CDZ The 100 Most Influential Americans

[Foxfyre]

The current issue of the Smithsonian Magazine presents their list of the 100 most significant Americans of all time. The list includes some of the Founding Fathers and a race horse, but nobody in the current Administration.

Look over the list. Do you agree? Or should some names be removed and others included?

Here's their list:

Trailblazers
Christopher Columbus
Henry Hudson
Amerigo Vespucci
John Smith
Giovanni da Verrazzano
John Muir
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark
Sacagawea
Kit Carson
Neil Armstrong
John Wesley Powell

Rebels & resisters
Martin Luther King Jr.
Robert E. Lee
Thomas Paine
John Brown
Frederick Douglass
Susan B. Anthony
W.E.B. Du Bois
Tecumseh
Sitting Bull
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Malcolm X

Presidents
Abraham Lincoln
George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
Theodore Roosevelt
Ulysses S. Grant
Ronald W. Reagan
George W. Bush
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Woodrow Wilson
James Madison
Andrew Jackson

First Women
Pocahontas
Eleanor Roosevelt
Hillary Clinton
Sarah Palin
Martha Washington
Hellen Keller
Sojourner Truth
Jane Addams
Edith Wharton
Bette Davis
Oprah Winfrey

Outlaws
Benedict Arnold
Jesse James
John Wilkes Booth
Al Capone
Billy the Kid
William M. “Boss” Tweed
Charles Manson
Wild Bill Hickok
Lee Harvey Oswald
John Dillinger
Lucky Luciano

Artists
Frank Lloyd Wright
Andy Warhol
Frederick Law Olmsted
James Abbott MacNeill Whistler
Jackson Pollock
John James Audubon
Georgia O’Keeffe
Thomas Eakins
Thomas Nast
Alfred Stieglitz
Ansel Adams

Religious figures
Joseph Smith Jr.
William Penn
Brigham Young
Roger Williams
Anne Hutchinson
Jonathan Edwards
L. Ron Hubbard
Ellen G. White
Cotton Mather
Mary Baker Eddy
Billy Graham

Pop icons
Mark Twain
Elvis Presley
Madonna
Bob Dylan
Michael Jackson
Charlie Chaplin
Jimi Hendrix
Marilyn Monroe
Frank Sinatra
Louis Armstrong
Mary Pickford

Empire-builders
Andrew Carnegie
Henry Ford
John D. Rockefeller
J.P. Morgan
Walt Disney
Thomas Alva Edison
William Randolph Hearst
Howard Hughes
Bill Gates
Cornelius Vanderbilt
Steve Jobs

Athletes
Babe Ruth
Muhammad Ali
Jackie Robinson
James Naismith
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Ty Cobb
Michael Jordan
Hulk Hogan
Jim Thorpe
Secretariat
Billie Jean King

Read more: History Travel Arts Science People Places Smithsonian

 

[Luddly Neddite]

This is like Time's "Person Of The Year".

Making the list isn't necessarily a good or positive thing.

For example, Charles Manson.

But, "most influential" should include Hitler. Yes, he was a vile, sick monster but he shaped a lot of what we are today.

 

[Foxfyre]

This is like Time's "Person Of The Year".

Making the list isn't necessarily a good or positive thing.

For example, Charles Manson.

But, "most influential" should include Hitler. Yes, he was a vile, sick monster but he shaped a lot of what we are today.

Hitler was never an American so far as I know.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

This is like Time's "Person Of The Year".

Making the list isn't necessarily a good or positive thing.

For example, Charles Manson.

But, "most influential" should include Hitler. Yes, he was a vile, sick monster but he shaped a lot of what we are today.

Hitler was never an American so far as I know.

 

[Foxfyre]

LOL. It's okay. Some of the folks on the list I had to look up to make sure they WERE Americans.

I could have sworn, for instance, that Alfred Stieglitz was European, but apparently he was American born and just lived and studied in Europe for some years before returning to this country. I would never have personally put him on the list ahead of say, Diane Arbus or some other photographers, and I think Norman Rockwell deserves to be on the list ahead of either of them.

 

[mudwhistle]

b

 

[Luddly Neddite]

LOL. It's okay. Some of the folks on the list I had to look up to make sure they WERE Americans.

I could have sworn, for instance, that Alfred Stieglitz was European, but apparently he was American born and just lived and studied in Europe for some years before returning to this country. I would never have personally put him on the list ahead of say, Diane Arbus or some other photographers, and I think Norman Rockwell deserves to be on the list ahead of either of them.

Imagine how hard it would be to go through names of really fascinating and talented people to make those choices.

I would have included Sally Ride, and, where's Rosa Parks?

