# Who has made your state proud? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 30, 2007, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-made-your-state-proud/417482 "2007-08-30T12:18:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Mark\_Ryle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8dc957/32.png) [@Mark\_Ryle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Ryle)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-made-your-state-proud/417482/61 "2007-12-03T13:07:50Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] I’ve heard lots of good things about Chernow’s book. I really enjoyed his Alexander Hamilton bio, and think Hamilton actually has an excellent claim to being a similarly significant transplanted New Yorker. Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt both have a fair claim, too (although native), or J.P. Morgan. [/QUOTE] Hamilton has occurred to me, as well, for that title. I don’t know enought about Morgan to comment but Chernow also has House of Morgan which I have been intending to read. Native New Yorkers like Teddy would qualify. Also _things_, such as 9/11 or the Pennsylvania Railroad. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-made-your-state-proud/417482/62 "2007-12-03T14:04:16Z")
Buffalo Bill Cody, showman Billy Sunday, evangelist Wyatt Earp, lawman Carrie Chapman Catt, suffragist Herbert Hoover, 32nd President Henry A. Wallace, VP/SecAg Mamie Eisenhower, First Lady John Wayne, icon Bix Beiderbecke, cornetist Glenn Miller, bandleader Grant Wood, artist John L. Lewis, labor leader Ann Landers, columnist Fran Allison, TV personality Abigail (Dear Abby) Van Buren, columnist Peter (P.D.Q. Bach) Schickele, composer Bob Feller, baseballer Meredith Willson, composer Jean Seberg, actress James Van Allen, astrophysicist Donna Reed, actress Harry Reasoner, newsman Hugh Sidey, journalist Johnny Carson, comic/talk host Cloris Leachman, actress George Gallup, pollster Andy Williams, singer Dan Gable, wrestler/coach Doug Henning, magician Tom Arnold, actor Bob Barr, wingnut Kate Mulgrew, actress Bill Bryson, author Jake Johannsen, comic Ashton Kutcher, actor Elijah Wood, actor ---
**Author:** ![Bin-Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@Bin-Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bin-Gay)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-made-your-state-proud/417482/63 "2007-12-03T15:21:01Z")
My state of origin, Missouri. Here’s a few of our more famous stars: Sheryl Crow Robert Altman Burt Bacharach Josephine Baker Yogi Berra Bill Bradley Martha Jane Canary (Calamity Jane) George Washington Carver Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain) Walter Cronkite T. S. Eliot Redd Foxx James W. Fulbright John Goodman Betty Grable Jean Harlow Edwin Hubble James Langston Hughes John Huston Jesse James Geraldine Page James C. Penney Marlin Perkins Vincent Price Ginger Rogers Harry S. Truman Dick Van Dyke actor Dennis Weaver actor Roy Wilkins civil rights leader, Saint Louis ---
**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:** [December 3, 2007, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-made-your-state-proud/417482/64 "2007-12-03T15:29:57Z")
[QUOTE=Mark Ryle] Hamilton has occurred to me, as well, for that title. I don’t know enought about Morgan to comment but Chernow also has House of Morgan which I have been intending to read. Native New Yorkers like Teddy would qualify. Also _things_, such as 9/11 or the Pennsylvania Railroad. [/QUOTE] And the Erie Canal. Totally transformed the state. Nelson Rockefeller, for his establishment of the SUNY system, was also very important in state history. ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Ryle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8dc957/32.png) [@Mark\_Ryle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Ryle)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-made-your-state-proud/417482/65 "2007-12-03T15:47:10Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] And the Erie Canal. Totally transformed the state. Nelson Rockefeller, for his establishment of the SUNY system, was also very important in state history. [/QUOTE] Good point about the Erie Canal. Nelson, to me, comes under the heading of his grandfather – Senior, Junior and his wife, plus their six children and spouses I would include in “Rockefeller.” ---
**Author:** ![Ro\_Carter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7feea3/32.png) [@Ro\_Carter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ro_Carter)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-made-your-state-proud/417482/66 "2007-12-03T16:32:37Z")
MICHIGAN Jeff Daniels (not born here, but long since adopted, and a really great guy) Jerry Bruckheimer Francis Ford Coppola Jamie Hyneman Sid Meier Stevie Wonder Glenn Frey Bob Seger Gerald Ford Alfred Hershey Johnny Benson Chris Van Allsburg William Boeing Roger Chaffee Jack Lousma My own extremely partial and selective list, chosen from many and omitting the obvious auto industry and cereal people. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-made-your-state-proud/417482/67 "2007-12-03T20:35:10Z")
\>Originally Posted by Napier \>Maryland \>George W. Bush \>??? Born in New Haven, Conn., and raised in Midland and Houston, Texas. Exactly. Can you imagine how embarrassed Connecticut and Texas must be? ---
**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:** [December 4, 2007, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-made-your-state-proud/417482/68 "2007-12-04T04:56:02Z")
[QUOTE=Napier] \>Originally Posted by Napier \>Maryland \>George W. Bush \>??? Born in New Haven, Conn., and raised in Midland and Houston, Texas. Exactly. Can you imagine how embarrassed Connecticut and Texas must be? [/QUOTE] Tell me about it. Maryland, for all its flaws, at least did not bequeath George W. Bush to this great republic. ---
**Author:** ![Old\_Goat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/5daacb/32.png) [@Old\_Goat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Old_Goat)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-made-your-state-proud/417482/69 "2007-12-04T05:51:27Z")
Washington State **Arts** Veronica Lake Bing Crosby Theodore Roethke Jimi Hendricks Kurt Cobain David Guterson Sherman Alexie **Politics** Henry M Jackson Warren Magnuson Tom Foley Patty Murray **Business** Fredrich Weyerhaeuser William Boeing Jim Casey (founded UPS) Marco Puretic (Invented Seine Power Block) John W Nordstrom Bill Gates Paul Allen Howard Schultz [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-made-your-state-proud/417482.md?page=3)