Most individuals, sure. There’s an argument to be made that Taft royally screwed the 20th century by not conceding the primary to Teddy. If he had stepped aside, Wilson cannot win the presidency. Without Wilson keeping us out of WWI, Teddy likely gets Congress to declare war after the sinking of The Lucitania. That gets us into the war quickly enough that Russia doesn’t pull out. Sure the Tsar is still gonna get overthrown, but the interim government won’t be, as they just helped win the war, and so Russia is at the table when Armisice Day (or the equivalent) happens. That prevents Russia from losing territory. Here’s where it gets interesting. Without the purge of the interim government, the Bolsheviks don’t have the momentum to purge the Menchaviks, making communism more moderate and preventing Lenin, and therefore Stalin from rising to power. Without Stalin yelling that he intended to kill all non-communists, Germany probably doesn’t go full fascist. In fact the European theater of WWII might just not have happened. Sure the baltics are still a thing, and the Pacific still exists, and we probably still would have cut Japan’s oil supply, but we wouldn’t have been distracted in Europe.
It’s entirely possible that without Wilson, the US wouldn’t have ever gained the superpower status we got after WWII.
Most individuals, sure. There’s an argument to be made that Taft royally screwed the 20th century by not conceding the primary to Teddy. If he had stepped aside, Wilson cannot win the presidency. Without Wilson keeping us out of WWI, Teddy likely gets Congress to declare war after the sinking of The Lucitania. That gets us into the war quickly enough that Russia doesn’t pull out. Sure the Tsar is still gonna get overthrown, but the interim government won’t be, as they just helped win the war, and so Russia is at the table when Armisice Day (or the equivalent) happens. That prevents Russia from losing territory. Here’s where it gets interesting. Without the purge of the interim government, the Bolsheviks don’t have the momentum to purge the Menchaviks, making communism more moderate and preventing Lenin, and therefore Stalin from rising to power. Without Stalin yelling that he intended to kill all non-communists, Germany probably doesn’t go full fascist. In fact the European theater of WWII might just not have happened. Sure the baltics are still a thing, and the Pacific still exists, and we probably still would have cut Japan’s oil supply, but we wouldn’t have been distracted in Europe.
It’s entirely possible that without Wilson, the US wouldn’t have ever gained the superpower status we got after WWII.