General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTwo Questions:
[1] What American (or Americans), living or deceased, would you say represents what you consider among the very best our society has produced?
[2] Why?

MannyGoldstein
(34,589 posts)I expect Elizabeth Warren to join that group as well... My fingers are crossed.
madrchsod
(58,162 posts)given my age this might be the last time i might get a chance to vote for a woman!
Warpy
(113,131 posts)He was a great wit, bon vivant, revolutionary, diplomat, and inventor who refused patents and profits on things he thought people needed too much to tie up in red tape and unnecessary expense.
FDR and Teddy Roosevelt are there for being traitors to their class and bringing us much needed relief from plutocracy, even though it was only temporary in both cases.
Nikola Tesla is sort of ours, giving us AC current that could be transmitted over long distances, unlike DC.
Alice Paul for her tireless effort to get women full recognition under the constitution as citizens deserving full civil rights. We're still waiting for that.
Margaret Sanger for her crusade to get women the contraception they needed in order to take control of their own lives, hugely benefiting the female half of the population.
And there are too many more to list.
democrank
(11,250 posts)There are many, but the first that came to mind was former President Jimmy Carter. Such a principled, humble, kind man who sets a profound example for all.
I`ve always thought President Carter was way too good for Washington. He didn`t seem willing to sell out. He didn`t seem interested in hiring a crafty handler to remake him into something the latest focus group approved of. He always seemed guided by long-held principles.
When I think of President Carter, I think of him building houses for Habitat for Humanity. I think of all his messages of peace and all his trips of goodwill. I hear him speaking for the voiceless and I hear him speaking out when others lack the courage. And, he does it year after year after year.
I have immense respect for the man.
Kingofalldems
(39,397 posts)Way ahead of his time.
lob1
(3,820 posts)NYC_SKP
(68,644 posts)Working just for people who were active in my memory and lifetime.
I think Carter was prescient, he saw two crises for the nation that none of his successors have seriously addressed.
We have only recently seen some leadership on the energy issue but hardly a peep from Washington about our national malaise. It's as if we're sleepwalking.
That's just a representative taste of what I admire about him.
I honor the great work he's been doing post-presidency and believe that the enormous disrespect he gets from the RW and other corners proves his integrity.
America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense ... human rights invented America.
Jimmy Carter Farewell address, January 14, 1981.
A-Schwarzenegger
(15,650 posts)scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)Walt Whitman and Herman Melville.
This leap of thought was so spontaneous and unmeditated, I would be hard-pressed to explain why. I suppose it's just that I so love what they wrote.
I was an English major. And, I suppose, a charter member of Garrison Keillor's P.O.E.M.
hootinholler
(26,449 posts)He wrote what one book that while popular, I found rather sophomoric in its story telling.
Now that Sam Clements guy, there was an American Writer.
scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)I guess I had Melville mania.
hootinholler
(26,449 posts)
At least you didn't say Louis L'Amour or some pulp fiction writer.
scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)
I'm not going to apologize, I loved that book.
A-Schwarzenegger
(15,650 posts)scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)I read the Classics Illustrated version of the Hunchback of Notre Dame! Formidable!
hootinholler
(26,449 posts)I do have a few volumes of 19th century engineering examples covering bridges, steeples, vaulted spaces, etc. I find them fascinating. The point is that pretty books tend to stick around and the copy of Moby Dick is pretty. Nice navy blue leather.
Or did you mean to imply some comic book version? Should I google Classics Illustrated?
A-Schwarzenegger
(15,650 posts)
hootinholler
(26,449 posts)
I will admit that back in the day, I wore out the Boston Album. So I can kinda relate.

I'm surprised Thoreau hasn't been mentioned. Or maybe Mitchum for being able to beat any subject from the dawn of time to present day.
scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)I'm vaguely aware that there once was a rock group named "Boston", but if that's what you're referring to, it's totally lost on me. I couldn't possibly name a single song of theirs.
When I dropped out at the end of the 60s, I really dropped out. My awareness of popular culture from about 1972 on is pretty nil.
