FORTUNE -- As Ronald Reagan was so fond of saying: "There you go again." That's right, there Fortune goes again with another 100 great things about America. This is Fortune's third annual list -- our favorite way to kick off the high-summer season -- and we're still following the house rules: No repeats from previous years' lists, which is why you won't see The Mighty Mississippi (it was included last year) or the Ford Mustang (it was on the list the year before). Also, only the living are eligible, so apologies not only to the Great Communicator himself, as well as Andrew Carnegie and Amelia Earhart, but also to Lassie, Flipper, and Mr. Ed.
On this year's list you will find an iconic bridge (we have a bunch of those in this country), a cartoon dog (ditto) and a certain Valley to the south of San Francisco that just happens to be the cradle of global technology innovation (there’s only one of those).
The list is great fun to argue about with friends. Just please remember that we are now up to 300 great things cumulatively with our three years of lists and we aim to keep going (for another seven years) until we hit a thousand! Somewhere, I think the Gipper -- and FDR too -- are smiling in approval.
To compile the list, we tapped the youth and brainpower of a few members of our summer intern class of 2012. Thank you: Omar Akhtar, Chip Lebovitz, Lisa Mogilanski, and Ben Schenkel.
--Andy Serwer, managing editor
