Wednesday
Feb252009
The Twelve Greatest Americans
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 at 09:51AM 
Apparently, making lists is all the rage these days.
A good friend and colleague recently suggested this list of the twelve greatest Americans (in chronological order).
It is certainly hard to quibble with his list . . . But go ahead and quibble anyway! Who would be on your list?
Jonathan Edwards
George Washington
John Adams
Thomas Jefferson
Abraham Lincoln
Thomas Edison
Theodore Roosevelt
George Marshall
Dwight Eisenhower
Mortimer Adler
Ronald Reagan
Martin Luther King Jr.
Reader Comments (40)
Jack McCoy for President. McCoy could beat up Bauer in a NY minute. McCoy is cool, Bauer is not.
GAS, nice. Dad is the tops.
Susan B. Anthony
Clara Barton
Elizabeth Blackwell
Ella Fitgerald
Helen Keller
Florence Nightingale
Esther Peterson
Harriet Tubman
Grace Murray Hopper
Rosa Parks
Sandra Day-O'connor
Robert E. Lee
George Washington
John Adams
Thomas Edison
Theodore Roosevelt
Dwight Eisenhower
Ronald Reagan
Martin Luther King Jr.
Eric Clapton
Frank Capra
Cornelius Van Til
J. Gresham Machen
I don't smoke, I drink (and "too much TV" is only an affliction for more frail souls). But, you're right, the young neo-con projection could literally beat up conventional wisdom and conservatism--that's part of the point. I was speaking figuratively. Besides, I was only taking the celebrity cue from Merritt and Coyle.
Cool list. I wouldn't change a single name.
And I am sure everyone is kidding, or being tongue in cheek, but Jack Bauer is one of the very last people I'd put on this list, even if he was real.
I think Garrett Garrett needs to be on that list, probably number two after Thomas Jefferson. And Friedrich Hayek (assuming it's ok to immigrate here and still be a great american.)
Great smile...
Great Grandma
It's Grrrreat!
Great Lakes
Great Tribulation
Great Balls of Fire
Oh Great! (said the frustrated man after his waitress spilled his drink).
The Greatest Generation (of course, they also raised the Boomers....)
And then the real twist in all this is Luke 9:48:
"...He who is least among you is the one who is great"
Now, I'd have to look at the Greek, but just on the surface, "least" could refer to stature, and therefore I'd have to conclude that Michael Horton, Robert Godfrey, and Rod Rosenbladt are perhaps some of the greatest Americans!
I s'pose. But Bauer carries a man-bag. McCoy carries a brief case. Again, neo-con versus con-con, New Schooler versus Old Schooler...c'mon.
http://www.thisnext.com/item/62D9E6C8/6C07CC9A/The-Jack-Bauer-Man-Bag-by
Waterston was born in Massachusetts, and his mother was an American Mayflower descendant.
But, if you mean "great men who were great because of something they did in the context of the American polity" then there's an equally large list, but also in many cases a different list. For example, I wouldn't necessarily put any theologian on it unless they were also a Senator or novelist or something specifically politically/culturally American (as we're often reminded, we ought not confuse the two kingdoms!). But nor from this side of things would I include someone like Robert E. Lee or Stonewall Jackson, for the same reasons I wouldn't put George Washington on a list of "great British subjects."
So I guess I should withdraw my list until we come up with some kind of definition of "great American."
does the vice president really do anything? i only want to be VP if i get to be as powerful as Dick was. give me some time to set up my own Halliburton to scam the people into no bid contracts while i use my rainbow alerts on the boogey man *insert sarcasm people*.
alas, i just remembered i was born in a foreign country now occupied by the USA. i suppose we can do something to get around that, call it an embedded nation-state and bring it into the union? it would kill 2 birds with one stone. as an embedded nation state we would no longer be relying on foreign oil. i am seeing some great potential here Zrim, you are a genius.
