I need to come up with a list of people who are either very influential or extremely interesting people of US history. They can't be president or vice presidents though. Everyone keeps telling me about Civil War generals but I really don't find the Civil War very interesting.
Any ideas would be great.
Thanks,
Liz
usaman345
Favorite Answer
Wow! This could be quite an extensive list. A few that come to mind (in no particular order):
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Henry Clay
Alexander Hamilton
Aaron Burr (A VP but this position is not what necessarily made him an important historical figure)
Henry Kissinger
George Marshall
John Calhoun (See explanation for Aaron Burr)
John Marshall
Andrew Carnegie
Robert E. Lee
John Brown
Robert Kennedy
Frederick Douglass
Benjamin Franklin
Thomas Edison
The Beatles (I don't know if entertainers count)
Louis Armstrong (ditto)
John Wayne (ditto)
Shirley Temple (ditto)
Certainly not comprehensive, but I hope it helps.
Dave aka Spider Monkey
Condeleeza Rice
Henry Kissinger
Colin Powell
Bill Gates
Martin Luther King JR
Alan Greenspan
J. Edgar Hoover
Robert Kennedy
Upton Sinclair
Albert Einstein
Elana
Albert Einstein
Rosa Parks
Martin Luther King
Robert F. Kennedy
Alexander Hamilton
Barry Goldwater
Verner Von Braun
Thomas Paine
Oliver Wendel Holmes (and about a quarter of the Supreme Court justices)
Rich
Zachariah Chandler, although not well known today, was one of the most influential people of the 1800's, including the Civil War era. A founder and leader of the Republican Party, Senator for 18 years, Secretary of the Interior, and secret financier of the Underground Railroad, Chandler had an impact on America and the world for decades. Among many other things, he is the single person most responsible for Lincoln being re-elected in 1864 --- and had Lincoln not been re-elected the winner would have been McLellan, and likely he would have negotiated a treaty with the new and permanent Confederate States of American.
If anyone would like to read more about Chandler - not that crap you find online - just drop me an email and I'll send material I have written for a new book about his life: A FORGOTTEN HERO.
richardstill2006@yahoo.com
jamisonshuck
Alexander Hamilton, Ben Franklin, Martin Luther King