Ten most influential American political leaders who never became president

[Orser67]

Let's talk about the most influential American political leaders who never became president. Here's an unordered list:

Ben Franklin: He was an important political leader even before the American Revolution, then played a critical role as a unifying figure and ambassador during and after the revolution
Alexander Hamilton: Founder of one of the two first political parties, he helped establish a relatively strong national government, and his ideology has remained influential throughout American history
John Marshall: He helped establish the Supreme Court as the co-equal, third branch of American government, and also played an important role in strengthening the power of the federal government
Albert Gallatin: He was one of the three key figures in government from 1801 to 1814 (along with Jefferson and Madison), adopting some of Hamilton's economic policies. He also played an important role in the War of 1812
Henry Clay: the dominant figure of the Whig Party, his economic policies also strongly influenced the later Republican Party.
John C. Calhoun: in his long career, he played a role in the War of 1812, the acquisition of Florida, the annexation of Texas, and the subsequent Mexican-American War. Most importantly, his embrace of nullification, state's rights, and slavery heavily influenced the Civil War
William Seward: He was an important Whig leader in the 1840s, one of the key figures in the founding of the Republican Party in the 1850s, and the highest-ranking cabinet member for most of the 1860s.
William Jennings Bryan: like Hamilton and Clay, he was the dominant figure of his party in his own time. His embrace of left-wing policies realigned politics and helped set the stage for the Progressive Era, and he was also an important official during the Wilson administration.
Earl Warren: Though he doesn't deserve all of the credit (/blame), he presided over a revolution in constitutional jurisprudence that continues to affect us today
Martin Luther King, Jr.: The most influential leader of the Civil Rights Movement, he was important both for the success of the movement and for the fact that it was largely non-violent

Honorable mention: Roger Taney, Thaddeus Stevens, Charles Evans Hughes, Newt Gingrich

So who did I wrongly include, and who should be dropped?

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Bob Taft, RFK and Samuel Chase

[Lincoln Republican]

Thomas E Dewey

Nelson A Rockefeller

George W Romney

Mitt Romney (But there's still a chance)

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I'd drop Franklin from the OP's list simply because he was way too old to have ever become president, even if for some reason Washington had not been able to seek the office. I'd also drop MLK as he was much more an activist than a politician. I can't see him ever choosing to run for office. Also Taney deserves a dishonorable mention rather than an honorable one.

[Wakie77]

People to remove:

Alexander Hamilton - Born outside the US and therefore disqualified
John Marshall - Judicial branch ... arguably more influential than Presidents
Earl Warren - See Marshall
MLK Jr - More activist than politician

People to add:
Samuel Chase
Huey Long
Joe McCarthy - You said influential, not in a positive way
RFK

[dead0man]

Richard Daley
Tip O'Neill

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Alexander Hamilton - Born outside the US and therefore disqualified

Hamilton was in fact eligible to serve as president had he been so inclined to seek the office. The Constitution's "natural born citizen" clause includes an exception for naturalized citizens living in the US at the time the Constitution was ratified. Without that clause, none of the Founding Father presidents would have been eligible for the office, since all of them were born subjects of the British Empire.


As for the OP, Daniel Webster at least deserves an honorable mention—perhaps Joseph Gurney Cannon as well. Gingrich is nowhere near being as influential as the others on this list.

[Bismarck]

Hamilton and Clay almost have to be the top two. Maybe Marshal is third.

[Orser67]

I made the list to talk about the most influential American political leaders who didn't serve as president, regardless of whether they were constitutionally eligible to serve president or came particularly close to being elected. For Supreme Court Justices, I would agree that at this point in history there's a major difference between serving on the courts and being a political leader, but for much of our history serving on the judiciary wasn't completely separated from serving in other offices. John Marshall, Roger Taney, Charles Evans Hughes, and Earl Warren all served either in the cabinet or in high-ranking elective office before joining the Supreme Court.

My argument for the inclusion of MLK is that:
1)He was crucial to the peaceful end of segregation and disenfranchisement in the South, which was the single most important ongoing domestic issue this country faced in the 20th century
2)The resolution of the above issue was accomplished through political means. Specifically, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the ongoing commitment of the federal government to minimizing segregation and ending mass disenfranchisement.

Hamilton and Clay almost have to be the top two. Maybe Marshal is third.

Agreed. I think Bryan is also either in the top three or just outside it.

As for the OP, Daniel Webster at least deserves an honorable mention—perhaps Joseph Gurney Cannon as well. Gingrich is nowhere near being as influential as the others on this list.

Yeah, Webster is close to the top ten for me. He was an influential party leader and two-time Secretary of State, but he also spent much of his career eclipsed by Clay. I disagree on Cannon. Cannon restored some power/influence to the House and to the position of the Speaker, but he didn't leave behind much of a legislative legacy.

I'd argue that Gingrich has been, by a fair margin, the most influential non-presidential political figure since the 1960s (MLK and Barry Goldwater are at least in the same ballpark). Gingrich's take-no-prisoners approach in the 1980s and 1990s moved House Republicans far to the right, which played a major role in the realignment of the South, the end of Democratic dominance in the House, and the asymmetric polarization and gridlock of the Clinton-Bush-Obama years. He was also the driving force behind the conservative legislation of the Clinton years (e.g. welfare reform) and re-emerged as a party leader during the Obama years.

[Izzyeviel]

Goldwater & Wallace

[Karpatsky]

Cordell Hull deserves a spot.

[Del Tachi]

Gifford Pinchot

[Kingpoleon]

Francis Asbury, Frederick Douglass, John Witherspoon, Sojourner Truth, Black Harry Hoosier, and Richard Allen, should all be up there. The last three were certainly influential in terms of establishing Christianity among African-Americans.