The Trump Administration announced in its final days that a Garden of American Heroes was to be created in Washington. That status of that endeavor is now unclear, but the outgoing administration supplied a list of those who were deemed worthy of inclusion. That list is here:
“The National Garden should be composed of statues, including statues of Ansel Adams, John Adams, Samuel Adams, Muhammad Ali, Luis Walter Alvarez, Susan B. Anthony, Hannah Arendt, Louis Armstrong, Neil Armstrong, Crispus Attucks, John James Audubon, Lauren Bacall, Clara Barton, Todd Beamer, Alexander Graham Bell, Roy Benavidez, Ingrid Bergman, Irving Berlin, Humphrey Bogart, Daniel Boone, Norman Borlaug, William Bradford, Herb Brooks, Kobe Bryant, William F. Buckley, Jr., Sitting Bull, Frank Capra, Andrew Carnegie, Charles Carroll, John Carroll, George Washington Carver, Johnny Cash, Joshua Chamberlain, Whittaker Chambers, Johnny “Appleseed” Chapman, Ray Charles, Julia Child, Gordon Chung-Hoon, William Clark, Henry Clay, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), Roberto Clemente, Grover Cleveland, Red Cloud, William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody, Nat King Cole, Samuel Colt, Christopher Columbus, Calvin Coolidge, James Fenimore Cooper, Davy Crockett, Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., Miles Davis, Dorothy Day, Joseph H. De Castro, Emily Dickinson, Walt Disney, William “Wild Bill” Donovan, Jimmy Doolittle, Desmond Doss, Frederick Douglass, Herbert Henry Dow, Katharine Drexel, Peter Drucker, Amelia Earhart, Thomas Edison, Jonathan Edwards, Albert Einstein, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Duke Ellington, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Medgar Evers, David Farragut, the Marquis de La Fayette, Mary Fields, Henry Ford, George Fox, Aretha Franklin, Benjamin Franklin, Milton Friedman, Robert Frost, Gabby Gabreski, Bernardo de Gálvez, Lou Gehrig, Theodor Seuss Geisel, Cass Gilbert, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, John Glenn, Barry Goldwater, Samuel Gompers, Alexander Goode, Carl Gorman, Billy Graham, Ulysses S. Grant, Nellie Gray, Nathanael Greene, Woody Guthrie, Nathan Hale, William Frederick “Bull” Halsey, Jr., Alexander Hamilton, Ira Hayes, Hans Christian Heg, Ernest Hemingway, Patrick Henry, Charlton Heston, Alfred Hitchcock, Billie Holiday, Bob Hope, Johns Hopkins, Grace Hopper, Sam Houston, Whitney Houston, Julia Ward Howe, Edwin Hubble, Daniel Inouye, Andrew Jackson, Robert H. Jackson, Mary Jackson, John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, Steve Jobs, Katherine Johnson, Barbara Jordan, Chief Joseph, Elia Kazan, Helen Keller, John F. Kennedy, Francis Scott Key, Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther King, Jr., Russell Kirk, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Henry Knox, Tadeusz Kościuszko, Harper Lee, Pierre Charles L’Enfant, Meriwether Lewis, Abraham Lincoln, Vince Lombardi, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Clare Boothe Luce, Douglas MacArthur, Dolley Madison, James Madison, George Marshall, Thurgood Marshall, William Mayo, Christa McAuliffe, William McKinley, Louise McManus, Herman Melville, Thomas Merton, George P. Mitchell, Maria Mitchell, William “Billy” Mitchell, Samuel Morse, Lucretia Mott, John Muir, Audie Murphy, Edward Murrow, John Neumann, Annie Oakley, Jesse Owens, Rosa Parks, George S. Patton, Jr., Charles Willson Peale, William Penn, Oliver Hazard Perry, John J. Pershing, Edgar Allan Poe, Clark Poling, John Russell Pope, Elvis Presley, Jeannette Rankin, Ronald Reagan, Walter Reed, William Rehnquist, Paul Revere, Henry Hobson Richardson, Hyman Rickover, Sally Ride, Matthew Ridgway, Jackie Robinson, Norman Rockwell, Caesar Rodney, Eleanor Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, Betsy Ross, Babe Ruth, Sacagawea, Jonas Salk, John Singer Sargent, Antonin Scalia, Norman Schwarzkopf, Junípero Serra, Elizabeth Ann Seton, Robert Gould Shaw, Fulton Sheen, Alan Shepard, Frank Sinatra, Margaret Chase Smith, Bessie Smith, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Jimmy Stewart, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Gilbert Stuart, Anne Sullivan, William Howard Taft, Maria Tallchief, Maxwell Taylor, Tecumseh, Kateri Tekakwitha, Shirley Temple, Nikola Tesla, Jefferson Thomas, Henry David Thoreau, Jim Thorpe, Augustus Tolton, Alex Trebek, Harry S. Truman, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Dorothy Vaughan, C. T. Vivian, John von Neumann, Thomas Ustick Walter, Sam Walton, Booker T. Washington, George Washington, John Washington, John Wayne, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Phillis Wheatley, Walt Whitman, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Roger Williams, John Winthrop, Frank Lloyd Wright, Orville Wright, Wilbur Wright, Alvin C. York, Cy Young, and Lorenzo de Zavala.”
It’s quite a list. Many worthies are here, some worthier than others, and you can have fun slicing and dicing the names by achievements, sex, ethnicity, veteran status, and all the other categories that come to mind in this age of the imperatively categorical. Take a good look.
Now here is my own list, of those who were not on the Trump administration’s list of American Heroes, but who I think deserve to be on it. I was not satisfied with the original list, feeling it incomplete, and I’ve composed another list, consisting of the names of the Great Overlooked, that include, among others, Fred Astaire and Charlie Chaplin. After some names I’ve added a brief additional remark. The names are not in alphabetical order, but in the order that they came to me.
Fred Astaire (dancer, actor, singer). Unbelievably, he was left out of the original list.
Ginger Rogers (dancer, actress, singer). Another big omission and — as we all know — she did it backwards, and in high heels.
Crazy Horse (Indian warrior). Since Sitting Bull, Red Cloud, and Tecumseh are listed, why was he left out?
Geronimo (same reason). He had to spend his last days imprisoned at Fort Sills, in Lawton, Oklahoma, It’s a dreary place, where servicemen turn themselves in for punishment. Surely Geronimo deserves a statue now.
Cesar Chavez (farmworker organizer). How could the admirable Chavez been left out?
President James Monroe. When I visited his house in Virginia many years ago, the FFV house tour guide, in her soft Virginia accent, pointed to a statue that had, she said, “been given to President Monroe by the people of Colombia in appreciation of the Monroe Doctrine.”
