My odds on faves are already mostly here, but I’ll add:
Ambrose Bierce, author, journalist, satirist, critic
(and my predictions for the final five are King, Lincoln, Salk, Edison and Einstein)
I predict Washington, Lincoln, King, Einstein, and, I don’t know, Ben Franklin. Not terribly interesting, I’m afraid, but probably largely accurate…
When it comes to the greatest American elimination game, that would have to be the Jackass videos.
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Oh, you didn’t mean that sort of elimination.
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.
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
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
Reminder: Candidates must have been dead for at least 10 years.
Dwight Eisenhower-American General, President
HP Lovecraft-Horror writer
Richard Nixon-American President
George S Patton-General, US Army
James K Polk-American President
Eisenhower was already nominated (post 40). You have one more, if you like.
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
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 editorial cartoonist, muckraker
Robert Frost Poet
Jack Kirby Comics pioneer
Walt Kelly Pogo creator
and one out of left field:
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.
Hm. Looking back at the long list, please drop Frost in favor of
Walt Whitman, poet.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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Psst – extensively discussed; not eligible.
(looks at wikipedia) ah, I see Reagan is also among the too-recently-dead.