Greatest American? (All Over on Page Eight)

[takyris]

Man, seeing this in the SF-TV-and-Movies-and-Books forum, I looked at the title and thought that we were going to be talking about the merits of running around in red bulletproof tights that give you the ability to fly.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Well, expain mt choice - I vote Bob Hope, why? because my uncle knew him and always spoke highly of him, I knew of his work and saw his creativity on TV and screen, he made me laugh and humor, like love is a great gift to give. The only other people on the list I would consider would be the founding fathers, each equally in their way made America and those that came after a pale in comparison. So, that is why I voted for Bob Hope.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Comes down to Jefferson or Washington for me...I ended up going with Washington.

 

[MonsterMash]

I'm not really sure about the sportsmen being on the list, as even Ali who did have a bit more cultural significance can't really compare to someone like Einstein - who I'm not sure I class as an American or Jefforson.

If you had a poll of greatest American sportsman then Ali and Lance Armstrong would belong in it with Jim Thorpe, Babe Ruth and Joe Montana.

 

[Fast Learner]

Jefferson aspirted to a nation where slavery was abolished, but was unwilling to pay the political cost to get there.

My reading of history indicates that it was also an inability to pay that cost -- that is, paying it would decrease or even eliminate his power to get other things done. Will wasn't the only issue.

 

[Storm Raven]

My reading of history indicates that it was also an inability to pay that cost -- that is, paying it would decrease or even eliminate his power to get other things done. Will wasn't the only issue.

There is a question of setting priorities. The political cost of getting rid of slavery would have prevented other, also desirable goals, and Jefferson chose those other goals. The price would have been the other goals. He was unwilling to pay the cost (and may not have been able to pull it off even if he had made it his first priority).

But, accomplishment of the goal is the main issue, and Lincoln did that where Jefferson could not, which is why Lincoln gets the nod from me just barely over Jefferson.

 

[ragboy]

FDR edged out Lincoln for me. Both did more to rebuild this country after massive system-wide problems than anyone else on this list... Building a country is hard and admirable, but bringing it back from the brink (civil war, Great Depression, WWII) is pure herculean effort.

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

I've seen this mentioned twice now so I feel the need to correct it... FDR did not rebuild America, or any other country, after WWII that would have been Truman.

I'm sort of sad not to see Truman on the list... He made some tuff calls in his presidency and even manage to win reelection when the papers where reporting he lost the election.

 

[James Heard]

Yeah, Truman certainly deserves to be on the list more than JFK - who quite frankly, though I'm sure he was a nice guy, didn't live quite long enough to establish the same sort of lasting legacy.

 

[Captain Tagon]

The really sad part is most of these people we really know very little about. Or how they really led the countries. Public schools teach things one way and when you begin to really examine history things tend to not line up with that and the way history is taught really biases people on polls like this.