Interesting that it includes a horse!

 

[Foxfyre]

er

LOL. It's okay. Some of the folks on the list I had to look up to make sure they WERE Americans.

I could have sworn, for instance, that Alfred Stieglitz was European, but apparently he was American born and just lived and studied in Europe for some years before returning to this country. I would never have personally put him on the list ahead of say, Diane Arbus or some other photographers, and I think Norman Rockwell deserves to be on the list ahead of either of them.

Imagine how hard it would be to go through names of really fascinating and talented people to make those choices.

I would have included Sally Ride, and, where's Rosa Parks?

Interesting that it includes a horse!

Sally Ride was a 'first' and Rosa Parks was a 'catalyst' for a movement, but were either really personally influential? Sojourner Truth, yes. I would have tried to include those who had a strong influence on the American culture or destiny and I'm not sure some of those names up there qualify. And yes, Secretariat was the greatest race horse of all time, but did he change anything? Influence anything? Mark Twain and Elvis Presley both had a profound affect on American culture, history, and perceptions. They belong on the list. But Madonna? Hendrix? I dunno.

 

[Disir]

I think Dorthea Lange would have been a nice addition.
The History Place - Dorothea Lange Photo Gallery Migrant Farm Families

 

[Foxfyre]

I think Dorthea Lange would have been a nice addition.
The History Place - Dorothea Lange Photo Gallery Migrant Farm Families

Absolutely Lange had more influence than did Stieglitz.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

Reminds me of a test question I once had -

What did the star of Eadweard Muybridge's first film eat?

Anyone know the answer?

And no, he wasn't an American.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

Reminds me of a test question I once had -

What did the star of Eadweard Muybridge's first film eat?

Anyone know the answer?

And no, he wasn't an American.

Answer: Hay

 

[LoneLaugher]

Oh!!!! Ha ha!! They put a horse in the list but not Obama!! Ha ha!! So funny!!

 

[Disir]

I think Dorthea Lange would have been a nice addition.
The History Place - Dorothea Lange Photo Gallery Migrant Farm Families

Absolutely Lange had more influence than did Stieglitz.

Agreed.


I would remove Arnold from athletes or Madonna from pop icons and put Bill Pickett.
Bill Pickett
PICKETT WILLIAM 1870 -1932
Home

 

[Synthaholic]

Pretty blatant error: Wild Bill Hickok was never an outlaw. He was a lawman and gunfighter (and degenerate gambler).

 

[Synthaholic]

It's not a great list. It's extremely subjective and I have no idea what criteria they are using.

Obviously there are the infamous listed among the famous, but why Sarah Palin but not Joseph McCarthy?

Why Ronald Reagan and not John F. Kennedy?

Why George W. Bush and not Harry S. Truman?

Why any of the artists listed but not famed Civil War photographer Matthew Brady?

Where's George Gershwin? James Cagney? Shirley Temple? Bob Hope? Cole Porter? Miles Davis?

 

[Foxfyre]

I agree Hickok didn't qualify as an outlaw; in fact he was a lawman. Arrested for vagrancy a few times but that hardly makes him an outlaw. And Georgia Okeeffe and not Ernie Pyle? The article does say that their rationale for each name on the list is in their magazine and I don't have a copy of that.

 

[Synthaholic]

They also missed by not including Cesar Chavez. Arguably more influential than Malcolm X.

 

[ChrisL]

The current issue of the Smithsonian Magazine presents their list of the 100 most significant Americans of all time. The list includes some of the Founding Fathers and a race horse, but nobody in the current Administration.

Look over the list. Do you agree? Or should some names be removed and others included?

Here's their list:

Trailblazers
Christopher Columbus
Henry Hudson
Amerigo Vespucci
John Smith
Giovanni da Verrazzano
John Muir
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark
Sacagawea
Kit Carson
Neil Armstrong
John Wesley Powell

Rebels & resisters
Martin Luther King Jr.
Robert E. Lee
Thomas Paine
John Brown
Frederick Douglass
Susan B. Anthony
W.E.B. Du Bois
Tecumseh
Sitting Bull
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Malcolm X

Presidents
Abraham Lincoln
George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
Theodore Roosevelt
Ulysses S. Grant
Ronald W. Reagan
George W. Bush
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Woodrow Wilson
James Madison
Andrew Jackson

First Women
Pocahontas
Eleanor Roosevelt
Hillary Clinton
Sarah Palin
Martha Washington
Hellen Keller
Sojourner Truth
Jane Addams
Edith Wharton
Bette Davis
Oprah Winfrey

