Fraternity Manuals

The Greatest American

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The Greatest American
Image:Dsc main greatest.jpeg
Run time 1 hour
Host Matt Lauer
Guests Various
Country United States
Network Discovery Channel
First aired June 5, 2005

The Greatest American was a public vote, modeled after the 100 Greatest Britons competition, in which citizens of the United States were asked to nominate, and then later vote for, "the Greatest American" of all time.

The competition was conducted by AOL and the Discovery Channel.

Nominations were accepted through January 31, 2005. The 7-hour long series was broken into 4 episodes: The first episode counted down the top 100 and introduced the top 25 nominees in alphabetical order. The second episode featured biographies of the top 25 nominees as well as commentaries from influential people such as celebrities and politicians. The third episode called The Great Debate introduced the top 5 nominees and pitted the studio audience supporters of each of the nominees and a person selected to represent each of the top 5 candidates against a panel of 3 celebrities. In the finale the top 5 Greatest Americans were announced as well as what percentage of the votes each had received. Votes were taken through a toll free (if calling from a land line) phone number, through text messages from cell phones, and through online voting. Voters were allowed to vote three times per voting method, so anyone had a chance of voting at least nine times. The three states with the most votes being received were California, Texas, and Florida (ranked 1st, 2nd, and 4th in population).

Contents

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The Top 10

On June 26, 2005, Matt Lauer of The Today Show introduced the top 10 Greatest Americans as voted by the American public.

  1. Ronald Reagan - 24.0% - named "Greatest American"
  2. Abraham Lincoln - 23.5%
  3. Martin Luther King, Jr. - 19.7%
  4. George Washington - 17.7%
  5. Benjamin Franklin - 14.9%
  6. George W. Bush
  7. Bill Clinton
  8. Elvis Presley
  9. Oprah Winfrey
  10. Franklin D. Roosevelt
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The Top 25

On June 5, 2005, Matt Lauer of The Today Show introduced the final 25 nominees competing for the title of Greatest American.

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Alphabetical list

On April 18, AOL and The Discovery Channel announced the top 100 nominees.

The bottom 75:

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Facts about The Greatest American

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Comments and criticisms

Many viewers and media commentators have criticized the shortlist as being extremely androcentric, with only a handful of female politicans, athletes, innovators and entertainers making the cut. Rosa Parks, Eleanor Roosevelt and Oprah Winfrey are the only three females in the Top 25. Much criticism has been made of the overselection of entertainers and a bias towards recent times at the expense of those who lived in the 18th or 19th centuries. Others have complained about the selection of Ronald Reagan as the Greatest American, beating Abraham Lincoln, often called the Greatest President. There have also been objections to many candidates being eligible because of the country in which they were born. For example, Albert Einstein and Bob Hope, both of whom are placed in the Top 25, were born in Germany and the United Kingdom respectively. Some feel this disqualifies them from the list because, strictly speaking, they are not "Americans."

Alexander Graham Bell also appeared on the Canadian version of the show, The Greatest Canadian, and the original British program, Great Britons, where he ranked ninth and fifty-seventh place respectively. The scientist, inventor, and founder of the Bell Telephone Company was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1847, before moving to Brantford, Ontario in 1870. Three years later, Bell relocated to Boston, Massachusetts to continue his research into vocal physiology.

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External links

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