- George Washington
George Washington was a central and critical figure in the founding of the United States, and is commonly referred to as father of the nation. He led America's Continental Army to victory over Britain in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), and in 1789 was elected the first President of the United States of America. He served two four-year terms from 1789 to 1797, winning reelection in 1792. - Norman Borlaug
Norman Ernest Borlaug (born March 25 1914) is an American agricultural scientist, humanitarian, Nobel laureate, and has been called the father of the Green Revolution. Borlaug is a recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal. Borlaug received his Ph.D. in plant pathology and genetics from the University of Minnesota in 1942. He took up an agricultural research position in Mexico, where he developed semi-dwarf high-yield, disease-resistant wheat varieties. - Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 - June 8, 1845) was the seventh President of the United States (1829-1837). He was also military governor of Florida (1821), commander of the American forces at the Battle of New Orleans (1815), a founder of the modern Democratic Party, and the eponym of the era of Jacksonian democracy. He was a polarizing figure who dominated American politics in the 1820s and 1830s. Nicknamed "Old Hickory" because he was renowned for his toughness, … - Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of the main leaders of the American civil rights movement, a political activist, a Baptist minister, and is regarded as one of America's greatest orators. King's most influential and well-known public address is the "I Have A Dream" speech, delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. in 1963. In 1964, King became the youngest man to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (for his work as a peacemaker, … - Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 - June 5, 2004) was the 40th President of the United States (1981-1989) and the 33rd Governor of California (1967-1975). Reagan was born in Illinois, but moved to Hollywood in the 1930s, where he starred in numerous "B" movies and became President of the Screen Actors Guild. He was a prominent Democrat who supported the New Deal Coalition in the 1940s, and was a leading opponent of Communism in Hollywood. - Lady Bird Johnson
Claudia Alta (Lady Bird) Taylor Johnson was the wife of U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson. Throughout her life, she was an advocate for beautification of the nation's cities and highways and conservation of natural resources. The former First Lady was a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. - Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks ( February 4 1913 a October 24 2005 ) was an African American civil rights activist whom the U.S. Congress later called "Mother of the Modern-Day Civil Rights Movement ". ... Rosa Parks was born Rosa Louise McCauley in Tuskegee , Alabama on February 4 , 1913 , to James McCauley and Leona Edwards , respectively a carpenter and a teacher, and was of African-American , Cherokee - Creek , [1] and Scots-Irish [2] ancestry. - Elie Wiesel
Eliezer Wiesel, KBE (commonly known as Elie Wiesel, born September 30, 1928) is a Romania-born American novelist, political activist, and Holocaust survivor of Hungarian Jewish descent. He is the author of over 40 books, the best known of which is "Night", a memoir that describes his experiences during the Holocaust and his imprisonment in several concentration camps. Wiesel was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. - Tuskegee Airmen
The Tuskegee Airmen was the popular name of a group of African American pilots who flew with distinction during World War II as the 332nd Fighter Group of the US Army Air Corps. - Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison (February 11 1847 - October 18 1931) was an American inventor and businessman who developed many devices which greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph and a long lasting light bulb. Dubbed "The Wizard of Menlo Park" by a newspaper reporter, he was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of mass production to the process of invention, … - Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa (born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, was a Roman Catholic nun who founded the Missionaries of Charity and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her humanitarian work. For over forty years, she ministered to the needs of the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying of Calcutta (Kolkata). As the Missionaries of Charity grew under Mother's leadership, they expanded their ministry to other countries. - Colin Powell
General Colin Luther Powell, United States Army (Ret.) (born April 5, 1937) is a former American military leader and statesman. He became the first African-American to be confirmed as United States Secretary of State. As the 65th United States Secretary of State (2001-05) under President George W. Bush, Powell became the highest ranking African American government official in the history of the United States. - Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra (December 12, 1915 - May 14, 1998) was an American jazz oriented popular singer and Academy Award-winning actor. Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became a solo artist with great success in the early to mid 1940s, being the idol of the 'bobby soxers'. His professional career had stalled by the 1950s, but it was reborn in 1953 after he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. - Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Menachem Mendel Schneerson, known as The Rebbe, was a prominent Hasidic rabbi who was the seventh (and to date, final) "Rebbe" (spiritual leader) of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. He was fifth in a direct paternal line to the third Chabad-Lubavitch "Rebbe," Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn (known as the "Tzemach Tzedek"), his namesake. In 1950, upon the passing of his predecessor, father-in-law, … - Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE (May 29 1903 - July 27 2003), was an English-born American entertainer who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, on radio and television, in movies, and in performing tours for U.S. Military personnel, well known for his good natured humor and career longevity. - Zachary Taylor
