# Who is the most iconic American of the 1930s?

> The decade of the Depression, the New Deal and the newsreel. Rank the Americans whose faces defined it while it was happening.

*By YPB Team · Published August 31, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/who-is-the-most-iconic-american-of-the-1930s*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Babe Ruth** — score 1000/1000
   Finished his career in 1935 having already changed what a home run meant.
2. **Franklin D. Roosevelt** — score 912/1000
   Took office in 1933 and spoke to the country by radio for the rest of the decade.
3. **Seabiscuit** — score 566/1000
   An undersized claiming horse who beat War Admiral in 1938 and drew more press than the president.
4. **Amelia Earhart** — score 566/1000
   Set records through 1932 and 1935, then disappeared in 1937 and never stopped being news.
5. **Jesse Owens** — score 333/1000
   Won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
6. **Walt Disney** — score 333/1000
   Released Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937, the first feature-length animated film.
7. **Clark Gable** — score 227/1000
   The decade's dominant leading man, ending it with Gone with the Wind in 1939.
8. **Joe Louis** — score 227/1000
   Won the heavyweight title in 1937 and avenged the Schmeling defeat in 124 seconds in 1938.
9. **Eleanor Roosevelt** — score 227/1000
   Wrote a daily newspaper column and travelled the country reporting back on relief programmes.
10. **Shirley Temple** — score 227/1000
   The top box-office draw in America for four straight years from 1935.
11. **John Dillinger** — score 227/1000
   Robbed banks across the Midwest and made the FBI's reputation by dying in 1934.

Tags: usa, celebrities, legends, 30s