As an actor he had a sidekick called Bonzo. And as politician, he never quite lived down his quip to start bombing Russia in five minutes. But in life Ronald Reagan was forgiven most of his faults, and in death America now regards him as the greatest of them all.
Edging out Abraham Lincoln, the man who abolished slavery and guided the country through civil war, Reagan, the B-movie star whose presidency is commonly regarded as having brought down the Soviet bloc, won the popular vote to be crowned the greatest American ever.
While assassinated civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr came third, just ahead of George Washington, the country’s first president and the man considered father of the nation, some of the most notable names in US history — the Nobel prize-winning scientist Albert Einstein; the inventors of the aeroplane, Orville and Wilbur Wright; and the first man to walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong — did not make it into the top 10.
However, George Bush and his predecessor, Bill Clinton, secured sixth and seventh places respectively, while the talk show host Oprah Winfrey can claim the title of greatest American woman after taking ninth spot, just behind Elvis Presley. Reagan, who died last year after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease, is often derided in Europe as a cowboy and intellectual lightweight.
Testing his microphone moments before a 1984 radio address, he joked: ”My fellow Americans, I’m pleased to tell you today that I’ve signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.”
But his two terms as president heralded an era of unprecedented economic growth and restored pride to a nation still reeling from the Vietnam war. His son, Ron Jr, hinted that his father’s recent death may have helped swing the vote.
He told the Discovery Channel: ”People remember the funeral … I’m sure he would be very honoured to be in the company of these great gentlemen.”
The American public cast more than 2,4-million votes by phone, text or e-mail in the poll, organised by the Discovery Channel and AOL.
Voters’ top 20
1 Ronald Reagan
2 Abraham Lincoln
3 Martin Luther King Jr
4 George Washington
5 Benjamin Franklin
6 George W Bush
7 Bill Clinton
8 Elvis Presley
9 Oprah Winfrey
10 Franklin D Roosevelt
11 Billy Graham
12 Thomas Jefferson
13 Walt Disney
14 Albert Einstein
15 Thomas Alva Edison
16 John F Kennedy
17 Bob Hope
18 Bill Gates
19 Eleanor Roosevelt
20 Lance Armstrong – Guardian Unlimited Â