Who do you think the greatest american is?How about for other nationalities

[Bootes Void]

in 2005 Ronald Reagan was voted greatest american by an AOL poll with several well other icons well below. Also George W.Bush was ranked 6th with Bill Clinton at 7th which is just LOL
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Greatest_American

In Canada, Tommy Douglas(father of Canada's Medicare)was first with several icons such as Pierre Trudeau and Terry Fox right below
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Greatest_Canadian

This video goes into greater detail about other nationalities

Who do you think are the greatest people of your nationality today?

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

The greatest Italian is Giuseppe Garibaldi (normal, patriot)

[Santander]

Benedict Arnold
Robert E Lee

[Red Velvet]

There was a public contest like that done for Brazil in 2012, considering hundreds of people. Top 12 ended up being:

- Ayrton Senna, Race driver
- Chico Xavier, Medium and Writer
- Fernando Henrique Cardoso, President and professor
- Getúlio Vargas, President
- Irmã Dulce, Catholic nun
- Juscelino Kubitschek, President and physician
- Lula da Silva, President
- Oscar Niemeyer, Architect
- Edson Pelé, Football (soccer) player
- Princesa Isabel, Imperial Princess and regent
- Santos Dumont, Aeronaut and inventor
- Joaquim Tiradentes, Dentist and Trooper

Chico Xavier won, because I guess that’s the campaign power of religious people in these types of voting contests. But for me he would be #11 or #12 between these twelve.

My top 3:

#1: Getúlio Vargas
#2: Joaquim Tiradentes
#3: Santos Dumont

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

For the record, the Italian version of the contest found Leonardo da Vinci to be the greatest Italian, which is both unsurprising and a great choice.
However I am not inclined to take it particularly seriously because they put f!cking LAURA PAUSINI (who barely belongs in a list of the greatest Italian pop singers, let alone the greatest Italians) in sixth place, ahead of people like Dante Alighieri, Caravaggio, Enrico Fermi, and the very Garibaldi (actually Garibaldi didn't even make the final 12, which is criminal).

[Del Tachi]

Mark Twain
Henry Ford
Ralph Waldo Emerson

[Samof94]

What do people think of Pm John Curtin?

[Coolface Sock #42069]

Billy Graham is the best suggestion I can come up with.

[Middle-aged Europe]

There was a public contest like that done for Brazil in 2012, considering hundreds of people. Top 12 ended up being:

- Ayrton Senna, Race driver
- Chico Xavier, Medium and Writer
- Fernando Henrique Cardoso, President and professor
- Getúlio Vargas, President
- Irmã Dulce, Catholic nun
- Juscelino Kubitschek, President and physician
- Lula da Silva, President
- Oscar Niemeyer, Architect
- Edson Pelé, Football (soccer) player
- Princesa Isabel, Imperial Princess and regent
- Santos Dumont, Aeronaut and inventor
- Joaquim Tiradentes, Dentist and Trooper

Chico Xavier won, because I guess that’s the campaign power of religious people in these types of voting contests. But for me he would be #11 or #12 between these twelve.

My top 3:

#1: Getúlio Vargas
#2: Joaquim Tiradentes
#3: Santos Dumont

The results of a similar TV contest in Germany back in 2003 were:

1. Konrad Adenauer
2. Martin Luther
3. Karl Marx
4. Sophie and Hans Scholl
5. Willy Brandt
6. Johann Sebastian Bach
7. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
8. Johannes Gutenberg
9. Otto von Bismarck
10. Albert Einstein

Subsequent contests determined the greatest Germans in specific fields of popular culture. The winners of these contests were:

Greatest sportsperson - Michael Schumacher
Greatest soccer player - Franz Beckenbauer (also #4 in the sportsperson contest)
Greatest actor - Heinz Rühmann
Greatest comedian - Loriot
Greatest musician - Herbert Grönemeyer

Since that was again pretty male-dominated, the highest-ranked women in these contests were Birgit Fischer (sportsperson, #2), Romy Schneider (actor, #3), Anke Engelke (comedian, #9), and Nena (musician, #5).




In 2014, they did sort of a rerun of the greatest German contest, this time separated by genders and only including living people and not historical figures. This contest led to a scandal, subsequent resignations of production personnel, and a cancellation of further shows after it had been discovered that TV network ZDF had fixed the results, in some cases in favour of invited studio guests.

The Top 5 *unfixed* male/female results of this contest, released by ZDF in wake of the scandal, were:

1. Helmut Schmidt
2. Hans-Dietrich Genscher
3. Richard von Weizsäcker
4. Günther Jauch
5. Joachim Gauck

1. Angela Merkel
2. Steffi Graf
3. Magdalena Neuner
4. Ursula von der Leyen (replaced by Hannelore Kraft in the fixed results)
5. Hannelore Kraft (replaced by Helene Fischer in the fixed results)

[Big Abraham]

Theodore Kaczynski, obviously

[Dr. MB]

(snip)

Guessing for that poll they didn't allow Hitler or any other Nazi?