Re: Thoreau - I thought he was mentioned somewhere in this thread, but I'd have to read back through it to be sure.
Mitchum? Sorry, don't know who you mean. Unless you mean James A. Michener, author of innumerable long-winded soap opera novels - none of which I've ever read.
hootinholler
(26,449 posts)Wow, I mangled his name. Ive read several chapters of his, couldn't hack it. But you have to give him thud factor lol.
Yes it was the rock band, basically a one hit wonder.
hfojvt
(37,573 posts)It was said that he did a lot of research and included a lot of facts in his novels. In that way, he felt his readers were getting something out of just otherwise mindless entertainment.
And Boston? For myself, I would take Boston any day over many other bands who may have produced more hits - like say, the Rolling Stones or The Police.
El_Johns
(1,805 posts)quintessentially American -- on the dark side.
A-Schwarzenegger
(15,650 posts)I would prefer not to.
2naSalit
(95,224 posts)According to Wiki he wrote a book "Typee" about living among cannibals that was very popular and "Moby Dick" was rather unpopular and basically ended his book-writing career. But he did write a number of short stories that are interesting - some of which I had to read in college - and quite a collection of poetry as well - some of which I also read in college.
The short stories that I read were sort of fables, and rather touching and the poetry was bad either. But I am glad that I wasn't assigned "Moby Dick", don't think I could have survived it and that's coming from someone who likes to read.
At any rate, he wasn't exactly a "one hit wonder" in the way you contend.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Melville
ljm2002
(10,751 posts)Funny. Original. Strong recognizably American voice, told American stories. Everything you want in a literary figure, and he did it American-style!
Scuba
(53,475 posts)And my late friend Jim.
The first two for their fierce commitment to civil rights. The third for having been the most caring, honorable and humble man I ever knew.
etherealtruth
(22,165 posts)He must have been very special!
scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)Adam051188
(711 posts)I can't think of better responses than George Washington with JFK/Abraham Lincoln 2nd place right now, but this is one to think about.
Adam051188
(711 posts)it really depends on what qualities you consider "quintessential american" i guess. for me it's selfless courage in the face of adversity. brains, creativity and talent are great but not really requisite.
Luminous Animal
(27,310 posts)an amazing person.
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)Amazing is exactly the word.
TBF
(35,004 posts)Eugene Victor "Gene" Debs (November 5, 1855 October 20, 1926) was an American union leader, one of the founding members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or the Wobblies), and several times the candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the United States.
Why? Because he cared about non-wealthy folks, advocated for them, and fought capitalism.
westerebus
(2,977 posts)Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Eleanor Roosevelt, who made the declaration of human rights possible.
Martin Luther King, who exposed the forces of evil that divide us for their gain.
Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)Margaret Sanger, Walt Whitman, Marlon Brando, Rosa Parks, Daniel Ellsberg, Noam Chomsky.
Just off the top of my head.
rug
(82,333 posts)
When she was 15, she refused to move to the back of the bus and give up her seat to a white person nine months before Rosa Parks did the very same thing.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101719889
Because of the thousands who just went along, she didn't.
Laughing Mirror
(4,185 posts)I used to have a picture of her as my avatar. Needless to say, nobody knew who she was.
Brother Buzz
(38,188 posts)Any guy that can make a living twirling a rope while spinning wisdom is all right in my book.
scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)In no particular order:
Mark Twain, of course.
Pete Seeger.
Paul Wellstone.
Aldo Leopold.
Willard Munger.
Gore Vidal.
Eleanor Roosevelt.
Helen Keller.
Emma Goldman - although did "our" society produce her, or did Europe?
Angela Davis.
Malcolm X.
Peter Matthiessen.
Winona LaDuke.
Betty Friedan.
Helen Thomas.
Rachel Carson.
I'm sure I could list many more.
As to the 2nd question, "Why?" I would say that each of these persons brought their own unique viewpoints and challenges to the status quo.
