President's Timeline

  • George Washington

    Washington was somewhat nonchalant about his position. He felt as though being president made him in cable of doing normal things. With this mindset, he never truly interacted with the people like we see now. This set a precedent for some presidents following his term. They felt lie they had to seem almost disinterested in the Job. He was the first president, so none came before him.
  • Abraham Lincoln

    Lincoln communicated a lot with speeches. For example, his expedition around the country debating with Stephen Dougles allowed people to know what kind of president he was. He is also known for his use of telegraphs to communicate in war times. Lincoln was known to be the first ever president to use the telegraph in office and so, no previous president had done it like he did.
  • William Mckinley

    McKinley refused to leave his wife's sick bed, so along with improved transportation methods like railroads, he drew thousands of people to his home and campaigned there. He also was in the time of the first moving pictures, so the public saw the first presidential inauguration. The rise of newer technology in his time made it easier for him to create a persona compared to previous presidents.
  • Teddy Roosevelt

    Roosevelt's personality popularized him along with his wacky phrases. This caught on with easily with the people and the newly emerged mass press, unlike the periods of past presidents.
  • FDR

    This Roosevelt was also known for using his personality to communicate deeply with American folks. His special "Fireside Chats" over the radio connected with the people and forged a unique relationship with them. While this was used before by former president Coolidge, Roosevelt's distinct voice and way of expression drew people to care for him and his views.
  • JFK

    Kennedy's use of television effectively won over people to his presidency. Compared to his opponent, Nixon who looked pale and feeble, Kennedy took the chance to appear younger, fresher, and more put together which gave him a leverage for people watching the presidential debate on tv. While former president Trueman also televised some speeches, Kennedy was the first to effectively win people over.
  • Bill Clinton

    With the growth technology like emails (and his overall personality) I like to think that Clinton was an out of the box president. He communicated with never-before-seen- campaign ideas like playing the sax on a tv show or answering weird questions. This obviously hasn't been seen with other presidents because of strict campaign rules presidents felt like they had to follow.
  • Barack Obama

    3 years after Twitter had emerged, Obama mostly communicated with the people through tweets and other times traditional speeches. This had not been done by other presidents before him because Twitter was definitely not thing in the 1700s to the 90s.
  • Donald Trump

    Trump also communicated with the people through speeches, but he did more with tweets. He personally posted questionable tweets to the American people and pushed his radical persona out. This was very much more outlandish than the previous president. So much so that people started to question if he was allowed to have an account as president.