Whom do you admire?

[MithLuin]

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

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')
Also: Top 100 (repeats), 100 Most Influential of the Century

[vison]

11 of them are Americans! Oh, well, I guess it's an American poll, so I shouldn't be surprised.

1. Mother Teresa - I don't admire her at all, quite the contrary
2. Martin Luther King, Jr. - important to Americans, I know
3. John F. Kennedy - nope
4. Albert Einstein -yes
5. Helen Keller - yes
6. Franklin D. Roosevelt - maybe
7. Billy Graham - nope
8. Pope John Paul II -nope
9. Eleanor Roosevelt - yes
10. Winston Churchill - yes
11. Dwight Eisenhower -yes
12. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis - well, she knew how to be discreet
13. Mahatma Gandhi -yes
14. Nelson Mandela -yes
15. Ronald Reagan - nope
16. Henry Ford - why was he admirable?
17. Bill Clinton - a tragic figure, IMHO, waste of brilliance
18. Margaret Thatcher -

[Angbasdil]

1. Mother Teresa - I don't admire her at all, quite the contrary

Care to expound?

[yovargas]

11 of them are Americans! Oh, well, I guess it's an American poll, so I shouldn't be surprised.

1. Mother Teresa - I don't admire her at all, quite the contrary

This made me . I have no idea of your reasons but it reminded me that Ayn Rand really hated people like that (though believe she was before Rand's time - how long has Teresa been well-known?).

It's pretty damn amazing to me that Billy Graham is on the list at all, much less that he beats out the Pope!

[vison]

Why don't I admire Mother Theresa? Because of her opposition to contraception. Living where she did, seeing the appalling suffering of poor women and children, I thought her adherence to what I regard as an insane, cruel, anti-woman policy was sinful.Nothing in her deeds, in my view (and I realize few people will share my view), can erase that.

[yovargas]

Yikes, vison. You think that one disagreed with position tarnishes her entire life?

[Lurker]

1. Mother Teresa - definitely
2. Martin Luther King, Jr. - definitely
3. John F. Kennedy - defenitely
4. Albert Einstein - defenitely
5. Helen Keller - defenitely
6. Franklin D. Roosevelt - nope
7. Billy Graham - somewhat
8. Pope John Paul II - my hero!
9. Eleanor Roosevelt - nope
10. Winston Churchill - definitely
11. Dwight Eisenhower - definitely
12. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis - nope
13. Mahatma Gandhi - definitely
14. Nelson Mandela - definitely
15. Ronald Reagan - somewhat
16. Henry Ford - definitely
17. Bill Clinton - definitely
18. Margaret Thatcher - nope

Vison asks

16. Henry Ford - why was he admirable?

One word : Fordism!
-introduction of the mass assembly line which is still in effect today
-made inexpensive cars during his time, while paying his workers high wages
-introduced the franchise system
-a philantrophist
He is one of the few businessmen I admire which includes Jack Welch of GE, Michael Dell, Sam Walton etc...

[Lurker]

Why don't I admire Mother Theresa? Because of her opposition to contraception. Living where she did, seeing the appalling suffering of poor women and children, I thought her adherence to what I regard as an insane, cruel, anti-woman policy was sinful.Nothing in her deeds, in my view (and I realize few people will share my view), can erase that.

Just because of that.
You have overlooked the work she has done for the poor. She is an example to everybody that you can live without this material things. In fact, contraception is something that other religions not just Catholics don't adhere to. In Asia, children are regarded as blessings, how can you preach "contraception" in a culture which treasures having lots of children. The Catholic Church has a "family planning" program but it's ineffective in countries like India and other parts of Asia. Why do you think China started that one child policy? It's the culture, you can't force people to change their ways unless you put in place drastic measures.

[Primula Baggins]

Ford was also deeply anti-Semitic—for example, publishing the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" in a paper whose content he controlled. Ford did not write the stuff, but it was collected and published as a multivolume book titled The International Jew: The World's Foremost Problem.

So, no, Ford's not on my list. I admire his industrial innovations, but I cannot admire the man.

Edit: Lurker, in most places, where contraception is made available to poor women, they use it. Birth rates have dropped drastically in many Third World countries as women achieve control over contraception.

[Lurker]

Ford was also deeply anti-Semitic—for example, publishing the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" in a paper whose content he controlled. Ford did not write the stuff, but it was collected and published as a multivolume book titled The International Jew: The World's Foremost Problem.So, no, Ford's not on my list. I admire his industrial innovations, but I cannot admire the man.

It's the 1930's I bet, half (maybe even 75%) of the population was anti-Semitic/racists. It was how people were brought up back then. If you are "colored" or a "Jew" you're treated like dirt. (Just to clarify, I'm not a racist. I'm just stating a fact.) If people weren't anti-Semetic at that time then Hitler wouldn't have slaughtered all those Jews in Europe. Even the Roman Catholic Church can be called "anti-semetic" at that time for turning a blind eye on the suffering of the Jewish population in Europe. I'm not proud of that. (I apologize to those who got offended by my comments but it's the truth.)

Edit: Lurker, in most places, where contraception is made available to poor women, they use it. Birth rates have dropped drastically in many Third World countries as women achieve control over contraception.

We are trying to control the population of the third world countries while in the first world our goverments are encouraging higher birth rates. It's so one-sided. Overpopulation is not the problem, it's the economic system of the country which is problem. This earth can support us, it's just that most of the resourses of this planet goes to waste.

[vison]

No, yovargas, it's not just her stance on contraception, but I'm not about to start a flame war over the other things I loathed about her.

