Names from U.S. history (Solution)

Welcome back, Puzzlers! Let's solve the latest Sunday Puzzle:

This week's challenge comes from listener Ed Pegg Jr., who runs mathpuzzle.com. Think of someone who has been in the news this year in a positive way. Say this person's first initial and last name out loud. It will sound like an important person in U.S. history. Who is it?

Plus, an additional clue--the "someone in the news this year" is "an official" of some kind.

I spelled out a hypothetical NLP approach in my preview post, but also mentioned that this one is pretty easy to solve mentally, provided that you follow the news somewhat closely. I suggested that we start with a list of important historical Americans, then filter out any names that don't start with a phoneme that sounds like an English letter (i.e., an initial).

I found a list of 100 such names from Smithsonian Magazine. Here's a mostly random subset I pulled; it does contain the target:

1. George Washington
2. John Muir
3. Sacagawea
4. Neil Armstrong
5. Michael Jordan
6. Martin Luther King Jr.
7. Ulysses S. Grant
8. Robert E. Lee
9. John Brown
10. Frederick Douglass
11. Henry Ford
12. Susan B. Anthony
13. Tecumseh
14. Thomas Jefferson
15. Franklin Delano Roosevelt
16. Oprah Winfrey
17. Al Capone
18. Frank Lloyd Wright
19. Andy Warhol
20. Brigham Young
21. Roger Williams
22. Mark Twain
23. Abraham Lincoln
24. Bob Dylan
25. Jimi Hendrix
26. Marilyn Monroe
27. Frank Sinatra
28. Louis Armstrong
29. John D. Rockefeller
30. Walt Disney
31. Bill Gates
32. Babe Ruth
33. Elvis Presley
34. Muhammad Ali
35. Jackie Robinson
36. Billie Jean King

If we eliminate any of those names that doesn't start off sounding like a letter, we're left with these five:

1. Ulysses S. Grant ("U")
2. Franklin Delano Roosevelt / "FDR" ("F")
3. Oprah Winfrey ("O")
4. Abraham Lincoln / Abe Lincoln ("A")
5. Elvis Presley ("L")

And then we can try to reason out what the corresponding name would be (an official making positive news this year; a first initial and last name):

• Ulysses S. Grant ("U"):
•  ~ U. Lissiesessgrant, U. Lissies Essgrant, U. Liss Izessgrant; I don't think so.
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt / "FDR" ("F")
• ~ F. Diar, F. Dearre, F. DeRosa Velt; Doesn't ring any bells.
• Oprah Winfrey ("O")
• ~ O. Prawinfrey, O. Prahwen Fris, O. Praw Infree, etc.; Nah.
• Abraham Lincoln / Abe Lincoln ("A")
• ~ A. Braham Lincoln, A. Brah Hamlinken, A. Blinken; Hmm...
• Elvis Presley ("L"):
• L. Vispresly, L. Vispreslis, L. Visp Ressley, L. Vispress Lee, etc.; Nope.

Got it?

If not, take a look at President Biden's cabinet picks.

Thanks for reading! See for the next Sunday Puzzle!

--Levi King