Top 10 US Presidents Who Changed the Course of History
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- Опубліковано 6 сер 2024
- These US leaders altered the course of history in major ways. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down the American presidents who, for better or for worse, changed history the most. Our countdown of US Presidents who changed the course of history includes Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, and more! Which other presidents do you think should be on this list, and why? Let us know in the comments.
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Which other presidents do you think should be on this list, and why? Let us know in the comments.
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You cannot forget president Lyndon B. Johnson that man was the inspiration for Netflix's introduction sound. Without that iconic slam from Lyndon, Netflix wouldn't even be the same in fact we might not even have a Netflix without him.
EDIT: Anyone want proof? I can post IT
Obama
How about a President that shouldn't be on the list. In the bit on John Kennedy you give him credit for policies that happened before and after his short term, policies that were implemented by President Eisenhower and Lyndon Johnson. Also, both Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson spied on political rivals that were much worse than the Watergate scandal under Richard Nixon. Finally, the Cuban missile crisis results weren't the win that the video portrayed. I highly recommend "The Years of Lyndon Johnson" by Robert A. Caro, a five-volume biography of which four have been published. I am awaiting the fifth volume.
The Regan administration is when they started taking all of our manufacturing jobs away to overseas.
Nothing good came from his time in office.
Iran Contra scandal. Our own Military selling weapons to our en
Oliver North trials
Young ones don't know. Better ask Genx
@mikepeckham1833 what games? Truth from those of us alive to witness and remember it? 😂😂
Gotta see what happened so you don't fall for it in the future
Theodore Roosevelt is the goat, the dude literally made a speech while getting shot from the back, but kept speaking as if it was the norm for him.
Read Edmund Morris's three volume biography of Teddy, very good👍
He was shot in the chest actually, his thick folded up speech in his coat pocket saved him from being killed (the bullet did go through the speech, but it lost most of its velocity).
It was actually in his chest and it was when he was campaigning for president (so he wasn’t the president at the time), but yeah, it’s insane!
@@joermnyc
His glasses case was in their, too! Still a cool story
Teddy inspired Batman Begins of Nolan. I rest my case.
Truman wouldn’t have had to desegregate the armed forces if Woodrow Wilson hadn’t RESEGREGATED them. He also brought us the bureaucratic state.
As someone who loves American history, hearing how Lincoln led our country in the midst of a Civil War always peaks my interest. In addition, getting to visit the Lincoln Memorial for the first time a few years ago was one of my favorite experiences
As you should, he kept the United States together, modernized, and industrialized the South with the freedom of slaves.
Too bad MAGA REPUBLICANS don't know anything about the history. They still believe in the confederate flag.
It has great dignity, the Lincoln Memorial and is the place historic events take place.
Lincoln can piss off
Imagine what life would be like if FDR failed to help the US win WW2…
We won WWII because of the Native Code talkers
@@susannpatton2893Partly.
@@susannpatton2893"we"? you mean USSR
It is this hilarious thing Americans do. They seem to generally believe that they defeated Hitler
There is literally a movie where we wonder what life would look like if Germany won, V for Vendetta
Having Woodrow Wilson on here is crazy
Very awful president he thought Birth of a Nation was a great movie NOT 🧐😄😄😒
He wasn't a good president. He wanted to corrupt the country and that's what he did
racist
@@user-xr4jv4qt1g extremely
There were enough for honorable mentions
Thomas Jefferson (The Declaration of independence)
James Monroe (The forefather of noninternventionism)
Dwight D. Eisenhower (Much of the world's foreign policy is based on policies)
Lincoln will always be the Best
My top 3 will always be Lincoln, FDR and Washington
Teddy Roosevelt was a badass individual.
TBF, Lincoln wasn't perfect. He suppressed the media's criticism of his handling of the Civil War, and his biggest mistake was picking Johnson as his VP.
@@b71488FDR was the worst, are you serious? Do you know how horrible he was to the Japanese? That's just one thing that makes him awful. The best presidents are Reagan, JFK, and Washington (not necessarily in that order).
@@MelissaLawrence2002Reagan was as corrupt as a politician could get and helped all his business friends become richer than ever.
Woodrow Wilson also showed Birth of a Nation in the White House and proclaimed it as a historical masterpiece.