Zachary Taylor (November 24, 1784 - July 9, 1850) was an American military leader and the twelfth President of the United States. Known as "Old Rough and Ready," Taylor had a 40-year military career in the U.S. Army, serving in the War of 1812, Black Hawk War, and Second Seminole War after achieving fame while leading U.S. troops to victory at several critical battles of the Mexican-American War. A Southern slaveholder who opposed the spread of slavery to the territories, … - Dorothy Height
Dorothy Irene Height (born March 24, 1912) is an African American administrator, educator, and social activist. Irene Height is a recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal. Height was born in Richmond, Virginia. At an early age, she moved with her family to Rankin, Pennsylvania. While in high school, Height was awarded a scholarship to Barnard College for her oratory skills but upon arrival was denied entrance. - Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. was the 38th President (1974–1977), and 40th Vice President (1973–1974) of the United States. Ford was the first person appointed to the vice presidency under the terms of the 25th Amendment. Upon succession to the presidency, Ford became the only person to hold that office without having been elected either President or Vice President. - Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC (Can) (30 November 1874 - 24 January 1965) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. A noted statesman, orator and strategist, Churchill was also a soldier in the British Army. He has been studied to a unique extent as part of modern British and world history. - Walter Reed
Major Walter Reed, M.D., (September 13 1851 - November 23 1902) was a U.S. Army physician who in 1900 led the team which confirmed the theory (first set forth in 1881 by Cuban doctor/scientist Carlos Finlay) that yellow fever is transmitted by mosquitoes, rather than by direct contact. This insight opened entire new fields of epidemiology and biomedicine and most immediately allowed the resumption and completion of work on the Panama Canal (1904-14) by the United States. - Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II born (May 18, 1920, Wadowice, Poland – April 2, 2005, Vatican City) reigned as the 264th Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of the State of the Vatican City from October 16, 1978, until his death more than 26 years later, making his the second-longest pontificate in modern times after Pius IX's 31-year reign. He is the only Polish pope, and was the first non-Italian pope since the Dutch Adrian VI in the 1520s. - John Paul Jones
John Paul Jones (July 6, 1747-July 18, 1792) was America's first well-known naval hero in the American Revolutionary War. John Paul Jones was born John Paul in 1747, on the estate of Arbigland in the Stewarty of Kirkcudbright on the southern coast of Scotland. John Paul's father was a gardener at Arbigland, and his mother was a member of Clan MacDuff. - Douglas MacArthur
Jean Marie Faircloth (December 28, 1898 in Nashville, Tennessee - January 22, 2000), was a socialite and philanthropist. After attending Ward-Belmont College, Faircloth married MacArthur on April 30, 1937. They remained married until the general's death in 1964. She called him "Sir Boss". In her later years she often gave speeches on her late husband's military career. She died at the age of 101 of natural causes on January 22, 2000 in New York City. - Joe Louis
Joseph Louis Barrow, best known as Joe Louis and nicknamed The Brown Bomber, a native of Lexington, Alabama, is regarded as one of the greatest heavyweight boxing champions of all time. He held the title for over 11 years, recording 25 successful defenses of the title. In 2003, "Ring Magazine" rated Joe Louis No. 1 on the list of 100 greatest punchers of all time. - Danny Thomas
Danny Thomas (January 6 1914 - February 6 1991) was an American nightclub comedian and television and film actor, best known for starring in the television sitcom "Make Room for Daddy", later retitled "The Danny Thomas Show" to capitalize on Thomas's popularity. Danny Thomas was born Amos Alphonsus Muzyad Yaqoob in Deerfield, Michigan, to Charles and Margaret Jacobs. He was of Lebanese descent, of Maronite Catholic belief. - John J. Pershing
John Joseph "Black Jack" Pershing (September 13, 1860 - July 15, 1948) was an officer in the United States Army. Pershing is the only person, while still alive, to rise to the highest rank ever held in the United States Army-General of the Armies-equivalent only to the posthumous rank of George Washington. - Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin (May 11, 1888 - September 22, 1989) was an American composer and lyricist, one of the most prodigious and famous American songwriters in history. Berlin was one of the few Tin Pan Alley/Broadway songwriters who wrote both lyrics and music for his songs. Although he never learned to read music beyond a rudimentary level, he composed over 3,000 songs, many of which ("God Bless America", "White Christmas", "Alexander's Ragtime Band", … - Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884 - December 26, 1972) was the thirty-third President of the United States (1945-1953); as Vice President, he succeeded to the office upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt. In domestic affairs, Truman faced challenge after challenge: a tumultuous reconversion of the economy marked by severe shortages, numerous strikes, and the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act over his veto. After confounding all predictions to win re-election in 1948, … - George Gershwin
