"Americans" meaning "living on the American continent."

One catch: no Presidents allowed on the list.

This is a very difficult question to narrow down to five. I've asked it of a lot of people, and the answers are always interesting.

Mine:

Jonathan Edwards
Ben Franklin
Eli Whitney/Henry Ford/ Wright Brothers/Bill Gates...pick one.
John D. Rockefeller
Martin Luther King, Jr.

I tried to avoid groupings in a single half or full century, but it's tough. No matter what, you're gonna end up leaving out folks that are hugely important.

[Edited on February 16, 2008 at 6:16 PM. Reason : a]

2/16/2008 6:15:21 PM

Ben Franklin
Robert E Lee or John C Calhoun
Thomas Edison

having trouble picking the other two at the moment

2/16/2008 6:32:33 PM

I'm assuming you're meaning United States American and not the entire continent


Ben Franklin
Thomas Edison
Henry Ford
Thomas Paine
Elvis

2/16/2008 6:44:12 PM

No, I mean anyone on the entire continent since 1500...since both the title, and one of my answers, refer to a time before the United States existed.

2/16/2008 6:48:43 PM

Well, Jonathan Edwards played a really important role in shaping the culture of the United States so I wasn't sure. Either way I'm pretty sure I'm too ignorant to know anyone outside of the US who was influential.

2/16/2008 6:53:23 PM

Wilkes Booth
Rockefeller
Nixon
Franklin
Ford

2/16/2008 7:01:12 PM

Abraham Lincoln
Ben Franklin
Thomas Jefferson
Venustiano Carranza Garza
Benito Juarez

[Edited on February 16, 2008 at 7:09 PM. Reason : .]

2/16/2008 7:04:36 PM

do you mean "influential" in a positive way?

or in a "time magazine's man of the year" way?


also, do you mean influential americans that influenced america, or the world?

2/16/2008 7:06:03 PM

Benjamin Franklin
Jackie Robinson
Henry Ford
Thomas Edison
John Marshall

2/16/2008 7:13:32 PM

I mean "influential" in a Time's Man of the Year type way - positive or negative.

And their influence can be just in America or all over the world, though obviously an effect all over the world is more influence than just shaping your own country/culture.

2/16/2008 7:29:43 PM

gates
mlk
elvis
ford
franklin

2/16/2008 8:26:45 PM

How does Jackie Robinson or Elvis make anyones list?

2/16/2008 8:26:59 PM

disney

2/16/2008 8:27:11 PM

George Bush (for not forcing barbara to abort)
Barbara Bush (for not listening to George on abortion matters)
their off spring (you know the rest)

2/16/2008 8:27:52 PM

gates, franklin, and ford are must haves. Maybe Alexander Graham Bell.

Then Id go with oprah.

2/16/2008 8:29:58 PM

Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier forever changed the makeup of sports in this country, and Americans take great interest in professional and college sports.

2/16/2008 8:38:55 PM

being the first person of color to play baseball != breaking the color barrier.


Jackie is great, but be realistic.

2/16/2008 8:41:23 PM

I am, that's my he's on my list...

2/16/2008 8:43:43 PM

You suck at lists and typing.

2/16/2008 9:30:00 PM

Thomas Jefferson
Andrew Jackson
Abraham Lincoln
FDR
Nixon

2/16/2008 9:31:11 PM

Quote :

"One catch: no Presidents allowed on the list."

2/16/2008 9:47:37 PM

Patrick Henry
Alexander Hamilton
Walt Disney
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Robert Oppenheimer


Runner ups: Einstein, MLK, Elvis, Henry Ford, Mark Twain, Sam Walton, John Winthrop, Booker T. Washington, Oprah Winfrey, John Marshall, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Benjamin Cardozo, and last, but not least, Babe Ruth.

[Edited on February 16, 2008 at 10:00 PM. Reason : l]

2/16/2008 9:54:16 PM

Hernando De Soto?
Hernando Cortes?
Americo Vespucci?

