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Ronald Reagan Named 'Greatest American' Ever
UK Today ^ | jun 27 2005 | Allison Harris

Posted on 06/27/2005 6:42:03 AM PDT by gopwinsin04

Former US President Ronald Wilson Reagan has been nominated the 'Greatest American' ever.

Reagan received 24 precent of the vote beating fellow Republican Abraham Lincoln, who recieved 23.56 percent and civil rights leader Martin Luther King, with 19.7 percent of the vote.

President George Washington was voted the fourth most popular American with 17.7 percent of the nominations. Ben Franklin came in fifth with 14.9 percent of the votes.

George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Elvis Presely, Oprah Winfrey and Franklin D. Roosevelt rounded out the top ten.

The vote was sponsored by America Online and broadcast live by the Discovery Channel. US Citizens were able to cast votes by phone or the Internet. In total, 2,400,000 votes were submitted.

(Excerpt) Read more at 999today.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: California; US: District of Columbia
KEYWORDS: godamongmen
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To: My2Cents
Actually Eisenhower was known as a do nothing president. So is Clinton.

Clinton was the "Do Monica" President.

101 posted on 06/27/2005 1:14:00 PM PDT by dfwgator (Congratulations Longhorns.)
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To: gopwinsin04

Gee,this is the kind of information that could actually induce a heart attack in Bill Clinton.


102 posted on 06/27/2005 1:36:33 PM PDT by Pagey (Whether Hillary Clintons' attacks on America are a success or a failure depends upon YOU TOO!)
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To: nonliberal
Was Jackie Robinson even on the list of nominees? I think he and Branch Rickey did as much to break the barriers in race relations in the general culture as any who came after.
103 posted on 06/27/2005 1:37:50 PM PDT by My2Cents ("In times of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a revolutionary act." - George Orwell)
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To: alnick

This is worse than Ohio! Demand a recount!!


104 posted on 06/27/2005 1:38:54 PM PDT by My2Cents ("In times of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a revolutionary act." - George Orwell)
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To: alnick

It's obvious........

Oprah and Elvis cheated!! :-)


105 posted on 06/27/2005 2:32:32 PM PDT by GeorgeW23225 (Liberals really aren*t bad people. It*s just that they know so much that simply ISN*T true!!)
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To: Pagey

How I wish that could be true!!


106 posted on 06/27/2005 2:34:34 PM PDT by GeorgeW23225 (Liberals really aren*t bad people. It*s just that they know so much that simply ISN*T true!!)
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To: My2Cents

It has to be that damned right wing conspiracy again!!


107 posted on 06/27/2005 2:35:34 PM PDT by GeorgeW23225 (Liberals really aren*t bad people. It*s just that they know so much that simply ISN*T true!!)
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To: OldFriend
Ike is one of the most underrated presidents in our history. He played the slightly dumb country boy and it worked.

"He was a far more complex and devious man than most people realized, and I mean that in the best sense of those words."
-Richard M. Nixon, Six Crises

Ike said he would go to Korea and see for himself what was happening. He flew over the front in a light plane, took note of the new helicopter evac of the wounded and observed, "Except for sporadic artillery fire and sniping there was little action at the moment, but in view of the strength of the positions the enemy had developed, it was obvious that any frontal assault would present great difficulties."

One look had decided what was arguably the greatest military planner of the 20th century to fold the war.

When the Lebanese government was collapsing and Ike sent in the Marines, he had them occupy only Beirut and the adjacent airport. He said, "If the Lebanese army were unable to subdue the rebels when we had secured their capital and protected their government, I felt, we were backing up a government with so little popular support that we probably shouldn't be there."

Ike warned the French not to garrison 10,000 troops at Dien Bien Phu: The French know military history," I said. "They are smart enough to know the outcome of becoming firmly emplaced and then besieged in an exposed position with poor means of supply and reinforcements."

I guess not, eh?

When the U2 crashed and F.G. Powers and the plane survived, against all expectations and design Ike at first stuck with the pre-arranged "cover story, but when Khrushchev produced the proof (Powers and the plane), Ike ordered a full confession, explaining "In the diplomatic field it was routine practice to deny responsibility for an embarrassing occurrence when there is even a one percent chance of being believed, but when the world can entertain not the slightest doubt of the facts, there is no point in trying to evade the issue."

Both Nixon and the StainMaster could have taken that advise to heart.

As Murray Kempton, the late Liberaltarian said after meeting Eisenhower, "I was too dumb to understand him then. It would take ten years before I looked at his picture and realized that the smile was always a grin."