Grace Kelly (actress). She moved to Monaco, lived as a princess, and died on the Riviera’s Corniche), but she’s still an American in my book.
Barbara Stanwyck (actress). Double Indemnity, and so much more.
Jack Lemmon (actor). Some Like It Hot. The Apartment.
Bayard Rustin, who organized the March on Washington, helped MLK in myriad ways, and never got the credit he deserved.
Samuel Eliot Morison (historian of America and of the U.S. Navy).
Bernard Bailyn (historian of early America).
Benny Goodman (musician). Why didn’t he make the original cut?
Fats Waller (musician and singer). Same query. A genius. Died on a train at the age of 39.
Jane Addams (Hull House, social work pioneer).
Hoagy Carmichael (songwriter).
George Gershwin (composer).
Ira Gershwin (lyricist).
Lorenzo da Ponte (librettist for Mozart who ended up as a professor of Italian at Columbia).
Igor Stravinsky (composer). Russia’s loss, our great gain.
Vladimir Nabokov (writer), Again, Russia’s loss, our great gain.
George Balanchine (choreographer). Maria Tallchief is on the original list – so why not Balanchine?
Al Jolson (singer). How could he have been left out?
Eddie Cantor (singer and actor). Same question.
John Marshall (Supreme Court Justice). How was the father of Judicial Review overlooked? Marbury v. Madison. “It is a Constitution we are expounding.”
Paul Freund (law professor).
Felix Frankfurter (law professor, Supreme Court Justice).
Earl Warren (Chief Justice of the Supreme Court).
Oliver Wendell Holmes (Supreme Court Justice)
Walker Evans (photojournalist of Depression-era America).
James Agee (writer). Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, about the Depression. Died at 45.
Enrico Fermi (physicist). Manhattan Project. Italy’s loss, our gain.
Jimmy Durante (actor, singer). “Good night, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are.” One of the best.
Fiorello La Guardia (politician). Mayor of NYC. Raided slot machine parlors. Read the funnies over the radio to NYC children, when there was a newspaper strike.
Oskar Morgenstern (mathematician, economist) should be allowed to join the polymath John von Neumann, who is on the list, and with whom he collaborated on game theory.
William Jennings Bryan (“Cross of Gold” speech, an important political figure during the Mauve Decade).
Horace Greeley (editor).
John Huston (film director). The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.
Orson Welles (film director, actor). The War of the Worlds, Citizen Kane, The Third Man.
Charlie Chaplin (actor). He wasn’t on the original list. For god’s sake.
Buster Keaton (comic).
Stanley Kubrick (movie director). Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Shining.
Preston Sturges (movie director, screenwriter). Sullivan’s Travels, The Great McGinty.
Groucho, Harpo, Chico Marx (comedic actors). What agelast decided to leave them off the list?
Walter Reuther (head of the C.I.O., organized auto strikes).
David Dubinsky (the head of the ILGWU).
Helen Frankenthaler (artist).
Mark Rothko (painter).
Jackson Pollock (painter).
Edward Hicks (over 100 versions of “The Peaceable Kingdom”).
Fats Waller (“Ain’t Misbehavin’,” “Honeysuckle Rose”).
Edward G. Robinson (actor).
Claude Rains (actor).
Gary Cooper (actor).
Alexander Calder (artist, mobile-maker).
Wallace Stevens (poet and insurance executive). Peter Quince At the Clavier.
Lyndon Johnson (President). Civil rights legislation.
John C. Fremont (explorer and first Republican Presidential candidate).
Pierre and Jean Lafitte (pirates, but they helped defend New Orleans from the British in the War of 1812, winning the praise of General Andrew Jackson).
Ted Williams (Babe Ruth but no Ted Williams? See Updike’s “Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu”).
John Updike (novelist).
J. D. Salinger (novelist and short-story writer). The Catcher in the Rye. The Glass Family stories. “Seymour…..is he never wrong?”
John Cheever (novelist and short story wrier). The Wapshot Chronicle, The Wapshot Scandal.
Virginia Dare (first European child born in North America).
Henry Jackson (one of America’s greatest Senators. Author of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment. Died of a heart attack on the evening of the day he learned that a Soviet Mig-23 had shot down a Korean Airlines passenger plane that had strayed into Soviet air space.
Robert Fitzgerald (unsurpassed translator of Odyssey and Iliad, alas, no relation).
Richard Wilbur (poet and translator).
Sammy Davis Jr. (entertainer, hoofer). Another twofer: black and Jewish.
William Maxwell (novelist and editor).
Jacob Riis (How The Other Half Lives). Social reformer, photojournalist.
Leo Szilard (physicist, much-patented). Hungary’s loss, our gain.
Robert Oppenheimer (physicist).
H.L. Mencken, journalist and writer (“The American Language”).
Noah Webster (lexicographer). How was he left out?
Richard Rodgers (composer).
Oscar Hammerstein (lyricist).
Lorenz Hart (lyricist).
Frank Loesser (songwriter). Guys and Dolls.
Damon Runyon (writer).
Perry Miller (historian of pre-Civil War America).
Bunny Berigan (trumpeter). “I Can’t Get Started.”
Bix Beiderbecke (trumpeter). The “young man with a horn.” Died at 28.
Sam Rayburn (Speaker of the House, formed with fellow Texas Senator Lyndon Johnson, a terrific legislative team).
George Meany (head of the A.F.L. for many decades).
Kurt Godel (logician, mathematician, analytic philosopher). Starved himself to death.
W. V. Quine (logician, philosopher).
Billy Wilder (director). Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, with longtime collaborator I.A.L. (Inter-City Algebra League) Diamond.
Ethel Waters (singer). For god’s sake, how was she left out?
Walker Percy (novelist). The Moviegoer: “the horizontal and the vertical search.”
Nathanael West (writer), Miss Lonelyhearts, The Day of the Locust. Died at 37 in a car crash. Brother-in-law of S. J. Perelman.
S. J. Perelman (humorist).
William Lloyd Garrison (journalist, abolitionist, suffragist, social reformer).
There were four people I left off my list because something about them repelled me. First, Louis Agassiz, for his belief, despite all the contrary evidence presented to him, in polygenism and the race theories to which that gave rise. Second, Bing Crosby, who abused – beat up – his children, two of whom later committed suicide. Third, Ezra Pound, who was an antisemite, fascist, and traitor, who made propaganda broadcasts, hair-raisingly antisemitic, full of praise for Hitler and Mussolini, during World War II. After the war, to avoid being brought to trial for treason, he feigned mental illness. The study by Dr. E. Fuller Torrey, a psychiatrist who had access to the 12 years of Pound’s medical records at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, presents overwhelming evidence that Pound was faking his mental illness, aided and abetted by some members of the hospital staff. Fourth, Noam Chomsky, for his leftward lunacy, his praise of Cuban, Nicaraguan, and — for a time — Venezuelan dictators, and his deep hostility to Israel.
