Who is the most influential leader of the 20th century till now?

NOTE:
This is not the greatest leader, but the most influential, meaning the one who left, or is still leaving the greatest mark on history.

I chose Vladimir Lenin, because he founded Communism. Communism caused a fifty year "Cold War" with Capitalism, which in turn led to China's Communist Expansive polices, which lead to massive executions of many people. The world is still recovering the USSR's communist regime.

Where's Joseph Stalin? Or Gandhi? Or, or, or........ Wish there were more choices.

Hitler.  Out of all those leaders, I'm pretty sure that nothing beats the Holocaust or World War II in 20th century history.  =  /

It is for a FACT the almighty Fueher,but i agree that Joseph Stalin was also quite influential,and also,Bennito Mussolini.

Adolf Hitler was not only the greatest world leader in the 20th century but also the most talked about as well. He turned Germany from a 3rd world country into a world super power again in just under a decade and managed to go to war with the rest of Europe + America in the process. These days World Leaders are lucky to do anything as significant as he did in their term of office.

I am in no way a supporter of the holocaust or of Hitler's political views. But you cannot deny he managed to create a new era of prosperity for Germany in the time it takes for a modern day country to decide whether they need to increase funding to welfare or armed forces.

As far as most influental, Its between Hitler and Lenin

Stalin.

I cannot believe that the TC put "Franklin Roosevelt (U.S. President who took the US out of the Great Depression and through WWII"

sad....really sad. I won't argue with the fact that he was extremely influential, but took us out of the Depression? Give me a break.... That being said, it should have been Stalin in his spot, and that's who I would have voted for.

But anyways, I voted Hitler.

"I cannot believe that the TC put "Franklin Roosevelt (U.S. President who took the US out of the Great Depression and through WWII"

sad....really sad. I won't argue with the fact that he was extremely influential, but took us out of the Depression? Give me a break.... That being said, it should have been Stalin in his spot, and that's who I would have voted for.

But anyways, I voted Hitler.
"

I'm going in another direction than what is assumed to be meant by "leader" and place my vote for someone other than those listed. 

I'm going to say Henry Ford is the most influential leader of the past century.  While automobiles existed prior to the formation of the Ford Motor Company, they were affordable only by the rich and took a long time to build.  However Henry Ford utilized the assembly line to mass produce his cars and then priced them so that they were affordable to the average family.  With a car in many families' driveways, the nation as a whole became mobile.  Government projects were introduced to build highways and interstate trade exploded.  Before the affordable automobile, a person could live their whole lives inside of a 30 mile radius, but with mobility, families spread out in pursuit of new opportunities.  The old family structures, which had been unchanged for centuries, changed as each member could live great distances from each other coming together only for holidays or family events.  In time, this effect would expand beyond America to the world. 

Henry Ford's second great innovation, the assembly line, also greatly changed the world.  Being able to mass produce any product reduces its initial cost and extends its post-production lifespan.  Interchangeable parts meant that if an item needed repair, you didn't need to find a specialist to create a new part by hand.  All forms of machinery could be kept working and driving the industrial economy forward.  Although, Ford focused on cars, the process was applied to all sorts of manufactured items.  Refrigerators, radios, airplanes, etc...were made available to the average consumer (airplanes through airlines being able to offer affordable travel) and the standard of living for people increased.  Life got better than it had been for previous generations of people.   The assembly line also changed where people lived.  Mass manufacturing attracted people from the farms to the cities, and the nation became increasingly urbanized.  Again, this effect crossed across the globe and is still occurring now in the 3rd World.

I don't claim that Henry Ford invented either the car or assembly line, however it was his application of them that was imitated by all other forms of business and thus effected all forms of human everyday life.

Hitler, unfortunately. FDR really did shape the U.S. how it is today, as well. Still, Hitler gets my vote.  NOT A GOOD VOTE, MIND YOU

"I cannot believe that the TC put "Franklin Roosevelt (U.S. President who took the US out of the Great Depression and through WWII"

sad....really sad. I won't argue with the fact that he was extremely influential, but took us out of the Depression? Give me a break.... That being said, it should have been Stalin in his spot, and that's who I would have voted for.

