Who do you think is one of the most important Non-Americans in American History?

13 comments

1. I already know that this is an unpopular opinion, but as a loose group, my answer is the African slaves.

   Without them America would never have become so wealthy and in turn, a world power.

2. For clarity, you mean people who weren’t born American and never became an American?

   I honestly think I’d only be able to name Lafayette if that’s the qualification.. maybe Louis 16th.. he met the guillotine though.

3. In the same vein as Lafayette, there were other European officers who fought in the revolution, notably Rochambeau, Kosciuszko, and Steuben.

   I don’t know if you would count them since they all became naturalized American citizens, but just from Germany you have Albert Einstein, Werner von Braun, and Henry Kissinger.

4. John Paul Jones who was handsome, Scottish, and absolutely insane

5. I believe he eventually became a US citizen but Ted Fujita. He’s who we have to thank for coming up with the F (now EF) scale we use for tornadoes and thanks to his work we now have a much better understanding of these storms and therefore how to warn people before they hit.

   I’m sure his work has saved countless lives.

6. Well, I was going to say Lafayette. Beyond that, excluding naturalized Americans (e.g. Einstein), maybe Churchill?

7. Comte De Grasse

   Without his fleet the British could have won Yorktown

8. Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, the Prussian that turned our military from a rag-tag group of idiots into a competent fighting force during the Revolution. He’s as important to American history as Lafayette was, although he was subsequently given American citizenship after we won, so I guess he doesn’t technically fit the question.

   In that case, Lafayette.

9. I think it’s got to be Oliver Cromwell.

   The English Civil Wars and Commonwealth set the stage for the American revolution, consolidated English colonial policy into an imperial one, complete with slavery/the slave trade (actively promoted by Cromwell) and Navigation Acts (same). Democratic ideals ran rampant in this time, and never died. Puritan superstitions led to the first witch trials under Cromwell’s leadership. The waves of immigration to American colonies encouraged (or forced) by Cromwell included slaves, Irish people, Scottish POWs, and the Royalists who would solidify the future of Virginia culture, as well as the Barbadians who would found Carolina. And religious freedom became an established principle. The first colonial declaration of Independence (failed, but still) emerged as a result of this.

   A mixed bag, but the foundations of some of the most fundamentally American things.

10. Albert Einstein, though I’m not sure if he counts, since he became a naturalized citizen in 1940.

    However, his letter to President FDR about Nazi Germany’s nuclear weapons research was the catalyst that got the U.S to take nuclear weapons research seriously, and set up their own division. So, if it wasn’t for his letter, the U.S would’ve never developed the atomic bomb, and thus win WWII.

11. Someone mentioned Casimir Pulaski who was originally from Poland, & Ben Franklin recommended he come to America to fight in the American Revolution. He distinguished himself by saving the life of George Washington, & he & his friend, Michael Kovats, who was Hungarian & also served in the Continental Army, are known as the Founding Fathers of the US Calvary. Pulaski is only one of 8 people to be awarded honorary US citizenship. He was killed while leading a calvary charge in the Battle of Savannah & is buried there, & the nearby Fort Pulaski is named in honor of him.

12. That polish dude

13. Napoleon sold us the Louisiana Purchase. A lot of horrible things happened to its residents, but the fact that we didn’t have to fight a European power to take it (which, let’s be honest, would have happened) was pretty significant.