No JFK or Reagan?
JFK stopped us at the edge of nuclear destruction and Reagan implemented the final strategy that destroy communism.

Derek

Is there room for my favorite HALF-American, Winston Churchill?

Jonas Salk, Booker T. Washington, Walter Reed, Louis Armstrong, Roy Chapman Andrews,....

Let's not forget that politicians and writers can only do so much; someone has to actually go out and DO the work!

How about Eisenhower and George C. Marshall?

Two great urban leaders often overlooked: Harvey Milk, Fiorella LaGuardia

Thomas Edison, The Wright Brothers

Thomas Paine, shunned drunkard that he was. The impact that his pamphleteering had on the popular (rather than aristocratic) movement for seperation from England is widely underappreciated, then and now. These, of course, are still the times that try men's souls...

James Madison? Ben Franklin?

Margaret Sanger would make the top of my list.

As a foreigner, I don't recognize some of the names you list (will Google them momentarily). Just wanted to let you know that I think including Carl Sagan was spot on.

I do agree with the poster that suggested including Louis Armstrong too.

Science and swing... Western civilization in a nusthell.

Dwight Eisenhower, for winning WWII on the ground and for marching German citizens (at gunpoint) into the concentration camps and forcing them to see the atrocities committed there firsthand, thus depriving the German people of the chance to deny the very existence of the camps years later.

Benjamin Franklin without a doubt. Have you seen the PBS documentary on him? He was an amazing man. There is a reason his signature is on the three most important documents that founded our nation.

Here are my comments on your list. You include a number of truly great Americans who belong there. In my opinion Lincoln will always be the greatest American. FDR as well as Washington are also high. I hate "tokenism" and many of the figures on your list appear to be tokens to the movement you favor. For example, while the Women's Suffrage movement was a vital and just cause, it is far from clear that Susan B. Anthony really belongs on a list of the 20 greatest Americans. Same with Rosa Parks. I WOULD include King, even though the movement he was part of was greater than any one man. Shockingly you fail to include any of the framers of the constitution. I would include Hamilton and Madison, would consider Franklin and Adams. These were great men. Jefferson was great but is overrated compared to the others. Hamilton and Madison among others were the real architects of the American way of government. I won't quibble with your other choices which seem pecularly personal to you (Carl Sagan?) But I think many of us would agree on such figures as Albert Einstein (he became American) and Thomas Edison. I would also think about some Justices such as Earl Warren and William Douglas. One thing I would not do is pick a figure just because they are the most visible spokesperson for an important movement.

Your one choice from the field of science: Sagan. Hmm. How can I put this charitably - ah... better choices exist.

Sagan was an astronomer and while commendable for expanding the imagination of millions, other scientists have had a much greater impact on billions (and billions!)more. If you want to acknowledge the impact of information technology, consider Claude Shannon, whose contributions impacted WWII and still guide internet and wireless communication technologies.

Just a reminder for those who quibble. I chose to list my favorite people rather than those I think are best by some objective criteria.

I would commend to your study the life of Jonas Salk and Walter Reed. They are two Americans who have done more to help the world then almost everybody else on your list. Of course, today many people believe that humans deserve malaria, polio, and other genocidally infectious diseases. More to the point, though, both of those men had interesting character.

Militarily, you would do well to study the characters of Gen. George C. Marshall and Gen. Lewis B. (Chesty) Puller. Nautically, Joshua Humphries and Charles Morgan are of great interest. Navally, Captains David Porter and Alfred Thayer Mahan are both fascinating studies of very different eras. Industrially, Henry Keizer and W. Edwards Deming are essential characters to be cognizant of.

It is difficult to compose a list of great Americans because it is so easy to lean heavily on the concept of "unstained". But there have been incredibly important leaders in the Military, Shipping, Naval, and Industrial fields that you have not touched upon. It would do you good to learn of them and have them be of import in your thoughts.