Meet the American who stitched the Stars & Stripes, Betsy Ross, reputed wartime seductress

Betsy Ross is credited with creating the first Stars & Stripes American flag. Her real contributions to the American Revolution are perhaps much more dramatic than the flagmaking legend.

Meet the American who 'won the war for us': Andrew Jackson Higgins, World War II New Orleans boatbuilder

Andrew Jackson Higgins, native of Nebraska, designed and built in New Orleans the famous amphibious landing craft used by the U.S. and Allies to fight and win World War II.

Meet the American who invented windshield wipers, Mary Anderson, Alabama entrepreneur

Mary Anderson was born in Alabama months after the tragedy of the Civil War. She helped her state rebuild, then went on to create windshield wipers — long before auto titans realized the potential.

Meet the American who cooked up ketchup, Dr. James Mease, patriot with passion for 'love apples'

Dr. James Mease was a Philadelphia intellectual born to a veteran of the American Revolution. In 1812, he published the first recipe for ketchup, a signature taste of America.

Meet the American who invented sliced bread: Otto Rohwedder, hard-luck hawkeye

Otto Rohwedder of Davenport, Iowa, created the invention by which all others are judged — sliced bread — in 1928. His innovation quickly changed consumer culture.

Meet the American who created bubble gum, Walter Diemer, home-kitchen chemist outwitted scientists

Walter Diemer, a 23-year-old accountant for Fleer Co. of Philadelphia, invented bubble gum in 1928. The secret formula had defied the best food scientists for decades.

Meet the American who created the Kentucky Derby, Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr., born of pioneers

The Kentucky Derby debuted in 1875, the horse race a vision of Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr., grandson of American explorer William Clark in hopes of reviving commonwealth's economy.

Meet the American who invented the gas-powered tractor, entrepreneur John Froelich, helped feed the world

John Froelich, the oldest son of German immigrants, was born in Iowa in 1849. The grain mill operator tinkered away on a gasoline traction, the tractor, that changed global agriculture.

Meet the American who never flinched in the fight for independence, Abigail Adams

Abigail Adams proved a peerless patriot in the American Revolution with "a spirit that will not be conquered" while championing rights for women in the new nation.

Meet the American who made prescriptions safer, Deborah Adler, inspired by Holocaust survivor grandma

Deborah Adler of New York has achieved acclaim in industry and art for her prescription bottle designs and labeling program that have helped to prevent thousands of deaths each year.