Susan B. Anthony
John Franklin Enders
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Earl Warren
Roger Williams
Your morning standings update (through Justin Credible’s votes):
1 Walt Whitman 8
2 Jonas Salk 7
3 Henry David Thoreau 6
3 George Washington Carver 6
3 John Franklin Enders 6
Daniel Webster 5
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. 5
Dwight D. Eisenhower 4
Orville and Wilbur Wright 4
Thomas Edison 4
Earl Warren 3
Roger Williams 3
Susan B. Anthony 3
Frederick Douglass 2
James Madison 2
John Marshall 2
Thomas Paine 2
Jackie Robinson 2
George Marshall
Theodore Roosevelt
Harriet Tubman
George Washington Carver
John Franklin Enders
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Earl Warren
Daniel Webster
And as it is now 12 EST, the final standings for this round:
1 Walt Whitman 8
2 Jonas Salk 7
2 George Washington Carver 7
2 John Franklin Enders 7
5 Henry David Thoreau 6
5 Daniel Webster 6
5 Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. 6
Dwight D. Eisenhower 4
Orville and Wilbur Wright 4
Thomas Edison 4
Earl Warren 4
Roger Williams 3
Susan B. Anthony 3
Frederick Douglass 2
James Madison 2
John Marshall 2
Thomas Paine 2
Jackie Robinson 2
George Marshall
Theodore Roosevelt
Harriet Tubman
Whitman is the last of my nominees to go by the wayside. Serves me right for waiting until late in the day to make them.
Surprising that both vaccine pioneers bit the dust, but I admit I’m glad to see the Wright Brothers still in this thing.
Likewise, MsWhatsit, and thanks again, Tom Scud.
Whitman through Holmes are now gone. As the eighth round begins, that leaves us with some very big names:
Susan B. Anthony: Suffrage activist
Frederick Douglass: Abolitionist, orator
Thomas Edison: Inventor, workaholic
Dwight D. Eisenhower: President, war hero
Benjamin Franklin: Scientist, statesman, inventor
Martin Luther King Jr.: Preacher, orator, humanitarian
Abraham Lincoln: President, emancipator, writer
James Madison: President, Framer, statesman
George Marshall: General, diplomat, statesman
John Marshall: Fourth Chief Justice
Thomas Paine: Political theorist, pamphleteer
Jackie Robinson: Athlete, activist, inspiration
Franklin D. Roosevelt: President, reformer, statesman
Theodore Roosevelt: President, conservationist, statesman
Harriet Tubman: Civil rights advocate
Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens): Humorist, “Huckleberry Finn”
Earl Warren: Chief Justice, governor
George Washington: President, general, statesman
Roger Williams: Statesman, religious leader
Orville and Wilbur Wright: Aviation pioneers, inventors
Still five votes each, and no more than one against any individual. The next round will conclude at noon EST on Fri. March 5.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
George Marshall
Thomas Paine
Harriet Tubman
Earl Warren
Dwight D. Eisenhower
James Madison
Thomas Paine
Jackie Robinson
Orville and Wilbur Wright
Big ow. It came down to Robinson or Earl Warren for the last spot and ultimately I had to keep the man who decided Brown vs. the Board of Education.
I’d also like to apply for a further slackening of the pace after this round - we’re already down to a top 20; we’ll be down to 15 at most after this. Paring off a third of those in a single vote seems excessive.
Here goes my Marshall Plan:
Dwight D. Eisenhower
George Marshall
John Marshall
Harriet Tubman
Earl Warren
Jackie Robinson
Harriet Tubman
Roger Williams
Mark Twain
Susan B. Anthony
Oof.
Agree with Tom Scud about going to single-elimination rounds after this. Since I can’t cast five votes for Earl Warren (my only pick from the last batch to still be hanging around), I’ll reluctantly include four of the true greats:
Frederick Douglass
John Marshall
Thomas Paine
Jackie Robinson
Earl Warren
Orville and Wilbur Wright
Thomas Edison
Roger Williams
I will abstain for the last two.
George Marshall
John Marshall
Mark Twain
Harriet Tubman
Thomas Paine
Agreed. I was thinking that, too.
George Marshall
Jackie Robinson
Harriet Tubman
Mark Twain
Walt Whitman
Dwight D. Eisenhower
George Marshall
John Marshall
James Madison
Roger Williams
Since I’m not sure if I’m going to be around much tomorrow, a standings update:
1 George Marshall 5
1 Harriet Tubman 5
3 Dwight D. Eisenhower 4
3 John Marshall 4
3 Thomas Paine 4
3 Jackie Robinson 4
Mark Twain 3
Earl Warren 3
Roger Williams 3
James Madison 2
Orville and Wilbur Wright 2
Susan B. Anthony
Frederick Douglass
Thomas Edison
0 votes for Lincoln, Washington, both Roosevelts, King, and Franklin.
Orville and Wilbur Wright
George Marshall
Thomas Paine
John Marshall
Roger Williams
Orville and Wilbur Wright
Dwight D. Eisenhower
James Madison
Thomas Edison
Benjamin Franklin - The father of America’s paranoia thanks to being vocally bigoted about immigrants not of the British isles, especially Germans.
I’ve never heard Franklin ever cited by anti-immigrant yahoos, nor read that he ever was. I just don’t see how you can hold him to blame for that vile strain of American thought.
All of the remaining nominees are undeniably important, but still we must narrow the field. My votes:
Thomas Edison - a great inventor but a failure as a human being
James Madison - vitally important in the establishment of the republic, but had a disastrous Presidency that saw the White House burned
Thomas Paine - became a mere polemicist and even slandered George Washington in his (Paine’s) declining years
Mark Twain - a great writer, of course, but now it’s time for him to go
Roger Williams - yes, important for the principle of religious freedom, but he doesn’t belong in the historical stratosphere with those few who remain on the list