Article in today's Guardian by Jamie Wilson:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/st...1516184,00.html

As an actor he had a sidekick called Bonzo. And as politician, he never quite lived down his quip to start bombing Russia in five minutes. But in life Ronald Reagan was forgiven most of his faults, and in death America now regards him as the greatest of them all.

Edging out Abraham Lincoln, the man who abolished slavery and guided the country through civil war, Reagan, the B-movie star whose presidency is commonly regarded as having brought down the Soviet bloc, won the popular vote to be crowned the greatest American ever.

While assassinated civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr came third, just ahead of George Washington, the country's first president and the man considered father of the nation, some of the most notable names in US history - the Nobel prize-winning scientist Albert Einstein; the inventors of the aeroplane, Orville and Wilbur Wright; and the first man to walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong - did not make it into the top 10.
However, George Bush and his predecessor, Bill Clinton, secured sixth and seventh places respectively, while the talk show host Oprah Winfrey can claim the title of greatest American woman after taking ninth spot, just behind Elvis Presley. Reagan, who died last year after a battle with Alzheimer's disease, is often derided in Europe as a cowboy and intellectual lightweight.

Testing his microphone moments before a 1984 radio address, he joked: "My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes." But his two terms as president heralded an era of unprecedented economic growth and restored pride to a nation still reeling from the Vietnam war. His son, Ron Jr, hinted that his father's recent death may have helped swing the vote.

He told the Discovery Channel: "People remember the funeral ... I'm sure he would be very honoured to be in the company of these great gentlemen." The American public cast more than 2.4m votes by phone, text or email in the poll, organised by the Discovery Channel and AOL.

Voters' top 20

1 Ronald Reagan

2 Abraham Lincoln

3 Martin Luther King Jr

4 George Washington

5 Benjamin Franklin

6 George W Bush

7 Bill Clinton

8 Elvis Presley

9 Oprah Winfrey

10 Franklin D Roosevelt

11 Billy Graham

12 Thomas Jefferson

13 Walt Disney

14 Albert Einstein

15 Thomas Alva Edison

16 John F Kennedy

17 Bob Hope

18 Bill Gates

19 Eleanor Roosevelt

20 Lance Armstrong

Bravo to most of the list!

I would probably rank Martin Luther King, Jr. a little bit lower down (below George Washington to be sure) and I would also rank some of the abolitionists and radical Republicans.

And I certainly thging Dwight David Eisenhower belongs in the list rather than some of the entertainment figures.

Then again where would Florida be without Walt Disney?

I must confess I actually voted in this stupid poll. I was troubled by the options, however. Virtually every character had some flaw which ruled out my voting for them.

I couldn't allow myself to vote for a slave-owner, for example. I consider Reagan pretty much a joke. Men like King, Kennedy, and Clinton, while worthy of respect, were not true to their marriage vows. People like Oprah, Bill Gates and Bob Hope were too materialistic. Einstein wasn't truly an American. Ultimately I decided that the person I could stand behind was one who, while flawed, seemed to have a sense of humor about himself. I voted for Ben Franklin. Although he made decisions that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands, my second choice would probably go to Lincoln

I think we can chalk the modern ones off as being part of a partisan battle. Clinton and Bush don't belong on the list and I personally can't see the merit of Reagan in being on the list. 1st place is an obviously skewed result.

Not voting on the list because the person has flaws?? Well, Jesus, Buddha, Moses, and Mohammad weren't citizens.

I would place George Washington in the first spot. Sure he had flaws, but he had the powers to make or break or neuter this nation. He chose the difficult route and made it.

Ben Franklin is the quintessential American because he was the Enlightenment figure in the wilderness. His faults and qualities have become distinctly American.

Martin Luther King, Jr. should be up high on this list. He stood on the side of right for the entirety of his country even when detesting certain segments of the society was a more natural reaction.

Abraham Lincoln may have been involved in a war. He may have had a slow start as the chief executive officer. But without Lincoln the United States may very well have Balkanized.

Greatest religious leader? . . . . .
Roger Williams

Greatest female American?
Susan B. Anthony

Labor Leader?

Cesar Chavez or Samuel Gompers

Greatest celebrity?

Babe Ruth

Others worthy of merit on this list IMHO are Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Edison.

FDR qualifies and perhaps even Eleanor too.

My own choice would have been Martin Luther King. Some great Americans that would have been in my list include (in no particular order). They all have something in common. They were aware of social injustice and spent their lives trying to do something about it.