Joke of a President
My favorite US President is definitely Abraham Lincoln. He was such a good man. With the American Civil War, the south tried to break free from the United States Of America and become their own nation, the Confederate States Of America. Not on Lincoln’s watch! He was able to lead the Union to victory, free all of the slaves, and kept us together as 1 country. He also made the beloved holiday Thanksgiving a federal holiday. With the Civil War happening, and the nation extremely divided, he was trying to find a way to bring people together. A woman named Sarah Hale has an idea for him, which would be based off of the 1621 Harvest Celebration. It was to make a holiday to give thanks for what we have. She met with Lincoln, discussed it, and he loved her idea so much. He officially made Thanksgiving a national holiday after that. It is so upsetting that John Wilkes Booth assassinated him. He did it because he thought that if it was done, slavery would return. And oh boy, he was so wrong! He got what was coming to him though, after a huge manhunt.
I sure wish we had a time machine I would've prevented Lincoln from getting assassinated who knows maybe reparations would've been given to us.
Brace yoursleves. Here comes the flame war lmfao.
?
@@littledudefromacrossthestr5755
He’s talking about in the comment section, what you’re in right now. You didn’t think it was an actual war, did you?
@@theparadigm8149 OK ty
Should have added a few honourable mentions like: Nixon, Eisenhower, Grant, Jefferson
@UnitedStatesBall-yt5 Nixon clearly had his issues, and in few ways if any was not a great guy. But he did pass a large amount of environmental bills that are still prevalent today, and ended America’s involvement in Vietnam.
Though I believe a lot of that was motivated for political gains, and not for any moral. If I remember correctly, it’s been awhile, but worth looking into.
Truman also vaporized or burnt alive 170.000 civilians and killed by cancer another tens of thousands launching 2 bombs that were not aiming at Japan but at Stalin. And Wilson is one of the major factors in the outburst of WWII.
Sure Reagan made a difference. It was during the Reagan administration that opposition to protecting the environment and a general anti knowledge attitude took over the GOP
Not to mention he completely defunded mental health funding which led to increased homelessness.
And was the first presidency in which the US started accumulating a national debt and in many ways the one who drove the US to permanently occupy the middle East militarily.
Everything that's bad in nowadays America started with Reagan.
And if it started before Reagan then Reagan made it worse.
So yeah, he made a difference...
I actually wonder if Reagan revived the philosophies of Calvin Coolidge in the 1920s: low taxes, less regulation & 'laissez faire' economics that eventually went 'pop' in 1929/2008.
I personally remember Reagan's "Tear Down this Wall" speech. Reagan's staff had to find Wall still standing for Reagan to make the speech in front of.
Gorbachev is 100% responsible for putting himself out of a job and returning autonomy to Warsaw Pact nations.
Reagan was a turd and I say that as a fan of his when he was elected in 1980 but I despised him before he left Office.
Lyndon B. Johnson wasn’t really a good president. He basically took credit for the most of the things JFK wanted to do. Civil Rights Act was basically JFK plan but Johnson gets the credit for it.
I think LBJ was unlucky in the light of Vietnam, but he was fulfilling the legacy of slain JFK. I sometimes think it was more powerfully resonant for Lyndon Johnson as a southerner & who grew up in the segregated Jim Crow South to sign the Civil Rights Act than the northerner Kennedy. Johnson's embrace of the Civil Rights Movement irreversibly transformed the Democratic Party, which had always been the white southern planters' party since the founding of America.
" The difference between me and Johnson was one of us was willing to kill for the presidency." -Richard Nixon
Not to mention LBJ was playing both sides with the CRA.
Great video! Love the way you pulled from both sides of the political spectrum.
Washington was the best ever. No party affiliation, no political ambitions
The one with the bad teeth 😅
Nice video
How is Thomas Jefferson not on the list?
Maybe because he slaved his own children you think🤨
Ahem, *coughs* Sally Hemings ... But I agree, Jefferson was larger than life and author of the Declaration of Independence. Arguably, the founder of party politics that would have disappointed George Washington. It is notable how important Virginia was as a fulcrum between northern and southern states in the early years of the USA.
