Introduction

As the year 2000 approached, there was much speculation about who were the most influential figures in the twentieth century. Several political leaders, such as Wilson, Gandhi, Lenin, Roosevelt, Hitler, Churchill, and Mao, dominated the world stage, but it is questionable whether the effect of any of them had much staying power. Lenin's Soviet Union has disappeared. Hitler's Third Reich, which was supposed to last a thousand years, is now a ghastly memory. Roosevelt's "New Deal" is no longer "new," and much of it has been abandoned.