# Greatest American elimination game (setup thread) **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [January 31, 2010, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-setup-thread/527145 "2010-01-31T19:15:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d9b06d/32.png) [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boozahol_Squid_P.I)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-setup-thread/527145/41 "2010-02-01T22:51:27Z")
My odds on faves are already mostly here, but I’ll add: Ambrose Bierce, author, journalist, satirist, critic ---
**Author:** ![Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d9b06d/32.png) [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boozahol_Squid_P.I)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-setup-thread/527145/42 "2010-02-01T22:54:18Z")
(and my predictions for the final five are King, Lincoln, Salk, Edison and Einstein) ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-setup-thread/527145/43 "2010-02-01T23:03:36Z")
I predict Washington, Lincoln, King, Einstein, and, I don’t know, Ben Franklin. Not terribly interesting, I’m afraid, but probably largely accurate… ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-setup-thread/527145/44 "2010-02-01T23:08:07Z")
When it comes to the greatest American elimination game, that would have to be the Jackass videos. . . . Oh, you didn’t mean that sort of elimination. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-setup-thread/527145/45 "2010-02-01T23:49:13Z")
> [@](#): > > I guess you took the first three words from the description I gave before I was aware of the three word rule. Once I became aware, I reworded this to “John von Neumann: mathematician, scientist, polymath” Pretty much. I figure this is just a working list to see where we’re at so far. Elendil’s Heir will presumedly make up a better-formatted official list when we’re ready to start politicking. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-setup-thread/527145/46 "2010-02-02T00:31:19Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Let’s not get into the merits of the nominees yet, please. > > **Little Nemo** , thanks for the alphabetical list so far. Was that aimed at me? I’m certainly not contesting that Hendrix was a great American figure – far from it! – but I just don’t see him as an activist. Not a question of merit at all – Mozart wasn’t an activist either, I reckon, but he’d probably top a list of great Austrians. That said, since I have one more nomination: John Coltrane: musician, composer ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-setup-thread/527145/47 "2010-02-02T00:42:11Z")
Eli Whitney: Inventor, Cotton Gin Henry Ford: Automobile Assembly Line Douglas MacArthur: US Army General Bill Gates: Computer Software Businessman Babe Zaharias: Greatest Female Athlete ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-setup-thread/527145/48 "2010-02-02T00:55:25Z")
> [@](#): > > Bill Gates: Computer Software Businessman Reminder: Candidates must have been dead for at least 10 years. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-setup-thread/527145/49 "2010-02-02T02:16:03Z")
Dwight Eisenhower-American General, President HP Lovecraft-Horror writer Richard Nixon-American President George S Patton-General, US Army James K Polk-American President ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-setup-thread/527145/50 "2010-02-02T04:31:39Z")
Eisenhower was already nominated (post 40). You have one more, if you like. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-setup-thread/527145/51 "2010-02-02T15:03:23Z")
Updated list for the new page John Adams: statesman Susan B. Anthony: Activist Lucille Ball: actor, comedian, redhead P.T. Barnum: World’s Greatest Showman Leonard Bernstein - composer, conductor, educator Ambrose Bierce, author, journalist, satirist, critic John Brown: righteous, inspirational abolitionist Andrew Carnegie - industrialist, philanthropist Willis Carrier: Air conditioning pioneer George Washington Carver: Agricultural botanist Joshua Chamberlain: Civil War Hero Carrie Chapman Catt: Women’s Rights Suffragist Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain): Humorist, “Huckleberry Finn” John Coltrane: musician, composer Aaron Copland - the American sound Walt Disney: animator, entrepreneur, icon Frederick Douglass: abolitionist Thomas Edison: inventor, workaholic Albert Einstein: Scientist, Activist Dwight D. Eisenhower: War hero, president John Franklin Enders: modern vaccines Richard Feynman: Physicist, Renaissance man Henry Ford: inventor, industrialist, philanthropist Benjamin Franklin: Scientist, statesman, inventor William Lloyd Garrison: abolitionist George Gershwin: Prolific, versatile composer Kurt Gödel: Mathematician-- Incompleteness theorem Alexander Hamilton: Financier, economist, statesman. Robert Heinlein: author Jimi Hendrix: Influential Musician, activist Jim Henson-beloved children’s programmer Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence Martin Luther King Jr.: preacher, orator, humanitarian. Abraham Lincoln: president, emancipator, writer. Charles