I will say the moon speech get me up when I have to public speak
Cool video
Abe Lincoln will always be the Number 1 President in my Book 😎
@UnitedStatesBall-yt5 He made be the first, but Lincoln was the Best cuz he free Black people from slavery
*Notices the PragerU clip* Big yikes…
Also ironic how George Washington had seemingly predicted that political parties would tear the country apart..
Better than using a Young Turks clip
Well done list.
Glad you think so!
@@WatchMojo ✡️
Reagan made it worst for everyone not rich.
biden made amercia dead!
I would've added James Monroe for the 'Monroe Doctrine.'
Obama is my favourite,
as well as Kevin James
(Pixels joke) 😂😂😂
Pixels is underrated. I feel like a lot of people don't like it.
How come you wouldn't mention "the buck stops here" plate on Truman's desk?
Good call👏
Lincoln and jfk were the best presidents we ever had
what about LBJ?
Lincoln and FDR!
@@beyondview he just did what jfk left over
@@beyondviewLBJ passing civil rights is huge but getting 50 thousand Americans killed over Vietnam boots him out of the conversation.
They were sacrificed by trying to help black people and sadly got killed for it.
Reagan gave us crack...... Truly the legacy of that continues to send ripples throughout our society and time
Lol, imagine thinking Reagan gave America Crack. What a moron.
And the Xtian Tailban!! 🤮
@@kristoffbjorgman8721 true
@@kristoffbjorgman8721
> swedish
> gay
Hang on, I think the Westboro Baptist Church is onto something here...
It figures that Lincoln would be number 1 on this list, I mean after all out of all the presidents in US history Lincoln truly changed the country for the better!
Tell me in details why he is the best
Number 2 imo. Wash gotta be number 1 or there may not be america.
@mrhumble2937 @lexkanyima2195 uh, One major thing: slavery. Washington never talked about slavery, why, because he owned slaves. Lincoln hated slavery. He thought that all people were equal, something that is still being fought for today.
@xaviercardoza1230 yea well it's hundred yea different in time. Just like Julius Caesar or Alexander the great.
@@xaviercardoza1230 Well the thing about Lincoln ending slavery is that he only did it because he didn't want free states to become slave states.
He didn't end it entirely for the benefit of the slaves. Lincoln just wanted to prevent slavery from spreading across the rest of the US.
Top Ten Reasons Why Lincoln Is Considered the Best President in American History
If Vietnam didn't happen for LBJ, he would have been a top 5 president of all time. Got nearly all of the civil rights legislation through like the Voting Rights Act of 1964 and Civil Rights Act. Got Medicare and Medicaid through Congress. Unemployment was from 1966 up until Nixon took over in 1969 UNDER 4%. He had Congress wrapped around his fingers, but sadly again Vietnam took him down. He knew he would lose in 1968 if he ran so he didn't.
Lyndon Johnson was a monster who actually talked to staff members while he sat on the toilet taking a dump. It could be argued that he was part of the group that assassinated his predecessor. Just months after taking office the CIA faked a military incident to justify the mass military involvement of the US in Vietnam, which vastly helped Fort Worth Texas based Bell Helicopters and General Dynamics (LBJ was from Texas). Finally, LBJ frequently used the N word when talking about black people.
LOL he started 'The great society', spent trillions of dollars making government encroached in nearly every area of American life, offer subsidies, threatening prostitutions, Intergenerational poverty through sponsorship of single motherhood through welfare programs disincentivized marriage, black single motherhood in 1960 was under 20% and its now over 70% because of this, between 1963 and 2011 the federal government spent 13 trillions fighting poverty , the poverty rate in 2012 was 15% which was slightly HIGHER than in 1966 basically spent 13 TRILLIONS dollars to increase the poverty rate, he got America deeply involved in the war in Vietnam which was disastrous.
LBJ wanted to prove that he wasn't accidental president by coming to power after JFK's assassination, even though he was Texas and supported segregation early in his career
he also felt compelled to continue Kennedy's work for civil rights because he felt it necessary to honor his legacy, nobody ever knew that he was secretly supported the Civil Rights Act
lbj would have been an amazing president if it weren't for vietnam
LBJ knew he would pay a terrible price for his support of Civil Rights Act
but he told a southern Democrat senator that he would be glad to pay it
THIS VOICE IS THE BEST ON MOJO!!!!!!!!!!!! NOT OVER STIMULATING!! VERY PLEASENT VOICE❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
FDR is the greatest president of all time
No. Not even a lil bit. He would be near the bottom of my list for sure.
