Davidtony pierce did this over at the busblog. i read around the first 20 members, disagreed with a bunch, and then did a search on a few names.
i’m doing my own list to get a good contrast.
My version of the 100 greatest American Men in History. no apologies. and these are not in order, these are pretty much the 100 greatest as the figure in my head. don’t like it? read cnn.
1 ben franklin
2 thomas jefferson
3 george washington
4 daniel webster
5 abraham lincoln
6 robert e lee
7 tecumseh
8 geronimo
9 cochise
10 sitting bull
11 daniel boone
12 sam austin
13 martin luther king
14 norman schwartzkopf
15 ronald reagan
16 dwight eisenhower
17 george patton
18 omar bradley
19 sgt york
20 audie murphy
21 joseph rochefort
22 wilbur wright
23 orville wright
24 thomas edison
25 henry ford
26 sam walton
27 bill gates
28 steve jobs
29 jim thorpe
30 michael jordan
31 pete rose
32 roger staubach
33 terry bradshaw
34 howard hughes
35 johnny unitas
36 babe ruth
37 ty cobb
38 jp morgan
39 andrew carnegie
40 neil armstrong
41 buzz aldren
42 harry truman
43 chester nimitz
44 eli whitney
45 matt hughes
46 mark twain
47 george h w bush
48 richard nixon
49 calvin coolidge
50 andrew higgins
51 glenn curtiss
52 bob guccione
53 george marshall
54 john adams
55 edgar poe
56 quanah parker
57 walter cronkite
58 samuel colt
59 hyman rickover
60 franklin roosevelt
61 theodore roosevelt
62 j robert oppenheimer
63 albert onecup
64 davy crockett
65 elliot ness
66 edgar hoover
67 walt disney
68 james doolittle
69 raymond spruance
70 arleigh burke
71 james madison
72 nichola tesla
73 bruce lee
74 jesse owens
75 mark spitz
76 carl lewis
77 bob stoops
78 william shatner (honorary canadian)
79 cassius clay
80 rocky maricano
81 joe lewis
82 jack kennedy sr
83 colin powell
84 ted turner
85 ross perot
86 al capone
87 jimmy hoffa
88 arnold schwarzenegger
89 roy rogers
90 james stewart
91 patrick miller
92 jack daniels
93 ray kroc
94 richard marchenko
95 stevie wonder
96 johnny cash
97 elvis presley
98 theodore geissel
99 my dad
and the last entry is
100 hugh hefner
Explain to me how John Wayne is not on your list!
i specifically tried to stay away from actors. afer all, really, they just play pretend for a living. the most impressing things john wayne did was to play football at usc and serve in the army. acting doesn’t impress me much.
i love that hugh hefner made your list… seriously how great is america? Overall good list, but you’re missing my dead boyfriend: John Adams. 😛
Ted Williams? Left his baseball career to go be a Marine aviator, ended up in combat with John Glenn over Korea. Still racked up HOF numbers. Where’s he rank as opposed to your choice of Pete Rose?
As for your aversion to actors, how about Jimmy Stewart? Retired as a Reserve Brigadier General, he had commanded bombers over Germany in WWII — earning 2 DFCs and the Croix de Guerre.
Hey, remember that time I ran over Jimmy Doolittle in Monterey? His son was a bit peaved with me.
i seriously considered jimmie stewart. i guess i’m just not as big a baseball fan as you, irt ted williams.
alli, check item 54.
you forgot about Mr. Chien
Al Capone? Jimmy Hoffa?
For the same reason you are leaving out John Wayne, I wonder about Hugh Hefner(?) He is also sort of “play pretends for a living”
If he had not come along, I am sure Tim Jones or Ronny Smith or Craig Botowsik could have started a skin magazine.
So from a Man’s point of view, he may have changed the way america looks at sex, but he is not the only one. When my Dad was very young he wanted to do that, because he got a huge response to ‘photos’ guys wanted to pay for, in an ad that he placed. But he gave it up because of his wife and new baby.(my sister)…..thought it would affect her and his future children.
Here’s a suggestion. Take Al Capone off and add Michael Collins under Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldren.
you’re forgiven. 🙂
You’re a doofus. You say acting doesn’t impress you much; yet, you have a lot of athletes on your list. What do the athletes do that impresses you so much more? Athletes are merely talented individuals while actors, especially today, have a much stronger influence on popular culture, politics, and the overall moral compass of this country.
Finally, your list is obviously failed because you’re missing the most important American ever: ME.
Why is Richard Nixon on there twice and JFK and RFK don’t even make it? And why would anyone put George Bush (either one) on this list? Also, I guess Arnold Schwarzenegger is an “honorary Austrian”?
you’re right! nixon is on there twice. so i took him off as #90 and added james stewart.
Kunta Kint,Fredrick Douglas,Dred scott,W.EB Du Bios,Washingtone Booker T Should be among the list!!