Perhaps you’d like to create your own list of Overlooked Worthies. If so, please post your suggestions below. I’d love to learn more about those whom both I, and the U.S. government, have overlooked.
K. Harapriya says
No Lucille Ball?
Hugh Fitzgerald says
You are right. Sorry. I made my list all at one go, but that’s no excuse.
Infidel says
I don’t agree w/ putting Lyndon Johnson on the list: he took us into Vietnam, the only war in history that we ever undeniably lost!
Charlie Chaplin – I thought that he was British. Wasn’t the garden supposed to be of American heroes?
Hugh Fitzgerald says
I just checked. You are right. Sorry.
gravenimage says
True about Chaplin–I noted that below. But Chaplin did all of his greatest work here, and was enormously influential on film–even today.
He did some of his earliest work in Niles, California, right near me (now part of Fremont), before enventually decamping to Los Angeles. They hold a Chaplin film festival there every year.
barbaracvm1 says
Johnson is also responsible for ordering the attack on the USS Liberty. He wanted to have reputation of a great ‘war time president’. REMEMBER THE USS LIBERTY by Phillip Harris goes into detail how he schemed and lied to cover his traitorous actions.
gravenimage says
Israel attacked the USS LIbety in error, and apologized for the mistake.
I am no particular fan of Johnson, but the claim that he ordered the Israelis to deliberately murder Americans is calumny against both the president and Israel.
And what possible startegic reason could he have for ordering one of our greatest allies to kill Americans? This makes no sense at all.
Mike says
I’ve received and seen many comments
by the time the list it done everyone will be pissed off
I made a list and it was many people all without faces
We only list people of fame
how about the person who everyday goes to work to keep your lights on
the janitors who clean the hospitals
I can go on
there’s a lot of people we never see and don’t even think twice about
the no bodies
the essential people behind the seen that made it possible for the likes of Orson Welles
We put people of pedestals only they only made it to where they made it on the backs of others
SO WHAT WE NEED IS A GARDEN OF STATUES AND EVERY FACE IS A MIRROR
The doctor, Nurse, bagger, trash collectors, cashiers, shelf stockers
Everyone in this country contributes to the country’s greater good (except the left)
To think otherwise is nothing more then what the left has been pushing just by a different person
don’t like it to bad
somehistory says
I tend to agree with you. some of the names on the official list are names of stinkers…like rbg.
and many others left off of people who contributed a lot.
Just make statutes of people who could be anyone anyone would want to be there…one could imagine their own parents, or brothers, sisters or just a really great friend.
Mirror faces might just work. None of those named were without parents and others who helped and supported them, people behind the scenes.
somehistory says
Sorry I made statues into statutes.
Infidel says
statues into statutes – ??????????????
Infidel says
I have mixed opinions about Whitney Houston being on the list. On one hand, the songs that she sang in the 80s were actually wholesome, and the stuff that role models are made of. But after her marriage to Bobby Brown and her lifelong narcotics addiction, which ultimately resulted in not just her own death, but some years later, her daughter’s death as well, I’m not sure that she’s the person who should be there
I think the reason that people like FDR, RGB, et al are there is for Dems to not feel left out. Only thing – they are a vindictive lot, and the presence of some of their heroes is in no way gonna warm them up to the other heroes who happen to be there
somehistory says
If I could actually do that…literally….it would be something. not so easily torn down.
gravenimage says
Mike, I agree about unsung heroes. In San Francisco’s Washington Square near Coit Tower there is a statue commisioned by Lily Coit commemorating the bravery of generations of San Francisco firefighters:
https://www.artandarchitecture-sf.com/put-in-coit-tower-link-at-last-word-before-posting.html
Then there is the monument to the Unknown Soldier. I’m sure there are other examples. I’m sure there are other examples.
william a carr says
Well if you are going to include all the actors, actresses and entertainers you personally like, it is going to be a very crowded park. These people made a good living doing what they enjoyed, and after all, they have their monuments in the archive of recordings and films, we can still enjoy today.
mortimer says
Americans really want a knighthood, but don’t have an equivalent, so they go for ideas like this to recognize the outstanding activities of individuals.
Hugh Fitzgerald says
I just noticed that I listed Fats Waller twice Well, he was a very big man.
IanB says
Maybe dedicate the duplicate entry to Honeysuckle Rose …
The Mighty Rhino says
The blues musicians Son House, Charley Patton, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and Sonny Boy Williamson II deserve consideration, as do the soul singers Frankie Lymon, Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, Curtis Mayfield, Bill Withers, Solomon Burke, Sam Moore, and Stevie Wonder.
Check Burry says
Chuck Berry?
Well I had to!
Cornelius says
Bob Dylan…..Nat King Cole…..Jack Nicolson….among others.
Hugh Fitzgerald says
I agree about Bob Dylan. I’d argue about the others.
And had I thought more clearly, I would have had many more paitrers, especially from the 19th century: Frederic Church, Thomas Cole, Fitz Hugh Lane, Asher Durand, William Harnett, George Caleb ingham, George Inness, Winslow Homer. Clearly, I was not thinking about painters, — no excuse — but much more about musicians and actors, when I made my list.
Hugh Fitzgerqald says
Painters, not “paitrers.” Bingham, not “Ingham.”
Infidel says
Both the Teslas should be in the list – the original scientist Nikola Tesla, as well as the 80’s glam metal rock band Tesla
revereridesagain says
Ayn Rand, who defended the American sense of life and the first government in history built upon the rational basis for the inalienable rights of human beings.
But of course the rest of you think you Father is roasting her in “hell”. Never mind.
Infidel says
I’d have Ayn Rand on the list
I do wonder whether Biden will can this, or replace it w/ all the miscreants we’ve had in history? Starting w/ Benedict Arnold and ending w/ Chelsea Manning
owensgate says
Chelsea Manning? Don’t you mean Bradley?
Keith O says
Infidel, I reckon sleazy Joe would put his hero’s, like George Floyd or that other sleaze bag Michael Jackson on the list, or even himself!
