The Greatest American
| The Greatest American | |
|---|---|
| Presented by | Matt Lauer |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
|
| Release | |
| Original network | Discovery Channel |
| Original release | June 5 – June 26, 2005 |
The Greatest American is a 2005 American television series hosted by Matt Lauer. The four-part series features biographies and lists of influential persons in American history, and culminates in a contest in which millions in the audience vote for the person they feel is the greatest American, which ultimately goes to Ronald Reagan.
Production[edit]
The Greatest American was announced in January 2005 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Discovery Channel. In February, it was revealed that Matt Lauer would host seven-hour-long series.[1] Jason Raff and Elyse Zaccaro served as executive producers of the series.[2] On January 21, Discovery and AOL began conducting a vote to determine the greatest American. An Associated Press report indicated that the criteria for inclusion was which American "most influenced the way they think, work and live".[3]
Nominations[edit]
Top 100[edit]
On April 18, the top 100 nominees were unveiled.[4] With over 500,000 votes cast, the nominees tended to be entertainers, inventors and industrialists, and presidents.[5] Discovery's alphabetized list of nominees include:[6]
- Muhammad Ali
- Maya Angelou
- Susan B. Anthony
- Lance Armstrong
- Neil Armstrong
- Lucille Ball
- Alexander Graham Bell
- Barbara Bush
- George H. W. Bush
- George W. Bush
- Laura Bush
- Andrew Carnegie
- Johnny Carson
- Jimmy Carter
- George Washington Carver
- Ray Charles
- César Chávez
- Bill Clinton
- Hillary Clinton
- Bill Cosby
- Tom Cruise
- Ellen DeGeneres
- Walt Disney
- Frederick Douglass
- Amelia Earhart
- Clint Eastwood
- Thomas Edison
- John Edwards
- Albert Einstein[a]
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
- Brett Favre
- Henry Ford
- Benjamin Franklin
- Bill Gates
- Mel Gibson
- Rudy Giuliani
- John Glenn
- Billy Graham
- Alexander Hamilton
- Tom Hanks
- Hugh Hefner
- Katharine Hepburn
- Bob Hope[b]
- Howard Hughes
- Michael Jackson
- Thomas Jefferson
- Steve Jobs
- Lyndon B. Johnson
- Michael Jordan
- Helen Keller
- Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
- John F. Kennedy
- Robert F. Kennedy
- Martin Luther King Jr.
- Rush Limbaugh
- Abraham Lincoln
- Charles Lindbergh
- George Lucas
- Madonna
- Malcolm X
- Phil McGraw
- Marilyn Monroe
- Michael Moore
- Audie Murphy
- Richard Nixon
- Barack Obama
- Jesse Owens
- Rosa Parks
- George S. Patton
- Colin Powell
- Elvis Presley
- Ronald Reagan
- Christopher Reeve
- Condoleezza Rice
- Jackie Robinson
- Eleanor Roosevelt
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Theodore Roosevelt
- Babe Ruth
- Carl Sagan
- Jonas Salk
- Arnold Schwarzenegger[c]
- Frank Sinatra
- Joseph Smith
- Steven Spielberg
- James Stewart
- Martha Stewart
- Nikola Tesla
- Pat Tillman
- Harry S. Truman
- Donald Trump
- Harriet Tubman
- Mark Twain
- Sam Walton
- George Washington
- John Wayne
- Oprah Winfrey
- Tiger Woods
- Wright brothers
- Chuck Yeager
Top 25[edit]
The top 25 nominees were unveiled on June 26.[13] Of the nominees, the top 20 include:[14]
- Ronald Reagan
- Abraham Lincoln
- Martin Luther King Jr.
