He who criticizes should have constructive ideas of his own. In an earlier post, I scoffed at the results of a survey of school-age kids conducted by Sam Wineburg, which yielded a list of Americans that had as much to do with misplaced political correctness as actual fame. (To see that dubious list, see my post.)
But if the kids in the survey didn’t really select the ten most famous persons in American history, who should be on such a list?
In that survey, reported in the Smithsonian, American presidents and first ladies were ineligible. Let’s stick with that — no presidents. But let me propose two lists, one for men, one for women.
Ten famous American men:
1. Benjamin Franklin
2. Martin Luther King Jr.
3. Babe Ruth
4. Albert Einstein
5. Mark Twain
6. Billy Graham
7. Elvis Presley
8. Lewis & Clark
9. Louis Armstrong
10. Charles Lindbergh
Their claims to fame?
Benjamin Franklin. Catalyst of the American Revolution; for a time during his lifetime, the most famous person in the world. Invented the Franklin stove, bifocals, the lightning rod. Printer, scientist, politician, diplomat, writer. Poor Richard’s Almanack. Ben Franklin impersonators. Picture on the hundred-dollar bill.
Martin Luther King Jr. Catalyst of the American civil rights movement, which led to lasting changes in laws and racial attitudes. Gave one of history’s best-known speeches (”I have a dream”). National holiday named after him.
Babe Ruth. The biggest name in America’s national game. Larger-than-life personality. Could pitch nearly as well as he could hit. A bigger sports figure even than Mohammed Ali or Joe DiMaggio. Candy bar named after him.
Albert Einstein. Physicist and discoverer of theory of relativity, supposed to be comprehensible by fewer than a dozen people. Not a mad scientist, but looked the part. A name synonymous with genius.
Mark Twain. Our greatest writer, creator of Tom Sawyer. Has the strongest claim of any author to having written the great American novel (Huckleberry Finn). Steamboat operator, humorist, lecturer, literary critic. Immensely popular during his lifetime. Mark Twain imitators.
Billy Graham. America’s best-known religious figure. Brought millions to faith in Jesus Christ at crusades around the world. Best-selling books. Prayed with presidents. Modest lifestyle, scandal-free life.
Elvis Presley. The King of Rock and Roll. “Jailhouse Rock,” “Love Me Tender,” “Suspicious Minds,” “Burning Love.” Star of B-movies. Las Vegas nightclub star. Legend cemented by early death. Graceland. Elvis impersonators.
Lewis & Clark. Captain Meriwether Lewis, Lieutenant William Clark, America’s best-known explorers. Paddled up the Missouri River, crossed the Rockies, reached the Atlantic. Couldn’t have made it without Shoshone guide and translator Sacagawea (picture on dollar coin).
Louis Armstrong. America’s greatest jazz musician. Ebullient personality, unmistakable style on voice and trumpet. “Hello Dolly.” The ubiquitous “What a Wonderful World.”
Charles Lindbergh. “Lucky Lindy.” Unprecedented celebrity from solo flight across the Atlantic in 1927. Baby boy kidnapped and murdered in the crime of the century. “Spirit of St. Louis” in the Smithsonian.
If the list went up to 20 famous American men, it might include (11) Thomas Alva Edison (inventor), (12) the Wright brothers (aviators), (13) Walt Disney (moviemaker), (14) Frank Sinatra (singer), (15) Henry Ford (automobile tycoon), (16) Muhammed Ali (boxing champion), (17) Robert E. Lee (general), (18) Daniel Webster (statesman), (19) John D. Rockefeller (oil tycoon and philanthropist), and (20) Ralph Waldo Emerson (writer and philosopher).
Candidates for an even longer list of famous American men might include Nathan Hale (Revolutionary War hero), Daniel Boone (pioneer), Bill Gates (Microsoft billionaire and philanthropist), John Wayne (actor), Winslow Homer (painter), Alexander Graham Bell (inventor), Robert Frost (poet), Douglas MacArthur (general), John Glenn (astronaut), Norman Rockwell (painter and illustrator), Frederick Douglass (abolitionist and editor); Henry David Thoreau (writer and philosopher), Henry Clay (statesman), Jack London (writer), William Penn (Quaker founder of Pennsylvania), Howard Hughes (billionaire), Houdini (magician), Norman Vincent Peale (clergyman and author), Ernest Hemingway (writer), F. Scott Fitzgerald (writer), Andy Warhol (painter), Walt Whitman (poet), Horace Greeley (newspaper editor), Billy Sunday (Protestant evangelist), John C. Calhoun (statesman), Neil Armstrong (astronaut).
Ten famous women:
1. Oprah Winfrey
2. Marilyn Monroe
3. Pocahontas
4. Helen Keller
5. Emily Dickinson
6. Harriet Beecher Stowe
7. Susan B. Anthony
8. Betsy Ross
9. Edith Wharton
10. Amelia Earhart
Their claims to fame:
Oprah Winfrey. Fabulously rich, incredibly popular, remarkably influential television talk-show hostess, producer, magazine
publisher, entrepeneur, book critic, philanthropist.
