Greatest American elimination game (game thread)

PT Barnum 5, cruel man
Tesla 5 American?

Yes. Born to Serbian parents in the then-Austrian Empire; moved to New York to work for Edison and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1891 at the age of 35.

Bruce Catton
John Coltrane
Walt Disney
Robert Frost
George Gershwin
Jim Henson
Walt Kelly
Babe Ruth
Carl Sagan
Frank Lloyd Wright

Tesla did all of his work here. He was a great electrical engineer and inventor. He lived most of his life in America and of course died in NYC. Sadly after his years of great invention he veered into benign madness but what he did over a 20 year period is still breath-taking. Not in my top 5 by any means but surely deserving to remain a while in this game.

I know all about Tesla, but to claim someone who was born and raised outside America and didn’t move here until he was 21 and didn’t become a citizen until he was 35 just doesn’t fit my person criteria so that is why I voted that way.

From the OP in the setup thread: “Naturalized (but not honorary) U.S. citizens are eligible for nomination, even if they were more famous for things done as citizens of another country.”

That’s fine. My votes are by my criteria.

Nixon X4
Walt Kelly X3
PT Barnum X2
Frank Lloyd Wright X1

One vote each against:

Henry Bergh
Daniel Bliss
John Coltrane
John Franklin Enders
Kurt Gödel
Jim Henson
Walt Kelly
Jesse Owens
Carl Sagan
Walt Whitman

3 votes each:

John Coltrane: Musician, composer
Langston Hughes: Harlem Renaissance poet
Walt Kelly: “Pogo” creator, humorist

1 vote:

Richard Nixon

Five on Margaret Sanger-racist eugenicist

Five on Tecumseh-fought America and thus not really American. Equivalent to having Benedict Arnold or Jefferson Davis on the list.

Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon

Cesar Chavez
Joshua Chamberlain
Richard Feynman
Jim Henson
John Coltrane

You may want to do a little digging before casting such a heavy hand against Benedict Arnold. Arnold’s skills before his treason were instrumental in the American routing of Burgoyne at Saratoga which some believe led to French support for the American Revolution.

Does this mean you’re basically going to go out on a little crusade to get rid of all three of the Native American Leaders since each of them stood up or fought vs. the US Government in some form?

Starting your own little trail of tears are you?

George Patton
George Patton
George Patton
George Patton
George Patton
Orson Welles
Orson Welles
Orson Welles
Orson Welles
Orson Welles

John D. Rockefeller x10

For this second round, you may use no more than five votes for any individual.

John D. Rockefeller x5
Andrew Jackson x4
Nixon x1

Daniel Bliss
Bruce Catton
Robert Frost
Andrew Jackson
Helen Keller
Audie Murphy
Richard Nixon
John D Rockefeller
Babe Ruth
Orson Welles

Vote count as of Gyrate’s post:

1 Richard Nixon 25
2 PT Barnum 13
3 Andrew Jackson 10
3 Walt Kelly 10
5 Jim Henson 8
5 Frank Lloyd Wright 8
7 Daniel Bliss 7
7 Nikola Tesla 7
9 John Coltrane 6
9 John D. Rockefeller 6
9 Babe Ruth 6
9 Margaret Sanger 6
9 Orson Welles 6

John Adams 5
George Patton 5
Tecumseh 5

Carl Sagan 4
Bruce Catton 4

Langston Hughes 3
Joshua Chamberlain 3

Henry Bergh 2
Carrie Chapman Catt 2
Walt Disney 2
Richard Feynman 2
Robert Frost 2
Jesse Owens 2
Elvis Presley 2

Cesar Chavez
John Franklin Elders
George Gershwin
Kurt Godel
Helen Keller
John F. Kennedy
Audie Murphy
Jim Thorpe
Walt Whitman

As a side note, I think the 5 vote limit works pretty well; nobody on the current to-be-eliminated list was placed there by a single voter, and several of them accumulated their votes mainly in 1s and 2s.