AMERICAN GREATNESS: DOES IT CHANGE? DOES IT MATTER?

By Edwin Cooney

Atop my desk sits a three and a half inch medal depicting the twenty-eight men and two women regarded at the time as the 30 greatest people in American History. It includes seven presidents, one sports hero, two explorers, three writers, one Supreme Court justice, one civil rights figure, two social leaders, four inventors and, of course, several military heroes. Hence, my question: since it was an official Bicentennial medal, these are supposedly the 30 greatest Americans throughout our first two hundred years. It's important to keep two things in mind. First, some pretty special people aren't included on this medal, such as Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Frederick Douglass, James Madison, Andrew Jackson, Daniel Webster and Henry Clay. Second, throughout the decades and centuries, challenges and values change. Adlai Stevenson pointed out that during pioneer days, candidates used to accuse each other of being “part Indian.” One candidate asserted while standing on the stump: my opponent insists that he's not part Indian and I believe him, because the Indians deny it, too!

Here's a list of those people on this large medal: Washington, Franklin, Jane Adams (who established Hull House in Chicago to assist the poor), writer Carl Sandburg, Thomas Jefferson, Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendall Holmes, Henry Ford, Albert Einstein, Neil Armstrong, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John Kennedy, John D. Rockefeller, Robert E. Lee, John Paul Jones, Paul Revere, Alexander Hamilton, explorers Lewis and Clark, Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, Woodrow Wilson, Babe Ruth, Martin Luther King, Franklin Roosevelt,  Abraham Lincoln, Susan B. Anthony, Thomas Edison, Orville and Wilbur Wright, and Charles Lindbergh.

I’ve also read that on the 150th anniversary, the treasury struck a medal of George Washington and of Calvin Coolidge.

Now for the puzzle: As we approach our country’s 250th anniversary, who would we add or eliminate from the top 30? Here's my list of subtractions and substitutions.

I'd replace Carl Sandberg with Eleanor Roosevelt. I'd remove Henry Ford for Alexander Graham Bell. I'd replace John Kennedy with Ronald Reagan (although I personally prefer JFK). Betty Friedan would replace John D. Rockefeller. Robert E. Lee chose his state over his country and that's treasonous so I would replace Robert E. Lee with Harry Truman. For Woodrow Wilson, I'd take Theodore Roosevelt. Babe Ruth would be replaced by Willie Mays and, finally, I'd replace Lindbergh with John Glenn. These changes would keep the number to 30 great Americans.

As I see it, greatness has to do with the care for and commitment to the safety, well-being, and prosperity of the widest number of people in our republic. Anger toward minorities does not result in greatness. Even though society requires spiritual principles including the Golden Rule, society generally does not benefit by punishment or rejection of the lawful. Nor do we benefit from the criminalization of political candidates or their constituents.

There are, of course, no right or wrong additions or subtractions to this list, but changes do reflect our personal values because we govern through our values!

How significantly have we changed since that glorious Bicentennial Sunday, July 4th, 1976 as bells rang, fireworks roared, and the tall ships sailed into New York Harbor?

Of course, it matters because everyone matters!

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY