Brianland

It’s funny when some Americans talk about who is an American and who isn’t . . .

And it made me think of some commonly-perceived “Great Americans” who weren’t born here, like  . . .

Christopher Columbus (Italian)  (“discovered” America, and for whom cities & holidays, and circles & squares are named after)

William Penn (English)  (founder of Pennsylvania and champion of religious acceptance)

Thomas Paine (English)  (author of Common Freakin’ Sense, 1776)

Alexander Hamilton (British West Indian)  (Founding Father, co-author of The Federalist Papers)

General Lafayette (French)  (huge hero in the American Revolution under George Washington)

Charles Darwin (English)  (scientist, naturalist, founder of evolution theory)

Alexander Graham Bell (Scottish)  (scientist, living in Canada when he invented the telephone)

Adam Smith (Scottish)  (a founding father of modern economics)

John Kenneth Galbraith (Canadian)  (economist, Presidential advisor, ambassador, author)

James Smithson (English)  (scientist who bequeathed the free-to-all Smithsonian Institution in Washington)

Andrew Carnegie (Scottish)  (patriarch of the industrialist and philanthropist family)

Meyer Guggenheim (Swiss)  (patriarch of the other industrialist and philanthropist family)

Albert Einstein (German)  (relatively important physicist)

John Roebling (German)  (designed The Brooklyn Bridge and many others)

Levi Strauss (German)  (inventor of blue jeans)

the Gimbels brothers  (German)  (founders of the department store chain)

the Warner Brothers (Jack was Canadian;  Harry, Sam & Albert were Polish [temporarily Russian])

Marshall McLuhan (Canadian)  (philosopher, author, teacher)

Stephen Hawking (English)  (physicist, author, teacher)

Madeline Albright (Czech)  (Secretary of State)

Henry Kissinger (German)  (Secretary of State)

George Soros (Hungarian)  (financier and philanthropist)

Bill Graham (German)  (producer of rock concerts)

Morley Safer (Canadian)  (journalist, 60 Minutes reporter)

Peter Jennings (Canadian)   (journalist, ABC news anchor)

Jerzy Kosinski (Polish)  (author)

*

Not to mention . . .

Harry Houdini   (Hungarian)  (magician, escape artist)

Charlie Chaplin  (English)  (actor and director)

Alfred Hitchcock  (English)  (film director)

Walter Huston   (Canadian)  (actor and father of John)

Mary Pickford   (Canadian)  (actress, and co-founder of United Artists)

Norman Jewison   (Canadian)  (director, In The Heat of The Night and Jesus Christ Superstar)

Milos Forman   (Czech)  (director, Cuckoo’s Nest, Amadeus, Hair, Ragtime, etc.)

Roman Polanski  (French-born, Polish raised)  (director, Rosemary’s Baby, Chinatown, etc.)

Robert Frank  (Swiss)  (photographer, filmmaker)

Arnold Schwarzenegger  (Austrian)  (Governor of Caleefornia)

John Lennon   (English – famously applied for U.S. naturalization)

Bob Marley   (Jamaican)   (musical philosopher)

Neil Young  (Canadian)  (musician, green car investor)

Yo-Yo Ma   (French)  (cellist)

Itzhak Perlman  (Israeli)   (violinist)

Leonard & Phil Chess  (Polish)  (founders of Chess Records)

Martin Short, Jim Carrey, Mike Meyers, Dan Aykroyd, Phil Hartman, Howie Mandel, Lorne Michaels, David Steinberg, Tommy Chong, John Candy, Rich Little, etc, . . .  (Canadian comedians)

.

in joy,

Brian Hassett