Which historical figure do you admire the most and why?

20 responses total.

My favorite historical figure is Harriet Ross Tubman, the former slave woman
who lead dozens of people out of slavery in the south to freedom in the north.
She couldn't read or write, she had no formal education, but she never lost a
single slave that tried to escape with her. Not one, not ever. (If you were
on your way north with Hat Tubman, you were golden!)

She had a reward on her head that would be the equivalent to a middle-income
annual salary today, but she still went as deep into the south as Georgia to
bring more slaves to the north. Due to a childhood accident, she also would
fall unwakeably asleep, and she never knew when the next attack would come,
but even with that risk, she kept making trips south.

She was incredibly crafty. Once, a group of patrollers were stopping all the
blacks on a particular road. Tubman was disguised as a little old lady c
carrying two chickens, though the disguise wouldn't stand up to close scrutiny
 - the scar on her forehead made her easy to recognize. When the patrollers 
came toward her, she "accidentally" dropped the chickens and began to chase
them, screeching at the top of her lungs, trying to catch the things. The
patrollers watched and laughed as she chased those chickens right past them
and safely up the road.

After the Civil War broke out, she volunteered as a nurse. Afterward, she
retired in poverty in Maryland. A rather sad ending to one of the most
admirable lives in history.

   I admire Queen Elizabeth I of England more than any other major historical
figure.  She inherited the throne of England after the death of her
spendthrift father, Henry VIII.  Faced with tremendous domestic troubles
(lack of money, conflict between Protestantism and Catholicism) as well
as foreign problems (the wealthy and expanding Spain), as well as her
gender (women were not considered fit to rule, and several other women
had failed miserably in trying to rule their countries), she managed
affairs well enough to maintain her reign for 50 years.  In the process
she rebuilt her government's finances, charmed her people into liking her,
bedazzled and befuddled powerful neighbors (Spain, France) into leaving
England alone until she was ready for military conflicts, and won the
battle with the Spanish Armada.
   What a woman.  But more importantly, what a monarch!

I have to people that I am particularly interested in.  One is Abraham 
Lincoln, for his work as President and for his speeches.
The other is Otto von Bismarck, Prime Minister of Prussia.  He is
particularly interesting to me because of role in German unification and
his ability as a politician to change nations in a time period when war
was common.

I have always thought highly of Benjamin Franklin.  He was a successful
buisinessman, a crafty diplomat, and a real civic leader, setting up the
Post Office and the first public library in the US.

douglass houghton.
he was the scientist along with some of the survey crews that
mapped michigan.

In addition to founding the first public library and setting up the Post
Office, dear Benjy single handedly ensured the rapid population of this 
country--and several others besides!

  re #6:  I don't know if I'd say "single-handedly".  I understand there's
generally a woman involved.

  Hmmmm.  I didn't know that they had sperm banks back then!

TThere's a saying - "George Washington was the father of the United States,
but Benjamin Franklin was the father of France."

Dalliance aside, my vote goes to Benjamin Franklin also.  A truly
versatile Renaissance Man.  In addition to the accomplishments listed
earlier, Franklin was an accomplished inventor -- eyeglasses, the
lightning rod, and the Franklin stove are all due to him.

        Eyeglasses were invented a long time ago.  Franklin invented
bifocals, John.

(I stand corrected... and am even wearing bifocals as I type...)

He never patented any of his invetions, either. This means that we can
build rocking chairs, chairs with attached desks, and many other things
without paying patent fees to his estate.

(Any patents would have run out by now.)

   Yes, they have, but they might have forced people to work around
them for decades, first. Franklin had the right idea, but it's a
little impractical in a selfish world.

     Speaking of Elizabeths, Elizabeth II would seem to be an admirable
person, whatever you may think of her offspring and their
assorted lovers/spouses.  A friend of mine has the
PBS documentary "Elizabeth R" on videotape and
I intend to borrow it.
     I admit to falling under the
Churchill cult, not because of his ideologies, (he was a reactionary in
a time of great change) but because of his role as spiritual
leader of the Allied cause during the war.  No matter
that Roosevelt was the master of the greatest power, and thus forced
many decisions that the British might not have taken given free reign,
he never achieved the worldwide status as the Voice of Freedom
that Churchill sought and achieved.  He was a marvelous
anachronism, who found (perhaps) the last place in history
for those of his kind, the grand visionaries.

Plus, there are all those fantastic, apocryphal stories alleged
to be about him.

Aeneas (the epic Roman hero), Justinian (Byzantine emprie fame), and John
Locke (great philosopher). -- All of which were probably alive the last time
this item was touched....C'mon guys, I NEED YOU

My favourite historical character is Churchill, for his work in helping us
defeat the scourge of Nazism, and keeping Britain (relatively) safe when she
stood alone in the world against "the Hun".

If I had to choose one of the Founding Fathers, it would either be Ben
Franklin or George Washington.

Ben Franklin was the more cosmopolitan - and interesting - of the two.
Washington succeeded as a general - and as a very important first president
by preventing the "royalization" of the office. 

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