I'll leave those sorts of details up to you and McCoy. But I relished your list as only an incorrigible contrarian can--it was thee best post on this thread, hands down. You go, girl.
Since the term "greatness" can be both ambiguous and vague, here's one crack at defining 'American greatness':
1. Those individuals who conceived and helped birth the American Republic.
2. Those individuals who led in holding the USA together during its hours of greatest crises.
3. Those individuals who led America to military victory over the world's greatest forces of tyranny and oppression.
4. Those individuals who led the way in making America a technological, industrial, and economic superpower.
5. Those individuals who led the greatest revival and reform in American culture (morally, legally, educationally, religiously).
Artists, entertainers, and athletes make important contributions, but freedom, liberty, and justice are the values that define true American greatness.
Even if one disagrees with my definition or my proud belief in American exceptionalism, I hope my Reformed friends at least appreciate that I made my case in 'five points.'
Interesting definition! And I certianly agree that America is exceptional, though whether that's always been a good thing would require a long conversation...
But, using your definition, can I suggest a list of twelve people (two for each category)?
1. Any Founding Father, but especially George Washington and James Madison. There's really no way to limit this to two, but these are two of thet most important of that entire important generation.
2. Abraham Lincoln and FDR.
3. Douglas MacArthur and Dwight Eisenhower. And really, other than the WWII generation, I'm not sure who else I'd put in this category. We didn't do so well in our Cold War battles (Korea under MacArthur excepted), and we never really faced down international tyranny before that.
4. Andrew Carnegie and Henry Ford. Though I think I'd lean a bit more toward Carnegie, as I tend to favor those who give 90% of their wealth to charity, and tend not to favor those who have ties to Nazism. :)
5.Henry Ward Beecher and Billy Sunday, as two who united reform and revival.
(6) Frank Capra and John Philip Sousa, as our artists and entertainers. A case could also be made for John Ford and Aaron Copeland... or countless others.
All of which begs an overall interesting question, is America really "great" in any way that matters for the City of God? Certainly in terms of physical power and wealth, and a history of political freedom and popular participation, and civic virtue we have an incredible history. But the question I like to pose to my class (when not teahing in a state school) is, what does all of this have to do with the Gospel? How are Christians to think about the greatness of America?
You've presented an impressive list. I appreciate your careful reasoning.
To let you in on a little secret, the original list that pastor Riddlebarger posted was mine.
It is very hard to limit the founding fathers. Madison has strong credentials. I am partial to Adams and Jefferson because they were viewed as the two leading political philosophers in the group. Washington was both a great military and political leader.
Given the enormous challenges with which he had to address, FDR probably should have made my list. However, I view his cousin Teddy as the greater leader.
I greatly appreciate general MacArthur. However, because Marshall was the overall architect of World War II and because of his political leadership following the war (Marshall Plan), I give him the edge. Eisenhower was a great general and in the eyes of many historians a very effective president during the early stages of the Cold War. My father was one of Eisenhower's boys in Europe during World War II.
I think the Cold War was a time of maximum danger for America and her allies (comparable to WWII), thus I give Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, and Reagan a lot of credit. Reagan makes my list for his leadership during a critical stage in the potentially nuclear conflict.
Carnegie and Ford are names that can compete with Edison.
In terms of reform, Mortimer Adler is arguably the most educated person of the 20th century and a great reformer of education. I give him high marks and he makes my list.
Edwards as the theologian and central preacher of the First Great Awakening scores high with me in terms of revival (I realize that he lived in the Colonial period, but the founding fathers overlap this period as well). Martin Luther King makes my list because of the moral rightness of his cause.
Your last question is challenging. Because I see myself as having dual citizenship in two cities (City of Man, City of God), I desire to be found as a good and faithful servant in both spheres. While America may not be technically a Christian nation, British theologian Alister McGrath considers America to be the most influential country in the world in terms of Christian influence.
Coyle, thanks for your thoughtful posts.