How often do you think about Nathan Hale? (Be honest, now.)
With July 4th looming, we thought it only appropriate to see how various Revolutionary War figures ranked in the public consciousness. Toward that end, we scanned last week's user search logs for the names of two dozen major players in the conflict.
The results, with the percentage of the total received by each figure, are listed below.
23.2% George Washington
18.5% Benjamin Franklin
17.4% Thomas Jefferson
10.0% Ethan Allen
4.2% John Hancock
3.9% Betsy Ross
3.1% John Adams
2.8% Paul Revere
2.7% James Madison
2.6% Patrick Henry
2.2% Crispus Attucks
2.2% Alexander Hamilton
2.2% Nathan Hale
1.1% Benedict Arnold
1.1% Aaron Burr
0.7% Marquis de Lafayette
No searches found: Sam Adams, Abigail Adams, Dolley Madison, Martha Washington, Lord Cornwallis, Sally Hemings, Gen. Thomas Gage.
So somebody out there is thinking of Nathan Hale -- that's comforting news to history professors everywhere.
But first ladies seem to take it on the chin: as near as we can tell, last week not a single user felt compelled to search for Dolley Madison, Martha Washington, or the delightful Abigail Adams. (Same goes for Sally Hemings, if you want to include her in that list.) Betsy Ross is the only woman of the era to make it into our top 16.
Of course, some of the men didn't fare so well either. Benedict Arnold was out-searched 4-1 by Eggs Benedict. (Serves him right, the turncoat.)
Ethan Allen and John Hancock got a boost, we presume, from searches for the furniture store and insurance company that took their names. (And surely Paul Revere never dreamed he'd end up with his own namesake butter knife.) But having a modern-day product in your name is no guarantee of search success; Sam Adams didn't rate with surfers despite having his own beer.
It's a mild surprise that Ben Franklin outranks Tom Jefferson. The moral, presumably, is that it's better to come up with short, pithy homilies than long philosophical revolutionary documents. Or maybe you just get extra points if you discover electricity.
Finally: let us take a moment to tip our hat to George Washington, the "indispensible man" who made the whole thing work. He's still first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his (online) countrymen, and we at the Lycos 50 offer him a fond and respectful salute.
Tune in tomorrow for the week's new Lycos 50, won't you?
