The American Spectator

home
ADVERTISEMENT
Print Email
Text Size

The Spectacle Blog

Top 100 Americans

The Atlantic's December issue evaluates the 100 most influential people in American history. It's remarkable to me that this kind of magazine gimmick is so often irresistible. The moment I saw it on the newsstand, I picked it up.


Of course lists like this are made to provoke controversy and debate. The most impressive thing to me was seeing Ronald Reagan at #17, higher than I would have expected him to be placed, and more proof that his outsized role in recent American history has become an accepted fact. (It was also a nice bit of poetry to see him sandwiched between Andrew Jackson and Mark Twain). The top 10 for the most part are reasonable and not surprising, though FDR seems a little too high at #4 (more important than James Madison?), Dr. King too high at #8, (way ahead of John Adams, for instance, at a lonely #25); Walt Disney at #26 is beyond absurd; Jackie Robinson (#35) ahead of Frederick Douglas, James Polk, and Robert E. Lee … Elvis Presley (#66) ahead of John Brown, Noah Webster and Enrico Fermi. And so on.

The influence of celebrity is even clearer on the Top Living Influentials list, where Muhammad Ali slots just behind William F. Buckley, and Bob Dylan tops them both. But perhaps the most poetic moment of all is that Bill Clinton is tied at #28 … with Chuck Berry.

topics:
Bill Clinton

View all comments (1) | Leave a comment

pigment Red| 4.1.10 @ 10:08PM

pigment Red
czmaxpct@gmail.com

Ink Pigments
Organic Pigments

Leave a Comment

N.B. We encourage readers to share and discuss their thoughtful and relevant comments about this Spectator article. Comments are routinely monitored and will be deleted if profane, bigoted, or grossly impolite. Please be respectful. (And don't feed the trolls!) Thank you.

Related Blog Posts

More Blog Posts by Paul Beston

http://spectator.org/blog/2006/12/15/top-100-americans

ADVERTISEMENT

The Spectacle Blog

Gallup: Veterans Prefer Romney

W. James Antle, III | 5.28.12

Markos Moulitsas is Scum

Quin Hillyer | 5.28.12

Weekend Political Wrap-Up, Memorial Day Edition

W. James Antle, III | 5.27.12

An Honor Flight Story

TAS Staff | 5.26.12

WaPost Criticizes Romney's Lack of Rhythm

Aaron Goldstein | 5.25.12

Tom Coburn on the Debt 'Disease'

Vivien Chang | 5.25.12

SPONSORED LINKS

Special Feature

Better that we become a nation of choosers rather than beggars. Our symposium on choice from the May, 2012 issue:

A Time for Choosing

James Piereson

The Road from Serfdom

Stephen Moore and Peter Ferrara

FLASHBACK TO: 1984

Clip of the Day

Most Popular Articles

Meet the Flukes!

F. H. Buckley | 5.25.12

In Search of Muhammad

Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi | 5.25.12

The Wisconsin Turning Point

Peter Ferrara | 5.23.12

Age and Kyl

Quin Hillyer | 5.25.12

Follow Me

Jay D. Homnick | 5.25.12

How About the Record of DOE Capital?

William Tucker | 5.25.12

The Great Debate

R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. | 5.24.12

Markos Moulitsas is Scum

Quin Hillyer | 5.28.12

ADVERTISEMENT