108 posted on 06/27/2005 2:35:46 PM PDT by metesky (This land was your land, this land is MY land; I bought the rights from a town selectman!)
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To: My2Cents

Jackie Robinson got beaten out by Pee Wee Herman and Madonna


109 posted on 06/27/2005 2:37:01 PM PDT by GeorgeW23225 (Liberals really aren*t bad people. It*s just that they know so much that simply ISN*T true!!)
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To: gopwinsin04
Well, it's gotta be time to get out the chisels, and remake the faces a bit smaller this time, to update Mt Rushmore, for this years favs.

Now, how do we temporarily stain the rock for the Rev King tribute. Hmmmm!!
110 posted on 06/27/2005 2:41:32 PM PDT by aShepard
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To: Poser; Pondman88

<< Without Washinton, Reagan would have been a British subject. >>

Beg to differ.

Without General Washington the Hand that guided the building of our beloved FRaternal Republic's Foundations would have inspired another of the Great Men of that era to step up.

Our nation was never Britain's to tax, let alone to own.


111 posted on 06/27/2005 6:30:22 PM PDT by Brian Allen (All that is required to ensure the triumph [of evil] is that Good Men do nothing -- Edmund Burke)
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To: OldFriend
LOL.....everyone gets to vote three times.

I voted 12 times myself, something I learned from the Democrats...

112 posted on 06/27/2005 6:54:48 PM PDT by amigatec (There are no significant bugs in our software... Maybe you're not using it properly.- Bill Gates)
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To: zarf

I don't think it was so riduculous seeing as how at least a couple of generations have not been taught just who and how great our founding fathers really are.


113 posted on 06/27/2005 7:30:54 PM PDT by CyberAnt (President Bush: "America is the greatest nation on the face of the earth")
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To: My2Cents

In that same vein, boxer Jack Johnson, who became the first black world heavyweight champion, or Joe Louis who fought two wars in the ring with Max Schmeling.


114 posted on 06/28/2005 8:24:26 PM PDT by nonliberal (Graduate: Curtis E. LeMay School of International Relations)
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To: nonliberal

You know, considering how central sports are to our culture, the breaking of racial barriers in baseball, or boxing as you point out, probably did as much for race relations as anything that was done politically.


115 posted on 06/28/2005 10:01:47 PM PDT by My2Cents ("In times of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a revolutionary act." - George Orwell)
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To: My2Cents

I think Louis defeating Schmeling did more for race relations than King and Ali combined. Even whites were rooting for Lewis.


116 posted on 06/29/2005 7:45:45 AM PDT by nonliberal (Graduate: Curtis E. LeMay School of International Relations)
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To: OldFriend

getting in a bit late, here - but I think its mostly because the vast majority of americans don't have a clue about history and can only remember the past 20-25 years. Every contest like this ends up heavily weighted towards those people who the voters remember clearly. Look at baseball polls on the greatest players. The top vote-getters typically are the modern-day players with a few historical players people can remember thrown in. People have very short-term memories in general...

Personally, I think its ridiculous that RWR won. Not to say necessarily he shouldn't have been in the list or among the finalists, but the "greatest"?

Should have gone to Franklin, IMHO. Is there anything he didn't do? He invented the lightning rod, Franklin stove, bifocals (and many other inventions). He co-founded the 1st hospital in the US. He helped introduced several crops to the US. He started the first fire insurance company (mutual). He helped found two colleges. He was the first postmaster, started the 1st circulating library, was a noted journalist and philosopher, started the 1st police department and 1st fire department in the US, invented a musical instrument, was an ambassador, governor, and colonel in the militia, fought for lighting, cleaning and paving of streets, ran several businessses, and the list goes on.

Oh, and did I mention he wrote parts of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution? That and he got the very much needed assistance from France. Oh, and he was the only person to sign the DoI, the Constitution, the Treaty of Alliance with France, AND the peace treaty ending the revolution.

That and (in contrast to many of his contemporaries - not to demean them) he fought for the abolition of slavery and for native americans rights.

Seems to me thats an incredible list of accomplishments (yet he never seemed to be power-hungry, either)... Sorry, but IMHO Reagan couldn't hold a candle to Franklin...


117 posted on 07/01/2005 7:19:41 AM PDT by eraser2005
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To: eraser2005

Agree on every point and can add a few of my own!


118 posted on 07/01/2005 7:27:17 AM PDT by OldFriend (AMERICAN WARS SET MEN FREE)
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