Jane Addams
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAaddams.htm

Lincoln Steffens
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Jsteffens.htm

Ida Wells
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWwells.htm

John P. Altgeld
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAaltgeld.htm

Eugene V. Debs
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAdebs.htm

Thaddeus Stevens
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USASstevens.htm

Margaret Sanger
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Jsanger.htm

Robert La Follette
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAlafollette.htm

Prudence Crandall
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAScrandall.htm

Ralph Waldo Emerson
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAemerson.htm

Ida Tarbell
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Jtarbell.htm

Samuel Milton Jones
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAjonesS.htm

Harriet Tubman
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAStubman.htm

Walt Whitman
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USASwhitman.htm

Abraham Muste
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAmuste.htm

Mary White Ovington
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USASovington.htm
Bayard Rustin
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USArustin.htm

Philip Randolph
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USArandolph.htm

Eleanor Roosevelt
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USArooseveltE.htm

Clarence Darrow
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAdarrow.htm

Vito Marcantonio
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAvito.htm

Bill Mauldin
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/ARTmauldin.htm

Emanuel Celler
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAceller.htm

Charles Sumner
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USASsumner.htm

This sort of lists are a crazy thing. If I had to think of a 20 top Spaniards or Europeans list, I would probably give up. I wonder why Franklin and Washington are in the list and Thomas Jefferson is not.

Jefferson has lost a lot of his popularity due to the recent acknowledgement that he created a family with one of his slaves, who, even worse, was his dead wife's half-sister. This combination of exploitation/miscegenation/sexual obsession on his behalf has tarnished his legacy, in the eyes of most Americans.

No Zimmerman, Brian Wilson,Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker. Mark Twain?

But as a mere Brit I go for Capt James T Kirk.Warrior, Philosopher, & general can do sort of guy....

My list might look something like this:
1). Abraham Lincoln
2). Thomas Jefferson (sorry, Pat, I don't agree. Otherwise, how would Bill Clinton wind up on the list?)
3). Martin Luther King, Jr.
4). The suffregettes (Margaret Sanger, et al)
5). Georgia O'Keefe
6) Jackson Pollock
7). Malcolm X
8). Mark Twain
9). Kurt Vonnegut
10). Albert Einstein (ok, naturalized American...)

In my opinion, celebrities and sports figures don't belong on such a list. I might make an exception for Charlie Chaplin. I can't think of a single sports figure who deserves such listing.

Rosa Parks. The woman who sat down on a bus and started a revolution.

Wither Tom Paine in any such list? Especially as he could qualify as English/American/French. Even America is rediscovering her own roots!!

The Lost Founder : Thomas Paine

My apologies to this excellent site for thinking it was associated with religion.....mea culpa.

And Bill Shatner should have recieved an Oscar/Emmy for services to hambone acting.

There has been a suggestion this week that Trafalgar Square should change its name to Tom Paine Square.

George W Bush at 9? what a joke, what has he ever done to earn that spot?

I would have thought that Edison deserved to rank higher than 15.

Anyway, as to the greatest American, one could not go past Forest Gump.

James

As a mere European, it's not really my scene to comment on who is or is not the Greatest American. Although I can understand putting all the above names forward (and yet not necessarily agree with any) I'm a little shocekd at the absence of the people we've come to know as Geronimo, Pocahontas, Sitting Bull, Red Cloud (etc).

Note also that no-one has thought to mention Noam Chomsky in any of this. Or is some form of death (to include career or brain in certain cases deemed still to have a pulse) important in inclusion?

What about that great american wit Cassius Clay with his devastating political quips and great courage in refusing to go to Vietnam.Also that great Detriot middleweight Henry Hank and David Thoroux of Walden Pond and U.S Grant whose wisdom and insight at the end of the civil war in not taking revenge probably ensured that the war did end at that juncture.

I agree with you about Muhammed Ali. There was never anyone like him and never will be. I just wish he hadn't gotten involved with that crazy religion. This religion states that white people were invented by black people way back when. And that white people were an experiment gone wrong. According to Louis Farrakhan, the Mother Ship is coming to take the black people to a new place. A cloud follows Farrakhan wherever he goes. Inside this cloud is the Mother Ship that will take him soon to Paradise. Though I think Farrakhan will outlive us all.

Back to Ali: When he won a certain boxing match and yelled into the camera, "I'm the Champion of the world!" It brings tears to my eyes. He was so bright and funny.

My great uncle, Jackie Farrell, was Jack Dempsey's manager. About Ali and Frazier my uncle said, "To me they're both bums and neither one of them could step into the ring with Dempsey."

Oh, well.

Kathy

kathy,I used the name Cassius Clay rather than M.Ali because like you I think he was at his best then before becoming embittered by the brotherhood.Thank you for explaining the ideas he was subjected to.Incidently I agree with your relative that Jack Dempsey was a terrific fighter having witnessed his ferocious demolision of fighters on video.However, he was too small to have beaten Clay who was as a great a boxer as he was a great person.