It’s been pointed out in a comment that I’m 14 names short on my list of the 100 Greatest Americans; that I started at 57 instead of 44. I’d feel foolish if doing this in the first place hadn’t already made me feel that way.
But here they are:
- Charles Lindbergh — see comment re: Lindbergh
- Frank Capra
- John Ford
- Orson Welles
- Jedediah Smith
- John Wesley Powell
- Sequoyah
- Sitting Bull
- Chief Joseph
- Sam Adams
- “Black Jack” Pershing
- Hyman Rickover
- Joseph Henry — foremost American scientist of the 19th century
I can’t restore “Hef” to the list as one commenter has argued. While I agree with Garth that Hefner fostered a healthy liberalization of standards, Hefner also fostered an unhealthy attitude toward women as toys. And, most assuredly, there are other more important publishers who also supported a free press, for one, Katharine Graham during Watergate.
In my own defense, I never suggested that Hefner be returned to the list, I merely wanted to state that his only accomplishment was not merely publishing pictures of naken women.
As to your charge that he “fostered an unhealthy attitude toward women as toys” I say “bah” – men had already had an attitude that women were toys (just look at the sides of so many WW2 bombers) Hefner just mass marketed material that was already commonly available via pulp and underground press. I would add that Playboy, while showing nekkid pictures of women, actually treated them with more respect in the print portions of the magazine (not that anyone spent all that much time on those) than had been the case in most mainstream men’s magazines. I would also say that Playboy has had a bias towards sexual equality (that women can be sexual creatures too) which was something not so widely spoken of in the magazine’s heyday.
Lastly I would hasten to add that, nekkid pictures aside, Playboy is probably more supportive of women than “lad’s mags” like Maxim, FHM, and the rest.
Just saying.