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Saturday, June 11, 2005
The Greatest Americans
John Hawkins posts about the Discovery Channel listing of the 100 greatest Americans. Quite a few of their choices are, shall we say, dim. He goes on to provide his own list of the 20 greatest Americans of all-time.
Here's my list of the 20 greatest Americans in simple alphabetical order:
Andrew Carnegie
Frederick Douglass
Thomas A. Edison
Albert Einstein
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Benjamin Franklin
Milton Friedman
Bill Gates
Ulysses S. Grant
Thomas Jefferson
Martin Luther King
Abraham Lincoln
James Madison
George S. Patton
Ronald W. Reagan
John D. Rockefeller
Franklin D. Roosevelt
William T. Sherman
Harry S. Truman
George Washington
Hunh, it is surprising to see that almost half the list is former US presidents. Though, only four of the nine, namely Abe, FDR, Truman, and Reagan get a spot for their accomplishments during their respective presidencies. The other five achieved greatness before they were voted in as C-in-C.
Posted by Isaac Schrödinger at 09:50 AM in USA | Permalink
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» Lame To Fame List from Iowa Voice
You know, I was going to comment on the Discovery Channels "Greatest Americans" train wreck the other day, after watching it, but I didn't. Some of the people on their list just boggles the mind.
Right now, they are taking votes on the top 25 nomine [Read More]
Tracked on Jun 11, 2005 11:59:31 AM
» The Greatest Americans Of All-Time from Right Wing News
The Discovery Channel is doing a show on the 100 greatest Americans and is allowing people to vote on their... [Read More]
Tracked on Jun 11, 2005 12:40:27 PM
» The Greatest American - The Big Vote from The Daily Blitz
As you might have heard, The Discovery Channel is leaving it to the American voting public to determine who is the greatest American of all time and you know what? It's a complete joke. I mean, just look at their top-100. It includes the following... [Read More]
Tracked on Jun 13, 2005 5:33:56 AM
» Polling: The Greatest Americans from California Conservative
As a reaction to the Discovery Channel's "Top 100" (which includes folks like John Edwards, Brett Favre and Michael Jackson), bloggers are "taking it to the street" (via the web) and offering their own polling challenge -- featuring personalities sligh... [Read More]
Tracked on Jun 13, 2005 9:56:09 AM
» William F. (Bill) Buckley: A Greatest American from John in Carolina
Many bloggers recently put together lists of Greatest Americans. Some listed only a few names, others 20 or 25. I would definitely add..... [Read More]
Tracked on Jun 26, 2005 12:57:10 PM
Comments
My list of top 100 is here. I'm going to try to run my own poll. Eighteen of your top 20 made my top 100 (all but Friedman and Gates). I'm still taking comments and suggestions on my top 100 before I open up voting, so swing by and tell me what you think.
Posted by: Jheka | Jun 13, 2005 5:27:41 AM
Mark Twain practically made America all by himself. The fact that he is nowhere represented on the list is in itself a sign of our bad times. He was called, after all, "the Lincoln of our literature." He said of himself, "I am the American." And he was right. Few Americans had ever had the almost covetous love for this country Twain had; few have had the temerity to express such unapologetic indifference to the purportedly great things of Europe, before which we were expected to bow and scrape indefinitely; few have held up for European inspection the glories of our own landscape and said, "What do you mean, you haven't seen it? What's the matter with you?" with the same seriousness of purpose the Frenchman had when asking the same question of Americans who had not yet see the Eiffel Tower or the Arc de Triomphe. We will probably never see an American like him again, an American who does not blush when he says, "Everything you need, you've got right here!" Or "I feel sorry for you if you haven't seen Old Faithful or the Grand Canyon." With modern Americans not daring to protect the sovereignty of America without the permission of the effete Frenchman, or that of the morally weary German, we are in sore need of "the American." Same on us that we don't see our mistake. Twain certainly would have.
Posted by: Joseph Pedulla | Jun 21, 2005 11:41:44 AM