@@MelissaLawrence2002 Is Trump on your list?
@@Joe_Narbaiz no, he's quite terrible. A majority of our presidents have been terrible honestly.
@@Joe_Narbaiz Biden sure as hell is.
@@MelissaLawrence2002Still better than Biden. Anyone including Trump is better than Biden
I had no idea that all these presidents changed the course of history. That's great! I do remember the emancipation proclamation. It is nice seeing pictures and clips of these presidents. They did everything good for the country.
Great list. Proud to be a naturalized U.S citizen.
Love the background music
The emancipator is respected by all of humanity for all time. Abraham Lincoln transcended the presidency with that single move.
Woodrow Wilson ⁉️⁉️ Are you nuts?
He showed "Birth of a Nation" at the White House plus had a stroke but was still president
Ragonomics was disastrous.What are you talking about. Deregulation is what has gave us all of these billionaires that now control all the wealth🤦♂️
This should be a civilized and friendly discussion down below.
It actually is
Honorable mentions obama, and jefferson
Name one thing Obama did that was good?
@@johnjames502oh kiddo. Let the adults speak.
@@brighteyes4927 Then speak. What did he do?
@@johnjames502 , the video is literally about presidents who changed the course of history, not who was the best president. Either way, Obama is too recent for us to see fully the impact of his presidency.
@@hagridstan OK, then what did he do to change the course of history? Why should he be on the list?
Abraham Lincoln... From Pro wrestling superstar to great President. Also a lot of people overlook FDR in spite of the great things he did like ending prohibition and implementing social security and carrying the US through ww2.
LBJ - A Very Progressive President at that time that cared about advancing The Civil Rights of Black men & women. & getting played by Bryan Cranston was awesome. 🧏🏿♂️🙆🏿♀️🙆🏻♀️🙆🏽♀️
Abe Lincoln was. He would be ashamed of the administration we now have
The last hand full of administration rather
You mean the Trump administration.
Agreed. The Republican House is a clown show.
@@TheReaperofHades democrats aren't compromising either.
No he'd be ashamed at the world and would respect any president because it's a democracy.
Ohhhhhh god, here comes the comment wars
They are Coming!!!! Lol😂😂😂
I am a commentator and I would say this list was fair and redeemed itself in the end
@thetruecollector735 there is more annoying comments like yours than there are comment wars
Eisenhower should've been on here along with U.S. Grant
I like the the ten that where selected based on the criteria of changing history. I think Reagan should probably have been bumped up to #3 at least on the list and Teddy R. to #4.
Lincoln has always been one of my favorite Presidents, & my favorite thing Lyndon B. Johnson did was the Public Broadcasting Act, I grew up with PBS as a kid.
Imagine calling The Fed "New Freedom". Politicians do be lying for centuries 😂
Abraham Lincoln was American best president.
The Rosevelts will always be the root core of my political philosophy, they both gave the middle finger to establishment parties and brought economic prosperity to the nation.
Smh Washington warned us against 2 parties at each others throats
Johnson not only covered up the murder of American sailors by Israel but he personally got rich by the Vietnam War
I appreciate that George Washington and Franklin D. Roosevelt on the list and I love the explanations about those two greatest presidents that changed the world around me. Other presidents that should be on this list is Presidents Thomas Jefferson, Bill Clinton, President Trump
Washington should be number one.
I would agree, but at the same I think his legacy is tainted because he was a slave owner
He wasn't the best
@@Hammer20166Only fools think that way
lol Watchmojo was like " Let's not go past Reagan...it might be a war in the comments if we do"
Hello WatchMojo!
Where is Polk? He literally doubled the size of the country in 4 years
He was a High school name after him on a tv show Neds
Wasn't it Jefferson who doubled the size of the country with the Louisiana Purchase?
Washington should have been #1 with Madison #2 ... luckily this video is not entitled The Best/Worst Presidents because there are a couple of both that are on this list ... particularly Worst
We’ll always remember them.
Theodore Roosevalt is the most underrated US president in history. I am still amazed there has never been a filmed made about him.
3:27 wasn't this when the us along with the UK messed around and its only now that we are finding out we shouldn't have voted them in?
