Everyone has heard of FDR, MLK, Edison, and Elvis.
But who is the most accomplished or prominent American of the 20th Century that is not recognizable by the masses?
One that strikes me is George Marshall. This guy should be someone that EVERYONE knows. But I’ll bet most people wouldn’t know who he was and wouldn’t even know what the Marshall Plan was. They may have heard of the Marshall Plan, but I’ll bet it runs together with the Teapot Dome Scandal and “Fifty-Four Forty or FIGHT!” as yet another piece of history they don’t remember.
But Marshall truly stands out as a historically significant figure.
He was in the military before tanks and airplanes were used and left after the atom was split to enter the age of atomic warfare.
He was instrumental in planning and implementing WW2 Strategy.
He spearheaded the plan of economic rebuilding for Europe.
He served as Sect. of State and Defense.
He won the noble prize and twice was named Time’s Man of the Year.
That is a heck of a resume.
I wonder if he is better remembered in Europe. Because here, he is just another name in the history book that kids remember until the test.
Who else is out there that is historically prominent but gets shafted by average Americans?
Peter Francisco, the Hercules of the American Revolution, whose strength was so great it bordered upon the superhuman.
BTW-- his life’s story has curious parallels to Superman’s. I’ve wondered if the RL Francisco might have served as inspiration for the fictional Man Of Steel.
Three for the price of one: Henry Kissinger, similarly Robert McNamara, and for that matter Bobby Kennedy. I know that I don’t have to justify them on this board, but among my peers (I’m a 19 year old college student), no one has heard of McNamara, no one knows anything about Kissinger except his name, and no one even knows that Robert Kennedy was assassinated while running for president. And I do know that Kissinger is German, but he still counts.
To hijack/rant: It’s sad that my generation seems to know less about the Vietnam War than, say, the War of 1812. My high school history class spent one day on the former and two weeks on the latter. :smack:
Norman Borlaug, easily. With all due respect, unless we’re making a list that continues past the top spot, the thread pretty much ends with Borlaug. It can be reasonably argued that in terms of helping other human beings, Borlaug is the greatest human being who ever lived.
Saying what he did totally blows the point of the thread. I wanted people to say “Norman Borlaug? Who the hell is that?” and then go Google him.
His accomplishments are so amazing, and his name so unknown, and the first time I heard about him and looked him up I thought it was some kind of put-on, like Spinal Tap. Nobody could be that centrally important to saving that many lives, I thought.
Same here; I was thinking of him but couldn’t remember his name. And I think the first place I ever heard of him was just last year on Penn and Teller’s show Bullshit, although I don’t remember the context.
Since he’s already been named, how about Philo Farnsworth?