Mike says
I made a list and it was many people all without faces
We only list people of fame
how about the person who everyday goes to work to keep your lights on
the janitors who clean the hospitals
I can go on
there’s a lot of people we never see and don’t even think twice about
the no bodies
the essential people behind the seen that made it possible for the likes of Orson Welles
We put people of pedestals only they only made it to where they made it on the backs of others
So what we need is that garden of statues and every face is a mirror
The doctor, Nurse, bagger, trash collectors, cashiers, shelf stockers
Everyone in this country contributes to the country’s greater good (except the left)
To think otherwise is nothing more then what the left has been pushing just by a different person
don’t like it to bad
Tony Naim says
No country has done to improve the human condition more than the USA ( president Trump).
American-Lebanese who contributed to this great American experiment: Danny Thomas ( St Jude pediatric cancer research hospital)- Micheal DeBakey ( pioneer in heart disease treatment)
Khalil Gibran ( poet and philosopher-The prophet) and never forget Micheal Monsoor ( marine hero who lost his life in Iraq)
gravenimage says
+1
Christpher Watson says
May I put forward one of my ancestors, Anne Eugenie Magnus (1874-1936) who went to Hollywood in 1913 as a screenwriter. She wrote 22 films, directed 2 and also wrote 2 operas. She had three husbands, the last being S. Fred Hogue, a feature writer for the Los Angeles Times in the 1930s. She is little know unfortunately.
Infidel says
I didn’t look closely at the original list, but I’d add people who were instrumental in the invention and the evolution of the electronics and computer industries. Like William Shockley, Sherman Fairchild, Robert Noyce, Gordon Moore, Andy Grove, Seymour Cray, Ada Lovelace, Grace Murray Hopper, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Ken Thomson, James Gosling, John Postel, Vint Cerf, Eric Raymond, Bill Hewlett, Dave Packard, Scott McNealy, Jim Clark, Marc Andressen and Steve Jobs
I know that tech ain’t a favorite these days for us on the Right, but the people above spawned a revolution that’s completely changed this country – mostly for the better, although lately for the worse. I would have added some more people, had they not become woketivists today or wrecked our economy – Bill Gates, Larry Page, Sergei Brin, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos
Hugh Fitzgerald says
You have to be both American, and deceased, to have a statue in the Garden of American Heroes. So Gates, Page, Brin, Musk, Bezos, and some listed in the first paragraoh wouldn’t qualify. . And Ada Lovelace is dead, but she’s not American.
But I take your point: I left out. unforgivably, inventors, entrepreneurs, medical pioneers..
Infidel says
Correction – it should have been ‘Jon Pastel’, not John – the guy who allocated and maintained the registry of internet protocol addresses (IPv4)
Also, James Gosling and Brian Kernighan wouldn’t qualify – they’re Canadian. My bad!
The living people on my list who’d otherwise imo deserve the award –
Marc Andressen – inventor of the first NCSA Mosaic web browser and founder of Netscape
Jim Clark – founder of 4 companies, including Silicon Graphics, the pioneer in computer animations, as well as Netscape
Scott McNealy – founder of Sun Microsystems, which was the leader in Unix computing and created Java (created by James Gosling)
Eric Raymond – pioneer of the concept of open source computing, and author of the book ‘The Cathedral and the Bazaar’
Vint Cerf – one of the founders of the internet
Robert Metcalfe – inventor of ethnernet – the layer 2 standard on which much of the internet runs (I overlooked him in my first list)
Ken Thomson – one of the inventors of Unix
Gordon Moore – one of the founders of Intel, and observer of Moore’s law (the number of transistors in a chip doubles every 2 years)
gravenimage says
Steve Jobs?
My own suggests for inventers would be Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Graham Bell, the Wright brothers, and–perhaps most of all–Thomas Edison.
Infidel says
Steve Jobs, in addition to founding Apple, also founded Pixar and NEXT Computers. The former is now a part of Disney, and NEXT Computers, while they lasted, were fabulous workstations in their own right, albeit w/ some shortcomings. But unlike most Unix workstations at the time, they were incredibly easy to use, and gave one an insight into the whole file system. And of course, he brought Apple back from the dead – it was floundering when he took over, while some key products that he introduced – like the iPod, iPad and the iPhone – shot that company from the dumps to the most valuable company in the NYSE
Being from the computer industry, I put together a list of the people who were its pioneers. I’m sure others could put together lists of similar trailblazers in other industries – cars, aircraft, home appliances, and other classes of products
I checked – your list is already included in President Trump’s list above
gravenimage says
Thanks, Infidel.
Infidel says
Oh, and Steve Jobs is there too – checked the list again!
gravenimage says
Thanks again.
tgusa says
Check out the Apple Mac super bowl commercial from 1984. I got in to computers in the early days because I thought it would open up a whole new frontier of easily accessed information for the people. Now look what the tech giants have become. This is not what we believed it would lead to way back then.
tgusa says
And by a free flow of easily accessed information I mean the good, the bad and the ugly. Yep, you have to know whats going on to know whats going on. In those early days censorship would have been considered the antithesis to all that some were trying to accomplish.
Infidel says
Apple as a company had a checkered history, but the 80s and 90s were a wild ride. There were legions of companies making computer systems, most proprietary, and servicing different markets and customers. If you recall, there were over 100 PC manufacturing companies in the 90s. Some consolidation was inevitable, but what we have today is too little.
As far as information exchange goes, we first had the Usenet and IRC when I was in college: I recall spending hours on newsgroups, it was so addictive – but one great thing it did – it made me a fast typist. Then I’d participate in discussion groups for online magazines, like BYTE, but was generally largely offline. Then in the 00s, I discovered YouTube, JihadWatch and other such sites, and got back there, and haven’t looked back since
One thing I have stayed away from is social media. In 2015, I did have a Twitter account, and was suspended for using the term ‘rapefugee’ – the popular term used for muslim ‘refugees’ in Europe who merrily go about raping local women. At the time, I also saw a number of my followers and people I followed (followees?) getting banned, so in solidarity w/ them, I deleted my Twitter account. Have both Gab and Parler
You’re right – in the 90s, not only would censorship have been considered anathema, but also, people at the time hated commercials being hosted on websites, much less interrupting their browsing. Google made commercials the mainstay of monetizing the internet
tgusa says
The first home computer I encountered was through a girl I was dating in the mid 80s. Her dad had it hidden in the back of a walk in closet.She showed it to me but wouldn’t let me touch it. I almost immediately thought, ok, what does this guy do for a living? For the first ten years I got computers from a friend whose business would periodically throw away units. My first one, I cant be sure about the specs, was a 386 with a 16mhz processor with an under 100 mb hard drive and a whopping 4 mb of ram. I think it had a 2400 bps modem. I would take them apart and put them back together just for something to do. In those days you could find music posted by people on personal sites and download them, I still have those. It would take hours to download a song so I usually started that just before I went to bed. When looking for info you had to weed out the postings that contained wrong information first. You could almost feel the emptiness of the internet back then. I built my first purchased pc in the 90s. It is a lot different now.
