# Ask the guy who is pretty good at SF Story Identification **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [September 7, 2008, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417 "2008-09-07T00:08:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 50
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/981 "2022-06-02T14:12:16Z")
I seem to remember reading something like that from Robert Silverberg, but I don’t remember the name of the story. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/982 "2022-06-02T14:25:09Z")
Excellent catch! I just Googled Robert Silverberg short stories thanks to that tip. It’s called “Born with the Dead”. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/983 "2022-06-02T21:21:19Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > This is Fred Pohl’s The Man Who Ate The World, I think. Which is a sequel to his “The Midas Curse”, where the idea of using robots for the necessary consumption (in addition to production) originated. “The Man who Ate the World” would make a lot less sense without that context. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/984 "2022-06-02T21:25:06Z")
Found and ordered, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/985 "2022-06-02T22:18:28Z")
This was a short story either from a book or an anthology TV show it’s been a while. A history Professor who thinks JFK was the greatest President ever decides to invent (or steal) a time machine to go back in time and save JFK. After stopping Oswalt on his first time jump He realizes the man on the grassy knoll was the real killer so he time jumps again and buys his own scoped rifle to shoot the man before he shoots JFK, but is shocked to see himself on the grassy knoll about to shoot JFK upon which he realizes that he must have saved JFK the first time jump, got back to the future, and whatever future that version of himself saw was so horrible that version of himself had to go back in time to rectify things. He goes back into his own time sadder but wiser. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/986 "2022-06-02T22:40:28Z")
You may mean Profile in Silver in the 1980s version of The Twilight Zone, which featured Andrew Robinson (DS9’s Garak) as Kennedy [Profile in Silver - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profile_in_Silver) - but the story isn’t quite like you remember, if I’m right. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/987 "2022-06-02T22:59:06Z")
It’s almost like he’s remembering two stories and this is one of them. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/988 "2022-06-02T23:03:36Z")
I’ve done that. It took me ages to find Del Rey’s “Step to the Stars” because I was combining it in my mind with Clarke’s “Islands in the Sky” ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/989 "2022-06-02T23:32:46Z")
Every time traveller ends up shooting Kennedy sooner or later. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/990 "2022-06-02T23:42:55Z")
Except in Quantum Leap where the target to be saved was really Jackie ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/991 "2022-06-02T23:45:39Z")
Does this seem at all familiar? [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/G7YgxFSud_o/hqdefault.jpg "Running Against Time Trailer 1990") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7YgxFSud_o) ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/992 "2022-06-02T23:52:31Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > It’s almost like he’s remembering two stories and this is one of them. His description bears some similarity to the Red Dwarf episode [_Tikka to Ride_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tikka_to_Ride), in that the gunman on the grassy knoll is a time traveler sent back to fix the dismal timeline created when the assassination was foiled. But like **Peter\_Morris** says, the number of time traveler/Kennedy assassination stories is huge and there is ample opportunity to conflate multiple stories. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2022, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/993 "2022-06-02T23:58:15Z")
Yeah the main part of the story I remember most distinctly is the professor aiming a rifle at the grassy knoll only to see himself there with the same rifle pointing at the President. The Twilight Zone episode makes the most sense considering the time frame where I would have watched it as a kid and not seen it since, but it doesn’t have the pivotal scene I most remember. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2022, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/994 "2022-06-03T01:52:44Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Every time traveller ends up shooting Kennedy sooner or later. Is that before or after they kill Hitler? ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2022, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/995 "2022-06-03T02:03:58Z")
Both. ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2022, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/996 "2022-06-03T12:35:48Z")
Lincoln however is a Critical Time Juncture and CANNOT be saved. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2022, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/997 "2022-06-03T13:05:31Z")
Even Superboy couldn’t do that without adult Lex Luthor from stopping him. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2022, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/998 "2022-06-03T19:27:47Z")
As I recall the _Twilight Zone_ episode, the time-traveling historian somehow replaced JFK as President and sacrificed himself in the Dallas motorcade that day so that JFK could live (and end up teaching at Harvard in the future). The historian did not himself become the assassin. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2022, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/999 "2022-06-03T19:39:25Z")
That’s the way I remember it - which may mean that the historian saw himself in motorcade, not at the window. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2022, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1000 "2022-06-03T19:43:45Z")
No, I don’t think it was that, either. He just wanted to spare JFK. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417.md?page=49) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417.md?page=51)