1 Abraham Lincoln
He saved the Union, freed the slaves, and presided over America2
’
s George
second
founding. Washington
He made the United States possible—not only by defeating a king, 3
but
by
declining
to
become
one
himself. Jefferson
Thomas
The author of the five most important words in American history: 4
“
All
men
are
created
equal.
”
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
He said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” and then 5
he
Alexander
proved
it.
Hamilton
Soldier, banker, and political scientist, he set in motion an agrarian nation’s transformation into an industrial power. 6
Benjamin
Franklin
The Founder-of-all-trades— scientist, printer, writer, diplomat, inventor, and more; like his country, he contained multitudes. 7
John
Marshall
The defining chief justice, he established the Supreme Court as the equal of the other two federal branches. 8
Martin
Luther
King
Jr.
His dream of racial equality is still elusive, but no one did more to 9
Thomas
Edison
make
it
real.
It wasn’t just the lightbulb; the Wizard of Menlo Park was the most 10
Woodrow
Wilson
prolific
inventor
in
American
history.
He made the world safe for U.S. interventionism, if not for democracy. 11
John
D.
Rockefeller
The man behind Standard Oil set the mold for our tycoons—first by making money, then by giving it away. 12
Ulysses
S.
Grant
He was a poor president, but he was the general Lincoln needed; he also wrote the greatest political memoir in American 13
James
Madison history.
He fathered the Constitution and wrote the Bill of Rights.
14
Henry
Ford
He gave us the assembly line and the Model T, and sparked America15
’
s
love
affair
with
the
automobile. Roosevelt
Theodore
Whether busting trusts or building canals, he embodied the “strenuous life” and blazed a trail for twentieth-century America. 16
Mark
Twain
Author of our national epic, he was the most unsentimental observer 17
Ronald
Reagan
of
our
national
life.
The amiable architect of both the conservative realignment and 18
Andrew
Jackson
the
Cold
War
’
s
end.
The first great populist: he found America a republic and left it a 19
Thomas
Paine democracy.
The voice of the American Revolution, and our first great radical. 20
Andrew
Carnegie
The original self-made man forged America’s industrial might and became one of the nation’s greatest philanthropists. 21
Harry
Truman
An accidental president, this machine politician ushered in the Atomic 22
Walt
Whitman
Age
and
then
the
Cold
War.
He sang of America and shaped the country’s conception of itself. 23 They 24
Alexander
Graham
Bell
got
us
Wright
all
off
the
Brothers ground.
By inventing the telephone, he opened the age of telecommunications
and
shrank
the
world.
25 John Adams
His leadership made the American Revolution possible; his devotion 26
Walt
Disney
to
republicanism
made
it
succeed.
The quintessential entertainer-entrepreneur, he wielded unmatched 27
Eli
Whitney
influence
over
our
childhood.
His gin made cotton king and sustained an empire for slavery. 28
Dwight
Eisenhower
He won a war and two elections, and made everybody like Ike. 29
Earl
Warren
His Supreme Court transformed American society and bequeathed 30
Elizabeth
Cady
Stanton
to
us
the
culture
wars.
One of the first great American feminists, she fought for social reform
and
women
’
s
right
to
vote.