- Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. (1858-1919). T.R. defined the modern presidency by designing and building the bully pulpit then taking it on a world tour as he gave backbone to the Monroe Doctrine. He was an imperialist at a time imperialism was needed.
He was not the smartest, strongest, most charismatic, or most athletic. He just had a spirit that would not bend and ideals he would not compromise.
He was a man of many contradictions. An introvert, he dominated public life. From the elite, he defended the vulnerable. Though urbane, he found solace in desolate territories. He shopped at Tiffany's and Brooks Brothers, then spent two years in the Badlands.
[Aside: There is an old black-and-white of Lincoln's caisson being paraded through New York City on the way to his burial. The photographer happened to catch young Theodore leaning out his window watching the procession. It's one of my favorite pictures and finding a copy is near impossible. I want it framed and hanging in my library.]
2. Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865). I must admit Lincoln is not among my most favorite Americans. Were I alive during his presidency, I would have opposed much of his domestic policies due to procedural concerns.
That aside, the guy deserves all credit for preserving the United States of America. He held a sinking ship together with duct tape and didn’t care how it looked.
3. Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804). If you think modern America is the fruit of Thomas Jefferson's vision, you've been severely misled and should sue for your tuition.
Hamilton deserves all credit for our burgeoning economic structure, our system of banking and securities, our strong national defense, and, well, much of everything else that is good about America.
Sure, the Constitution was written by a lot of smart men, some who even later became president. If you liken the Constitution to a complicated and intricate machine, Hamilton wrote the instructions; of the 85 documents that comprise The Federalist Papers, Hamilton wrote 51 of them by himself.
4. Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919). If the birth of the capitalistic United States began with the Second Industrial Revolution, Carnegie may be credited with her siring. While other great Captains of Industry lived and thrived during this time period, I chose Carnegie because:
a - He was a self-made man, turning a $500 investment in a telegraph company into a multi-billion dollar empire.
b - He used his wealth to create a lasting legacy to inspire others by building libraries, universities, and creating several endowments.
c - If he wasn't so great, why did Hyman Roth boast about being bigger than U.S. Steel?
5. John C. Fremont (1813-1890). Civil War hero, explorer, political activist - Fremont was all three.
Fremont embodied the spirit of adventure during his era earning the nickname "The Pathfinder". His expeditions opened up much of the West for settlement and permanent establishment.
While he eventually became a footnote in the annals of elective politics, his polarizing stance on abolition split a defunct Democratic-Republican Party, combined it with the liberal contingent of the irrelevant Whig and Free-Soil parties, and created the strongest third party system in American political history.
6. Dekaniwidah. The first North American Constitution was not written by a white person for the establishment of an Anglo political system.
In the late 15th or early 16th century, Dekaniwidah authored the Great Law of the Iroquois Confederacy. Previously, the five independent tribes had no cohesive system of government. While they were not the nomadic savages the Western tribes came to be, the Eastern tribes were often mired in conflict, disorganization, and disunity.
The Great Law became the first North American document to provide substantive and procedural structure to government while still guaranteeing individual rights. Many historians argue that the Founding Fathers modeled the Constitution of the United States on this seminal document.
7. William O. Douglas (1898-1980). Nobody to date has served as Supreme Court Justice longer than Bill Douglas. That alone does not make him great; his ideals, however, do.
Douglas was the first to take an absolutist approach to the First Amendment. While others before and after him safely but incorrectly helped to narrow the limits of expression and speech, Douglas stopped reading at "Congress shall make no law..." He truly earned his nickname - "The Great Dissenter".
Douglas extended the liberal interpretation of the Constitution to clarify its intangibles that are nonetheless essential to individual liberty and managed to get a majority opinion to clarify what Brandeis' 1928 dissent first asserted, the right to be left alone. Calling these intangibles "penumbras", he saw what few had ever seen before.
Personally, no other jurist has had as strong an influence in how I read the Constitution. I would have loved to discuss his philosophy on a thru-hike of the A.T., which he also accomplished.
8. Clarance Darrow (1857-1938). Even though he lost one of the most popular trials in U.S. history, he is largely remembered for the passion, logic, and eloquence he brought to American jurisprudence. A humanist to the end, Darrow believed the legal system should primarily demonstrate mercy rather than exact revenge.
While losing may be temporary, giving up is permanent. He never did the latter and rarely did the former.
9. Walt Disney (1901-1966). True recreation is still an anomaly in modern Western civilization. Redefined, it has become an extension of our industry; it's the reason we feel overly isolated without our cell phone, laptop, and television in even the most serene of environments.
Disney linked escapism and consumerism and convinced America to pursue what will always be out of reach: yesterday and tomorrow.
He makes fairy tales come true.
10. Walt Whitman (1819-1892). If the study and practice of fine arts, poetry in particular, is feminine in nature, then Whitman, ironically, helped make it masculine.
Whitman moved away from the Euro-centric structure and method of classic poetry relying instead on free verse. This inspired generations of poets, from Langston Hughes to William Ginsburg.
He perfectly portrayed the ideals of America: self-reliance, physical education, and self-justification, all while showing its softer side.
Honorable Mentions:
George Washington (1732-1799). Washington was a statesman in an environment of vitriol. He was a non-ideologue in an environment of radicalism. He was a pacifier in an environment of chaos.
There's a reason he was chosen to be first president of a newly reorganized government. Nobody else could do it.
George Marshall (1880-1959). Marshall understood what makes America strong is what makes the rest of the world stable. And vice versa.
While other men necessarily but regrettably destroyed much of Europe, Marshall was given the task of rebuilding it.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902). While the fight for equal rights for women did not start with her, it would not have survived without her.
Many women before her blindly argued for the right to vote; she gave women something to vote for.
John Muir (1838-1914). The leading preservationist of our nation's history, even naturalists like T.R. and John Burroughs were too liberal for him.
But if you're glad there's not a Starbucks at the top of El Capitan, thank him.
Malcolm X (1925-1965). The leading advocate of economic self-reliance and politics of identity, not ideology.
While others tried to shape politics in the halls of our capitol, he shaped politics of the street.
