Demagogue

I agree with the Carpetbagger. After reading through The Atlantic magazine's ranking of the top 100 influential figures in U.S. history, the Carpetbagger wonders why Dwight Eisenhower was ranked no. 28:

On a list of military generals, sure, but [the most] influential Americans of all time? Nearly 20 places higher than Lyndon Johnson, whose influence — on civil rights, Great Society, Vietnam — still reverberates today?

Except for Social Security, nearly every strand of the economic "safety net" that Americans enjoy today was adopted largely at the urging of LBJ — Medicare, Medicaid, Head Start and food stamps, for example.