Nice counterpoint to last month's Too Ten Worst Presidents list.
James knox polk is extremely underrated
Please do not use PragerU content in your videos again
FDR, FDR and FDR ❤
What a bunch of awsome presidents
I'd substitute Jefferson and Jackson for Madison and Kenedy.
Dwayne Elizando Mountain Dew Hurbert Comacho will always be Americas #1 President!!
what about the theory that Japan had already signed a peaces treaty before it was nuked?
Vampire Hunter #1 😁
0:25 how quickly they forgot about the man who came right before him 🤦🤦🤦
The senate and house should watch this video in particular 10:43 ijs 👀🤔
Ike Eisenhower should have been on the list! He is by far the best President the United States has ever had!
3:04 the actor?
Just a note “Truman put together the NATO. Not Biden!”
FDR also changed the course of history. He managed to led the US during the Second World War and the Great Depression.
Disgraceful that they include Woodrow Wilson. I would replace him with John Adams as he avoided war with Europe and end the Quasi War. Madison may be good but he can’t be on the top 10. Coolidge should be on top 10 as he help set the stage for civil rights
Whoever made this video needs a history class and major education
Kinda thought Old Hickory would make the list…
I agree
Barack Obama should definitely be on the list. Always level headed promoted and got passed Obama care and also through his leadership we saw our economy rebound unemployment lowered and dealt strategically with the capture of Osama binLaden and seemed to show the elites that the US was not a nation to “play around with.”
😂😂😂
Obama the great drone striker, great gay president didnt do shit when Putin invaded Crimea.
Wait… where is Biden?
You’d think that our government and following presidents would follow the examples that men like Lincoln or Roosevelt left behind 😔
Aint no way watch mojo is using prager u videos
WILSONNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!
Seeing presidents being decent is like seeing full eclipse of the moon twice on a same day (btw im not from US).
I agree, in this day n time though it's a true rarity nowadays sadly.
ye and im not even living in US@@CreativeSteve69
Respectfully, George Washington is too low even at 3rd. As a general, he helped win the war for US Independence, he was also a Founding Father like Jefferson who helped write the constitution, and then the act of him stepping down after two terms was shocking at the time and is one of the single biggest reasons US democracy succeeded. The rest don't exist without him. I'd definitely place him above FDR and Lincoln personally; those two don't exist without Washington.
Lincoln is definitely number one.
FDR 3 Washington 2 Lincoln 1. 1 and 2 could easily be switched but FDR at 2? Really?
The soviet union was already collapsing. Saint Ronny should not be considered the man who made it happen. Just happened to be in the right place at the fight time. Only people on the left said how silly his dyed black hair plus his clown makeup were
Actually, you'd be surprised how many people called Reagan an idiot back in the 80s for thinking the USSR could collapse before the 21st Century. But it turned out he was right. His policies guaranteed an American victory in the Cold War in 8 years, something his predecessors couldn't do in 35 years. It's true that cracks were beginning to show in the USSR by 1980, but Reagan was intelligent enough to recognize and quickly exploit those weaknesses to the US' advantage. It's certainly true that Reagan didn't single-handedly cause the Soviet Union to collapse, but saying that he did nothing to end the Cold War is even more ridiculous.
Not only Abraham Lincoln is the best president, but he changed the course of history by abolishing slavery.
The list is good, but I think Washington should be number one on the list. Not just because he was the first president. But he helped create a new nation. That's the main reason why the Washington football team changed their name to the commanders.
Reagan is probably the most beloved conservative figure in history that isn’t named Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln was never referred to as conservative in his lifetime.
Republicans in the 1800s are much closer to the Democrats of the late 1900’s.
Reagan was scum!
Lincoln wasn’t conservative.
@@rp2808exactly people need to understand the history of both parties because Democrats were originality the conservatives and the republicans were the liberals before the idealologies flipped in the 20th century
FDR is the best president.
Where’s the first black president
This is the real world where identity politics doesn't count for shit. His record was terrible.
@@MrBrewman95 first Black President reigns above all!
4:17
And with the hint act of choice of what Linlcon did is what in his inner conscious was the correct way... The real mean of pure truth was that since when this sentence was written I'm to create I'm to destroy more I'm to divided and I'm to unite JOB 12:18
If I might me much surely corect