Key Figures in U.S. History and Their Impact

William McKinley

25th president; led the U.S. during the Spanish-American War and oversaw the annexation of the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico.

Theodore Roosevelt

26th president; known for trust-busting, conservation, the Square Deal, and asserting U.S. power with the 'Big Stick' foreign policy.

William Howard Taft

27th president; emphasized dollar diplomacy in foreign affairs and later served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

Woodrow Wilson

28th president; led the U.S. through WWI, pushed for the League of Nations, and promoted progressive reforms and the Fourteen Points.

Upton Sinclair

Muckraking author of The Jungle (1906), which exposed unsanitary conditions in the meatpacking industry, leading to food safety reforms.

Emma Goldman

Radical political activist and anarchist who supported labor rights, free speech, and birth control; deported during the Red Scare.

A. Mitchell Palmer

U.S. Attorney General who led the Palmer Raids during the First Red Scare, targeting suspected radicals and anarchists.

Herbert Hoover

31st president; his response to the Great Depression was widely criticized, leading to FDR's election in 1932.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

32nd president; created the New Deal to combat the Depression and led the U.S. through most of WWII.

Fred Korematsu

Japanese American who challenged internment during WWII; his Supreme Court case, Korematsu v. U.S., upheld internment as constitutional.

Harry Truman

33rd president; made the decision to drop atomic bombs on Japan, led the U.S. in the early Cold War, and implemented the Truman Doctrine.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

34th president; WWII general and Cold War leader who enforced school desegregation and promoted the Interstate Highway System.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Civil rights leader who advocated for nonviolent resistance; led the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the March on Washington.

Ho Chi Minh

Communist leader of North Vietnam who fought for independence from France and later against U.S. forces during the Vietnam War.

Ngo Dinh Diem

U.S.-backed, anti-communist leader of South Vietnam; his repressive regime led to internal unrest and his assassination in 1963.

John F. Kennedy

35th president; managed the Cuban Missile Crisis, promoted civil rights and the Space Race, assassinated in 1963.

Lyndon B. Johnson

36th president; passed the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act as part of his Great Society, escalated U.S. involvement in Vietnam.

Richard Nixon

37th president; ended U.S. involvement in Vietnam, opened relations with China, and resigned after the Watergate scandal.

Jimmy Carter

39th president; known for the Camp David Accords and his handling of the Iran Hostage Crisis; promoted human rights in foreign policy.

Ronald Reagan

40th president; implemented conservative economic policies ('Reaganomics'), escalated Cold War tensions before negotiating arms reductions.

Osama Bin Laden

Leader of al-Qaeda and mastermind of the 9/11 attacks; killed by U.S. forces in 2011.

Saddam Hussein

Authoritarian leader of Iraq; invaded Kuwait (Gulf War), accused of WMD possession, removed during the 2003 U.S. invasion.

George H. W. Bush

41st president; led the U.S. during the Gulf War and the end of the Cold War.

Bill Clinton

42nd president; oversaw economic growth and welfare reform, impeached by the House over the Monica Lewinsky scandal but acquitted.

George W. Bush

43rd president; led the U.S. response to 9/11, initiated the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and signed the PATRIOT Act.

Barack Obama

44th president; first African American president, passed the Affordable Care Act, and ordered the operation that killed Bin Laden.

Donald Trump

45th president; known for a populist, nationalist agenda, two impeachments, and controversies surrounding the 2020 election and January 6.

Joe Biden

46th president; served during the COVID-19 pandemic recovery, withdrew U.S. troops from Afghanistan, and passed infrastructure and climate bills.