Top 10 Greatest Americans of All Time

Greatness is a dangerous word. The second you use it, everybody pictures someone different. A president. A scientist. A writer. A reformer. A war hero. A troublemaker who dragged the country forward while half the room begged them to stop. That is part of what makes a list like this so much fun. You are not just picking famous Americans. You are deciding who changed the country, shaped its character, or pushed it closer to its own ideals.

As you vote, you end up weighing very different kinds of achievement against each other. Is greatness built on leadership in a crisis? On ideas that outlived the person who had them? On courage under pressure? On invention, sacrifice, vision, or raw nerve? America has never exactly been short on oversized personalities, and plenty of them helped write the national story in bold ink, messy handwriting, or both.

That leaves the hard part to you. Not the historians, not the loudest guy in the comment section, and definitely not some dusty textbook trying to act neutral after cherry-picking half the drama. You get to decide who belongs near the top, who gets overlooked, and who still towers over the rest long after their own era ended. Cast your votes and make the argument count.

The Top Ten

  1. Abraham Lincoln

    Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation through the American Civil War and succeeded in preserving the Union, abolishing slavery, bolstering... read more

    He kept the country together.

    He freed the slaves.

  2. George Washington

    George Washington (February 22, 1732 - December 14, 1799) was the first President of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. He led the Continental Army to victory in the American Revolutionary War and presided over the Constitutional Convention of 1787, helping to shape the U.S. Constitution and... read more

    Without Washington and his leadership of the Continental Army, there would not be the USA. We would be voting for the "greatest British colonial ever."

    By far the number 1, and I am sure Abe Lincoln would agree. The only truly indispensable figure in American history.

    Greatest American ever. Hands down number 1.

  3. Martin Luther King Jr.

    Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.. January 15, 1929 - April 4, 1968) was an African American minister and a pioneering civil rights leader. From 1955 until his assassination in 1968, he became the most visible spokesperson for the civil rights movement. King is best known for leading nonviolent... read more

  4. Benjamin Franklin

    Benjamin Franklin (January 6, 1706 - April 17, 1790) was an American polymath active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and philosopher. Among the leading intellectuals of his time, he was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and a drafter and signer... read more

  5. Theodore Roosevelt

    Theodore Roosevelt (October 27, 1858 - January 6, 1919) was an American statesman, author, naturalist, soldier, and reformer who served as the 26th President of the United States from 1901 to 1909. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he championed trust busting, conservation, and the expansion of federal... read more

    Easily the "toughest" president ever.

    As a candidate running for president, he was shot by an assassin. The bullet lodged against a rib but missed vital organs, so he still delivered the speech he was scheduled to give, although shortened a bit, and THEN went to the hospital.

    He's the best, obviously.

  6. Ronald Reagan

    Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 - June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th President of the United States from 1981 to 1989. Prior to his presidency, he served as the 33rd Governor of California from 1967 to 1975 and maintained a career as a Hollywood actor and... read more

  7. Michael Jackson

    Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 - June 25, 2009) was an American singer, dancer, and songwriter. He passed away from cardiac arrest caused by acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication, which was ruled a homicide. Jackson is widely regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures... read more

  8. John F. Kennedy

    John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 - November 22, 1963), commonly known as JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from January 1961 until his assassination. His presidency was marked by the Cuban Missile Crisis (October 1962), the Bay of Pigs Invasion (April 1961), the signing of... read more

    Best president of the USA.

  9. Thomas Jefferson

    Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 - July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Father who authored the Declaration of Independence and served as the third President of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He died on July 4, 1826, the same day as John Adams, the second president.

  10. Franklin D. Roosevelt

    Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882 - April 12, 1945), commonly known by his initials FDR, was an American statesman and the 32nd President of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. A Democrat, he was elected to an unprecedented four terms and led the nation through the... read more

    11. The Newcomers
  11. ?

    Barbara Walters

  12. ?

