NEW YORK -- Americans love to rank their own greats. One recent example is "the 100 most influential Americans of all time" that The Atlantic monthly compiled from the views of 10 historians. The list appears in its December issue, with a brief summary of what distinguishes each person.
Such lists fascinate me. For one thing, I can measure how much American history and culture I've learned since I arrived in this country in the late 1960s. In this particular lineup, I was disappointed not to be able to recognize nine figures, four of them in the top 50: Eli Whitney (27), Elizabeth Cady Stanton (30), Jonas Salk (34), and Susan B. Anthony (38).
For another, this kind of exercise allows me to see my changing views of American figures, past and present. When I arrived here, for example, President Lyndon B. Johnson was a butt of ridicule, most unforgettably in "Initials Lyrics" in the musical "Hair," in which he was jumbled with FBI, CIA and LSD. LBJ certainly struck me as a repugnant man who was blindly trying to bludgeon the poor Vietnamese into submission. How repulsive he looked, especially coming right after the universal charmer that was President John F. Kennedy!