[Primula Baggins]

Lurker, just because a reprehensible belief was a common one does not make it any less reprehensible. Ford's contributions to disseminating anti-Semitic literature in the United States could have contributed to weakening our response to the Holocaust and indirectly to the deaths of thousands and thousands of innocent people.

As for the other issue, where women control their child-bearing, most have fewer children. The children have a better chance of being nourished well and educated. The women themselves also have more opportunities to become educated and to contribute to the support of their families (and support themselves when they're widowed). None of this is a bad thing. Westerners are not imposing mandatory contraception on the Third World; in fact, current U.S. policy is basically undermining the effort to even offer it.

Oh, and overpopulation is a problem. Technology lets us squeeze more and more out of the planet, but for what kind of life? The carrying capacity of the Earth is not infinite. It's not even that far away.

[vison]

12 people I admire: (not in order from most to least or least to most):

1. Lester B. Pearson
2. Winston Churchill
3. Harry Trueman
4. Beverly McLachlan
5. My friend Christine
6. Muhammed Yunus
7. Golda Meir
8. Albert Einstein
9. Thomas Jefferson
10. Julia Child
11. Margaret Sanger
12. Alice Munro

That will do for now.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I'm so happy that Prim is around so I don't have to post.

Because she already says all that I would want to say, in case that wasn't clear already.

[Frelga]

Sir V, I thought you came to split the thread!

I started listing people I admire, but it's easier to just link to the HoF's memberlist.

[Cerin]

It's pretty damn amazing to me that Billy Graham is on the list at all, much less that he beats out the Pope!

I can understand why people admire Billy Graham. He devoted his entire live to imparting information that he believed to be vital to people's present and eternal well-being. In other words, he lived to serve others, and he did so effectively. So there you have what I think are two aspects of an admirable life, subjugating one's personal inclinations to a higher goal and making a noticeable impact on the world.

Billy Graham's ministry had a gentleness and graciousness to it; he was not self-aggrandizing or self-seeking (so different, it seems to me, from the televangelists). He also lived his life with a certain moral consistency. I've admired Billy Graham since reading that he established a policy early on of never being alone with a woman other than his wife, ergo, never giving adultery or rumor of adultery the chance to sully his reputation and the effectiveness of his ministry. That kind of determination to live by the principles he espoused impressed me.


I'm surprised that Einstein is on everyone's lists. Of course I understand that his work had an enormous impact on our understanding of physics, but I suppose I attribute that to his intellectual gifts rather than to a surmounting of personal difficulties or a measure of self-sacrifice.

I tend to admire all highly disciplined achievers (I guess those go together), as I am neither.

[JewelSong]

Cerin, I agree with you about Billy Graham. Although I do not agree with his theology, he is a man who walks the walk and doesn't simply talk the talk of what he preaches. And, as you say, unlike the rabid televangelists, he presents himself as a humble servant of God. He's the real deal, as far as I can see.

I may return to this thread with a list of my own.

[Aravar]

1. Mother Teresa - ambivalent, for the reasons Christohper Hitchens has given.

2. Martin Luther King, Jr.- absolutely

3. John F. Kennedy - yes, but for the wrong reasons. Someone who is an anti-communist who manages to persuade people that he was left wing saint and bed Marilyn Monroe to boot must have something going for them. Wouldn't be in my top 20.

4. Albert Einstein -Yes

5. Helen Keller - Who?

6. Franklin D. Roosevelt- Yes, although 39 would have been better than 41.

7. Billy Graham -Yes, but again not in my top 20

8. Pope John Paul II - Yes

9. Eleanor Roosevelt- No, but know little about her.

10. Winston Churchill - top of my list

11. Dwight Eisenhower -yes

12. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis - why?

13. Mahatma Gandhi - I'm with Churchill on this one

14. Nelson Mandela - No, I'm afraid a terrorist is a terrorist. Although I do respect his magnanimity since release.

15. Ronald Reagan - Yes

16. Henry Ford - No

17. Bill Clinton - Immensely likeable, and he has put up with Hilarity, but not especially admirable

18. Margaret Thatcher -I remember the dreadful day that she resigned. I was late for a tutorial and my tutor expressed concern that I might have jumped off Magdalen Bridge.

I'd add Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, Alexander Fleming, Crick and Watson, Lord Denning (an eminent English Judge), Lord Alanbrooke (Chief of the Imperial General Staff in WWII), Lord Salisbury (just sneaks in), Shackleton (a polar explorer), Vaclav Havel, Lech Walesa, Douglas Bader, and, of course HM Queen Elizabeth II.

[axordil]

If 1=most admired and 4=not admired at all

1. Mother Teresa--4 (See note below)
2. Martin Luther King, Jr.--1
3. John F. Kennedy--2
4. Albert Einstein--1
5. Helen Keller--1
6. Franklin D. Roosevelt--1
7. Billy Graham--3
8. Pope John Paul II--3
9. Eleanor Roosevelt--1
10. Winston Churchill--1
11. Dwight Eisenhower--2
12. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis--3
13. Mahatma Gandhi--1
14. Nelson Mandela--1 (See note below)
15. Ronald Reagan--4
16. Henry Ford--3
17. Bill Clinton--3
18. Margaret Thatcher--4

Note 1--Anyone who opposes attempts to reduce poverty because it reduces opportunities to be charitable to the poor is gonna get a 4 from me. Sorry.

Note 2--Remember, successful terrorists, like Mandela and George Washington, get to rewrite the history books. That's only fair, because they rewrote the history behind them.

[Aravar]

Note 2--Remember, successful terrorists, like Mandela and George Washington, get to rewrite the history books. That's only fair, because they rewrote the history behind them.

So what? I still admire neither of them.

Washington was a traitor.