But anyways, I voted Hitler.
"

hitler no contest. it's not easy to make a bankrupt nation conquer most of europe after 6 years of being in office, and less easy to fight most of the world off for 5 years after, even if they did lose

"lilburtonboy7489 said:

"I cannot believe that the TC put "Franklin Roosevelt (U.S. President who took the US out of the Great Depression and through WWII"

sad....really sad. I won't argue with the fact that he was extremely influential, but took us out of the Depression? Give me a break.... That being said, it should have been Stalin in his spot, and that's who I would have voted for.

But anyways, I voted Hitler.
"

Truth be told Germany/Japan got the US out of Depression. They gave your industry meaning and Millions of Jobs were handed out by the war."

Just about every single thing in the world today is directly a result of Hitler.

"lilburtonboy7489 said:

"Will1Lucky said:

"lilburtonboy7489 said:

"I cannot believe that the TC put "Franklin Roosevelt (U.S. President who took the US out of the Great Depression and through WWII"

sad....really sad. I won't argue with the fact that he was extremely influential, but took us out of the Depression? Give me a break.... That being said, it should have been Stalin in his spot, and that's who I would have voted for.

But anyways, I voted Hitler.
"

Truth be told Germany/Japan got the US out of Depression. They gave your industry meaning and Millions of Jobs were handed out by the war."

Actually, the war didn't get us out of it. War is ever good for the economy. It takes valuable wealth and diverts it into non-profitable products and jobs. The private industry was deregulated and taxes were lowered. That's how we got out of it.
"

If war stimulated the economy, why the hell would anyone want to pull out of the Middle East?"

Hitler influenced an entire nation to take over all of europe, and still held the peoples favor up until the last minutes of WWII. Hitler had total control over his entire army even while he was in the bunker that would eventually become his tomb. He ordered many of his generals to kill themselves if they were beaten in the last battle of berlin and over half of them did. Carried out the genocide of the jews more effectively than any other genocide known to mankind. Influenced Italy to attack enland/frace soil in africa and influenced japan to attack America. Influenced the Soviet Union to help him take over poland.

No one will ever be more influential (positively or negatively) than Hitler was. 

EDIT: I in NO WAY support what Hitler did either politically or otherwise.

The Fuhrer was by far one of the greatest socio-politically influential figures in all of history, not just the last century. To understand fully what kind of a mental grip he held over  Weimar Germany and even under his own 'weak' dictatorship can't be explained, because we haven't seen that recently. This man, althought a psychopathic lunatic, had a great mind for public persuasion, thats why he's the most influential. He brought the NAZI party from a no name, to the ONLY name.

I can see that a lot of other people watched downfall too xD

I think out of all of those Hitler was the one who had the biggest impact even on todays politics.

McCain used to go abou how America can't have another Holocaust. And how America needs to protect Israel - which one could argue the need to protect came out of WW2.
America didn't even start it's "world police tour" until after WW2 - Hitler.

"Adolf Hitler was not only the greatest world leader in the 20th century but also the most talked about as well. He turned Germany from a 3rd world country into a world super power again in just under a decade and managed to go to war with the rest of Europe + America in the process. These days World Leaders are lucky to do anything as significant as he did in their term of office.

I am in no way a supporter of the holocaust or of Hitler's political views. But you cannot deny he managed to create a new era of prosperity for Germany in the time it takes for a modern day country to decide whether they need to increase funding to welfare or armed forces.
"

Lenin effected not only how his own country goes about business but the whole world really, that is a sign that a leader has a grand effect on things, for better or for worse.  Which lead to most of those leaders on that list, how they did business.

Probably a tie between Hitler and Bush. Hitler for rescuing his country from of oblivion and nearly taking over the world using pure force of will and genius battle tactics. Oppositely, Bush for destroying the most powerful country in the world using religious dogma and sheer retardation in the same short time span.

I wrote a post, then deleted it.

We're NOT talking about accomplishments or popularity or greatness. We're talking about most influential. 

Dude, as negative as it is - it can only be Hitler. never has one name - or moustache, for that matter - meant so much to the entire world. It's impossible not to associate that man with the evil of the second World War, or the atrocious genocidal attacks he instigated. The fact of the matter is though, that he is one of the few people in the world that have influenced everyone and everything somehow.

