Inspirational 20th Century Americans Essay

There are many powerful, influential, and memorable Americans that impacted the United States, and even the world. Of those outstanding Americans, there are three in particular that have impacted America, uniquely. During the 20th Century, Martin Luther King Jr. , Walt Disney, and Bill Gates made strong impacts in our country. These brilliant icons influenced American civilization and culture using their determination, creativity, and intelligence. Martin Luther King Jr. as an average man with a dream to live in an integrated society. He was such an inspirational man due to his strong determination, love, faith, and fearless representation. King applied nonviolent protest to grasp national attention in hope to spread his dream of peace among all individuals, and did all that he was capable of to share that same dream with the rest of society. Also, he led the Montgomery Bus Boycott and participated in The March on Washington where he delivered his well-known speech, â€Å"I Have a D ream†. In 1964 King became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, which was awarded to him for leading non-violent resistance to racial prejudice in the U. S. (Martin Luther King, Jr. ) Due to his perseverance and participation in the civil rights movement, it led to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which then eliminated discrimination and fulfilled Martin Luther King’s dream at last. Another man that was not afraid of showing the world what he was capable of was Walt Disney. Walt Disney had such an inexplicable imagination that was unstoppable. His love to create and fantasize brought him to produce one of the biggest companies in the country and is now well-known worldwide. He was one of the most iconic figures of recent history; children’s impresario Walt Disney has had a striking effect upon children’s literature through his adaptations of classic novels, unique brand of storytelling, and mass market approach to reaching his target audience (The Influence of Disney on Children’s Literature). Disney Productions reach into the hearts of children, not only by amusing but by fulfilling their urges to imagine and dream. Hundreds of Disney films, cartoons, and productions have been created due to one man’s imagination and resoluteness. Perhaps one of the most intelligent and significant Americans, is Bill Gates. Gates was the first to develop the first user-friendly operating system; previously, the first operating system had a program called DoS, meaning you had to type out commands for your computer in order to perform tasks. Bill Gates and his partner Paul Allen, after receiving money from another invention known as BASIC, decided to create a formal business partnership and created one of the most used operating systems today, Microsoft. This invention leads to most of technology that is used today from the computers, laptops, notebooks, to the handhelds and cellphones we use on a daily basis. All these inventions created by Bill Gates definitely sparked this â€Å"Technology Era†, inspiring people to follow his steps and crave to improve and expand technology in the years to come. As a result of this intelligence Bill Gates had, he is now one of the wealthiest men on earth. All of these iconic and successful Americans shared similar qualities such as determination and intelligence. Each of them accomplished their goals and contributed one thing that ameliorated society. These men brought equality, creativity, and advanced technology that is valued even today. America is beneficial for the capabilities of Martin Luther King Jr. , Walt Disney, and Bill Gates. They impacted our society highly, by improving it in their own ways.