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)Miles, Tennessee, Ginsberg, Guthrie, Ali, Dylan, Martin, Lincoln.
madrchsod
(58,162 posts)a brilliant general during ww2. foreign policy was`t one of his highlights but given the times....
domestic policies were his greatest achievements. civil rights and the modernization of america. post war prosperity and the birth of the middle class.
his warning about the military industrial complex places him on my list of one of our very best.
i`ll place lbj a very close second
how did i forget carter? best president after he left office in our history.
Kaleva
(38,899 posts)GliderGuider
(21,088 posts)Butler is an obvious choice for stopping the Business Plot and for being a consummate anti-war soldier.
Snowden exemplifies the dedication to truth and justice at great personal cost - the belief that underpins everything the United States likes to imagine it is.
scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)
LiberalEsto
(22,845 posts)Agony
(2,605 posts)but I would throw in Paul Wellstone anyway. Same reason, he understood that people are what matter most.
quinnox
(20,600 posts)are some names that immediately come to mind. Also John F. Kennedy, J.D. Salinger, Frank Herbert, Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain, Thomas Edison, John von Neumann, and many others in the past that I am forgetting.
Beringia
(4,854 posts)charles darwin
barbie
carlos castenada
richard mclean
james mathewson
dad
thomas merton, dorothy day
roosevelt
MLK
jimmy carter
james cagney
juan felipe herrera
albert schweitzer
charles laughton
marilyn monroe
picasso
isadora duncan
woodie guthrie
studs terkel
jacque cousteau
jules verne
lame deer
cat stevens, janis joplin
black elk
farley mowat
johnny moses
brooke medicine eagle
jane goodall
mike royko
dalai lama
obama
henry ford
kurt vonnegut
abraham lincoln
thomas edison
burt lancaster
Because they all inspired me at some point in my life, opened my eyes to possibilities or had a huge impact in my eyes on the development of America or extremely creative.
They are not all Americans though.
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)A-Schwarzenegger
(15,650 posts)Response to H2O Man (Original post)
Warren DeMontague This message was self-deleted by its author.
scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)In any case, I appreciate your posing these questions.
H2O Man
(76,156 posts)in the northeast; I had to bring my puppy out to play. He loves the snow & cold weather!
scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)Plenty of snow, but my "puppy" (13+ years old) is not so enamored anymore.
Zorra
(27,670 posts)Born a slave, she was a strong willed black woman who started with absolutely nothing, escaped slavery at 30 yrs old, and against all odds became an important and effective figure in the struggles for abolition of slavery, slave rights, women's rights, religious tolerance, prison reform, banning capital punishment, and other equality and rights causes.
I'm also partial to Chief Joseph, but I wouldn't say he was exactly produced by American society.
And then there's my old friend Butch, born with terribly crippling birth defects, who could not walk and barely had use of one hand, who got around in an electric wheelchair and worked to partially support himself.
Despite all this, Butch was the happiest person I ever met, had a keen wit and a kind and sunny disposition. I met Butch when I became executive director of a small non-profit corporation that provided recreational and leisure services to severely developmentally disabled persons. We had 26 clients, but I found that I enjoyed Butch's company so much I left the office behind every Thursday just so I could take Butch on outings in one of our company rigs. I used the excuse that I was "keeping in touch with what was going on in the field".
Butch was the strongest, most courageous person I ever met, and his personal happiness in the face of devastating physical handicaps that would have crushed me into a puddle of melted chicken fat led me to view him as the most courageous person I ever knew, and I don't do heroes, but if I did, my hero would be Butch.
I am the happiest person in the world, and a large part of the reason for this was the lessons that Butch taught me.
I'm still working on being kind, like Butch was, and he's number one on my list of the best of America.
H2O Man
(76,156 posts)Malcolm X: He spoke the Truth as best he could; the last 2 years of his life in particular.
Martin Luther King, Jr: He was passionate for social justice.
Robert F. Kennedy: He was kind of a prick up until the Cuban crisis; that and Dallas resulted in his transformation, one of the most significant in our nation's history.
Muhammad Ali: "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. Rumble, Young Man, rumble!"
I am perhaps a product of my generation.
hootinholler
(26,449 posts)America is too diverse and oxymoronic.
Engineering has to be up there. Those NASA boys did a bang up job when they were funded.