Marilyn Monroe. Actress, model. Posed for Playboy. Married Joe DiMaggio. Classic movies The Seven-Year Itch and Some Like It Hot. Elton John’s “Candle in the Wind.”
Pocohontas. Daughter of Powhatan chieftain. Saved Virginia colonists from starving, risked her own life to save John Smith’s. Married John Rolfe, died in England. Disney animated movie.
Helen Keller. Overcame dual disability. Author, suffragette, political activist. Academy award-winning “The Miracle Worker.”
Emily Dickinson. Relusive New England spinster, first-rate poet.
Because I could not stop for Death
He kindly stopped for me –
The Carriage held but just Ourselves –
And Immortality
Harriet Beecher Stowe. America’s most effective enemy of slavery. History’s most influential novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
Susan B. Anthony. Suffragette, orator, abolitionist, temperance advocate. Convicted in Rochester for voting illegally. American’s most influential proponent of legal rights for women; responsible for 
eventual enactment of the Nineteenth Amendment. New bridge over the Genesee River in Rochester named after her and Frederick Douglass (known locally as the “Freddie-Sue”). Picture on dollar coin.
Betsy Ross. Fighting Quaker, Revolutionary War patriot. Reputed to have designed and made the stars-and-stripes flag, though she probably didn’t.
Edith Wharton. First-rate American novelist, landscape architect, war reporter. Authored The House of Mirth, The Age of Innocence. For every tenth grader, Ethan Frome.
Amelia Earhart. Pioneer woman aviator, feminist icon. First woman to fly the Atlantic solo. Disappeared in the Pacific trying to fly around the world.
Other famous women: Madonna (singer), Rosa Parks (civil rights catalyst), Lucille Ball (actress), Georgia O’Keefe (painter), Flannery O’Connor (writer), Virginia Woolf (writer), Aretha Franklin (singer), Sacagawea (Indian guide), Sandra Day O’Connor (Supreme Court Justice); Willa Cather (writer), Billie Jean King (tennis champion), Ida Tarbell (investigative journalist); Katharine Hepburn (actress), Harriet Tubman (hero of Underground Railroad); Carrie Nation (temperance crusader), Dorothy Parker (writer), Margaret Mead (anthropologist), Gertrude Stein (writer). Still more possible candidates are in the National Women’s Hall of Fame, mostly non-entertainers. Disqualified from our list, because they were wives of Presidents: Eleanor Roosevelt, Hillary Clinton, Abigail Adams.
Of course, being famous and deserving fame are different matters. These are famous people. Lists of men and women based strictly on merit and historical importance would be quite different.
paris hilton should be on it ;)….byt the way albert einstein lives in america for the last part of his life
OMG…
thanx im doing a project about wax museum or soemthing.
and like in Ms.Robersons class..
Like yah and it helped me alott
Loll….
Who else is doing this wax museum project.
thx you really helped me in the wax museum
albert einstein is deffinitely not american.
She might be famous, but nobody likes her.
Oprah Winfrey????
How weird are you people???
Is it just me, or am I the only one mad that they didn’t even mention Abraham Lincoln on the top 20? In my opinion he should have been on the top 10, but to not even have him on the top 20?! I am sorry, but maybe I am just one of those highly-opinionated U.S. History buffs that not many pay attention to. However, the fact that people such as Louis Armstrong and Charles Lindberg come before the man who saved our country from falling to pieces…that just kills me. Sorry if you don’t agree.
Well, now, Emsworth, as for the “gentler” sex (Janet Reno notwithstanding)…fair or not, history is what it is. Until relatively recently, women simply have not had the same opportunities to make significant contributions to American life–and thus, to achieve lasting fame–at least not in the areas of politics, industry, science, etc. Of course there are notable exceptions. However, in a list of, say, the top 100 Americans of both sexes, ranking overall historical importance, I suspect that a truly honest assessment could include no more than ten women–and even that might be too many. I hasten to add that, as a card-carrying liberal democrat, I do not believe that women are in any sense inferior to men, or any less capable of achievement, but only that the “playing field,” as it were, has not been level. I imagine that, over time, women will close this gap, as they have closed many others. Indeed, on a list of the 100 most important Americans today, I would expect that much closer to half of the entries would be women. But there’s no reason to sugarcoat history. I am bumused that you appear to be taking the other side of this argument. You must be trying to expand your audience.
Great discussion. Is the question famous today, or famous over time? I have no quibble with the men, except for Louis Armstrong. For at least the last 30 years, it has been possible to grow into adulthood as a reasonably well-educated person and still not know who he was. Jazz afficinados always overstate the importance of their favorite musicians, who are totally irrelevant to the vast majority of Americans who don’t listen to or care about jazz. I’d replace Armstrong with John Glenn, Thomas Edison, or John D. Rockefeller. Charles Lindbergh was America’s first true celebrity; it’s too bad he was a closet Nazi. Which reminds me–I suppose you could throw Walt Disney in there, too. It must suck to be Lewis & Clark, always having to share. They probably had only one wife between them (figuratively speaking, of course). As for the women…eh, whatever. I suspect that most people know the names, but have no clue what they did. Winfrey only makes the list because the lineup is so weak.