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Government & Politics

Presidents, lawmakers, judges, diplomats and commanders — the people who ran the country and argued about how.

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Nancy Pelosi b. 1940Political Leaders & StatecraftFirst female Speaker of the House who shepherded major healthcare and economic legislation.Henry Clay 1777–1852Political Leaders & StatecraftSenator and statesman known as the Great Compromiser for his role in preserving the Union.William Jennings Bryan 1860–1925Political Leaders & StatecraftThree-time Democratic nominee and orator who made monetary reform, popular democracy, and moral politics central national issues.Mitch McConnell b. 1942Political Leaders & StatecraftLongest-serving Senate party leader who reshaped the federal judiciary through confirmation strategy.Stephen A. Douglas 1813–1861Political Leaders & StatecraftIllinois senator whose popular-sovereignty doctrine and debates with Lincoln framed the crisis over slavery.Martin Van Buren 1782–1862PresidentsEighth president who helped build the Democratic Party machine and governed through the Panic of 1837.Al Smith 1873–1944Political Leaders & StatecraftFour-term governor of New York and the first Catholic nominated for president by a major partyBoss Tweed 1823–1878Political Leaders & StatecraftBoss of Tammany Hall, whose ring looted New York City while it fed and naturalized the city's immigrants.Barry Goldwater 1909–1998Political Leaders & StatecraftSenator and presidential nominee whose 1964 campaign helped create the modern conservative movement.Henry Cabot Lodge 1850–1924Political Leaders & StatecraftSenate leader who blocked American entry into the League of Nations after the First World War.Bob Dole 1923–2021Political Leaders & StatecraftWounded veteran and Senate leader who helped write the Americans with Disabilities Act.Samuel J. Tilden 1814–1886Political Leaders & StatecraftThe reform governor of New York who won the popular vote in 1876 and lost the presidencyNewt Gingrich b. 1943Political Leaders & StatecraftSpeaker who engineered the 1994 Republican House majority and the Contract with America agenda.Tip O’Neill 1912–1994Political Leaders & StatecraftLong-serving House speaker who became the leading congressional counterweight to Ronald Reagan.Robert La Follette 1855–1925Political Leaders & StatecraftWisconsin governor and senator who led the Progressive movement against railroad and corporate influence.Adlai Stevenson II 1900–1965Political Leaders & StatecraftIllinois governor and two-time Democratic presidential nominee who later served as UN ambassador.Sam Rayburn 1882–1961Political Leaders & StatecraftLongest-serving Speaker of the House who steered New Deal and postwar legislation through Congress.Thurlow Weed 1797–1882Political Leaders & StatecraftPolitical boss of New York and editor of the Albany Evening JournalMark Hanna 1837–1904Political Leaders & StatecraftIndustrialist and party boss who invented the modern corporate-funded presidential campaign.Roscoe Conkling 1829–1888Political Leaders & StatecraftSenate boss of the Stalwart patronage machine who resigned in a fight over one customs house.