[brucejoel99]

#1 is probably Washington, though Lincoln would be a close 2nd. Definitely one of them, though, as there'd be a massive gap before #3.

[John Dule]

Olawakandi.

[Middle-aged Europe]

(snip)

Guessing for that poll they didn't allow Hitler or any other Nazi?

Yes, and no government officials from communist East Germany were allowed either.

A couple of former Nazi Party members lile Wernher von Braun, Sepp Herberger and Ferdinand Porsche were included though and ranked #63, #143 and #146 respectively.

[dead0man]

Norman Borlaug

[Hash]

The spinoff show in France was held in 2005 on France 2. The winner, fairly unsurprisingly, was Charles de Gaulle and the overall ranking was kind of dominated by more recent (often living) figures at the expense of older figures, who were often of undoubtedly greater significance and value than the contemporary people they were outranked by. The top 10 was:

1. Charles de Gaulle
2. Louis Pasteur
3. Abbé Pierre
4. Marie Curie
5. Coluche
6. Victor Hugo
7. Bourvil
8. Molière
9. Jacques-Yves Cousteau
10. Édith Piaf

Napoleon only finished sixteenth, which everybody seems to kind of agree is too low, and was outranked by 20th century cultural icons like Marcel Pagnol, Georges Brassens and Fernandel. Joan of Arc finished 31st, below Zidane, while Voltaire only ranked one spot ahead of Johnny Hallyday (...) while Louis XIV, in 50th, was only one spot ahead of then-judoka David Douillet (who later became a useless and untalented right-wing politician).

The Colombian edition was held later than the main craze, in 2013, on History Channel and the top 10 were selected by users voting online, with the turnout reported as 1.1 million. If you know anything about Colombian politics, particularly at that time, you can sort of guess the (very stupid) result:

1. Álvaro Uribe (president 2002-2010) 30.3%
2. Jaime Garzón (comedian and activist murdered in 1999) 17.5%
3. Manuel Elkin Patarroyo (immunologist who developed unsuccessful malaria vaccine) 4.9%
4. Gabriel García Márquez (Nobel Prize winning author) 4.8%
5. Antonio Nariño (independence hero) 4.7%
6. Policarpa Salavarrieta (independence heroine) 4.1%
7. Simón Bolívar (independence hero) 4%
8. Rodolfo Llinás (neuroscientist) 3.9%
9. Jorge Eliécer Gaitán (politician assassinated in 1948) 3.8%
10. Luis Carlos Galán (presidential candidate assassinated in 1989) 3.7%

Uribe, in 2013, was still extremely popular and widely regarded as a recent national saviour and great president. His image and reputation has significantly worsened since then, but if a similar contest were held today, Uribe could still realistically place first (probably by a less crushing margin) thanks to the continuing uribista cult of personality. As in other countries, the ranking was dominated by contemporary figures at the expense of older figures, like independence heroes. In Colombia, I guess that could be, in part, a reflection of the very poor levels of historical knowledge among the general public (the government, in the 1990s, famously kind of abolished history classes in school).

The 11th-20th place ranking also shows the dominance of recent figures, particularly pop culture stars, at the expense of undoubtedly more significant and worthy historical figures: footballer Radamel Falcao was eleventh, Juanes and Shakira were 12th and 13th, BMX Olympic gold medallist Mariana Pajón (at the time she was only Colombia's second ever Olympic gold medallist, from 2012) in 14th and footballer 'El Pibe' Valderrama in 15th. They also placed ahead of, most notably, Francisco de Paula Santander, Rafael Núñez and Fernando Botero.

[7,052,770]

Norman Borlaug

Came here to post him. The easy #1

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

Since I have realized that the almost all of the people I can think of for the top spots are male, I will make an honourable mention to Tina Anselmi, who is likely unknown or "just a politician" to 90% of Italians, but who was the first woman to hold a Ministry, a leader in the promotion of gender equality, and was the Minister of Health when our National Health Service was introduced and the main author of the law which created it. If Canadians simp so hard for Tommy Douglas, we should take the time to simp a little for Tina Anselmi.

Of course she is far from the only woman who belongs on the list. I mentioned her because she seems profoundly underrated, even compared to other politicians.

[Benjamin Frank]

William Katt/Ralph Hinkley.  Believe it or not. 

[Former President tack50]

Apparently the Spanish top 10 went like this:

1) King Juan Carlos
2) Miguel de Cervantes
3) Christopher Columbus
4) Queen Sofia
5) Adolfo Suarez
6) Dr. Ramón y Cajal
7) Crown Prince Felipe
Pablo Picasso
9) Saint Teresa
10) Felipe González

Tbh all the politicians and royal family in here seem very dated to me. Back in the mid 00s (when the contest was done) the 1978 consensus was still at its peak, so that's why you get King Juan Carlos, Prince Felipe and Adolfo Suárez in there.

The royal family and 1978 constitution became a lot more divisive in recent times.