Generosity is up there as well. Many, many poor people I have known and know are the first to offer what they have when you are in need.
But there's so much more that I just can't capture in my mind to name it.
In the realm of business maybe Milton Hershey? A man who used his business to develop a community, paid decent living wages and founded a Boys school / Orphanage that still takes in children today.
JFK has to be on the list, from his WWII service on to the Presidency. Diverting the money from the MIC to NASA with the Moon shot was pure brilliance.
FDR is as well not just for SS, but also for how WWII was handled. If any face should be added to Rushmore it should be his. Teddy was a pretty good example only in the notion of National Parks. I'm not to sure the great white fleet was such a good idea.
H2O Man
(76,156 posts)Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, Black Elk, Red Jacket, Corn Planter, Chief Joseph ......
scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)Edward Said.
H2O Man
(76,156 posts)Good choices.

Abraham Lincoln, because without him America would be split like Korea and Rosa Parks whose memory will forever shame those who say, "That's just the way it is."
A-Schwarzenegger
(15,650 posts)H2O Man
(76,156 posts)Dr. Rubin "Hurricane" Carter and Chief Paul Waterman.
LeftyMom
(49,212 posts)She's not famous (outside of Sacramento) but she's the best person I've ever known.
Here's a little article about her, it doesn't adequately communicate what an amazing person she is. http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/best-belly-dancer-with-a/content?oid=555071
Beringia
(4,854 posts)She helps the homeless very privately.
abelenkpe
(9,933 posts)But they all lived and died before I was born.
Kinda depressing.
immoderate
(20,885 posts)Dizzy, after all, did run for president.
--imm
A-Schwarzenegger
(15,650 posts)scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)I would also add George McGovern.
A-Schwarzenegger
(15,650 posts)Both walked into the fire.
Mister Ed
(6,447 posts)They are kind, and humble, and anonymous. They are everywhere. They are the secret field marshals in the war between good and evil.
NoOneMan
(4,795 posts)I imagine they are a nature loving conservationalist that replants trees, creates art, lives small, loves all, humble as hell, dedicates their life to spreading beauty to those around them and lends a hand whenever they can without losing themselves in a blinding cause. Someone that if everyone was, the world would be eternally blissful
polichick
(37,626 posts)Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)These men are both under appreciated bookends of our nation so far. They both paid personally for writing truth during times of universal deceit.
scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)Drew Richards
(1,558 posts)




H2O Man
(76,156 posts)did significant -- if underappreciated -- research on the re-programming of the pseudo-para-DNA of stepford husbands and wives across the nation. He truly changed the way that Fox News' audience viewed stains on society. And, like Jesus and Santa, he was a great white American.
Drew Richards
(1,558 posts)







arely staircase
(12,482 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)nt.
El_Johns
(1,805 posts)displayed cynicism or depression/fear/indecision, would say: "C'mon, you're American!"
Exploring what they meant by this I learned that this quintessential "American" they referred to was slightly naive but optimistic, open-hearted, generous & can-do, and that was what they saw as best in the American character.
OTOH, when I committed other faux pas they'd say "Oh, you're so American!". So there was a reverse mirror image to that one.
catbyte
(36,343 posts)For spending & giving his life in the quest for non-violent social change.
babylonsister
(171,809 posts)Because he's never stopped righting wrongs, or trying to.
westerebus
(2,977 posts)westerebus
(2,977 posts)CFLDem
(2,083 posts)

hfojvt
(37,573 posts)Salk - "Until 1955, when the Salk vaccine was introduced, polio was considered the most frightening public health problem of the post-war United States. Annual epidemics were increasingly devastating. The 1952 epidemic was the worst outbreak in the nation's history. Of nearly 58,000 cases reported that year, 3,145 people died and 21,269 were left with mild to disabling paralysis,[1] with most of its victims being children." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonas_Salk
Edison - lightbulb, phonograph, etc.
Scudder - Well, I am just a huge fan. "Scudder began teaching at Wellesley College. Her love of scholarship was matched by her social conscience and deep spirituality. As a young woman, Scudder founded the College Settlements Association, joined the Society of Christian Socialists, .." That, right there, seems like the top to me - love of scholarship and social conscience.
