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The editors at Best MPA Programs and Degrees decided to research the topic of:
Leaders From Humble Beginnings
You never know what you're gonna get
Benjamin Franklin: 1706-1790
- 15th of 17 children
- Only 2 years of formal education
- Hard work, ambition and thrift was a code by which he lived his life
- Age 17 - Franklin left home and traveled to Philadelphia
- Franklin created an enormously successful printing business
- Franklin's accomplishments are too numerous to list
- As an author, he wrote:
- Poor Richard's Almanack
- His famous autobiography
- numerous classic essays
- As an inventor, he invented:
- the lightning rod
- the Franklin stove
- bifocal glasses
- As a thinker, he established:
- the first subscription library
- the American Philosophical Society
- As a scientist, he:
- made important investigations into the nature of electricity
- Served his country, state, and city as
- councilman
- postmaster
- recruiter of the PA militia
- Speaker of the PA State House
- delegate to the Second Continental Congress
- ambassador to France
- President of PA Executive Council 1785-86
- Founding Father
- He was the son of a candlemaker
Margaret Thatcher: 1925-
- Born Margaret Roberts in Grantham, a small market town in eastern England
- Raised with one sister in a flat above her father's grocery store
- Her family's social life was largely within the close community of their local congregation
- Bound by strong traditions of
- Self-help
- Charitable work
- Personal truthfulness
- Margaret attended a local state school and then won a place at Oxford
- Studied chemistry at Somerville College (1943-47)
- Margaret's outlook was profoundly influenced by her scientific training and her mentor, Dorothy Hodgkin
- Became the first woman to lead a major Western democracy
- Thatcher Won 3 successive General Elections
- Served as Prime Minister for more than 11 years (1979-90)
- unmatched record in the 20th century
- As a political leader;
- Margaret Thatcher reshaped almost every aspect of British politics
- revived the economy
- reformed outdated institutions
- reinvigorated the nation's foreign policy which helped encourage wider international trends especially in the 1980's and 90's
- Critics and supporters alike recognize Thatcher's premiership as fundamentally important in British history
- Daughter of a grocer
Bill Clinton: 1946 -
- Born William Jefferson Clinton in Hope, Arkansas,
- population of about 8,000.
- Father died in a car crash several months before Clinton was born
- Clinton lived with his grandparents as a young child
- His mother was away at nursing school
- Clinton's grandparents instilled the importance of education
- Taught him to count and read - Clinton was reading by the age of 3
- 1950: Clinton's mother married an automobile salesman, Roger Clinton
- He was especially drawn to gospel music
- Began playing the jazz saxaphone at an early age
- considered the best in the city by the time he graduated from HS
- Clinton's stepfather was an abusive alcoholic
- 1962: After Bill stood up to his stepfather, his mother divorced Roger Clinton
- He attended Hot Springs High School, a segregated, all white school
- 1964: Clinton attended Georgetown University and quickly threw himself into school politics
- Served as president of his freshman and sophomore classes
- 1968: Clinton won the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship to study for two years at Oxford
- Shortly after arriving in England, Clinton was drafted to the army
- Clinton resumed at Oxford and went to Yale upon completion
- Clinton met his future wife, Hillary Rodham and the two married in 1975
- 1978: At the age of 32, Clinton defeated Republican, Lynn Lowe, to become one of the youngest governors in American history
- Late 1980's, Clinton sought more national visibility
- 1986-87: Served as chairman for National Governors Assoc.
- 1992: Clinton easily defeated his competitors in the Democratic primaries and went on to become the 42nd President of the United States
Rosa Parks: 1913 - 2005
- Rosa's mother moved the family to Pine Level, AL
- They lived with Rosa's grandparents, Rose and Sylvester Edwards
- Both former slaves and strong advocates for racial equality
- Rosa's mother taught her to read at a young age
- As a child, she attended a small, segregated school in Pine Level, AL
- Dropped out of high school to care for her mother and grandmother
- Married Raymond Parks at age 19
- Raymond was a barber and active member of the NAACP
- With Raymond's support, she earned her HS diploma the next year.
- Rosa joined the NAACP in 1943
- served as Montgomery chapter's youth leader
- served as secretary to NAACP President until 1957
- December 1, 1955:
- Traveling home from her job as a seamstress:
- Rosa Parks says she was "tired of giving in"
- She was seated in the section designated for "colored" passengers
- The bus driver moved the sign back when a white passenger could not find a seat
- Rosa refused to move and was arrested, tried and found guilty of violating a local ordinance
- Rosa's refusal to surrender her seat to a white passenger sparked a bus boycott in Montgomery, AL which lasted 381 days
- Helped launch nationwide efforts to end segregation of public facilities
- After the trial, Rosa lost her dept. store job and her husband was also fired
- Rosa began working for Senator John Conyers (1965-1988)
- Rosa received many accolades in her lifetime
- Spingarn Medal (NAACP's highest award)
- Martin Luther King Jr. Award
- Clinton awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom
- Congressional Gold Medal
- Also named in TIMEmagazine's "20 most influential People of the 20th Century"
- Granddaughter of slaves; raised on a farm
Sources
- http://www.margaretthatcher.org/essential/biography.asp
- http://artofmanliness.com/2008/12/28/self-made-men/
- http://www.biography.com/people/rosa-parks-9433715?page=4
- http://www.biography.com/people/bill-clinton-9251236?page=3
- http://www.margaretthatcher.org/images/thatcher-by-newton.jpg
- http://www.askmen.com/specials/2012_top_49/3-bill-clinton.html
