I seem to have come in late on this whole “Who’s the Greatest American?” thing. I haven’t seen any lists or anything, so I’m just talking off the top of my head.
Even after all the intervening centuries, and even with what we know of some of the more dubious activities in his private life, I’d still go with Thomas Jefferson.
Runners up to my mind would include FDR, Jonas Salk, Martin Luther King, and my wife. I’d also put my mom and dad, but they weren’t born in this country so I’m not sure they’d be eligible.
PAD
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PAD said:
“Yes, but where did William Shatner place? And Terrance & Phillip?”
I’m surprised Terrance & Phillip DIDN’T make the list, though William Shatner DID, at a respectable #56, behind famous pianist Glenn Gould and ahead of “Anne of Green Gables” author Lucy Maud Montgomery. Jim Carrey, Mike Myers, Michael J. Fox, Pamela Anderson and John Candy are among the other actors that made the list, although James Doohan did not.
I vote for the evil BushHitler! He is oppressing Peter David, personally. That’s why there is a clock showing when the evil Bush-Hitler will leave office on this site. If a Democrat is elected, we can then return to world peace and total happiness for all!
Benjamin Franklin
Thomas Jefferson
Abraham Lincoln
Alexander Graham Bell
Sitting Bull
Benjamin Franklin
Thomas Jefferson
Abraham Lincoln
Alexander Graham Bell
Sitting Bull
——————
Thank GOD you didn’t forget to include a member of a minority!
You almost got thrown out of the “politically correct” club.
ALL lists MUST include minorities!
Shudderingly, I seem to recall they did something like this here on German TV too, although I can’t remember who was voted into what position. Shouldn’t be surprised if Einstein made it into the top 10 or even top 5.
My own top 12 Greatest Americans (in the sense of “inhabitants and citizens of the territory now belonging to the US) would be in alphabetical order:
Frederick Douglass
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Benjamin Franklin(1)
Thomas Jefferson
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Abraham Lincoln
George C. Marshall
Eleanor Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Harriet Beecher Stowe(2)
Tecumseh
Mark Twain
(1) Also as a scientist and an inventor. I found it interesting that in Paris the signs on the Rue Benjamin Franklin list this aspect first – it says: “American physicist and statesman”, in that order.
(2) I chose her because she is the most well-known of the many politically and socially active and important women of the second half of the 19th century.
As a foreigner, I tend to go for people who had an international impact (did you know that both the French and German navies (the latter during the revolution of 1848) had ships named after Franklin?). As a German, I am not immune to a certain national biases, thus I consider Einstein a German (he framed his most important theories decades before he emigrated to America) and I know that the first telephone was built by Philipp Reis. 🙂
“ALL lists MUST include minorities!”
Most of these do. They have at least a few really intelligent people. And if THAT’S not a minority on this planet …
“ALL lists MUST include minorities!” Most of these do. They have at least a few really intelligent people. And if THAT’S not a minority on this planet…”
My point is that standards are standards! If one is making a list of great Americans, then “greatness” should be the ONLY qualification. The list should NOT be forced to include minorities just to be politically correct!
My list is nothing but minorities (not that I chose them for that fact.) Got anything to say, (x-)Ray?
Posted by: bbayliss at June 22, 2005 11:04 AM
MY list:
Che Guevara (Latino)
Rosa Parks (African-American)
Jackie Robinson (African-American)
Martin Luther King (African-American)
Mark Twain (humorist)
Nope.
I think your “list” speaks for itself.
(It’s a list of liberal icons, not great Americans.)
My friend.
you have finally crossed the line. Not into stupidity (that one is a looooong way back) or irritating, (see stupidity.) No, you have finally become a bigot. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. IS A “LIBERAL ICON”!?!?! Hey, pal, put down “The Protocols of Zion,” and “Mein Kanpf” and smell the stench of bigots! MLK is one of the greatest peaceful leaders of all time, second (perhaps) only to Mahatma Gandi, and Jesus. Rosa Parks was one of the bravest women of all time, perhaps only behind Florence Nightengale, and Jackie Robinson took bigotry beyond belief in stride. As for Che Guevera, hey, like him or not, he was one hëll of a leader. Personally, I would have had Ceaser Chavez there, but to each their own. BBayliss, it is laudable, even angelic of you to be so kind to this guy, but really, he is past our help. He cannot stand the idea that a minority can have heros or great leaders, despite the fact that almost all great leaders have come from minorities. Mr. David, your paticence has been Jobian, but I must agree with Rex Hondo. BAN THIS JERK! All he does is raise the blood pressure. anyway, thats my rant. Have a nice day.
Ever notice how all the trolls on this site have ‘names’ that are four letters long and begin with one of the last letters in the alphabet? (Except for that one who was a consonant.)