Outlaws
Benedict Arnold
Jesse James
John Wilkes Booth
Al Capone
Billy the Kid
William M. “Boss” Tweed
Charles Manson
Wild Bill Hickok
Lee Harvey Oswald
John Dillinger
Lucky Luciano

Artists
Frank Lloyd Wright
Andy Warhol
Frederick Law Olmsted
James Abbott MacNeill Whistler
Jackson Pollock
John James Audubon
Georgia O’Keeffe
Thomas Eakins
Thomas Nast
Alfred Stieglitz
Ansel Adams

Religious figures
Joseph Smith Jr.
William Penn
Brigham Young
Roger Williams
Anne Hutchinson
Jonathan Edwards
L. Ron Hubbard
Ellen G. White
Cotton Mather
Mary Baker Eddy
Billy Graham

Pop icons
Mark Twain
Elvis Presley
Madonna
Bob Dylan
Michael Jackson
Charlie Chaplin
Jimi Hendrix
Marilyn Monroe
Frank Sinatra
Louis Armstrong
Mary Pickford

Empire-builders
Andrew Carnegie
Henry Ford
John D. Rockefeller
J.P. Morgan
Walt Disney
Thomas Alva Edison
William Randolph Hearst
Howard Hughes
Bill Gates
Cornelius Vanderbilt
Steve Jobs

Athletes
Babe Ruth
Muhammad Ali
Jackie Robinson
James Naismith
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Ty Cobb
Michael Jordan
Hulk Hogan
Jim Thorpe
Secretariat
Billie Jean King

Read more: History Travel Arts Science People Places Smithsonian

Of course I disagree with some of the names, and some of them I'm unfamiliar with, but it seems like a pretty good list to me.

 

[westwall]

The current issue of the Smithsonian Magazine presents their list of the 100 most significant Americans of all time. The list includes some of the Founding Fathers and a race horse, but nobody in the current Administration.

Look over the list. Do you agree? Or should some names be removed and others included?

Here's their list:

Trailblazers
Christopher Columbus
Henry Hudson
Amerigo Vespucci
John Smith
Giovanni da Verrazzano
John Muir
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark
Sacagawea
Kit Carson
Neil Armstrong
John Wesley Powell

Rebels & resisters
Martin Luther King Jr.
Robert E. Lee
Thomas Paine
John Brown
Frederick Douglass
Susan B. Anthony
W.E.B. Du Bois
Tecumseh
Sitting Bull
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Malcolm X

Presidents
Abraham Lincoln
George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
Theodore Roosevelt
Ulysses S. Grant
Ronald W. Reagan
George W. Bush
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Woodrow Wilson
James Madison
Andrew Jackson

First Women
Pocahontas
Eleanor Roosevelt
Hillary Clinton
Sarah Palin
Martha Washington
Hellen Keller
Sojourner Truth
Jane Addams
Edith Wharton
Bette Davis
Oprah Winfrey

Outlaws
Benedict Arnold
Jesse James
John Wilkes Booth
Al Capone
Billy the Kid
William M. “Boss” Tweed
Charles Manson
Wild Bill Hickok
Lee Harvey Oswald
John Dillinger
Lucky Luciano

Artists
Frank Lloyd Wright
Andy Warhol
Frederick Law Olmsted
James Abbott MacNeill Whistler
Jackson Pollock
John James Audubon
Georgia O’Keeffe
Thomas Eakins
Thomas Nast
Alfred Stieglitz
Ansel Adams

Religious figures
Joseph Smith Jr.
William Penn
Brigham Young
Roger Williams
Anne Hutchinson
Jonathan Edwards
L. Ron Hubbard
Ellen G. White
Cotton Mather
Mary Baker Eddy
Billy Graham

Pop icons
Mark Twain
Elvis Presley
Madonna
Bob Dylan
Michael Jackson
Charlie Chaplin
Jimi Hendrix
Marilyn Monroe
Frank Sinatra
Louis Armstrong
Mary Pickford

Empire-builders
Andrew Carnegie
Henry Ford
John D. Rockefeller
J.P. Morgan
Walt Disney
Thomas Alva Edison
William Randolph Hearst
Howard Hughes
Bill Gates
Cornelius Vanderbilt
Steve Jobs

Athletes
Babe Ruth
Muhammad Ali
Jackie Robinson
James Naismith
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Ty Cobb
Michael Jordan
Hulk Hogan
Jim Thorpe
Secretariat
Billie Jean King

Read more: History Travel Arts Science People Places Smithsonian

Well. Hickock wasn't a bad guy. As far as influential goes....there's a whole bunch on that list that were interesting, or entertaining, but influential? I don't think half of the people on the list belong there.