Rarely says
No such list would be complete without Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith, the co-founders of Alcoholics Anonymous — one of the most important positive movements of the 20th Century.
What about all the Nobel Prize winners?
People whose only claim to fame is acting in movies or playing baseball? Might as well put Peter Pan and the Wizard of Oz on the list. Save room for my Uncle Jack who learned to tie his own shoes at age 2.
Crusades Were Right says
What! No Robert E. Lee?
“Damned Yankees!” lol
Infidel says
If ‘deceased’ weren’t a requirement, I’d include the rock group ‘Damn Yankees’ in the garden. Although if a member has moved b/w groups, like Damn Yankees to Night Rider, how would one mark that? ?
Ray Jarman says
How about Flannery O’Connor, Eugene O’Neil, Tennessee Williams and Edith Wharton? I must say that I was surprised to see Whitaker Chambers on the original list since he is so seldom mentioned for his autobiography, “Witness.”
Hugh Fitzgerald says
I agree with you about Flannery O’Connor, the muse of Milledgevile. Peacocks at Andalusia, the state insane asylum nearby. I think teachers of literature and many parents in this country should read her piece “Total Effect and the Eighth Grade” in her collection “Mystery and Manners.” Her letters, especially to “A,” are also very good, collected in “The Habit of Being.” She should have been on my list.
”
About Eugene O-Neill, I haven’t read him since I was 15 or 16. I think he wouldn’t get a statue in any case — there’s “The Emperor Jones” standing in his way. Whenever I run across his name, I think not of his plays but of his daughter Oona, and of her going out with the cartoonist Peter Arno, and then — amazingly –with J. D. Salinger for a brief period ,before marrying Charlie Chaplin in 1943, when he was 54 and she was 18. Not quite Aisha and Muhammad, but close. Gosh, what those Brearley girls get themselves into after they graduate, and sometimes before.
Tennessee Williams – I’d trade him for Eudora Welty. The Optimist’s Daughter. Some of her essays. Why I Live At the P.O. She was born and lived and died in the same house in Jacksonville.That’s a comforting thought.
Edith Wharton, aside from her scandalous dalliance with Morton Fuller –talk about “The Mount”!–was, in my view, too friendly with, and influenced by, Henry James, whose prose, either H.G.Wells or J. Middleton Murry once wrote, reminded him of “a hippopotamus trying to pick up a pea.”
gravenimage says
Despite the great age difference, Oona O’Neil and Charlie Chaplin actually had a great marriage–they had eight children and remained married until his death in 1977–34 years. She was young when they married, but no child. That makes a very important difference.
owensgate says
I would remove LBJ and FDR.
I would add Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland.
I would DEFINATELY add Robert E. Lee, perhaps the most honorable General ever to come out of West Point.
Infidel says
I think the reason Robert E Lee was left out was to avoid making such a list controversial, and a riot magnet the next time around. Agreed – that rioters targeted even statues of Lincoln, Grant and Hegg, but the idea was to avoid giving them even the pretext to protest
I agree w/ you about removing LBJ and FDR
CogitoErgoSum says
It is odd that Sitting Bull, Red Cloud and Chief Joseph would be included but Crazy Horse would be left out. These men fought against being a part of the United States. But then so did Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. In the end the Indians and the Confederates WERE Americans and they should be counted as such and Lee and Jackson were heroes just as much as the Indian leaders were (although Red Cloud is a bit dubious in my estimation).
Beneath the Veil of Consciousness says
What about Louis Farrakhan?
Famed neo-nazi muslim.
Infidel says
Isn’t idols of muslims haram? That should eliminate the need to make statues of any of the members of NOI
E T says
How about Karry Mullis the genius who won the Nobel Prize – discovered the PCR test and said it should NEVER be used to diagnose a disease in a human. He did call Fauci a liar and said where he is involved just follow the money.
Infidel says
I think the person has to be deceased
E T says
Karry Mullis died in 2019, if he were alive Fauci would be in hiding and all this COVID nonsense would have disappeared. Klaus Schwab keeps pushing pandemics, climate change and lockdowns – the Great Reset. vile madmen spreading fear.
I love O Henry and Robert Service
Rarely says
Tell the 2 million people (including 400,000+ Americans) who have died from COV-19 to date that it is “nonsense”. I suspect you are not one to follow the protocols. If you get it you’ll be a real Typhoid Mary. Great contribution.
E T says
And I suspect you are an ass kissing Liberal fear monger.
RonaldB says
It’s a mistake to look to government to maintain a list of heroes who define the American experience. Chances are, Biden is going to either abolish the list, or lard it over (more than it is already) with affirmative-action mediocrities.
The whole point of the American experiment is that government serve as defender of rights and defender of the country, and the people serve as the engines of culture and progress. Make your own list. Better yet, make a list illustrating American historical destiny and philosophy, and use logic and facts to convince schools to adopt it. Bypass the coercive hand of government altogether. For instance, do we want serial philanderer, communist and woman-abuser Martin Luther King, as an American hero? Maybe yes, maybe no. It’s a decision to be made by your cultural group, not by your government.
Infidel says
I get your point, but the reason this thing was announced last Independence Day was that the woke Left – Antifa and BLM – were busy destroying statues of anybody and everybody everywhere. Due to all the controversy, the president came out w/ this idea
This idea is not a bad one – have a garden in DC that will have statues of all the people to date who’ve changed this country for the better. Different cities all over the country can put different people in their town squares. Problem w/ doing what you suggested is that too many companies have already gone woke, either voluntarily, or out of fear. If we leave it to them, we’ll still get what you feared – that the only statues we’ll have will be affirmative action mediocrities
gravenimage says
+1
Ewanda says
I would include CARL SAGAN – who made astronomy watchable and entertaining for BILLIONS of us earthlings.
Robert Spencer says
John Coltrane.
Thelonious Monk.
Warren G. Harding.
Rita Hayworth.
Hugh Fitzgerald.
Those are the names that leap to mind right away.
owensgate says
Gerry Garcia!
gravenimage says
🙂
Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY) says
Shouldn’t honors like these be reserved for people who benefit society in a singular way but are not otherwise famous? Queen Elizabeth II does not think so: she passes out knighthood to the likes of Sir Ringo Starr and Sir Elton John, who, being famous by the nature of their work, hardly need a fame enhancement. It would be better to honor the obscure whose achievement is of great general benefit.
