Brianland

Hearing some people getting accused of not being American . . .

it made me think of some “Great Americans” who did wonderful things for this country, and the world, but who weren’t born here, . . .

like –

Christopher Columbus (Italian)  (“discovered” America, and who 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)  (hero under George Washington in the American Revolution)

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

Alexander Graham Bell (Scottish)  (scientist, inventor of the telephone, in Canada at the time)

Adam Smith (Scottish)  (founder 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)

John Roebling (German)  (designed The Brooklyn Bridge, among others)

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)

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)

Henry Kissinger (German)  (Secretary of State)

Madeline Albright (Czech)  (Secretary of State)

George Soros (Hungarian)  (financier and philanthropist)

Arnold Schwarzenegger (Austrian)  (Governor of Caleefornia)

Bill Graham (German)  (creator and producer of rock concerts)

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

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

*

Not to mention . . .

Harry Houdini  (Hungarian)  (magician, escape artist)

Charlie Chaplin  (English)  (actor and director)

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

Alfred Hitchcock  (English)  (film director)

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

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

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

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

Bob Marley   (Jamaican)   (musical philosopher)

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

Yo-Yo Ma   (French)  (cellist)

Itzhak Perlman  (Israeli)   (violinist)

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)

.

This is an Obama-inspired gift to my native-born American friends.

Joyously and compily,

Brian Hassett