My criteria are both how famous they were (world-wide) during their life, but also how much their fame endured after they died. I would make some assumptions for anyone still living.
1. Donald Trump
2. Albert Einstein
3. Michael Jackson
4. Ronald Reagan
5. Barack Obama
Honorable Mentions:
Michael Jordan
Abraham Lincoln
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American politicians are mainly local to Americans. Chinese politicians are mainly local to Chinese. Only a few of them such as Hitler, Starlin and Washington, with help of pop culture (movie or TV), may be known to people in a village or a small town in a country. I challenge people here to put yourself in other's shoes : except Mao, what other Chinese politicians in last 150 years do you know?
I’ll never forget the little boy on the rickety dock in the upper Amazon wearin the Michael Jordan T-shirt.
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I could be persuaded to flip-flop numbers 1 and 2.
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in no order
DT
Albert Einstein
Ronald Reagan
Abe Lincoln
Babe Ruth
mention
Adolph Hitler
G. Washington
Winston Churchill
Joseph Stalin
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Then Mao, Julius Caesar, and Kim Kardashian.
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My Top Five.
Thom Yorke
Jonny Greenwood
Colin Greenwood
Ed O'Brien
Philip Selway
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Michael Jackson has lost his luster in the US, but he is still very famous around the world.
Trump is famous around the world, so was Obama, so was FDR. Not sure they are top 5, though.
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minorities. Yes she can act and yes she has made herself a fortune. More power to her, but her significance is overblown.
Madonna is similar. Not a great singer. Catchy pop tunes and crafted an image that caught fire at the right moment in time.
Jane Fonda was hot once and kept herself up for an old broad for a long time. Her significance is giving aid and comfort to the enemy....
remembered historically; Moon shot, Teddy, Vietnam Moratorium, Woodstock, Northern Ireland, even the Mess and Jets for a few.
But the stonewall riots which got some but not tons of attention then will historically be as big as any because of what it created.
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Maybe Susan Anthony, Harriet Tubman, and Eleanor Roosevelt?
Honorable mention: Babe Ruth and Henry Ford.
I do find it sad that we don’t seem to have any world class artists, composers or writers.
foreign literature in Chinese school textbook. Of course they all are translated, not in original languages.
are near top five though.
I suppose that we are a very young country. But now we no longer live in an age of individual achievement.
Make a little birdhouse in your soul.
Your first 3 are, or should be, untouchables. The rest are judgement calls.
Obama and Trump are at least tied. The former was the most popular politician in the world - by far - while in office. Wasn't close. And I'm not sure that Einstein counts. He was born in Germany - and couldn't get a security clearance to work on the Manhattan project.
But Americans in history, I think these have to be in the conversation: Lincoln, Elvis, Washington, Martin Luther King Jr, Edison, and that Urkle guy.
That dude from Montenegro that Trump shoved out of the way?
After his death. I put Trump at the top because he was already pretty famous before becoming POTUS. Anecdotally, my coworkers, family and friends in Europe and Asia tell me, "All we ever hear about is Trump." For good or bad everyone knows who he is.
Armstrong definitely has a good case to be way uo there. And I totally forgot about Disney.
That’s what history is.
At most he will be a minor figure in history.
Obama has slightly more significance being the first black prez.
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Not near top five though, again IMHO.
Barry will be remembered for being the first black prez, just like him simply being prez got him the least deserved Nobel in recent history.
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But, no doubt Grenada was his biggest triumph.
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is more a brand name than a person's name, I'm afraid.
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American public. Sound familiar? And of course a fool is born every day.
I have nuttin against showmen and blowhards in the right place. Like on the Apprentice, not in the WH.
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He is the first American I knew and would never forget. But I believe he is also the first American that many kids entering their elementary school learned about. Athletes, like Ali or Jordan only were known to boys. Pop singers/actors may only be known to girls. But every boy and girl know Thomas Edison.
In the early 1900s, the world's most popular sport was, by far, boxing. And in the pecking order of boxing, the heavyweight champ was the most popular of all boxers. In that period, the dominant heavyweight was Jack Dempsey. For a decade, he was easily the most famous man on earth.
He had the first five bouts with $1M+ gate receipts in boxing history, including his 1927 rematch w/ Gene Tunney that drew 105,000 to Soldier Field with a gate receipt of $2.7M (approx $40M today), a record that stood for over 25 years.
Edit: typo
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And they remain known as historical figures.
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Of course, I remember Sugar Ray Leonard too.
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Karl Marx
Lenin
Stalin
Malcom X
Jane Fonda
Gloria Steinem
Mao
Hugo Chavez
Tom Cruz
Michael Moore
Phil Donohue
Jerry Springer
And, Bill Maher
Just saying.
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In all seriousness, I don't think he is even the most famous sports star.
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