PDJane
(10,103 posts)Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky, both clear eyed academics who saw the flaws and the pain in the system and tried to fix it.
JFK, for truly understanding the financial system and the best and worst of said system, and who was ready to fix what he could when assassinated.
Jimmy Carter, for being ahead of his time, for understanding what a reliance on fossil fuels was going to cause, and for removing himself from the Baptist Church when it went against his ideals.
Sojourner Truth, for being a beacon of hope and a model of blunt speaking.
Julian Assange, for attempting to fix the secrecy that surrounds our government's actions.
Snowden, for bringing the discussion about government spying on citizens out in the open.
Collectively, these groups:
Right Wing Watch
The Southern Poverty Law Centre
CREW
for their championship of the downtrodden and their clear eye on the growth of hate groups and militias.
I tend to like Mark Twain for getting his point across with humour; there are two others in the same vein. One is Ambrose Beirce. The other is Garrison Keillor. Oh, and Jim Wright of Stonekettle Station.
FDR and his wife, Eleanor, who I suspect might have been the brains of the operation, because of their collective commitment to worker rights and human rights and a fair system.
Mother Jones, the woman who almost single-handedly worked for child labour laws ... and won, eventually.
Addie Wyatt, who fought for women workers, for equal rights and equal treatment.
Clara Lemlich Shavelson, a garment worker who was eventually blacklisted for her commitment to working women's rights and immigrant labour rights, and who eventually became a suffragette.
Frederick Douglass, a hero and abolitionist, who escaped slavery and prevailed against cruelty and oppression, and who was a key figure in the abolition of slavery.
And many, many more that I can't remember at 3:25 EST!!!
countryjake
(8,554 posts)She's been my hero ever since I, too, was a member of the ILGWU, many many years ago.
Fred Hampton, another incredible organizer of working people, so much so that our government decided to take him out before he ever really had a chance to accomplish his goals.
Woody Guthrie, an incredible voice for the working class.
Tecumseh, was very much a "product" of American society, in his response to the genocide of the original people. He served his people well.
villager
(26,001 posts)It's late, or I'd annotate those choices....
FSogol
(47,148 posts)Twain, Vonngeut, Scott Joplin, Satchel Paige, Jackie Robinson, Lou Gehrig, Jimmy Stewart, Frank Capra, Alexander Gramham Bell, Lewis and Clark, Bob and Ray, Jefferson, Andy Warhol...
This list could just keep going.
ZombieHorde
(29,047 posts)Susan B. Anthony for her contributions to politics.
Joseph Campbell for his contributions to theology.
Robert Anton Wilson for his contributions to philosophy.
Kenneth Burke for his contributions to rhetoric.
Noam Chomsky for his contributions to rhetoric.
WilliamPitt
(58,179 posts)Saved more lives than can accurately be measured.
Norman Ernest Borlaug (March 25, 1914 September 12, 2009) was an American biologist, humanitarian and Nobel laureate who has been called "the father of the Green Revolution," "agriculture's greatest spokesperson" and "The Man Who Saved A Billion Lives". He is one of seven people to have won the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal, and was also awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian honor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Borlaug
randome
(34,845 posts)He's brilliant and he knows how to inoculate us against the Conservative virus.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]You should never stop having childhood dreams.[/center][/font][hr]
TexasBushwhacker
(20,830 posts)They are a couple that made it their mission in life to adopt special needs children. A documentary was made about them called "Who Are the DeBolts? And Where Did They Get 19 Kids?".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Are_the_DeBolts%3F_And_Where_Did_They_Get_Nineteen_Kids%3F
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)FDR, Harry Hopkins, Steven Spielberg, George Gershwin and Upton Sinclair.
Each has done so very much to achieve a collective, rather than individual, road-map to happiness, whether that be through the arts or through policy.
CFLDem
(2,083 posts)Clearly the founder of our great nation!
arely staircase
(12,482 posts)Mark Twain, H L Mencken and HS Thompson for their observations of it.