George Gershwin (September 26, 1898 - July 11, 1937) was an American composer. He wrote most of his vocal and theatrical works in collaboration with his elder brother, lyricist Ira Gershwin. George Gershwin composed both for Broadway and for the classical concert hall. He also wrote popular songs with success. Many of his compositions have been used on television and in numerous films, and many became jazz standards. - Simon Wiesenthal
Simon Wiesenthal, KBE, (Buczacz, December 31, 1908 - Vienna, September 20, 2005) was an Austrian-Jewish architectural engineer who became a Nazi hunter after surviving the Holocaust. Following four and a half years in the concentration camps of Janowska, Plaszow, and Mauthausen during World War II, … - Jackie Robinson
Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson became the first African-American professional baseball player of the modern era in 1947. While not the first African American professional baseball player in history, his Major League debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers ended approximately eighty years of baseball segregation, also known as the baseball color line. The Baseball Hall of Fame inducted Robinson in 1962 and he was a member of six World Series teams. - Roy Wilkins
Roy Wilkins (August 30, 1901 - September 8, 1981) was a prominent civil rights activist in the United States from the 1930s to the 1970s. Wilkins was active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and between 1931 and 1934 was assistant NAACP secretary under Walter Francis White. When W. E. B. Du Bois left the organization in 1934, Wilkins replaced him as editor of "Crisis", the official magazine of the NAACP - John Pershing
John Joseph "Black Jack" Pershing (September 13, 1860 - July 15, 1948) was an officer in the United States Army. Pershing eventually rose to the highest rank ever held in the United States Army-General of the Armies-equivalent only to the posthumous rank of George Washington. Pershing led the American Expeditionary Force in World War I and was regarded as a mentor by the generation of American generals who led the United States army forces in Europe during World War II, … - Robert Frost
Robert Lee Frost (March 26, 1874 - January 29, 1963) was an American poet. His work frequently drew inspiration from rural life in New England, using the setting to explore complex social and philosophical themes. A popular and often-quoted poet, Frost was highly honored during his lifetime, receiving four Pulitzer Prizes. - Jonas Salk
Jonas Edward Salk (October 28 1914 - June 23, 1995) was an American physician and researcher best known for the development of the first successful polio vaccine (the eponymous "Salk vaccine"). During his life he worked in New York, Michigan, Pittsburgh and California. In his later career, Salk devoted much energy toward the development of an AIDS vaccine. Salk did not seek wealth or fame through his innovations, famously stating, … - Leo Ryan
Leo Joseph Ryan, Jr. (May 5 1925-November 18 1978) was an American politician of the Democratic Party. He served as a U.S. Representative from the 11th Congressional District of California from 1973 until he was murdered in Guyana by members of the Peoples Temple shortly before the Jonestown Massacre. After the Watts Riots of 1965, then-Assemblyman Ryan took a job as a substitute school teacher to investigate and document conditions in the area. - Nancy Reagan
Nancy Davis Reagan (born Anne Frances Robbins on July 6, 1921) is the widow of former United States President Ronald Reagan and was First Lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989. Reagan was born in New York in 1921 and moved to California in the 1940s, where she became an actress before meeting her husband, Ronald Reagan. They married in 1952, and had two children. Reagan became First Lady of California in 1967 with her husband's gubernatorial victory, … - Theodore Hesburgh
The Rev. Theodore Martin Hesburgh, CSC, STD (born May 25, 1917 at Syracuse, New York),a priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross, is President Emeritus of the University of Notre Dame. Hesburgh grew up in Syracuse and had wished to become a priest since early childhood. He studied at Notre Dame until his seminary sent him to Italy. He studied in Rome until he was forced to leave due to the outbreak of World War II. - Hugh Shelton
General Henry Hugh Shelton (born January 2, 1942) is a retired American career military officer. He served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1997 to 2001. Born in Tarboro, North Carolina, Shelton attended North Carolina State University and was a member of Pershing Rifles. He earned a degree in textiles while earning his Army commission through ROTC training. - Louis L'Amour
Louis L'Amour (March 22, 1908 - June 10, 1988) was an American author of primarily Western fiction. He was born Louis Dearborn LaMoore of French-Canadian background March 22, 1908 in Jamestown, North Dakota. L'Amour's books remain enormously popular, and most have gone through multiple printings.
|
| |