I guess nowadays King Juan Carlos would be nowhere to be seen, Prince Felipe would be lower, if he made it at all and González would not make the top 10. I suppose Saint Teresa may not make it either since religion is weaker now. Adolfo Suárez probably still makes it though, his legacy is viewed more critically but still viewed quite positively. Finally I guess since Columbus' legacy is viewed more negatively these days he might not make it but who knows, maybe the #woke voices are too loud and have less relevance irl and he makes it but in a lower position.

Ramón y Cajal, Picasso, Cervantes would easily make it again.

In their replacement, I suppose Spain might add some more artists, though I guess my countrymen would disappoint me and instead add footballers or something.

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

I guess nowadays King Juan Carlos would be nowhere to be seen, Prince Felipe would be lower, if he made it at all and González would not make the top 10. I suppose Saint Teresa may not make it either since religion is weaker now. Adolfo Suárez probably still makes it though, his legacy is viewed more critically but still viewed quite positively. Finally I guess since Columbus' legacy is viewed more negatively these days he might not make it but who knows, maybe the #woke voices are too loud and have less relevance irl and he makes it but in a lower position.

Ramón y Cajal, Picasso, Cervantes would easily make it again.

In their replacement, I suppose Spain might add some more artists, though I guess my countrymen would disappoint me and instead add footballers or something.

Cristoforo Colombo, heretically called Cristóbal Colón by you people, does not belong in a list of Spanish people at all. (sane, normal, Italian)

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

I guess nowadays King Juan Carlos would be nowhere to be seen, Prince Felipe would be lower, if he made it at all and González would not make the top 10. I suppose Saint Teresa may not make it either since religion is weaker now. Adolfo Suárez probably still makes it though, his legacy is viewed more critically but still viewed quite positively. Finally I guess since Columbus' legacy is viewed more negatively these days he might not make it but who knows, maybe the #woke voices are too loud and have less relevance irl and he makes it but in a lower position.

Ramón y Cajal, Picasso, Cervantes would easily make it again.

In their replacement, I suppose Spain might add some more artists, though I guess my countrymen would disappoint me and instead add footballers or something.

Cristoforo Colombo, heretically called Cristóbal Colón by you people, does not belong in a list of Spanish people at all. (sane, normal, Italian)

Nobody expects the Italian inquisition.

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

I guess nowadays King Juan Carlos would be nowhere to be seen, Prince Felipe would be lower, if he made it at all and González would not make the top 10. I suppose Saint Teresa may not make it either since religion is weaker now. Adolfo Suárez probably still makes it though, his legacy is viewed more critically but still viewed quite positively. Finally I guess since Columbus' legacy is viewed more negatively these days he might not make it but who knows, maybe the #woke voices are too loud and have less relevance irl and he makes it but in a lower position.

Ramón y Cajal, Picasso, Cervantes would easily make it again.

In their replacement, I suppose Spain might add some more artists, though I guess my countrymen would disappoint me and instead add footballers or something.

Cristoforo Colombo, heretically called Cristóbal Colón by you people, does not belong in a list of Spanish people at all. (sane, normal, Italian)

Nobody expects the Italian inquisition.

I am the Italian Inquisition, apparently.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

I guess nowadays King Juan Carlos would be nowhere to be seen, Prince Felipe would be lower, if he made it at all and González would not make the top 10. I suppose Saint Teresa may not make it either since religion is weaker now. Adolfo Suárez probably still makes it though, his legacy is viewed more critically but still viewed quite positively. Finally I guess since Columbus' legacy is viewed more negatively these days he might not make it but who knows, maybe the #woke voices are too loud and have less relevance irl and he makes it but in a lower position.

Ramón y Cajal, Picasso, Cervantes would easily make it again.

In their replacement, I suppose Spain might add some more artists, though I guess my countrymen would disappoint me and instead add footballers or something.

Cristoforo Colombo, heretically called Cristóbal Colón by you people, does not belong in a list of Spanish people at all. (sane, normal, Italian)

Nobody expects the Italian inquisition.

I am the Italian Inquisition, apparently.

You did mention heresy. 

[dead0man]

I guess nowadays King Juan Carlos would be nowhere to be seen, Prince Felipe would be lower, if he made it at all and González would not make the top 10. I suppose Saint Teresa may not make it either since religion is weaker now. Adolfo Suárez probably still makes it though, his legacy is viewed more critically but still viewed quite positively. Finally I guess since Columbus' legacy is viewed more negatively these days he might not make it but who knows, maybe the #woke voices are too loud and have less relevance irl and he makes it but in a lower position.

Ramón y Cajal, Picasso, Cervantes would easily make it again.

In their replacement, I suppose Spain might add some more artists, though I guess my countrymen would disappoint me and instead add footballers or something.

Cristoforo Colombo, heretically called Cristóbal Colón by you people, does not belong in a list of Spanish people at all. (sane, normal, Italian)

he doesn't belong on the Italian or American one either