My brother (who is a music prof at UMN) sent me this article with a list of the ten most "influential" Minnesotans in history. You can read the article for the explanations and the honorable mentions, but here are the top ten, according to the author:
Bob Dylan
William James and Charles Horace Mayo
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Charles Schulz
Sinclair Lewis
Frederick L. McGhee
Prince
James J. Hill
George Mikan
Such lists are always matters of judgment, including the definition of "Minnesotan," which might conceivably be stretched to include Dred Scott's time at Fort Snelling.
The most glaring absence from the list, however, is Warren Burger, whose influence is still being felt in a way that, say, Sinclair Lewis's is not (and let's not forget Harry Blackmun and perhaps William O. Douglas, who was born in Otter Tail County). I would also add Red Cloud, who resisted the U.S. army for two years in the 1860s.
Most of the other likely nominees — although not Burger, Blackmun, Douglas, or Red Cloud — were included among the honorable mentions, including Hubert Humphrey, Charles Lindbergh, and Garrison Keillor. Al Franken could jump to the head of the list if he gets elected president in 2020.
UPDATE: Here is my first attempt at a similar list for Illinois (in no order and subject to revision):
Abraham Lincoln
U.S. Grant
Ronald Reagan
Barack Obama
Frank Lloyd Wright
Muddy Waters
Jane Addams
Ernest Hemingway
Clarence Darrow
Michael Jordan
Honorable mention: John Paul Stevens, Hyman Rickover, Carl Sandburg, Elliot Ness, Gwendolyn Brooks, George Halas, Jesse Jackson, Robert Maynard Hutchins, George Pullman, Emma Goldman, Samuel Insull, Chuck Berry, Phil & Leonard Chess, Golda Meir, Julius Rosenwald, Dinah Washington, Benny Goodman, John L. Lewis, David Davis, Grace Slick (born in Evanston).
Dishonorable mention (but always mentioned): Al Capone.
UPDATE #2: I substituted Jane Addams for Carl Sandburg in the top ten (h/t Jeff Rice) and added Samuel Insull to the honorable mentions.
Was William Prosser a Minnesotian?
Dred Scott spent a bunch of time at Fort Snelling, which is in Minnesota.
General Grant, really? A raging anti-Semite. A Jew Hater as expressed in General Order 11. The only reason Grant rose to prominence was because Daddy owned a lead mine. The Union needed lead for its bullets. Daddy's boy needed a job.
Saul Alinsky, Arthur E. Andersen, Miles Davis, Walt Disney, Stephen A. Douglas, Gary Gygax, Hugh Hefner, John Montgomery Ward, Adlai E. Stevenson, Edward Weston?
RQA: Those are good ones for Illinois (perhaps we could combine Adlai Stevenson I, II, and III).
Also for Illinois: Enrico Fermi and Milton Friedman.
I had coffee this morning with a friend from Kentucky, and we came up with (in no order): Abraham Lincoln, Daniel Boone, Louis Brandeis, Happy Chandler, Jefferson Davis, Henry Clay, Zachary Taylor, Muhammad Ali, John James Audubon, Harland Sanders, Bill Monroe.
For Minnesota, I would add Jerry Lundegaard.
John Marshall Harlan the Elder, among the Kentuckians.
Abe was born in Kentucky.
Paul Westerberg was born in Minnesota
Miles Davis was from St. Louis.
Michael Jordan is, without a doubt, a North Carolinian.
Miles Davis was from East St. Louis, Illinois.
According to President Donald John Trump, Commander in Chief, Law Student Barrack Obama was not born in the US, so, how can he be from Illinois? Since Donald John Trump is the President of the United States and if it's from the President it has to be legal.
Steve,
Thanks for including David Davis on the honorable mention list. He has never received the recognition that he deserves for his essential role in securing the Republican presidential nomination for Lincoln in 1860. History has also undervalued his demonstrated ability to set aside personal and partisan interests to impartially consider cases as a circuit judge and Supreme Court Justice. Serving as a United States Senator after resigning from the Court, he voted on the basis of issues not party affiliation and according to the Chicago Daily Tribune, was “about as much Republican as Democrat.”