Lindbergh - aviator, American hero H.P. Lovecraft-Horror writer Douglas MacArthur: US Army General James Madison: Constitution author George Marshall: general, statesman John P. Morgan: financial figure Edward R Murrow - broadcaster Richard Nixon-American President Jesse Owens - famed Olympic athlete George S Patton-General, US Army John J. Pershing: Highest ranking General Edgar Allan Poe - poet, writer James K Polk-American President Elvis Presley-rock and roller Jackie Robinson: Athlete, Activist John D. Rockefeller-the first billionaire Eleanor Roosevelt: Reformer, writer, advocate. Franklin D. Roosevelt: fearless forthright forerunner Theodore Roosevelt: statesman Babe Ruth-legendary baseball icon Carl Sagan: Astronomer, popularizer Jonas Salk - polio vaccine inventor Claude Shannon: Information theory father Henry David Thoreau: Poet, naturalist, philosopher Jim Thorpe Native American Athlete Harriet Tubman: Civil Rights Advocate John von Neumann: mathematician, scientist, polymath George Washington: president, statesman, general. Eli Whitney: Inventor, Cotton Gin Roger Williams: Stateman, Religious Figure Frank Lloyd Wright: Prairie School architect Malcolm X Civil Rights Leader Babe Zaharias: Greatest Female Athlete ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-setup-thread/527145/52 "2010-02-02T15:04:57Z")
I think most of the scientists, inventors and politicians I have much interest in are on board already. I guess I’ll throw down some artists: [Thomas Nast](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Nast) editorial cartoonist, muckraker [Robert Frost](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Frost) Poet [Jack Kirby](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Kirby) Comics pioneer [Walt Kelly](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Kelly) Pogo creator and one out of left field: [Daniel Bliss](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Bliss) educator, AUB founder ETA: By the way, I suggest that we have a handful of multiple-elimination rounds until we thin things down to 30-40 finalists. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-setup-thread/527145/53 "2010-02-02T15:13:48Z")
Hm. Looking back at the long list, please drop Frost in favor of [Walt Whitman](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_whitman), poet. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-setup-thread/527145/54 "2010-02-02T15:26:10Z")
The 5 people I WOULD have picked have all been mentioned, so I’ll name 5 people who haven’t been mentioned yet but ought to be in the discussion: Norman Borlaug Philo Farnsworth Andrew Jackson Ronald Reagan Wilbur Wright ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-setup-thread/527145/55 "2010-02-02T16:50:27Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > Hm. Looking back at the long list, please drop Frost in favor of > [Walt Whitman](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_whitman), poet. Is this like Mafia, where we can change our votes anytime before Nightfall? If so, I’ll use my final nomination to restore Robert Frost to the list: Robert Frost: Greatest American poet ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-setup-thread/527145/56 "2010-02-02T16:57:00Z")
Are these people going to be eliminated one at a time? The Presidential Elimination game took a long time IIRC. To expedite the game, can I suggest you do like the NCAA basketball tournament. Mano a Mano matchups. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-setup-thread/527145/57 "2010-02-02T17:10:16Z")
I don’t like NCAA-style brackets, but I do think we need some way to thin the list before we really get down to business. Maybe 4-5 rounds of “vote for 5, top 5 vote-getters are eliminated” voting? Which would make it more of a pain for the mod. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-setup-thread/527145/58 "2010-02-02T17:20:11Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > Bill Gates: Computer Software Businessman > [@Chronos](#): > > Reminder: Candidates must have been dead for at least 10 years. Does “emotionally dead” count? 😉 With the usual caveats that many I’d like to select are already on the list, and some aren’t quite dead yet: **Bruce Catton** - Civil War exegesis **Henry Bergh** - saved children, animals **Helen Keller** - redefined language, mind I’ll noodle some more and see if I can come up with 2 more. . ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-setup-thread/527145/59 "2010-02-02T17:21:35Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > The 5 people I WOULD have picked have all been mentioned, so I’ll name 5 people who haven’t been mentioned yet but ought to be in the discussion: > Norman Borlaug Psst – extensively discussed; not eligible. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-setup-thread/527145/60 "2010-02-02T17:22:35Z")
(looks at wikipedia) ah, I see Reagan is also among the too-recently-dead. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-setup-thread/527145.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-american-elimination-game-setup-thread/527145.md?page=4)