People Who Influenced American Politics

Machiavelli – Machiavellian

Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527) was an Italian politician and philosopher who is famous for his advocacy of political ethics that hold effectiveness as more important that morality. He is the source of the phrase "the ends justify the means".
MACH-IV: Machiavellianism Test - See how Machiavellian you are.

Wikipedia: Machiavellianism is "the employment of cunning and duplicity in statecraft or in general conduct".
Merriam-Webster: using clever lies and tricks in order to get or achieve something : clever and dishonest.
The History Guide: The father of modern political theory

A Machiavellian politician is a person who will tell you what you want to hear in order to get you to vote for him, but who feels no compulsion or obligation to fulfill his promises or stand by his statements. A Machiavellian person, when discussing politics, will lie, deceive, trick, confuse and obfuscate the dialog in order to obtain his political points and keep the truth and his duplicitty from being discovered.

Bill Ayers

Wikipedia: William Charles "Bill" Ayers (born December 26, 1944) is an American elementary education theorist and a former leader in the counterculture movement that opposed U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. He is known for his 1960s radical activism as well as his current work in education reform, curriculum, and instruction. In 1969 he co-founded the Weather Underground, a self-described communist revolutionary group that conducted a campaign of bombing public buildings (including police stations, the U.S. Capitol Building, and the Pentagon) during the 1960s and 1970s in response to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.

Bill Ayers is an American terrorist (bombing public buildings). Although being arrested for minor offenses, such as participating in a "sit-in" at a local draft board, he was never sent to prison for more serious crimes, such as bombing and riotinig. He was, however, hired as a professor at the University of Illinios, where he was given the title "Distinguished Professor." Later, in 2008, when questioned about his previous activism and bombing, he replied, "I wish I could have done more."

Bill Ayers was/is a friend of President Barack Obama

Saul Alinsky

Wikipedia:Saul David Alinsky (January 30, 1909 – June 12, 1972) was an American community organizer, and writer. He is generally considered to be the founder of modern community organizing. He is often noted for his book Rules for Radicals.

Hillary Clinton is a friend of and is influenced by Saul Alinsky.