- George Washington
- Benjamin Franklin
- George W. Bush
- Bill Clinton
- Elvis Presley
- Oprah Winfrey
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Billy Graham
- Thomas Jefferson
- Walt Disney
- Albert Einstein[a]
- Thomas Edison
- John F. Kennedy
- Bob Hope[b]
- Bill Gates
- Eleanor Roosevelt
- Lance Armstrong
Winner[edit]
In total, the American public cast over 2.4 million votes during the nomination process through telephone lines, text messages, and email correspondence. Ronald Reagan was selected as the greatest American; his son, Ron, suggested his father's death from the previous year as a possible factor. Additionally, Ron commented to Discovery, "I'm sure he would be very honored to be in the company of these great gentlemen."[15][14]
Broadcast[edit]
The series is broken into four episodes: The first episode, which aired on June 5, introduces the top 25 nominees based on the voting results. The second episode, which aired on June 12, features biographies of the top 25 nominees and allows voters to select the top five nominees. The third episode, which aired on June 19, introduces the top five nominees with commentaries from celebrities. In the finale on June 26, the winner of the series is announced.[16]
Reception[edit]
Ann DeFrange of The Oklahoman criticized the top 100 nominees list, calling it "odd" and comparing the celebrities to the historical figures.[17] Likewise, David Shribman of The Blade called many of the top 100 nominees "ludicrous".[18]
Analysis[edit]
In the top 25 nominees list, Andrew Manis believes that it would have been unlikely for Martin Luther King Jr. to land near fifth place had most of the audience "been fully aware of King's radically prophetic theology and social ethics", citing a conservative shift and emergence of the Reagan Revolution in the 1980s.[19] Paul Kengor uses the same list to justify Reagan's high popularity among the general public.[20]
References[edit]
Notes[edit]
Citations[edit]
- ^ "Lauer to Host Discovery's Greatest American". Multichannel News. February 9, 2005. Archived from the original on June 19, 2023. Retrieved June 19, 2023.
- ^ Beauchamp 2010, p. 854.
- ^ Drezner, Daniel W. (January 21, 2005). "The Greatest Americans?". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on June 19, 2023. Retrieved June 19, 2023.
- ^ "Nominees for 'Greatest American' unveiled". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. April 19, 2005. Archived from the original on June 19, 2023. Retrieved June 19, 2023.
- ^ Skillings, Jon (May 12, 2005). "Is Bill Gates the greatest American ever?". CNET. Archived from the original on June 19, 2023. Retrieved June 19, 2023.
- ^ "The Top 100". Discovery Channel. Archived from the original on March 30, 2013. Retrieved June 19, 2023.
- ^ Isaacson 2007, p. 11.
- ^ Isaacson 2007, p. 479.
- ^ Zoglin 2014, p. 28.
- ^ Zoglin 2014, p. 44.
- ^ Leamer 2005, p. 12.
- ^ Leamer 2005, p. 155.
- ^ Glover, Anne (June 26, 2005). "Voters pick Reagan as "Greatest American' on touted Discovery Channel special". Tampa Bay Times. Archived from the original on June 19, 2023. Retrieved June 19, 2023.
- ^ a b Wilson, Jamie (June 27, 2005). "The greatest American? Lincoln? Einstein? No - it's Ronald Reagan". The Guardian. Archived from the original on June 19, 2023. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
- ^ Brands 2015, p. 731.
- ^ "Viewers Pick 'Greatest American'". The Washington Post. June 5, 2005. Archived from the original on June 19, 2023. Retrieved June 19, 2023.
- ^ DeFrange, Ann (June 14, 2005). "List of greatest Americans contains some odd selections". The Oklahoman. Archived from the original on June 20, 2023. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
- ^ Shribman, David (June 12, 2005). "Who will emerge as greatest American?". The Blade. Archived from the original on June 20, 2023. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
- ^ Manis 2008, p. 185.
- ^ Kengor 2009, pp. 103–104.
Works cited[edit]
Books[edit]
- Brands, H. W. (2015). Reagan: The Life. Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-385-53639-4.
- Isaacson, Walter (2007). Einstein: His Life and Universe. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-7394-8903-1.
- Leamer, Laurence (2005). Fantastic: The Life of Arnold Schwarzenegger. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0-312-33338-6.
- Zoglin, Richard (2014). Hope: Entertainer of the Century. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4391-4027-7.
Chapters[edit]
- Kengor, Paul (2009). "Reagan's Legacy, Bush's Burden". In Dunn, Charles W. (ed.). The Enduring Reagan. The University Press of Kentucky. pp. 93–117. ISBN 978-0-8131-2552-7.
- Manis, Andrew (2008). "Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968): The Greatest American (Prophet)". In McSwain, Larry L.; Allen, William Loyd (eds.). Twentieth-Century Shapers of Baptist Social Ethics. Mercer University Press. pp. 185–205. ISBN 978-0-88146-100-8.
Journal articles[edit]
- Beauchamp, Christopher (2010). "Who Invented the Telephone? Lawyers, Patents, and the Judgments of History". Technology and Culture. 51 (4): 854–878. JSTOR 40928028.