Walter Sieruk says
As for America history many of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America based the foundation of the New American government on Bible based Christian ethics ,precepts and principles and not ,at all on Qu ‘ran based ideas and “values” as the many propagandists for Islam so falsely claim.
In addition the second President of the USA ,John Adams had made this very clear when he wrote
“The general principles upon which the Fathers achieved independence were general principles of Christianity …. I will avow that I believe that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.
somehistory says
+100
James Lincoln says
I definitely agree with Hugh Fitzgerald’s addition of baseball’s Ted Williams. Arguably, the greatest hitter that ever lived with the unbelievable achievement of hitting .406 in 1941. Williams, a true patriot, also flew 39 combat missions in Korea.
I’d also include the late “Chuck” Yeager a retired brigadier general in the United States Air Force, World War II fighter ace, and noted test pilot. In 1947, he became the first pilot to travel faster than sound.
There are many others…
Hugh Fitzgerald says
I’m glad we agree on Ted Williams. And about Chuck Yeager., too. Had I not rushed through composing my list, he would certainly have been on it.
somehistory says
There is a verse in the Bible about heroes. Isaiah 5:22
“Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine
And valiant men in mixing strong drink,”
Source: https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Heroes
Other Bible verses are about people who did great things to further the Truth or worked to save people from evil things.
No one making a list of people who were Americans and are considered “heroes” by the one making the list, would be able to satisfy everyone else. Someone “important” would be left off and some rotten characters would be included.
A lot has been accomplished….in medicine, in communications, photography, and other fields. But, not everyone who worked to make these things happen have ever become famous, whereas many people are famous because someone with a platform saw that one as important.
I can’t really imagine caring who is eventually recognized in this ‘garden.’
Besides, there are a lot more important things than building statues of dead people, especially today.
William Charles Wright says
I would place highly James Watson, co-discoverer off DNA, along with Francis Crick of the UK. The ‘secret code’ of life. Amazing omission.
William Charles Wright says
Robert Spencer and Victor David Hanson both are on my list unlockin the ‘secrets of human history’ like James Watson whose name I gave earlier who with Francis Crick, unlocked the genetic code of DNA the secret of life.
E T says
Antifa and BLM will tear it down, just like when Obama removed so many History books. The democrats should change their party name to the Demolition Party.
St. Croix says
Edward Hopper, 20th century artist, had a lot to say about “America” of the era.
James McNeil Whistler, though living as an ex-pat most of his professional life, still he was American, and amazing.
Martha Graham, dance pioneer.
This is not one person, it’s a group The Shakers. Strange, innovative, inventive people who left their mark in a myriad of ways (seed packets! flat brooms! rotary harrows! circular saw! — courtesy of Sarah Babbitt, a tool maker and inventor). They didn’t patent their inventions, as they wanted everyone to benefit from their work.
I’m not sure statues are the best way to remember all these wonderful people…though, it is making an emphatic point when we create a statue of someone. Making movies, films, books, poems, paintings, plays, songs, to commemorate people is something we already do. A statue is a strong statement, and less destructible–supposedly–than a more fragile art piece. It represents the values a people want to point to, and hopefully, endure.
gravenimage says
A Lesson In American History
……………
Great lists, from both President Trump and Hugh Fitzgerald!
One can, of course, argue a few of these names–including, perhaps, Charlie Chaplin, mostly because he was not actually an American, although he did all his greatest work here.
But far more than arguing the exact makeup of the Garden of American Heroes, I just love the whole concept. In an era where all too many are tearing things down–literally and figuratively–these are celebrations of the Americans who have embodied our greatness, and deserve to be honored.
somehistory says
Ok, here’s a few for a mental garden…since they likely wouldn’t be included in any real one.
Mary K Rawlings
Stephen Foster
The Florida doctor whose name I do not know who invented air conditioning so his patients could keep cool. Willis Carrier made the first ‘modern” a/c, but a doctor in Florida made one for his patients.
Gregory Peck
William Powell
Zane Grey
Earle S Gardner
James Arness …Gunsmoke wouldn’t have been the same without him and television wouldn’t have been the same without the show.
Raymond Burr…he was for Perry Mason what Arness was for Gunsmoke. And fantastic in Rear Window
The Nelson Family, Ozzie, Harriet, David and Ricky
somehistory says
I forgot Danny Thomas…for St Jude Children’s Hospital. They have saved a lot of children’s lives.
somehistory says
read and read, but surprised Burt Lancaster and Henry Fonda don’t appear. on a list. If they do, I missed them.
gravenimage says
Somehistory, that would be Dr. John Gorrie. Guess what? He *does* have a statue in the National Statutory Hall collection:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gorrie#/media/File:Gorrie.jpg
somehistory says
Thank you very much, g.
I could not remember…too many years since I first heard it. I had looked briefly, but gave up. Too soon, so thank you. He sure made a big difference in countless lives.
gravenimage says
Thanks, Somehistory. Yes, he should be much better known.
owensgate says
Gary Sinise – One of the very few honorable Hollywood personages who has done so much for our military.
Tim, an ex- grunt says
No Mountain Men? John Colter, Jedediah Smith, Hugh Glass, Jim Bridger, etc. And did I miss Lewis & Clark?
Bill Christian says
Lyndon B. Johnson should not be on it. The Johnson Amendment is a provision in the U.S. tax code, since 1954, that prohibits all 501 non-profit organizations from endorsing or opposing political candidates. Section 501 organizations are the most common type of nonprofit organization in the United States, ranging from charitable foundations to universities and churches.
He did this because many churches in Texas had pastors that preach do not vote for him in his Senate run. He was getting even with them.
Freedom of Religion IS the freedom of religion not freedom from religion
somehistory says
I would be classified as a “theorist”…but ever since johnson was around, he seemed
very sleazy. Then, JFK was murdered, and johnson looked at Jackie with such lust while they were standing next to each other….I believe he had everything to do with the murder of the president. He wanted the power and he had some idea he could get the woman.
He was no hero. “Lady Bird” did more to make Texas a good place with her wildflower planting.
In the month of March, the land is beautiful with all kinds, in all colors. Everywhere beside the highways…for miles and miles.
Caroline Rausch says
Two great Americans are Golda Meir and Maria Callas (yes, she was born in the USA).
