Who do you think is America's greatest composer of song (Pre WWII)

Handy for me... gotta love the blues

I made it to Gershwin at the hesitant end.
I think that it is Burt Bacharach in reality.

I picked Porter, but it was a close-run thing with Berlin. Between them they form the bedrock of the GASB, IMO.

hmmm (scratching the back of my head), that's a tough one... I wouldn't know to tell you the truth.

For the sheer number of classics he churned out, I'd have to go with Cole Porter.

Had to do some serious mulling over it, but alas:

Cole Porter

Tip of the hat to Rodgers & Hart, though.

I'd like to see this given to kids in the under 30 range. I wonder how many of them even recognize any of these names? (I voted for Porter, but it was tough choice between he and Gershwin.)

Many of these composers were still active many years after WWII. Are we supposed to exclude their later work?

I voted for Stephen Foster. He may or may not be the best on the list, but hardly anyone hears about him these days. If anyone is curious, check him out. His music is wonderful.

Being that David Mahler is somewhat of a savant in terms of knowing music, my field of expertise is art. I was thinking about this question in regards to art instead of music. The interesting thing is that I think there are parallels. In the world of art, one could say that the best pre-World War ll artists were Whistler, Sargent, Homer, Eakins, or a number of Hudson River School painter's such as Albert Bierstadt. As great as any of these artists are they are still deeply rooted by the europeans. If I had to choose one artist, however, it would probably have to be Albert Pinkham Ryder (1847-1917) - a true visionary; nearly as radical as Kandinsky but his efficiency and practicality would make a Shaker arm chair swoon. Yet, it was only after World War ll that a truly "American" art was born, starting with Pollock (more or less). Funnily enough, this is roughly the same time when Jazz in this country was having its renaissance (late 1940's - 50's). One musical story I have about the Gershwin's is that when I was living in Los Angeles I went to art school with a woman who was personal friends with Ira Gershwin and she would tell me a lot about him. One of the stories I heard was that even after the brothers became famous, George Gershwin went to Europe and asked Maurice Ravel to help him with his compositional skills. Supposedly, Ravel snubbed George - le plebian American - but "official" history paints a nicer picture of what took place. I wish I could corroborate this story and maybe someone here could affirm or deny this happening.