    Henry George

    13. The Contenders

  13. Neil Armstrong

    Neil Alden Armstrong was an American astronaut and aeronautical engineer who became the first person to walk on the Moon on July 20, 1969, during NASA's Apollo 11 mission. He was also a naval aviator, test pilot, and university professor. Armstrong's famous words upon stepping onto the lunar surface... read more

    First human being to leave the planet and walk on another world.

  14. Nikola Tesla

    Nikola Tesla (July 10, 1856 - January 7, 1943) was a Serbian-American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, and futurist best known for developing alternating current systems, including the AC induction motor and polyphase power distribution. He also experimented with X-ray imaging, radio-controlled... read more

  15. Elvis Presley

    Elvis Aaron Presley was an American singer and actor, widely dubbed the "King of Rock and Roll" and regarded as a pivotal cultural icon of the 20th century. His energetic musical interpretation and provocative performance style, bridging racial music traditions in a shifting era, both fueled his fame... read more

  16. John Adams

    John Adams was born on October 30, 1735, in Quincy, Massachusetts. He served as the second President of the United States from March 4, 1797, to March 4, 1801. He passed away on July 4, 1826, at the age of 90.

  17. Bill Clinton

    William Jefferson Clinton (born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Before that, he was Governor of Arkansas. As a Democrat aligned with the "New Democrat" centrist movement, he enacted policies reflecting a "Third Way" governance... read more

  18. Oprah Winfrey

    Oprah Gail Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show The Oprah Winfrey Show, which ran from 1986 to 2011. She is also the founder of the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) and has been a powerful influence in both media... read more

  19. Dwight D. Eisenhower

    Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was an American politician and military leader who served as the 34th President of the United States from 1953 to 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army during World War II and served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe.... read more

    Literally saved the world as commander of the Allied Forces during World War II, then presided over an unprecedented period of growth and prosperity during the 1950s, building much of the interstate highway infrastructure we still use today.

  20. Donald Trump

    Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946, in Queens, New York) is an American businessman, television personality, politician, and the 45th and 47th President of the United States.

    Born and raised in Queens, New York City, Donald J. Trump received an economics degree from the Wharton School of the... read more

  21. Malcolm X

    Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little and later known as el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz, was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist. He was a prominent figure in the Nation of Islam during the civil rights movement and advocated for the rights of African Americans. He was assassinated in 1965.

  22. Ulysses S. Grant

    Ulysses S. Grant was an American soldier and statesman who served as Commanding General of the Army and as the 18th President of the United States. He led the Union Army to victory during the American Civil War. Grant served two presidential terms from 1869 to 1877 and played a major role in Reconstruction... read more

  23. Ben Carson

    Benjamin Solomon "Ben" Carson, Sr. is a retired American neurosurgeon and former candidate for President of the United States. He gained fame for his pioneering work in pediatric neurosurgery, including the first successful separation of conjoined twins joined at the back of the head. Carson later served... read more

    Worked his way up from extreme poverty to become one of the best surgeons of all time.

  24. Walt Disney

    Walter Elias Disney (December 5, 1901 to December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, and entrepreneur. He was a pioneer of the American animation industry and introduced several innovations in the production of cartoons. As a film producer, he holds the record for the most Academy Awards... read more

  25. Rosa Parks

    Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 - October 24, 2005) was an African American civil rights activist. She became a symbol of resistance to racial segregation after refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955. The United States Congress referred to her... read more

  26. Hugh Hefner

    Hugh Marston Hefner was an American businessman, magazine publisher, and the founder of Playboy magazine. He launched Playboy in 1953 and served as its editor-in-chief for many years, becoming a controversial figure known for his role in the sexual revolution. Hefner also built the Playboy brand into... read more

  27. Alexander Hamilton

    Alexander Hamilton was an American statesman, politician, legal scholar, military commander, lawyer, banker, and economist. He was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Hamilton was the first Secretary of the Treasury and a chief architect of the nation's financial system.

    WHY IS HE ONLY NUMBER 14? He should be one of the top three, or at the very least one of the top ones.

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