Come the fuck on people. How does an entertainer like Elvis or a preacher like Edwards get top billing over the man who nammed the fucking continent.

FUCK!!

2/17/2008 12:45:35 AM

Faraday
Einstein
Dewey
Reagan
Weird Al Yankovic

I don't know it's a stupid question.

2/17/2008 12:53:10 AM

DYLAN
DYLAN
DYLAN
DYLAN
DYLAN

2/17/2008 2:57:43 AM

Jimi

2/17/2008 3:41:51 AM

Quote :

"Hernando De Soto? Hernando Cortes? Americo Vespucci? Come the fuck on people. How does an entertainer like Elvis or a preacher like Edwards get top billing over the man who nammed the fucking continent. FUCK!!"

Well, for one, Amerigo Vespucci wasn't even famous enough for you to spell his name right. But all ad hominem attacks aside, what did he really do? He took two trips to America, did a bit of cartography in South America, and then he wrote some letters about it. He wasn't even the most significant explorer of the period (his first voyage was before 1500, btw)--maybe not even in the top 5. He was just the one people decided to name the continent after. But he didn't do anything much that wouldn't have been accomplished by someone else in his absence.

I haven't thought much on my own top 5, and I doubt Elvis or Jonathan Edwards would make my list, but I'd certainly rank them higher than Vespucci.

2/17/2008 6:19:22 AM

I put Elvis on my list because he basically created pop culture in America. He's from the late 50's(?) early 60's and he's still one of the number 1 selling artists every year. That's just ridiculous. He's like what The Beatles did for rock, except he did it for all of music, some tv, and some movies. That's pretty impressive. Plus, you don't even have to say his last name for people to know who you're talking about. That's a pretty good sign of fame.

2/17/2008 6:30:49 AM

Ben Franklin (American Renaissance man)

Abraham Lincoln (Emancipation)

Teddy Roosevelt (panama canal, Imperialism)

Franklin D. Roosevelt (WWII)

John F. Kennedy (Prevented nuclear war)

2/17/2008 1:27:10 PM

Hard to narrow it down. The list would include Rockefeller, Ford, Carnegie, Morgan, possibly their modern-day equivalents in Sam Walton and Bill Gates. When your money is still making insane amounts more money decades after you have died, which will be the case for Walton and Gates, you are influential.

2/17/2008 1:51:04 PM

Alexander Hamilton wielded enormous influence for a man who wasn't President -- arguably even more so than Ben Franklin, at least after the country was founded. His decisions, regardless of whether you like them or not, were instrumental in making the United States so powerful (standing army, economic policies, etc).

Heny Ford revolutionized not just the automobile, but industry as a whole.

George C. Marshall or Robert Oppenheimer, because both were instrumental in winning the Second World War and in determining what the world would be like after it (albeit for different reasons).

Thomas Edison, for his inventions' many contributions to economics (stock ticker), entertainment (kinetoscope, etc), and power and light.

2/17/2008 6:35:21 PM

Quote :

"Ben Franklin (American Renaissance man) Abraham Lincoln (Emancipation) Teddy Roosevelt (panama canal, Imperialism) Franklin D. Roosevelt (WWII) John F. Kennedy (Prevented nuclear war)"

Sandsanta - does not follow directions but works well with others

no presidents allowed on the list

2/17/2008 7:19:38 PM

So who else went to Google and typed in influential Americans and clicked on the first link? Haha, I know I did.

2/17/2008 7:53:28 PM

Ben Franklin
Thomas Edison
Henry Ford
Robert E Lee
Martin Luther King, Jr.

2/17/2008 9:38:03 PM

hahahaha

Sorry!

I did not R read.

kek

2/17/2008 10:02:28 PM

Henry Ford - He didnt just create modern transportation as we know it....he created the ideas that every manufacturing plant in the world follows.

