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Jewish American Heritage Month
  Jewish-Americans are influential in a wide range of sectors -- from entertainment to the sciences. In honor of Jewish American Heritage Month, here are a few notables singled out by the Jewish-American Hall of Fame.
William Safire
  The author  Pulitzer Prize-winning conservative columnist and presidential speechwriter influenced public opinion for decades until his death in 2009. He was a leading critic of this presidential administration.


Gloria Steinem

The face of the feminist movement, Gloria Steinem been a force in shaping gender politics since the 1970s. 
Barbara Walters

The legendary broadcast journalist is known for conducting interviews with A-list celebrities, including a pop queen, a presidential couple and a screen icon. Whom did she choose for her annual "Most Fascinating People" list for 2010?
Albert Einstein

The German-born physicist who gave the world a groundbreaking theory is widely thought to be the greatest scientist of all time. He became an American citizen in 1940 and spent many years at a prestigious Ivy League university.
Alan Greenspan

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan  has taken heat for factors leading to the current economic downturn since retiring in 2008. Get his memoir.
Sandy Koufax


One of the greatest left-handed pitchers of all time played for the same team his entire 12-year career. The baseball icon was the youngest former player to receive a top baseball honor.
Woody Allen

Best known as a filmmaker who dwells on the drama of relationships within a comedic framework, Woody Allen has a large body of work that includes plays, music and stand-up comedy.
Al Franken

Al Franken's career has evolved from a long-running sketch comedy showto being elected a senator and authoring books.
Elizabeth Taylor

A film star in the truest sense of the word, the late screen star dazzled on and off camera for decades and became renowned for her many marriages, her extensive jewelry collection and for bringing AIDS research into the spotlight.
Henry Kissinger

The former national security adviser and secretary of state under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973.
Mark Zuckerberg

The founder of social networking innovator Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg was named Time magazine's Person of the Year in 2010 at the age of 26. His massive net worth? A movie came out last year based on the creation of Facebook.
Philip Roth

Roth's book "Goodbye, Columbus," published in 1959, won the National Book Award and was made into a movie, and his works depicting Jewish-American life have gone on to earn many other honors, including the Pulitzer Prize for literature.
Annie Leibovitz

The legendary photographer has trained her camera lens on celebrities ranging from a music legend  to royalty  creating iconic images.
Natalie Portman

Portman's Oscar-winning performance in "Black Swan" is the latest honor for the young actress, who retains dual American and Israeli  citizenship. She's recently engaged and expecting.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg

The second woman to sit as a Supreme Court justice was appointed during former President Bill Clinton's term in office. She has been an advocate for this constitutional principle.
Ben Bernanke

An American economist and former professor  Ben Bernanke became chairman of the Federal Reserve Board in 2006. He was criticized for his work behind the bailout of an insurance giant.
Artie Shaw

One of the primary architects of the Swing Era, big band leader and clarinetist Artie Shaw  is known for reworking standards like Cole Porter's "Begin the Beguine"  into jazzy, memorable arrangements.
Ralph Lauren

Fashion designer Ralph Lauren is known for his classic American style and has put his brand on everything from bedding to fragrances and home décor.
Albert Abraham Michelson
A Nobel prize-winning physicist known for his work on a physical constant, Albert Michelson was born in Strzelno but immigrated to the U.S. in the late 1800s as a child. He was the first to receive the Nobel Prize in this category.
Source:Specials

