I thought it was an interesting list, an eclectic selection of 'leaders' in various ways. If you had to name the 18 people who lived during the 20th century whom you most admire, (limiting the list to public figures), who would be on it? I notice they did not end up with any athletes, musicians or entertainers. I know I wouldn't have any presidents or prime ministers on mine, but I would have a few authors. (Time's Person of the Year, for comparison - though those aren't meant to be 'admirable')Gallup's List of Widely Admired People, a poll of United States citizens to volunteer the names of the individuals whom they most admire, is a list compiled annually by The Gallup Organization. This is the only question that Gallup has asked every year since its founding in the 1930s. In December 1999, they concatenated this information with their final survey for the 20th century, producing a list of eighteen people from the 20th century who are "most admired":
“Now I'm going to read you a list of people who have lived this century. For each one, please tell me if you consider that person to be one of the people you admire most from this century; a person you admire, but not the most; a person you somewhat admire; or someone you do not admire at all... ”
- 1. Mother Teresa
2. Martin Luther King, Jr.
3. John F. Kennedy
4. Albert Einstein
5. Helen Keller
6. Franklin D. Roosevelt
7. Billy Graham
8. Pope John Paul II
9. Eleanor Roosevelt
10. Winston Churchill
11. Dwight Eisenhower
12. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
13. Mahatma Gandhi
14. Nelson Mandela
15. Ronald Reagan
16. Henry Ford
17. Bill Clinton
18. Margaret Thatcher
Also: Top 100 (repeats), 100 Most Influential of the Century