Kinda sucks how its only the terrorists that have the greatest impact, eh?

Kinda sucks how its only the terrorists that have the greatest impact, eh?

"AztecOmar said:

Kinda sucks how its only the terrorists that have the greatest impact, eh?

I would argue that through history, that is not true.  Jesus Christ, Siddhartha, the prophet Mohammed, Johannes Gutenberg, Peter Henlein, John Harrison, James Watt, Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, Henry Ford, Columbus, Aristotle, Issac Newton, Charles Darwin, Ts'ai Lun, John Locke, Adam Smith, Martin Luther, Ghandi, Alexander Graham Bell, Descartes, and the folks who invented the wheel, discovered fire and initiated crop rotation all have had a stronger, longer lasting influence on the daily quality of peoples lives than those of political leaders, good or bad.
"

"Whisperkill said:

"lilburtonboy7489 said:

"Will1Lucky said:

"lilburtonboy7489 said:

"I cannot believe that the TC put "Franklin Roosevelt (U.S. President who took the US out of the Great Depression and through WWII"

sad....really sad. I won't argue with the fact that he was extremely influential, but took us out of the Depression? Give me a break.... That being said, it should have been Stalin in his spot, and that's who I would have voted for.

But anyways, I voted Hitler.
"

Truth be told Germany/Japan got the US out of Depression. They gave your industry meaning and Millions of Jobs were handed out by the war."

Actually, the war didn't get us out of it. War is ever good for the economy. It takes valuable wealth and diverts it into non-profitable products and jobs. The private industry was deregulated and taxes were lowered. That's how we got out of it.
"

If war stimulated the economy, why the hell would anyone want to pull out of the Middle East?"

Exactly my point. Contrary to popular belief, war is extremely hard on an economy.
"

"I wrote a post, then deleted it.

This poll is invalid due to option H.

George Bush.

The comment in the poll says "US President who instigated a world wide war on terrorism"

I was not aware that the 41st President of the USA, George H. W. Bush instigated a world wide war on terrorism, George Bush who served as President from 1989 to 1993. Since this is a poll on the 20th century, and therefore you could not possibly mean his son, George W. Bush, the 43rd President of the USA, who came into office on January 20 2001; the 21st century, the man who declared a War on Terrorism after September 11 2001.

When did George Bush, the 41st President of the USA, instigate this world wide war on terrorism?

I voted for Franklin D. Roosevelt, although I would have voted for Theodore Roosevelt, a man who was shot during his campaign and continued to finish his speech, a Rough Rider, a man who had his boat stolen from his lodge, and proceeded to recruit two of his friends to build a second boat, pursued the would-be theives down the winter river and catch them. He was an example states-man, President and human being that influenced early 20th century culture in the West. He was one of America's greatest Presidents and an inspiration for all.

"

Who is the most influential leader of the 20th century till now?

"KindGalaxy said:

"I wrote a post, then deleted it.

This poll is invalid due to option H.

George Bush.

The comment in the poll says "US President who instigated a world wide war on terrorism"

I was not aware that the 41st President of the USA, George H. W. Bush instigated a world wide war on terrorism, George Bush who served as President from 1989 to 1993. Since this is a poll on the 20th century, and therefore you could not possibly mean his son, George W. Bush, the 43rd President of the USA, who came into office on January 20 2001; the 21st century, the man who declared a War on Terrorism after September 11 2001.

When did George Bush, the 41st President of the USA, instigate this world wide war on terrorism?

I voted for Franklin D. Roosevelt, although I would have voted for Theodore Roosevelt, a man who was shot during his campaign and continued to finish his speech, a Rough Rider, a man who had his boat stolen from his lodge, and proceeded to recruit two of his friends to build a second boat, pursued the would-be theives down the winter river and catch them. He was an example states-man, President and human being that influenced early 20th century culture in the West. He was one of America's greatest Presidents and an inspiration for all.

"

Buddy read the title of the topic:

Who is the most influential leader of the 20th century till now?

Yeah my point exactly. "