Comments on: 25 of the Greatest Self-Made Men in American History

By: Robert Simpson

Robert Simpson — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 10:53:49 +0000

I have to comment on the ignorance based Obama bashing going on here. Saying that Obama had a privileged youth is pure folly. The recurrent ‘His dad went to Harvard’ and ‘his mother was vice president of a bank’ are just ridiculous. His dad left when he was two and returned to Africa to be briefly seen once again in his life. He never contributed a penny to his family. His mother was a single mother who’s job was not much higher than a teller in the bank and she made $8,000 a year. She could not afford even a car and took the bus most of her career. He lived for 7 years in Indonesia with a step dad that was a failed politician that scraped for every penny. Priviledged?
He got into university because he was an outstanding student. He did drugs and booze? Those were the times and so what, so did most of the participants on this list. I don’t have the insider knowledge to say how he got into Harvard but why does it matter whether there was affirmative action or not. He was one of their best students anyways and didn’t need affirmative action. As for sucking on the governments teat, he could have been making $500,000 a year in corp law for decades rather than making much less than that as a senator or a president. (his wife nearly divorced him because of his low earnings). Obama became president as a vocation, not for the glory or the money. He took the job with two ongoing wars and a collapse of the world economic system that was going to make the ‘Dirty Thirties’ look clean. Whether you agree with his policies or not, the black, lower middle class son of a single mother became the most powerful man in the world. That is the definition of a self made man and what America is all about. BTW, I am Canadian.

By: Taz

Taz — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 03:57:03 +0000

As a black man I can say Puffy is an idol of many, he wasn’t a king, he was king maker in hiphop who became king. Now if you don’t like rap that’s cool but you can’t deny his business savvy the ability to maneuver in what Hunter S. Thompson called…a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free.

I agree Obama is not a self made man at all.

I would say Young Farah Gray is the perfect example of a self made man. Google him.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 02:42:27 +0000

Weird…the two people that most people have problems with are black.

Must just be a coincidence…

By: harry reid

harry reid — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:29:13 +0000

harry reid thats an awsome name

By: Harry reid

Harry reid — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:26:17 +0000

harry reid hahaha thats a great name!!!! hahahahaha!!!!!!

By: Anuj Gosalia

Anuj Gosalia — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 11:35:35 +0000

Hi Folks,
I love your website, the way you write and the kind of desire it evokes within me to become a better man. Thank you for the Art of Manliness. It’s phenomenal!

By: RoY

RoY — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 23:32:39 +0000

You put 3 of the worst presidents of all time on here….

By: E.C. Walker

E.C. Walker — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 13:55:57 +0000

Kind of wish that W. Clement Stone had made the list. Born poor, he built Combined Insurance from himself selling small policies in a one room headquarters, to a massive corporation through his philosophy of “Success Through A Positive Mental Attitude”.

And the entire list, basically meets it. Started with less then nothing and a lot of the time no formal education, and through hard work, planning, sacrifice, and good ole’ mental sweat, built themselves empires and lives worthy of emulation and praise.

Good article.

By: DEZ

DEZ — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:16:20 +0000

not 2marrow but soon….u will see my name and picture and story above these comments……GOD BLESS EVERYONE

By: Johnny the Freemason

Johnny the Freemason — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 02:28:07 +0000

Dear er…. “sirs” that insist on crying about politics:

Just because you don’t agree with a person’s politics, does not mean they have not successfully made their own way in life. I’m not nuts about Reid… or Arnold for that matter, but let’s be honest Rocker, Combs and Thomas were/are dirtbags in their respective ways, and Edison was a bully to his staff and stole ideas from other geniuses (the radio *ahem*- Tesla and Marconi had far more to do with it).

Admittedly there are men on this list that are a bit sketchy, but to decry someone based on POLITICAL views, c’mon! As a staunch moderate (or libertarian depending on the issue) if you’re going to cry about Reid being on here based on politics alone, go back to listening to that pill popping, elitist, tub of a hypocrite Rush.

…I’ll just be over in the corner beating my skull on the wall, waiting patiently for a third party solution to join the two-party clusterf***.

By: Justin

Justin — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 21:30:32 +0000

I think this is a pretty good list. I’m glad you focused on rags to riches stories and didn’t include people like Bill Gates or Michael Dell. Although, I thought you might include Rockefeller, Walton, Or Buffett over Kroc.

By: JOhn

JOhn — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 22:04:37 +0000

Andrew Jackson?

By: saleer

saleer — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 11:32:54 +0000

Benjamin Franklin my choice

By: salw

salw — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:22:01 +0000

i like Larry Ellison the most.

By: zethembiso

zethembiso — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 22:24:16 +0000

wonderful portray of what success is. thanks for the very usefull, contsructive and posetive article. you work is highly appreciated and well-esteemed . May GOD almighty blees you