- Charles Lindbergh — heroism isn’t by itself greatness; Nazi sympathizer
- Christopher Reeve — tragedy isn’t greatness
- Chuck Yeager — a cool guy; but bottom line just a test pilot
- Clint Eastwood — Harry Callahan makes the list maybe; Clint I think not
- Colin Powell — failed to respect his own conscience
- Condoleezza Rice — 9/11
- Donald Trump — other moguls have done more with less
- Dwight D. Eisenhower — won the war; didn’t try to undo the New Deal
- Eleanor Roosevelt (Anna Eleanor Roosevelt) — first First Lady to lead publicly; important change for women
- Ellen DeGeneres — not even funny; Fanny Brice gets my vote
3 thoughts on “Another set of ten”
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If you put the individuals on the list into broad categories you will find they break out into something like this (there is some room for error because individuals cross over — for example, is Eisenhower Military or Politics)
Politics – 36
Entertainment/Art – 28
Business – 9
Sports – 8
Science – 7
Aviation – 7
Military – 3
Religion – 2
It seems to me, ignoring the people selected within each category that the distribution among the categories is wildly off. Politics, Entertainment, Sports, and Aviation are represented in greater proportion than their importance to America and Science, Business, Military, and Religion are underrepresented.
For example, I would break Art off from Entertainment. I think Entertainment, like Sports, merits no more than 5 out of 100.
I disagree, I think you have to include Lindbergh. He seems to have been in many ways an awful human being – he doesn’t fit the “noble” part of great.
But in other ways he is really on the short list – courage, tenacity, strength, achievement. He was also for many, many years the most famous human on the planet, which has to count for something.
If you are going to keep Neil Armstrong, I say you have to keep Lindbergh. They are both aviation pioneers, but Lindbergh was much more personally responsible for his achievement. Armstrong, although unquestionably exceptional, owes much of his reknown to the work of others and to being popular enough at NASA to be given command of the right flight.