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January 23, 2005
The Five Greatest Americans
Now here's a blog meme that I'm somewhat embarassed by. The reason is that I have never considered that America could be qualified so succinctly except by someone with an agenda. But I'll give it a shot.
5. Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali was the first American to make people with no reason to love America, love America. He did so by defying the part of America that thought this nation of people belonged to them for all time, and therefore became the kind of American champion people didn't think could arise here. A true hero, a man against all odds, full of love, a fighter who wouldn't kill.
4. Mark Twain
Samuel L. Clemons is our greatest storyteller and the originator of the wit we use to puncture our egos when we become full of hot air. American literature stands in the shadow of Mark Twain as does the love of country that calls for sharp political commentary. With his 'Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court' he has fueled the reveries of generations. Of him Hemingway said "All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn. ... all American writing comes from that. There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since."
3. John Brown
John Brown stands head and shoulders over any other figure in the Civil War, aside from Lincoln. What he represents to me has come entirely from my reading of his life in Cloudsplitter, which had a fairly profound effect on me personally. First and foremost, Brown exemplifies the rough hewn pioneering spirit of America. Here is a man who has well nigh a dozen children, who lives off the sweat of his brow, the discipline of his family and a transcendant faith in his fellow man as commanded by his devotion to the Christian commandment that one love one's neighbor as himself. Even before his crusade as one of the first militants presaging the Civil War, he served for many years as an engineer of the Underground Railroad. His willingness to sacrifice everything for the sake of his fellows and his carrying out that to death exemplifies our American belief that the work of the few in service of the many is noble.
2. Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin is a ceaseless inventor, a homiletic individual with a wry sense of humor. He was self-deprecating. Just for writing Poor Richard's Almanac he deserves a place. But more than that he was America's first Renaissance Man. It was the life of Franklin that invited invention and improvisation as core to the American character. He did so as an everyman, not like Jefferson, as a patrician or erudite noble. He is the godfather of every middle class engineer, scientist, and tinkerer. He embodied the public spiritedness of this country and goosed along through his Masonry, the idea that ordinary men can become learned and do well for their nation at the highest levels.
1. Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln went the whole nine yards for the nation. Without him holding things together we would have certainly been three nations instead of one. If not three, then Canada would have been larger. His triumph truly represents the creation of the modern America. I never believed that he toed the line all the way for Africans, but as president, he had his priorities in line. He worked tirelessly at great personal cost to keep his administration together, despite great internal strife and generals who kept losing on the battlefield. A remarkable leader, without whom... well.
Posted by mbowen at January 23, 2005 10:38 PM
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