Important Americans

1. Important Americans

2. Founders

3. Benjamin Rush • Founding father • Member of Sons of Liberty • Delegate of Continental Congress in 1776 • Signer of Declaration of Independence • Supporter of adopting Constitution in 1789

4. John Hancock • Founding father • Member of Boston Assembly • Participated in Boston Tea Party • Member and later President of Continental Congress • First signatory of Declaration of Independence • Later Governor of Massachusetts

5. John Jay • Founding father • Member of First Continental Congress • Preferred reconciliation with England, rather than war • First Chief Justice of the Supreme Court

6. John Witherspoon • Elected to Continental Congress in 1776 • Voted for and signed Declaration in Independence

7. John Peter Muhlenberg • “Fighting Pastor” in American Revolution • Lutheran Minister who led 8th Virginia Regiment • At the outbreak of war, said “There is a time to preach and a time to fight, and now is the time to fight!”

8. Charles Carroll • Strong supporter of armed resistance and separation from England • Member of 1776 Continental Congress • Signed Declaration of Independence • Served in Continental Congress throughout Revolution

9. Jonathan Trumbull, Sr. • Governor of Connecticut colony; only colonial governor to support revolution • Under Trumbull, Connecticut provided many supplies to army during Revolution

10. Political

11. Warren G. Harding • 29th President • Republican • Involved in Teapot Dome Scandal • Died in office

12. Sanford B. Dole • Hawaiian businessman • Helped overthrow Hawaiian Queen Liliuokalani • Helped get USA to annex Hawaii as a territory • First territorial governor of Hawaii Look at that beard! Beautiful!

13. Theodore Roosevelt • 26th President (2 terms) • Leader of Rough Riders during Spanish-American War • Trust-buster • Began construction of Panama Canal • Created Roosevelt Corollary • Nobel Peace Prize for ending Russo-Japanese War • Created many national parks • Ran for third term on Progressive Bull Moose Party ticket (lost) Bully!

14. Henry Cabot Lodge • Served in US Senate for 31 years • Strong supporter of US effort in World War I • Opposed US involvement in League of Nations • Due to Lodge’s opposition, Treaty of Versailles was defeated in Senate

15. Harry Truman • 33rd President • Democrat • Made decision to use atomic bomb on Japan • Ended WWII • Saw communists as enemy and oversaw beginning of Cold War • Desegregated armed forces

16. George Wallace • Governor of Alabama in 1960s • Strong supporter of segregation in schools; refused to desegregate Alabama • Was forced to desegregate when Eisenhower sent in National Guard to enforce desegregation • Shot while campaigning for Democratic presidential nomination

17. OrvalFaubus • Governor of Arkansas in 1950s • Used National Guard to prevent 9 African-American students from attending Little Rock Central High School • Eisenhower sent troops in to force desegregation

18. Lester Maddox • Owned a restaurant in Atlanta in early 1960s; refused to desegregate; closed instead • Governor of Georgia in 1960s • Did not fight desegregation as Governor

19. Joseph McCarthy • US Senator from Wisconsin in 1950s-60s • Accused government officials, Hollywood stars, and military officers of being Communists

20. John F. Kennedy • 35th President • Democrat • Assassinated in 1963 by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas

21. Barry Goldwater • Senator from Arizona • Ran as Republican against Lyndon Johnson; huge defeat • Did not like labor unions, foreign aid, or unbalanced budgets

22. Richard Nixon • 37th President • Republican • Ended USA involvement in Vietnam • Caught in Watergate Scandal • Only President to resign from office

23. Ronald Reagan • 40th President • Republican • Survived attempted assassination • Policies helped bring about fall of USSR and end of Cold War

24. Hillary Clinton • Wife of Bill Clinton, First Lady of the USA 1992-2000 • Senator from New York • Secretary of State

25. Bill Clinton • 42nd President • Democrat • Family & Medical Leave Act • Attempted universal health care; failed • 2nd term had several scandals • Monica Lewinsky

26. Barack Obama • First African-American President • Elected 2008 • Re-elected 2012 • Democrat

27. Social

28. Alexis de Tocqueville • French nobleman and politician • Wrote Democracy in America, praising American governmental system, while warning of dangers of despotism and government centralization

29. Susan B. Anthony • Abolitionist and suffragette • Also involved in temperance movement • Very involved in pushing for women to have voting rights

30. Frances Willard • Leader of Women’s Christian Temperance Union and suffragette

31. Jane Addams • Founder of Hull House; provided education, child care to the poor and immigrants • First woman awarded Nobel Peace Prize in 1931

32. Ida B. Wells • Anti-lynching and African-American civil rights activist • Wrote articles about lynchings in Southern states • Founding member of NAACP

33. W. E. B. DuBois • First African-American to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard • Co-founder of NAACP • Strong leader in push for equal political and social rights for African Americans

34. Marcus Garvey • African-American activist • Wanted a separate black nation in USA • Wanted blacks to return to Africa and create nations without European control • Not supported by DuBois and NAACP

35. Martin Luther King, Jr. • Civil rights activist; advocated non-violent resistance • “I Have A Dream” speech • Won Nobel Peace Prize • Assassinated in 1968

36. Rosa Parks • Refused to give up her seat to a white man on the bus • Arrested; led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, part of the Civil Rights movement

37. Black Panthers • 1960’s radical group • Wanted an armed African-American population • Wanted African-Americans exempt from Vietnam drafts • Marxists

38. Thurgood Marshall • Very involved in civil rights cases • Argued the Brown v. Board of Education case • Nominated to US Supreme Court by Lyndon Johnson • First African-American Supreme Court Justice

39. Sandra Day O’Connor • First female Supreme Court Justice • Appointed by Ronald Reagan in 1981

40. Cesar Chavez • Organized migrant farm workers into a union called the United Farm Workers for better pay and working conditions

41. Hector P. Garcia • WWII veteran, medical doctor • Fought for equal civil rights for Mexican-Americans in Texas

42. Betty Freidan • Wrote The Feminine Mystique, urging women to find happiness beyond traditional roles as wife and mother. • Co-founder of National Organization of Women, a pro-feminist organization

43. Phyllis Schlafly • Leader in pro-family movement • Opposed to more extreme parts of feminist movement • Opposed Equal Rights Amendment

44. Upton Sinclair • Muckraker • Socialist • Wrote The Jungle about the meatpacking industry, which led to Theodore Roosevelt passing the Pure Food and Drugs Act and the Meat Inspection Act

45. Clarence Darrow • Attorney • Supporter of labor unions; defended union leader Eugene Debs • Became supporter of Socialist causes • Defended John Scopes in Scopes Trial. Case ended in Darrow victory, allowing teaching of evolution in schools

46. William Jennings Bryan • Democrat and Populist; ran 3 times for President • Strong supporter of bimetallic Free Silver Movement • Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson • Argued for Creationism in Scopes Trial; lost

47. Eleanor Roosevelt • First Lady of the USA; wife of FDR • Spoke out on civil rights, women’s and children’s issues • After FDR died, she became UN delegate; served on UN Human Rights Committee • Helped draft Universal Declaration of Human Rights

48. Dolores Huerta • Co-founded United Farm Workers with Cesar Chavez • Civil rights activist focusing on migrant workers

49. Sonia Sotomayor • Appointed to US Supreme Court in 2009 by Barack Obama • First Supreme Court Justice of Puerto Rican descent

50. Oprah Winfrey • Started career as talk show host; acted in movies; started book club • First female African-American billionaire • Philanthropist who supports women’s and children’s charities