Not that I’m saying anything… just noticing is all.
Teddy Roosevelt. Here’s some of his quotes:
A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education.
In any moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.
No man is worth his salt who is not ready at all times to risk his well-being, to risk his body, to risk his life, in a great cause.
The first requisite of a good citizen in this republic of ours is that he shall be able and willing to pull his weight.
I think there is only one quality worse than hardness of heart and that is softness of head.
Every immigrant who comes here should be required within five years to learn English or leave the country.
When they call the roll in the Senate, the senators do not know whether to answer present or not guilty.
The pacifist is as surely a traitor to his country and to humanity as is the most brutal wrongdoer.
Tom Carvel we all need ice cream and who doesn’t luv a fudgie the whale
Yeah, but did you ever notice that Fudgie the Whale was just the Santa Claus mold upside down?
Had to love his commercials though. How many cartons of cigarettes did that guy go through a day to get that voice?
Che Guevara? Jeeze, nice T-Shirt but as a human being…good thing for the guys at Gitmo that the people in charge don’t follow Che’s gentle treatment of prisoners…
my top five all time-y greats
1.Lincoln (if I have to explain why, forget it)
2.MLK Jr. (see above)
3. Simon Bolivar
3. (its a tie) George Washington
4. Cesar Chavez
5. (yeah, you are gonna wanna shoot me) Reagan
now if it was 5 americans who had the Biggest impact:
1.Washington (we wouldn’t have the constitution without him…..seriously, look it up.)
2.Lincoln
3.MLK
4.Nixon
5.FDR
6. (I think they made him an honorary citizen)Winston Churchill
Che Guevera? No comment.
“BAN THIS JERK! All he does is raise the blood pressure.”
You’re raising your blood pressure, not him. Stop reading this jerk. Don’t talk to this jerk. He’ll get tired of screaming into the void and slink off one day.
“You’re raising your blood pressure, not him. Stop reading this jerk. Don’t talk to this jerk. He’ll get tired of screaming into the void and slink off one day.”
“Correct as usual King Friday.” I will try to remember that one.
R. Maheras –
if you are going to suggest that George Washington trumps Jefferson and Franklin because HE won the War of Independence and THEY would have been hung if HE had lost it, let me just remind you that a not insignificant part of the reason Britain lost the war was because the United States were supported by a number of European powers. And foremost among these was the biggest European military power of them all, France (biggest army and second-biggest navy; Britain at the time had the biggest navy but an army too small for its jobs, so that both in the war in America and at the defense of Gibraltar it had to be reinforced with troops hired from medium-sized and minor German states). If you take into account the sailors of the blockading fleet, more French servicemen were at Yorktown than Americans. And the Franco-American alliance, without which the US might conceivably have lost the war, was of course negotiated by Ben Franklin.
Also, whenever I read sentences like “such-and-such a general won that war”, I think of a couple of lines from Bert Brecht’s “Questions of a reading worker”:
“Caesar conquered Gaul. Didn’t he at least have a cook with him?”
Liberalism = scream racism whenever possible.
Nuff said.
X-Ray = Scream nonsense whenever possible.
`nuff said
Michael Brunner = I like to copy X-Ray!
X-Ray: “(It’s a list of liberal icons, not great Americans.)”
Are liberal icons less than people? This is how it sounds from you.
“Are liberal icons less than people? This is how it sounds from you.”
One time, just for fun, you should try accepting what I say and not trying every trick in the book to twist my words. Liberal icons are not less than people, and I never came close to saying so. All I discussed was criteria for making such a list.
BTW, if you’re all supposed to be ignoring me, why are my comments getting so many responses?
It seems you all follow your leader, the haughty Peter David, who deems me beneath his notice even as he comments on my posts well over a dozen times.
Classic. Also funny.
Hey, X-Ray, did it occur to you that maybe these people DID choose Sitting Bull or Tecumseh or Cesar Chavez or Martin Luther King or whomever because they seriously considered them on standards of “greatness”? Why are you so SURE they chose them only to be “politically correct”? Are you reading their minds? How about giving people the benefit of the doubt? (And how can you reasonably say MLK and Mark Twain are nothing but “liberal icons?”)
My own top 10, in no particular order:
Abraham Lincoln
Thomas Edison
Martin Luther King
Thomas Jefferson
George Washington
John Adams
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Mark Twain
Billy Graham
John Quincy Adams
Not too original a list, except for JQA and good ol’ Billy, but it works for me. I actually WOULD put Reagan in the top 50, maybe even the top 30, in terms of impact. And I’m sure I’m shamefully forgetting someone.
“The list should NOT be forced to include minorities just to be politically correct!”
The list should NOT be forced to exclude minorities just because of racial bias.
D’oh! How’d I forget Benjamin Franklin?!?