Most influential people in modern politics
 

Who in your opinion is the person who has influenced American politics the most in the past 50 years? It seems to me that many parties/philosophies have their spoksperson that they would consider the most important people in politics(Ayn Rand, Noam Chomsky, ect), but in reality, these people have had little effect of the landscape of american politics. With presidents, there hasn't been one that has been radically differant from his party platform so it would be hard to argue that they really affected anything at all. It could be argued that Saddam or bin Laden changed america the most, but I don't see them as really changing the opinions or political beliefs of anyone. All they did was give an excuse to spend more on security. Do you guys think that there is any one person that really shaped the political landscape of today? (and no, Jesus doesn't count)

Reagen. The man bankrupted the U.S.S.R , was there when the shit started hitting the fan with Iraq/Iran/Afganistan, LED (as in put in place) the U.S. into its hyper-economy, Led us to be the sole HYPER-power. He was at the tip of the iceburg for alot of shit that is happening in these current times.

If I were to go with a president, I'd probably have to agree with you on that. The cold war was THE event of the second half of the century and Reagan did alot to end it.

Richard Nixon probably deserves some mention because he did really end the air of slight nobility that surrounded presidents before him and made alot of people see politicians for the crook that they are.

Nixon also opened our ties with china and most other asian countries, which strenghthened our economy and enabling it to grow to the size it is today.

As far as the most influential group in the past fifty years, i would have to say that Sam Cohen (the inventor of the nuclear bomb) has influenced our current political system more than any politician. Think about it, how many countries are we pissed off at because they have nuclear weapons, Iraq, Pakistan, N. Korean...the list goes on...

[edit: oegh, yea yur right. this is pre-wwII, then i guess i would have to go with either gorbachev or reagan, damn, cohen was a good one]

Ding! Ding!

I think we have a winner!!

The nuclear bomb dramatically changed the political landscape and started the cold war. The cold war was the main event of the post WWII world and by proxy the person who made the atomic bomb is the most influential person in the past 50 (or so) years. The only problem is that it wasn't really a single person who made the bomb. Einstien showed it could be done, others theorized how to cause the reaction and others made it into a bomb. Take any of several men out of the picture and the bomb may not have been a reality. In that regard they are all equally inflential.

Stalin

What I mean - is that the most influential people have been your enemies

i'd have to go w/ gorbachev.

yes, the cold war was over by that time, but he put the tensions down a lot more.

he started the disarmamament agreements (the START treaties)

I agree with Reagan, although Einstein and the others on the Manhattan project could be up there too. The Reason I stick with Reagan is because he influenced more than just foreign policy, whereas the Manhattan project created basically a security issue.

the guy asked 50 yrs.

that's 1953 and up.

if you're gonna go any back, i'll have to change my vote to fdr.

Reagan, no question. Like stated before, he had a lot to do with the end of the cold war and the 90s economy.

He was the master of using the television to sell agenda to the american people. Every president since has tried, but failed, to use television as well as Reagan.

The time period that I'm thinking of is simply the post WWII world. Now that I think about it, that really means post hiroshima and atom bomb, so the manhattan project is out. I'd have to say that in the end, I agree with everyone in selecting Reagan.

To say that Reagan bancrupted the USSR wouldn't be right. Communism bancrupted the USSR just as it would any country in the world.

Is this question about American politics or modern (world) politics?

From an international point of view, I would have to say Mao Tse-tung.

lol, thanks Macheath. What the hell do we know about "modern (world) politics"?

I assume the 'Reagan' everyone's referring to is Nancy and not Ronald. I'm not conviced Ron could even tie his own shoelaces.

I've said this before: Reagan did indeed hasten the downfall of the USSR, but he did so recklessly, by playing a foolish game of brinksmanship that would in all likelihood have led to armed or nuclear conflict if Gorbachev hadn't been a moderate. Reagan got lucky - he gambled with two hundred million American lives and billions of others around the world. Credit him all you want. For my dollar, he was certifiably insane.

Anyway, as of right now, the most influential person in American politics is Karl Rove, also known as Bush's Brain. The second most influential person is actually a dead guy: Leo Strauss, the father of neoconservative "thought".

Logic: If the US is the world's most influential nation (all factors taken into account), then the architects of U.S. policy are by default the most influential political figures in the world. Leo Strauss defined the policy threads that Karl Rove is now bringing to fruition.

Of course, all that means is that the world is in deep doo-doo.

As an addendum to my earlier post, considering the last 50 years (okay, I'm going back a BIT farther than that), I would have to say Emperor Hirohito is the most influential political actor in the world.

Logic: Hirohito (for all his weakness and ability to be swayed by pressure from his own government) was the originator of the plan that brought the U.S. officially into World War II. Had Pearl Harbor never happened, the geopolitical face of the world would quite likely be very different today. Mind, this is all a theoretical exercise, but let's posit that Hitler would have eventually lost Europe (thanks to the Soviets, who got to Berlin before we did), but the Eastern Bloc may have stretched as far west as Switzerland, and as far south as the Middle East. That means a significantly reduced or nonexistent NATO, and a big jump ahead for the USSR in terms of money and geopolitical power. That means that Reagan would either have plunged the world into World War III with his recklessness, or the Cold War would still be going on today.

Let's further examine the Pacific Theater - Japan would have won that conflict easily without the U.S. there, so we would have to deal with a real Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity sphere - and that means a much less powerful China, a USSR without the mineral resources of Siberia, and quite possibly a United States without Alaska and its oilfields.

The upshot of this is that we *did* enter World War II, and we greatly influenced its outcome. Every manifestation of American power in the time since has been an outgrowth of that successful war, as well as a good number of domestic social advancements. Imagine: no baby boom, and then begin extrapolating.

Hmm.

Yeah, I'd say Hirohito. Surprise!

the rauth family they controle the world after all :)

well, i´ll second Macheath - i think Mao has been incredibly influential in world politics this half of the last century.

but i´d also like to throw another name out here - and its not for his politics directly, but for his influence in global media - Rupert Murdoch.

now, i certainly don´t believe that he has been the most influential, but i think hes played a part.