I totally misread the thread title, and started thinking Churchill, Sadat, Mandella... before I opened it up.
I think Franklin and Douglas are no-brainers.
I think you have to include at least one industrialist, though. That these people did not is telling, I think.
ETA: Edison counts as an industrialist, despite my comment above. I think of him as an inventor and scientist first, but he was quite the businessman too.
I read recently that the guy behind Mt. Rushmore picked the four based on their contributions to westward expansion/Manifest Destiny. Explains why TR was included. So for this discussion, should there be an underlying theme? Contributions to [fill in the blank]?
I think Franklin and Douglas are no-brainers.
I think you have to include at least one industrialist, though. That these people did not is telling, I think.
ETA: Edison counts as an industrialist, despite my comment above. I think of him as an inventor and scientist first, but he was quite the businessman too.
I read recently that the guy behind Mt. Rushmore picked the four based on their contributions to westward expansion/Manifest Destiny. Explains why TR was included. So for this discussion, should there be an underlying theme? Contributions to [fill in the blank]?
Where did you read that? That is not how their selection is characterized by the National Parks Service.
Birth, growth, development, preservation…
Where did you read that? That is not how their selection is characterized by the National Parks Service.
I really don't remember. It actually may have been from a lecture on History TV on CSPAN. If it comes to me I'll try and post a citation.
Naismith was Canadian.
Mark's wife is posting under his handle...
No, but she's drilled that kind of shit into my head.
<sigh>
Hopefully that has afforded you the right to drill something into her head, at least for special occasions?
A good friend will bail you out of jail, but your best friend will be sitting next to you in the cell saying "that was f***ing awesome"
You get to pick your own. If you want to select Peter North, John Holmes, etc. that's up to you.So for this discussion, should there be an underlying theme? Contributions to [fill in the blank]?
Trying to get rid of Edison.
Also, if I dumped Edison, I'd probably go for someone like Ford, or maybe Vanderbilt, and that doesn't give any better feelz, anyway.
Crazy math thing that popped into my head. Watching parts of that video, I saw a lot of talk about Elizabeth Cady Stanton. For good reason. She's a great American. Deserves to be in consideration. But I wondered how many people might want to find a reason to put a woman on the list, and I wondered how likely it was that she actually belonged there, so to speak. I mean, our history being our history, most of the famous people who did things that history books say are important to the nation are men. That's just the way the world was for most of history, including most of American history. Right or wrong, men did more things and were remembered more and talked about more. So anyway, let's say you get a list of 50 great Americans, and you want to narrow it down to the top four to put on your Mt. Rushmore.
If five of those Americans are women (10%), and you select four randomly, you have a 65% chance of selecting all men.
If ten of them are women (20%), and you select four randomly, you still have a fully 40% chance of selecting all men.
The moral of this story is, if you mentally put a list together that didn't include any women, you don't need to feel guilty about it, it's just math.
Henry Clay
Earl Warren
J.P. Morgan
George C. Marshall
Clara Barton
Jonas Salk
Thomas Edison
Ben Franklin
Who ya got?
I think Franklin and Douglas are no-brainers.
I think you have to include at least one industrialist, though. That these people did not is telling, I think.
ETA: Edison counts as an industrialist, despite my comment above. I think of him as an inventor and scientist first, but he was quite the businessman too.
Franklin has to be there.
Hamilton must be there.
MLK
Thomas Paine
Others I considered John Marshal, John D. Rockefeller, Mark Twain, Babe Ruth
Shoving carrramrod into a locker since 2024.
You get to pick your own. If you want to select Peter North, John Holmes, etc. that's up to you.So for this discussion, should there be an underlying theme? Contributions to [fill in the blank]?
Not going to lie, I'm concerned about your male pornstar knowledge
Shoving carrramrod into a locker since 2024.
I’m thinking only those in my lifetime, and listing those who should have been replaced.
Take out Roosevelt fourth term, H.W. Bush, Biden, Obama, and Trump and put in anyone from this list: Yeah, I know the ages don’t work out, but these are people whom I think would have been great Presidents not all for the same reasons. All are in my view creative, bold, and decisive.
Condoleezza Rice