Ben Franklin - Without him, there is no America...we lose the Revolutionary war and we are all British.

Robert E Lee

Elvis

The guy who invented Baseball (cant remember his name or if he was from America)

and also Steven Seigal....or Chuck Norris..which ever would win in a Cage Fight

2/18/2008 12:14:43 AM

christopher columbus - DURRRRRR, hello did everyone forget? cant have america without the man who invented it

Abraham lincon - not only did he beat the british during the civil war, but he crafted in the declaration of independence, the most awe inspiring piece of oral document ever

Micheal jordan - arguably the most famous person ever made, micheal jordan redifined grateness and has set a new standard for the fadeaway jumper

Stan Lee - from bugs bunny to yugio, stan lee brough the world of animation to the level it had not been to since the roman empire

Jeff - nobody knows much about jeff, but he gave it his all, allegedly

2/18/2008 1:35:39 AM

Quote :

"christopher columbus - DURRRRRR, hello did everyone forget? cant have america without the man who invented it "

Technically he didn't really fit the original criteria of living on the American continent.

2/18/2008 1:37:39 AM

nor the original title criteria.

1492.

2/18/2008 2:03:53 AM

I really don't see Ben Franklin. We had several other competent diplomats who could've secured French support, and we had others here in America who did more to drum up support for the revolution.

Robert E. Lee, are you fucking kidding? He was a general in a losing war. He didn't influence the world after him at all, unless you count a bunch of redneck dickbags who complete ignore his relatively non-racist leanings.

MLK, Jr. -- great man and all, but there were plenty of other Civil Rights leaders in America and abroad who were doing the exact same thing.

----

I like how tromboner and Cheif missed the fact that lafta was joking

2/18/2008 4:47:12 AM

Quote :

"The guy who invented Baseball (cant remember his name or if he was from America) "

Abner Doubleday


and I think that Benjamin Franklin, Robert E. Lee, and MLK certainly would all be in the running for the list

[Edited on February 18, 2008 at 5:06 AM. Reason : and prob Elvis, too, for that matter]

2/18/2008 5:04:39 AM

Bill Gates definitely up there somewhere.

2/18/2008 8:30:08 AM

Quote :

"I really don't see Ben Franklin. We had several other competent diplomats who could've secured French support, and we had others here in America who did more to drum up support for the revolution. Robert E. Lee, are you fucking kidding? He was a general in a losing war. He didn't influence the world after him at all, unless you count a bunch of redneck dickbags who complete ignore his relatively non-racist leanings. MLK, Jr. -- great man and all, but there were plenty of other Civil Rights leaders in America and abroad who were doing the exact same thing."

Ben Franklin wasn't just a diplomat. He was a writer, philosopher, and inventor. He was the first to harness electricity. Plus he was the biggest pimp of the 18th century. Combined with what he contributed to the American Revolution, I'd say that puts him pretty close to the top.

Robert E. Lee is kinda iffy, but there was one point where he was trying to decide whether he would join the Confederacy or not. He was an American through and through, but above that he was a Virginian (or something like that). Without him, the South doesn't have a chance and there is no Civil War.

MLK did what not many other civil rights leaders did at the time. He preached for change through peaceful means and he actually got a lot done. Kinda depends on how much you think got done because of him.

I didn't pick Lee or MLK, but I could totally see why others would. It's all a matter of opinion. But to say there's no way they were greatly influential people would be wrong, I think.

2/18/2008 8:46:31 AM

Paris Hilton

2/18/2008 9:11:55 AM

Ben Franklin is the sole reason we have america today. He knew how to win the french's support in the american revolution. America had other people over before him but it took franklin going over there and staying for many years to persuade the french to join us.

2/18/2008 9:24:38 AM

John D. Rockefeller
J.P. Morgan
John Marshall
Thomas Edison

and you're gonna hate this one...

Orson Welles

2/18/2008 11:42:26 AM