Originally Posted by Galedeep

But Lenin had a lot more to do with creating the country that was involved in the Cold War than Washington did in the formulation of the United States. Not as much as Stalin or Krushchev, because they shaped the Cold War more directly, but if we're talking the people who most influenced the ideologies of the countries that led to the Cold War, which is what Lenin, Stalin and Trotsky did for the USSR. Washington didn't do that for the US, because the US had evolved far beyond the country that existed back when Washington was president; and the very fact that Washington had little to do with the formation of the country beyond helping it gain independence from Britain.

In other words, Washington is a figurehead, not the actual mover and shaker of the country at the time. Lenin had way more of a hand in creating the USSR.