Vern Gagne Posted November 27, 2004 Report Posted November 27, 2004 George Washington. The father of our country. Kept together a rag tag continental army together until momentum could change in the battle for Indepedence. Than set the precedent of what the President is supposed to be.
RHR Posted November 27, 2004 Report Posted November 27, 2004 Thomas Jefferson. Statesman, philosopher, inventor, LADIES man. His influence is still felt, everyday, by every American. While Washington supplied the brawn to the Revolution, Jefferson was the brain. And well-thought out thinking and foresight will always overmatch brawn.
Guest Anglesault Posted November 27, 2004 Report Posted November 27, 2004 Franklin Delenor Roosevelt. Delano Pet peeve.
Kahran Ramsus Posted November 27, 2004 Report Posted November 27, 2004 Martin Luther King Jr. Period.
Kahran Ramsus Posted November 27, 2004 Report Posted November 27, 2004 William Shatner He's Canadian.
EVIL~! alkeiper Posted November 27, 2004 Report Posted November 27, 2004 In all seriousness, George Washington would get the nod from me. If I were to pick a non-political American, I would probably take Muhammad Ali.
cbacon Posted November 27, 2004 Report Posted November 27, 2004 Noam Chomsky and/or Michael Moore Seriously though, probably Martin Luther
Vern Gagne Posted November 27, 2004 Author Report Posted November 27, 2004 Marthin Luther was German.
2GOLD Posted November 27, 2004 Report Posted November 27, 2004 It's a tie: Jackie Gleason and Burt Reynolds. Or that Washington guy.
A Happy Medium Posted November 27, 2004 Report Posted November 27, 2004 Only if he has to share the spotlight with Apollo.... Political - Abraham Lincoln Non-Political - Ted Williams
BUTT Posted November 27, 2004 Report Posted November 27, 2004 ?? Seriously, though, Washington or Lincoln.
Highland Posted November 27, 2004 Report Posted November 27, 2004 Edison, in all seriousness. His face should be on your currency.
DARRYLXWF Posted November 27, 2004 Report Posted November 27, 2004 From reading several biographies on the American Founding Fathers, the best all-rounded one of them was John Adams. Washington had integrity and leadership like no other, with a great example being the order in his will to release all his slaves. Jefferson had many ideas, and one only needs to look to the Declaration of Independence. But a lot of his ideas were also really, really stupid. When he visited France he denounced the King and predicted a bloodless aristocratic revolution. Soon after, he was praising the King and editing out articles that showed how stupid is comments were. Adams gets stuck in the middle for some reason, but to me, from reading about him, he comes across as more logical and reasoned than Jefferson, and certainly with a lot more integrity than him. It boggles the mind why there isn't a big statue of him in Washington. But I'm only Australian.
Highland Posted November 27, 2004 Report Posted November 27, 2004 How could I have forgotten...... The Greatest American Hero!
Special K Posted November 27, 2004 Report Posted November 27, 2004 Lincoln. Can't think of many people who both survived a coup and helped keep his country together.
A Happy Medium Posted November 27, 2004 Report Posted November 27, 2004 From reading several biographies on the American Founding Fathers, the best all-rounded one of them was John Adams. Washington had integrity and leadership like no other, with a great example being the order in his will to release all his slaves. Jefferson had many ideas, and one only needs to look to the Declaration of Independence. But a lot of his ideas were also really, really stupid. When he visited France he denounced the King and predicted a bloodless aristocratic revolution. Soon after, he was praising the King and editing out articles that showed how stupid is comments were. Adams gets stuck in the middle for some reason, but to me, from reading about him, he comes across as more logical and reasoned than Jefferson, and certainly with a lot more integrity than him. It boggles the mind why there isn't a big statue of him in Washington. But I'm only Australian. It's hard for me to argue with a person from another country who takes the time to actually research my history, but eh...I disagree with you on Adams and Jefferson. Well Jefferson did write the Declaration of Independence, but he did a lot of paraphrasing from popular philosophers of The Enlightenment. Jefferson wrote about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This was based off of John Locke's theory that man deserves life, liberty, and the pursuit of property. Also, I am not familiar with his comments towards King Louis (?) but I do know that he was in France while the Constitutional Convetion took place. And the backtracking....well, I believe it was good idea for Jefferson to bite his tongue. After all, the crowning achievment of Jerfferson's administration was The Lousiana Purchase that doubled the size of the United States. If it had not been for their neutral relationship with France, Napoleon would've never allowed all that territory to go for only 15 million dollars. However, the trade embargo that he imposed before the War of 1812 on both France and England was stupid. It crippled the economy. Sad too, because his earlier work on the budget sawed the defecit in half during his first term in office. Adams...the only thing I think about with John is that he passed a document called the Alien and Sedition Act. This bill took away the freedom of press, and jailed anyone who spoke harshly of the administration. So uhm yeah, Adams was an asshole in my opinion for that move, taking away freedom of speech. Interesting thing about Jefferson and Adams. They were bitter rivals during their public lives, but then became best friends as they grew old.
Guest The Shadow Behind You Posted November 27, 2004 Report Posted November 27, 2004 correct me if i'm wrong but didn't they both die on the same day?
Guest Anglesault Posted November 27, 2004 Report Posted November 27, 2004 correct me if i'm wrong but didn't they both die on the same day? Ironically enough, on July 4th (1826) Yes, I did have to look up the year.
iggymcfly Posted November 27, 2004 Report Posted November 27, 2004 Washington's still number one. He basically set the precedent for the whole world that democracy could work on a large scale, in everything from fighting the war for freedom, helping set up the country, getting it going as the first president, and then most importantly, giving up that power, to make sure that the power would transfer peacefully after the first democratic leader was elected. He refused to take dictatorial power when a group of citizens conspired to make sure that he would, and then finally refused to run for a third term, and admonished any future generations of leaders that would try such an act. If not for Washington, the majority of the world might still be run by constituitonal monarchies.
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