In honor of the 4th, I thought I'd start a discussion on who each of us believes has been the greatest hero this country has ever had. I was going to do a poll, but that was too restrictive, as there are simply too many options, depending on your perspective, but in order to pay tribute to each point of view, not to mention the heor in question, I thought I'd just throw the question open to the forum...Please say who you consider to be the greatest American hero of all time, and why. For the purposes of argument, here are some possibilities: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, U.S. Grant, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Elvis Presley, Frederick Douglas, Dwight D.Eisenhower, FDR, Nelson Rockefeller, Thomas Edison, Sam Houston, Davey Crockett, Harriett Beecher Stowe, Henry David Thoreau, Jimmie Stewart, Gen. Patton, JFK, Neil Armstrong, Malcolm X, Gen. George Marshall, Ernest Hemingway, Walt Disney, Thomas Payne, Rev. Martin Luther King, Audie Murphy, Walter Kronkite, Gloria Steinham, Teddy Roosevelt, Woody Guthrie, Mark Twain, Wyatt Earp, Babe Ruth, Harriet Tubman, Henry Ford, Muhammed Ali, John Brown, Jackie Robinson, Daniel Boone, John Wayne,Benjamin Franklin, Woodward & Burnstein, Ronald Reagan, Jessie Owens, Oliver Wendell Holmes, or Arthur C. Clarke. Agreed that the above list is incomplete, and I intentionally left off Native Americans like Sitting bull and Geronimo, as I doubt they'd be satisfied with the definition. I did this off the top of my head, so if there are glaring omissions, please forgive me...and please remember to state why your choice is your choice...makes for more interesting reading. Happy 4th of July, my friends.
That is a REAL American Hero. The Greatest American Hero = Believe it or not, I'm walking on air. I never thought I could be so free. Flying away on a wing and a prayer. Who could it be??? Believe it or not Its just me! sorry MacBeth
Codell...I was gonna put a thing in about the show, but I got wrapped up in trying to narrow the list down. Thanks for the, uh, reminder... Now pick one and say why, dammit!
Believe it or not, George isn't at home, Please leave a message at the beep. I must be out or I'd pick up the phone. Where could I be? Believe it or not, I'm not home.
For me, this would have to be Martin Luther King. He stood up for what he believed in in the face of his government and even the very people for whom he was fighting. He knew that his path could lead him to martyrdom, yet he followed it until, ultimately, he was assasinated for his beliefs. This is not to say that others on the list did not do many of the same things. For me, rounding out the top five would be Thomas Jefferson, Abe Lincoln, Ben Franklin, and Rosa Parks.
Impossible to pick a single "greatest hero." Lincoln and FDR are very important figures in American history. It is also impossible to deny the influence Thomas Edison has had in America's history. "... Thomas Edison was more responsible than any one else for creating the modern world we know today.... No one did more too shape the physical character of modern civilization.... Accordingly, he was the most influential figure of the millennium...." "He led no armies into battle, he conquered no countries, and he enslaved no peoples... Nonetheless, he exerted a degree of power the magnitude of which no warrior ever dreamed. His name still commands a respect as sweeping in scope and as world-wide as that of any other mortal - a devotion rooted deep in human gratitude and untainted by the bias that is often associated with race, color, politics, and religion."
In my own list I had narrowed it down to Abe, MLK, Ali ( seriously), Jefferson, Twain ( again, seriously), and FDR...and I could totally back argumets for others like Edison, Ike, and Brown.
My two cents: It would be tough to vote for an athlete or musician despite my tremendous admiration for them. Also, there are quite a few women worthy of the list: Elanor Roosevelt, Lady Bird Johnson, Sally Ride, Rosa Parks, Emily Dickinson, Amelia Earhart, Susan B. Anthony. I personally could not pick one person. MLK is way up on my list but I would be hard pressed to list one. There were so many people that contributed throughout so many different eras of our history.
MacBeth, out of curiosity, why no JFK on the list? Along with MLK, wasn't he one of th3 main facilitators of the civil rights movement? (perhaps I have him mixed up with someone else)
1) JFK is on the list, right between Patton and Armstrong. 2) That said, I am not a big fan of JFK as a President, and feel that he is much more important for what he represented, ie youth and minorities gaining enthusiasm for the process, and his more communal foreign policy than for anything he actually did. He was partly responsible for the beginning of the Civil rights movement, but LBJ actually did more, although JFK's death was the prod he used to get things through the Houses.. 3) On the other hand, I sincerely believe that, had he lived, Bobby Kennedy might have gone down as the greatest President we have ever had. He had it all, brilliance, toughness, savy, vision, and compassion. He also had not had to compromise himself on the way to the same degree that most candidates have to, although the reason was nepotism. JFK's assassination was much more impactive, but I believe that Bobby's cost us more.
I would say George Washington. It is because Washington stepped down as president that America exists as we know it today. Many where calling for him to run for a second term, and he surely would have won as the hero of the revolution. By stepping down, Washington stopped America from becoming another monarchy, and allowed the great democratic experiment to move forward and prosper.
The cynic in me is already rolling its eyes but by golly- I VOTE FOR THE COMMON MAN!!! God bless America Land of the Free From the ...(la da da)
Im not sure how MLK could come close to being an all american hero. All he did was fight for one group of people...and it was bound to come to pass. If you ever done any research on Lincoln, you will find that the only years in his life that were a success was his couple years in office. Everything in his life was a failure, but he kept on going. I think I would have to call for Washington. He not only stood up against the greatest empire in the world at the current time, but he set the domino effect on crushing that empire, to bring one of our greatest allies to this day.
Jesse Owens punking everybody in Berlin at the 36 games was pretty sweet. Your back is against the wall. It is only you. You go out there and win a bunch of Gold Medals.
I saw a thing on The History Channel today where King George said of Washington upon learning that he was returning to Mount Vernon, "That would make him the greatest man alive..."
Vance Flosenzier ~6 to 7 foot shark bite nephew on the arm. He went into water, grabbed shark by tail and dragged it to shore. Doctors were able to reattach his nephew's arm. Not a political statement, but shows courage and love. Only drawback was this might have lead to the Year of the Shark media blitz.
