Top 5: Greatest Americans

[savafan]

The Discovery Channel is asking viewers to vote online for who they think are the five greatest Americans. http://tv.channel.aol.com/greatestamerican

It's taken me a lot of thought, and I thought it might spark some interesting discussion here on Redszone. Here's my list in no particular order:

Benjamin Franklin
Abraham Lincoln
Sojourner Truth
Billy Graham
Jackie Robinson

Really tough to name just five. I certainly could have listed FDR, Martin Luther King, George Washington, Thomas Edison, Thomas Jefferson, Ronald Reagan, Margaret Sanger, Walt Disney, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, Bill Gates or Henry Ford. But, you can only choose five, so have at it.

[Redsfaithful]

Billy Graham

You do know he's pretty anti-semitic right?

FDR
Mark Twain
Rosa Parks
Teddy Roosevelt
Upton Sinclair

[savafan]

You do know he's pretty anti-semitic right?

Henry Ford was a member of the Nazi party. Wouldn't keep him off of my list. No human is perfect.

[Redsfaithful]

No human is perfect.

Oh, I agree. But some have flaws deep enough to keep them off a Greatest Americans list, in my opinion anyway.

[Redsfaithful]

But I don't mean to make this in any way a political discussion, I just didn't know if you know. A lot of people don't.

[zombie-a-go-go]

The next five people to call in to Willie Cunningham's show.

[Danny Serafini]

Billy Graham? I mean, he did rule the WWF for awhile, but great American?



Oh, wait, wrong Billy Graham!

[Puffy]

Lincoln
FDR
Cardozo
Martin Luther King
James Madison

[jmcclain19]

Benjamin Franklin
George Washington
Thomas Edison
Alexander Graham Bell
Jonas Salk
Orville & Wilbur Wright
Thomas Jefferson
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Henry Ford
Martin Luther King Jr
Teddy Roosevelt
FDR

Guess that's more than five, but I'd have a hard time whittling it down

[Doc. Scott]

Anyone who puts Henry Ford on their top five list better not be complaining about the ills of today's society and its outsourcing, materialism, and unchecked corporate greed and profiteering. Just saying.

I really like the Upton Sinclair, Benjamin Franklin, and FDR suggestions. What about Frederick Douglass, or Harriet Tubman?

[LvJ]

Billy Graham? I mean, he did rule the WWF for awhile, but great American?



Oh, wait, wrong Billy Graham!

I was thinking the same thing. :MandJ:

[Rojo]

Lincoln
FDR
Thomas Paine
MLK
Ida Tarbell

[RedsBaron]

George Washington and Abraham Lincoln are such obvious choices there is the temptation to be original and not pick them. However I do not believe there were ever two more indispensable Americans.
But for Washington, the Continental Army might not have held together in the winter of 1776-77, and the American Revolution could have turned out differently, and, but for Washington, the Constitution and the presidency could also be much different-he held things together.
As for Lincoln, had someone else been our 16th president, the Confederacy may well have gained its independence from the Union, as not every president would have been as resolute as Lincoln.
I have no problem naming Washington and Lincoln as two of the five. The other three? I don't know.

[bomarl1969]

1. George Washington-one of the reason we have a country
2. Lincoln-saved our country
3. Robert E. Lee-after Civil War he devoted his life for the youth to obtain higher education
4. General George S. Patton-tremendous factor for America winning WWII in Europe
5. John F. Kennedy-we all wouldn't be here if not for Kennedy (Cuban Missile Crisis)

[Mutaman]

Johnny Bench?