I have two favorite writers — one is Will Durant, who wrote “The Story of Philosophy” which needed eleven years of research and three years of actual writing — since its publication, it has become one of the best loved books of our time and is used in many schools in teaching philosophy classes. The second is Edith Hamilton who has won an exalted place through her books on the culture of the ancient world. She learned Latin and Greek, graduated from Bryn Mawr in1894 and did graduate work at the University of Munich, to which she was the first woman ever admitted. For 25 years she was head Mistress at Bryn Mawr in Baltimore. It was not until 1930, when she was 60, that she began her writing career with The Greek Way, The Roman Way, The Prophets of Israel, Mythology, Three Greek Plays and Witness to the Truth. She won the National Achievement Award in 1950, received honorary degrees of Doctor of Letters from the University of Rochester and the University of Pennsylvania and was a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters. She regarded as the high point of her life a 1957 ceremony in which King Paul of Greece awarded her the Golden Cross of the Order of Benefaction and made her an honorary citizen of Athens. She died in Washington in May, 1963.
I should also like to recommend Saul K. Padover for his stupendous, excellent, famous biography of Thomas Jefferson — there is no better. Padover was born in Hungary in 1905, but his father was an American and he lived and worked and wrote in America since the age of 15.
I would also like to recommend the opera singers Leontyne Price, Jessye Norman, Renee Fleming, Reri Grist, Thomas Hampson and Thomas Stewart — all masters of their chosen profession with world-wide acclaim.
Also, Ingrid Bergman (Sweden), Christopher Columbus (Italian), Albert Einstein (German), Marquis de Lafayette (French), Alfred Hitchcock British), Enrico Fermi, (Italian) Igor Stravinsky (Russian), George Balanchine born in Saint Petersburg, Russia (name: Georgiy Melotonovitvh Balanchivadze), Mark Rothko was born in Latvia (Marcus Rothkovitch), and some others I have never heard about which are probably not Americans — if this is to be a garden of American achievements, then those who are shown should be authentic Americans, not those who came here and used our American facilities to become famous.
I have some more opinions, but no time now to continue — so until later.
somehistory says
How about the lady who taught me how to read and write proper English…in first grade?
How about the lady who taught me how to touch-type in ninth grade?
How about the high school coach who taught me how to drive, following the law and rules of the road, when I was fifteen?
Each person has those people who are most important to her/him. Some famous, some not so.
But we all benefit from worthwhile contributions made by the ordinary person as well as those with extraordinary talents/opportunities. No actual garden of statues could possibly represent everyone who made a difference.
B, Christian says
Lyndon B. Johnson should not be on this list
– Did you know there’s a little-known amendment that has been restricting the First Amendment rights of churches and faith-based organizations for more than 60 years. LBJ pushed that law through to get even with Christian Clergy who did not support him in. ** It is freedom of Religion NOT Freedom from Religion ***
– Pushed us into the Vietnam war for his political gain. see book The Lost Mandate of Heaven: The American Betrayal of Ngo Dinh Diem, President of Vietnam
– Setup system to hamper African American progress.
Caroline Rausch says
Lyndon Johnson was one of the most evil men who ever lived. He was involved int the murder of JFK whom he hated. Put him on a list of American villains.
RichardL says
the godfather of soul is missing, isn’t he? Only guy who could ever make me dance.
Stan and Ollie
All Peanuts
Aussie Infidel says
I would nominate:
FROM THE FIELD OF SCIENCE;
Carl Sagan, astronomer and cosmologist. Sagan’s TV series Cosmos – one of the best documentaries ever produced popularizing cosmology.
Cosmos Episode 1: The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean.
https://vimeo.com/251303378
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Carl+Sagan+-+Cosmos&iax=videos&ia=videos&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DFT_nzxtgXEw
Astronomer Jim Gunn, professor of Astrophysics at Princeton university who developed the Four Shooter CCD camera for the 200 inch Hale telescope at Mt Palomar Observatory. The instrument has revolutionized the search for distant galaxies and quasars.
https://authors.library.caltech.edu/54177/1/268779.pdf
A more popular account of this instrument can be found in Richard Preston’s book First Light.
https://richard-preston.net/book/first-light/
Hedy Lamarr, Hollywood actress, who also played a part in developing WIFI technology during the dark days of WWII.
FROM THE WORLD OF ENTERTAINMENT:
Danny Kaye, comedian and actor:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90smtgeUI3g
Danny’s performances in the Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and The Court Jester must surely be some of the best in the history of comedy.
Danny with Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman & Co – That’s How Jazz Was Born.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVmkCfrhqns
Glenn Miller – 1940’s band leader. One of the best known musicians of the Swing Era. Millions of Miller’s fans would have danced to his signature tune ‘Moonlight serenade’:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9nItq6gjW8
And the ever popular ‘In the Mood’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2aqHGaSxRI
Chattanooga Choo Choo – Sun Valley Serenade (1941)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2aj0zhXlLA
Sadly Miller’s aircraft went missing over the English Channel in 1944, when he was flying to entertain troops during WWII.
Bob Crosby – (Bing’s younger brother) whose band the Bobcats was a dixieland/swing band, also quite famous during the Swing Era. As an old clarinetist I would rate the clarinet solo by Matty Matlock in this version of The March of the Bobcats, as one of the best jazz performances of all time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvSlVZ1G6Rk
Artie Shaw, another clarinetist and Big band leader. His signature tune was the Cole Porter number, Begin The Beguine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCYGyg1H56s
Nat King Cole, pianist and singer. One of my favorites is his version of Mona Lisa.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql0HpLGT_9M
I could nominate many more, but they would have to expand that garden.
tgusa says
Modern times? Donald Bitzer and Gene Slottow assisted by graduate student Robert Wilson for their invention of the flat screen TV which would lead to flat screen everything. The first prototype was announced July 1964.
Throt the Unclean says
I would have included the big three antebellum pols of Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and John C. Calhoun. No reason why Confederates should be excluded if Indian chiefs are in the garden, but after Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson should any other rebels make the list?
Baseball players who are also American icons ought to include Yogi Berra and Joe DiMaggio.
For musicians, Rachmaninoff moved to the US. Scott Joplin would be a solid choice for ragtime. Hank Williams gave us a lot of great songs.
Most of the Hollywood choices are not wholesome, but how about Cecil B. DeMille?
Check Burry says
Ive heard Hank Williams was Canadian. Confirm please.
gravenimage says
Hank Williams was definitely American, Check–born in Alabama.
Speaking of musicians, I like your witty username.
Check Burry says
Thanks for that , he has always sounded to me like an American accent, not Canadian. Lost Highway is my favorite as its quite bluesy, Blues being my obsession some 58 years since I was old enough to hear, Chuck, Elv, Jerry, Fats, Richard, Carl, Billy C Riley, Sonny Burgess,. who took me to blues, due to many of their earlier & B sides being that.
