Most Influential Americans: the Washingtonian edition

The Atlantic Monthly released its December issue last week with a list of the 100 most influential figures in American history. It's a decent list, I'd say. Sure, there are a few people that I'd add, subtract, or shuffle. You probably would, too. These sorts of lists invite that kind of discussion. But I'll refrain from that here only because this blog likes to focus on Washington state. So, who on the Atlantic's list have Washington connections? Just a few:

• 4. Franklin D Roosevelt. He got the concrete pouring on the big dam projects of the Columbia River.
• 12. Ulysses S Grant. The future war hero and president served in the army stationed in Vancouver before the Civil War.
• 28. Dwight D Eisenhower. Another war hero and future president got his feet wet with the first command job of his military career, serving at Fort Lewis on the eve of World War II.
• 54. Bill Gates. The only native Washingtonian on the list.
• 70. Lewis and Clark. The first to traverse the continent on foot. They saw the Pacific Ocean from Washington soil.

I could have stretched further to add more names here, but most of the others I'd name either just visited (e.g., Mark Twain) or imagined (e.g., Thomas Jefferson) the Northwest.