade Commission Act, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Federal Farm Loan Act and a small income tax. Wilson also averted a railroad strike and an ensuing economic crisis through passage of the Adamson Act, imposing an 8-hour workday for railroads. At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Wilson maintained a policy of neutrality. However, he took a much more aggressive policy in dealing with Mexico's civil war.

Narrowly re-elected in 1916 around the slogan "He kept us out of war," Wilson's second term was dominated by American entry into World War I. In April 1917, when Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare, Wilson asked Congress to declare war in order to make "the world safe for democracy." The United States conducted military operations with the Allies, without a formal alliance. During the war, Wilson focused on diplomacy and financial considerations, leaving military strategy to the generals, especially General John J. Pershing. He loaned billions of dollars to Britain, France, and other Allies, allowing them to finance their own war effort. On the home front in 1917, he began the first large-scale draft, raised income taxes, and borrowed billions of dollars in war funding through the newly established Federal Reserve System and Liberty Bonds for popular subscription. He set up the War Industries Board, promoted labor union cooperation, supervised agriculture and food production through the Lever Act and gave direct control of the railroads to the Secretary of the Treasury William McAdoo. He set up an effective draft law and by summer 1918 was sending newly trained soldiers to France at the rate of 10,000 a day.

He also suppressed anti-war movements with the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918, a crackdown which was intensified by his Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to include non-citizen antiwar activists during the First Red Scare of 1919–1920. In 1918 after years of calling for suffrage at the state level, Wilson endorsed a constitutional amendment that achieved nationwide women's suffrage in 1920 over Southern opposition. He sought and received support from many in the black community, but his record on race as President has been criticized by recent scholars. Early in 1918, he issued his principles for peace, the Fourteen Points, and in 1919 he went to Paris to promote the formation of a League of Nations and concluded the Treaty of Versailles. Wilson then suffered a severe stroke, and was unable to secure Senate ratification of the Treaty. By 1920 his disability had diminished his power and influence, and the Democratic party ignored his tentative plan to run for re-election.

A devoted Presbyterian, Wilson infused a profound sense of moralism into his internationalism, now referred to as "Wilsonian"—a contentious position in American foreign policy which obligates the United States to promote global democracy. For his sponsorship of the League of Nations, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. Wilson has consistently been ranked by scholars and the public as one of the top ten presidents.

Response by SSgt Alex Robinson made Jul 16 at 2015 7:53 PM

2015-07-16T19:53:20-04:00

President Reagan. He restored the greatness of America

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 16 at 2015 9:20 PM

2015-07-16T21:20:54-04:00

GOA Dwight D. Eisenhower: He was responsible for planning and supervising the invasion of North Africa in Operation Torch in 1942–43 and the successful invasion of France and Germany in 1944–45 from the Western Front. In 1951, he became the first Supreme Commander of NATO. Eisenhower won the the 1952 presidential race, becoming our 34th president. In the 1953 Iranian coup d'état, he used nuclear threats to conclude the Korean War. One of Eisenhower's enduring achievements was championing and signing the bill that authorized the Interstate Highway System in 1956. Eisenhower authorized the establishment of NASA in 1957. He also launched the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (which led to the Internet, among other things). Eisenhower devised the American basic strategy of nuclear deterrence based upon the triad of B-52 bombers, land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), and Polaris submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs).

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 16 at 2015 10:29 PM

2015-07-16T22:29:55-04:00

Positively or negatively? Or either?

Response by SSG Sean Gallagher made Jul 16 at 2015 11:27 PM

2015-07-16T23:27:05-04:00

Washington. He's the standard that all presidents should be measured by.

Response by SFC Stephen King made Jul 17 at 2015 9:27 AM

2015-07-17T09:27:27-04:00

Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln.
Ike & Reagan

My top 5. I cannot single out just one.

Response by SSG James Arlington made Jul 17 at 2015 10:18 PM

2015-07-17T22:18:20-04:00

Good choice, Jefferson. However, so many are still sore at Lincoln as we continue to fight the Civil War today!

Response by PFC Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 17 at 2015 10:45 PM

2015-07-17T22:45:50-04:00

Ronald Reagan,
America’s victory in the Cold War freed tens of millions imprisoned by communism across the world. Twenty million new jobs were created at home. Double-digit inflation and interest rates were wiped away. Unemployment fell to around 5.3% by the time he left office, and, more important, America’s national morale was restored. Ronald Reagan had inherited a badly divided Republican Party and an even more fractured country, but as he flew west on the day of his retirement from national politics, he flew over a country more confident in its future than at any time since the 1950s.

Response by SrA Daniel Hunter made Jul 17 at 2015 11:12 PM

2015-07-17T23:12:27-04:00

1. Thomas Jefferson - for the Declaration of Independence and introducing Lockean theory to politics.
2. James Madison for the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Federalist papers with Hamilton & Jay.
3. Theodore Roosevelt, for his foresight in building a global Navy, defining public service through his actions, and "Square Deal."

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 8 at 2015 11:12 AM

2015-10-08T11:12:59-04:00

For me, there is only one. George Washington. This was a man that was handed power twice and refused to retain it. He was a man of honor and deep conscience. Some might point to his ownership of slaves as evidence of a bad man. That couldn't be further from the truth. In is will, he freed all of his slaves. George Washington stated that he believed that the values we established in our constitution ran contrary to the concept of slave driven economy. In many ways, he set the example for how we should run our country and in which direction our moral compass should sway. George Washington was the single greatest man our nation ever knew. He is THE measure by which ALL of our leaders should we weighted against.

Response by PO3 Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 8 at 2015 11:14 AM

2015-10-08T11:14:26-04:00

? all of them? every single one of them had impacted this nation. Think carefully ... everyone of them. At least everyone of those that I know their name.

Response by SFC Charles Temm made Apr 9 at 2016 10:13 AM

2016-04-09T10:13:15-04:00

Straight out positive would be our first one, George Washington. He established many of our strongest presidential traditions and turned down a crown.

Our last mostly positive would be Calvin Coolidge as he was the last one to even consider the Constitution on a daily basis.

Very negative ones would be Wilson, FDR, LBJ, Nixon. Mainly negative would be Jackson, Buchanan, Hoover, Bush II, Obama.