- Lance Armstrong — great athlete and his public battle with cancer is significant, but I just don’t think he’s transcended athletics yet, like Ruth or Robinson or Owens
- Laura Bush — married beneath herself
- Lucille Ball — I Love Lucy
- Lyndon B. Johnson — a tough one for NewMexiKen; in the end, fatally flawed; but the “We Shall Overcome” speech (in support of the Civil Rights Act) is a signal moment in American history; he stays
- Madonna (Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone) — why not Cher? why not Barbra? are they not strong women who managed their own entertainment careers? Is that sufficient? No.
- Malcolm X (Malcolm Little) — Alex Haley’s Autobiography of Malcolm X tries to convince us Malcolm was changing at the time of his assassination; had he lived he may well have become a more important historical figure
- Marilyn Monroe — talented, gorgeous, tragic, but not great
- Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens) — “THE” American writer
- Martha Stewart — huh? Jon Stewart maybe, Payne Stewart even; not Martha
- Martin Luther King Jr. — you get a holiday named after you, you make the list; greater for what he represented and how he lead than for who he was, but if you doubt him go read his letter from Birmingham Jail; that alone puts him on the list
2 thoughts on “Six more bite the dust”
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Lucy? No.
What did she do that others have not?
If you were going to pick any one person from TV, I think Lucy is a good pick. (Better than Carson.) She basically invented the modern sitcom, right down to the number of cameras used. She helped popularize the medium like nobody before or after her. She was also one of the first super successful female businesspeople.
I don’t know who would be a better TV pick….assuming TV should be represented on the list.