Famous Female Firsts
Famous Female Firsts
James Brown might have sung that it's a man's, man's, man's world, but we disagree. We ascribe more to the Aretha Franklin outlook on life, that sisters are doin' it for themselves. In honor of Women's History Month, check out 18 fabulous females who paved the way for womankind.
Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey
Famous First: First female artist to debut a single at #1 on the charts
Year: 1995
Not only did "Fantasy" make Mariah the first woman to debut a single atop the Billboard Hot 100, but she was also the second person ever to do so. The first? Michael Jackson, who did it less than a month earlier with "You Are Not Alone."
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey
Famous First: First woman to own and produce her own talk show
Year: 1986
Running nationally since Sept. 8, 1986, "The Oprah Winfrey Show" has since become one of the
longest-running daytime TV talk shows. Maybe that's why Oprah's the only person in the world to be named to Time magazine's Most Influential People list each year since its inception.
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Famous Firsts: First woman to produce, direct, write and star in a major motion picture ("Yentl"); first female composer to win the Best Song Oscar for "Evergreen" ("A Star is Born")
Year: 1983 and 1977, respectively
Babs can play everything from a cross-dressing yeshiva student from a Polish shtetl to Fanny Brice in "Funny Girl." Girlfriend has range.
Beyonce
Beyonce
Famous First: First female artist to be awarded the International Artist Award at the American Music Awards
Year: 2007
When B joined the ranks of Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, Michael Jackson, Rod Stewart and the Bee Gees to
accept the International Artist Award at the AMAs, she also became the award's youngest recipient.
Barbara Walters
Barbara Walters
Famous First: First female co-anchor of network evening news
Year: 1976
Before Barbara took a seat at the "ABC Evening News" desk, she was what she called a "tea pourer" at
"TODAY" because at the time nobody would take a woman reporting hard news seriously.
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg
Famous First: First woman to host the Oscars solo
Year: 1994
Before Whoopi took the stage to host the 1994 Oscars, Helen Hayes, Carol Burnett, Diana Ross, Shirley MacLaine, Goldie Hawn, Ellen Burstyn, Jane Fonda, Liza
Minnelli and Rosalind Russell had all emceed the event. However, all these ladies had been cohosts.
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez
Famous First: First female spokesperson for the Boys & Girls Club of America
Year: 2010
It's strange to think that before J.Lo repped the Boys & Girls Club of America, all the organization's celebrity
spokespeople were men. Let's hear it for the girls!
Kathryn Bigelow
Kathryn Bigelow
Famous First: First woman to win Best Director at the Oscars
Year: 2010
Not only was Kathryn's Best Director win for "The Hurt Locker" sweet because it was a female first, but
defeating her ex-husband James Cameron and his big-budget flick "Avatar" made it even sweeter.
Chris Evert
Chris Evert
Famous First: First female tennis player to earn $1 million in career prize money; first tennis player, male or female, to win 1,000 singles matches
Year: 1976 and 1984, respectively
During the mid-'70s, as Chris racked up tennis titles for
her WTA winnings, she also earned another -- "Ice Maiden" -- for her tough demeanor on the court.
JK Rowling
JK Rowling
Famous First: First female billionaire book author
Year: 2004
Not only is this "Harry Potter" scribe the first woman to make a billion dollars on books, but she's also the first human to do so. Take that, dudes.
Queen Latifah
Queen Latifah
Famous First: First female rapper to win a Grammy
Year: 1995
Sure, women had been taking home Grammys since 1959, but it was the Queen who broke up the hip-hop boy's club by snagging the award for Best Rap Solo
Performance from Coolio, Craig Mack, Snoop and Warren G.
Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Famous First: First female athlete to be featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated, aside from the swimsuit edition
Year: 1987
Voted the greatest female athlete of the 20th century by
Sports Illustrated, Jackie holds the world record in heptathlon.
Sandra Day O'Connor
Sandra Day O'Connor
Famous First: First female Supreme Court justice
Year: 1981
In 1983, the New York Times printed an editorial about the increasing use of acronyms, taking issue with the "nine men" of the Supreme Court being called SCOTUS.
Sandra corrected them in a pithy retort and gave herself the nickname FWOTSC: First Woman on the Supreme Court.
Tina Turner
Tina Turner
Famous First: First woman to be on the cover of Rolling Stone
Year: 1967
It didn't take long for Rolling Stone to put a woman on its cover. In fact, Tina appeared on the cover of the
magazine's second issue, right after John Lennon.
Danica Patrick
Danica Patrick
Famous First: First woman to win a major closed-course auto race
Year: 2008
Whoever says women are bad drivers obviously hasn't met Danica. This racer has been breaking records and
driving circles around her male competitors since she went pro for the IRL IndyCar series in 2005 and was named Rookie of the Year.
Lucille Ball
Lucille Ball
Famous First: First woman in television to head a major studio
Year: 1962
Lucille and her husband Desi Arnaz had set up Desilu Productions in 1950 to produce "I Love Lucy." But the
couple divorced in 1960, and in 1962, Lucille bought out her ex's shares and took over as president of the company. She eventually sold the company to conglomerate Gulf+Western, but not before making history.
Candice Bergen
Candice Bergen
Famous First: First female host of "Saturday Night Live"
Year: 1975
While Gilda Radner, Jane Curtin and Laraine Newman were all part of the original "SNL" cast, it wasn't until the fourth episode that a woman hosted. Another famous first
happened that evening: It was the first time that the cast gathered on the stage to say goodbye to the audience at the end of the episode, a tradition that endures today.
Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes
Famous First: First woman to win the EGOT
Year: 1976
Here's how Helen got her EGOT: She won a Best Actress Oscar in 1932 for "The Sin of Madelon Claudet," a Best Actress Tony in 1947 for "Happy Birthday," a
Best Actress Emmy in 1953 for "Medallion Theatre," and a Best Spoken Word Recording Grammy in 1976 for "Great American Documents."

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