Caroline Rausch says
Yehudi Menuhin was born in the Bronx of New York City on April 22, 1916. He is indeed a hero who brought much glory to America and the entire music world. H was a genius.
Genius remains a mystery. There can be supreme technical skill, originality, intelligence, and yet an absence of genius. Initially the word signified an attendent spirit, an animate power that gives to a very few human beings the secret of radiance. The ordinary man casts a shadow. In a way we do not quite understand, the man of genius casts light. Menuhin’s radiance is tangible to anyone near him, but also to those who crowd the farthest row of a concert hall. The fineness of his features, the economy and elegance of the gestures which surround his performance are important, of course, but the force lies much deeper. Menuhin has made of the music he produces a total expression and embodiment of his being, and he invites his hearers to encounter the world with a sovereign courtesy of heart.
As a child prodigy, Yehudi was soon a phenomenon in Europe as well as in America. At a concert at Albert Hall on Nov. 10th, 1929, a small flaxen haired boy, the 12 year old Jewish American violinist Yehudi Menuhin held thousands spellbound for more than two hours, playing a program capable of taxing the greatest artists, yet he remained cool and assured. At the end of the concert, people flocked up to the platform, firemen had to keep the crowd back, the cheers and applause were deafening. The ausience refused to leave, even after Menuhin had given three encores, the light had been turned off and he piano closed, and the young artist had come back wearing his coat to bow his thanks. Still the cheering continued until the boy came back again with his violin. The lights were switched on, the piano opened, and the crowd swept back and Menuhin played yet another encore. Finally the lights all over had to be turned off before the people would leave.
At a cncert in Berlin, Albert Einstein surged across the stage afterwards proclaiming to the boy wonder that “there is indeed a God in heaven”,
Behind Menuhin’s individual gifts lay a three-fold heritage — that of Jewish life in Russia that had influenced both his parents in different ways, that of the freedom in the open America in which the boy grew up, where everything is possible, and the lineage of master musicians going back to the fusion of classical music with the romantic intensity in the age of Liszt.
Menuhin said “music is given to us with our existence”. He regarded the audiences who came to his concerts as “sick”, and he gave them the medicine they needed to get well.
His first marriage was not happy, and then he met the English ballerina Diana Gould, and they fell in love. Menuhin adored her, even saying he loved her more than his violin.
He had the proud mottos “I have never resigned” and “My life has been spent creating utopias”.
He played many concerts supporting the war effort, and visited Belsen concentation camp.
Honours, including the Croix de Lorraine from de Gaulle’s own hands, have been bestowed on him from nearly every country in the world, among them the Knight Commander Order of the British Enpire, the Nehru award for International Understanding the Freedoms of the cities of Bath and Edinburgh and honorary degrees from 12 universities, including the first to be awarded to any musician by the Sorbonne.
He can really be regarded as an American hero.
Caroline Rausch says
Rev. Jonas Clark
Jonas Clark of Lexington was one of the most colorful and versatile of the Revolutionary patriot-preachers. He stands as representative for all the many parsons who did so much for our country at its beginning, not only preaching but also fighting. Shortly after graduating from Harvard College (1752) he settled in Lexington for a pastorate of exactly fifty years. Like many of his profession, he was a farmer as well as a minister. To support his flock of children he must have found it necessary to augment his meagre annual salary of eighty pounds and twenty cords of wood with the incoome of his sixty acre farm. Every morning he stood at the foot of the staircase and called the family roll: “Polly, Betsy, Lucy, Liddy, Patty, Sally, Thomas, Jonas, William, Peter, Bowen, Harry — Get Up! Woe to the delinquent!”
From 1762 until 1776 he drew up a series of town papers, giving instructions to the representatives sent by the town to the general court. He instructed the Lexington delegates to the Stamp Act Congress. Throughout that stormy period, he was the most influential politician as well as churchman in the Lexington-Concord area.
Rev. Clark’s home was a rendezvous for many of the patriot leaders. On the very night of April 18, 1775, Hohn Hancock and Samuel Adams were being entertained by Jonas Clark. Paul Revere warned them of the approach of Gage’s expedition, one of the objects of which was to capture the Boston patriots. When asked by his guests that night if the Lexington people would fight, Clark is said to have replied: “I have trained them for this very hour.”
It was but a few rods from the parsonage that the first blood of the Revolution was shed on the following day, that famous April 19, and the men who fell were his parishioners. Upon seeing the slain, Clark observed: “From this day will be dated the liberty of the world.”
Several of his sermons were published, the most noteworthy being “The Fate of Blood-thirsty Oppressors”, delivered on the first anniversary of the Battle of Lexington.His description of the battle, appended to the sermon, is a priceless historical document.
In 1799, Jonas Clark was appointed the delegate from Lexington to the Massachusetts Constitutiional Convention, where he served on several important committees.
This gentleman can certainly be considered an American hero and should be included in the Garden.
Caroline Rausch says
William J Seymour
The Azusa Street Revival was a historic occurance that took place in Los Angeles, California, led by William J. Seymour, an African-American preacher. On the night of April 9, 1906, Seymour and seven men were praising God at their small church on Bonnie Brae Street, “when suddenly, as though hit by a bolt of lightning, they were knocked from their chairs to the floor,” and the seven men began speaking in tongues and shouting out loud and praising God. The news quickly spread; the city was stirred; crowds gathered; and a few days later Seymour hinself was baptised in the Holy Spirit and services were moved outside to accomodate the crowds who came from everywhere. People fell down under the powerful presence of God as they approached, and were Baptised in the Holy Spirit, the sick were healed and sinners received salvation.
In order to accomodate the crowds, an old dilapidated two-story frame building at 312 Azusa Street was acquired. Originally built for an African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church, this building had been more recently used as a livery stable, storage place and tenement house. It was here where the presence of God came to dwell and a three year revival occured which became world famous, people were flying in from everywhere. The revival was characterized by spiritual experiences acompanied by testimonies of physical healing miracles, worship services and speaking in tongues.
The participants were criticized by some secular media and Christian theologians for behavior considered outragious and unorthodox — they were called “holy rollers”. Today this revival is considered by historians to be the primary catalyst for the spread of Pentecostalism in the 20th century. It preceded a larger similar occurance known as the Brownsville Revival in Orlando, Fla. which started in 1955 and continued for five years until 2000. The presence of God was in this church, even today people are still speaking oin GOD TV about their amazing experiences.Over 5 million people came to this church and their lives were drastically changed. A school was started attended by many who are the famous evangelists active today. Miracles are still happening. Rev. Seymour was he start of this Pentecostal explosion, benefitting many thousands of Americans and people from around the world.