The E-Sylum:  Volume 8, Number 27, July 3, 2005, Article 11

THE GREATEST AMERICAN ON MEDALS

Dick Johnson writes: "I caught about ten minutes of NBC#39;s
special "Greatest American" with Matt Lauer while channel
surfing last week. It seemed to be a combination of team
debate and pep rally. Then I read the results in the Monday
paper after the Sunday finale. Ronald Reagan minutely
squeaked past Abraham Lincoln in a five-way race with Ben
Franklin, George Washington and Martin Luther King Jr.

It set me to thinking who would be such a winner for
Greatest American on Medals. No contest. George Washington
would win hands down. More medals have been created
honoring him in just about every aspect one could imagine.
Abraham Lincoln would indeed be second. Then who?

In sheer quantity of medals honoring an American, we might
be surprised the astronauts would not be included. They
would have except for the fact it was a team effort without
one astronaut being singled out. There was a great outpouring
of medals issued around the world following the 1969 Moon
Walk but not a single Neil Armstrong medal. Team America
won.

Americans tend to pick individual heroes for "greatest American"
as reflected in their medallic art. Here is a list of the top ten by
number of medals issued:

1 – George Washington
2 – Abraham Lincoln
3 – Benjamin Franklin
4 – John F. Kennedy
5 – Charles Lindbergh
6 – Marquis de Lafayette
7 – Thomas Jefferson
8 – Thomas Edison
9 – Mark Twain
10 – Albert Einstein "

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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