# Historical figures You Would like to meet! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 18, 2004, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-you-would-like-to-meet/235108 "2004-03-18T23:09:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2004, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-you-would-like-to-meet/235108/1 "2004-03-18T23:09:01Z")
I know…unless a time machine is invented I’ll never realize this dream! But anyway, here are a few people i would like to meet and talk to: - Julius caesar -Plato -Moses -Cyrus of persia -Akhenaten -Jesus christ -Saint paul -Lief ericsson -Lorenzo DeMedici -King Louis XIV -Voltaire -George washington -Sigmund Freud -Dr. Sun-Yat-Sen -Jawaharlal Nehru -Ghandi -Joesph Stalin Anybody YOu want to add to the list? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2004, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-you-would-like-to-meet/235108/2 "2004-03-18T23:17:30Z")
Albert Einstein Benjamin Franklin Alexander Graham Bell George Washington Abraham Lincoln Douglas Adams Confucius Jim Henson People who are still living; Stephen Hawking Steve Jobs Steve Wozniak Gigi Edgely Anthony Simcoe Lani Tupu Wayne Pygram Ben Browder Claudia Black Jonathan Hardy Brian Henson ---
**Author:** ![the\_Lady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@the\_Lady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_Lady)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2004, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-you-would-like-to-meet/235108/3 "2004-03-18T23:53:44Z")
Arthur Currie (Canadian general, circa WWI) ---
**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2004, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-you-would-like-to-meet/235108/4 "2004-03-18T23:57:51Z")
Ben Franklin for me. I want to know if he was really the woman’s man he’s made out to be. Also like to talk science with him. My problem with going back in time to meet “celebraties” is being there long enough (a lifetime) to understand the background in which they exist. Just meeting and talking to a historic figure is not enough IMHO. I would need the context. ---
**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-you-would-like-to-meet/235108/5 "2004-03-19T00:00:51Z")
Oops and Leonardo DaVinci and NOT because of that new stupid book. ---
**Author:** ![Patr100](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@Patr100](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patr100)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-you-would-like-to-meet/235108/6 "2004-03-19T00:03:11Z")
The Buddha. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-you-would-like-to-meet/235108/7 "2004-03-19T00:21:09Z")
Cardinal Richelieu Gustav Adolphus Catherine the Great Yoshitsune Ulysses S. Grant Harry Truman Yamamoto Isoroku ‘Gypsy’ Rose Lee Though, I can’t see why anyone would want to meet and talk to Josef Stalin. ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_Heart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@Angel\_Heart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_Heart)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-you-would-like-to-meet/235108/8 "2004-03-19T04:33:08Z")
George Washington Thomas Hobbes Michaelangelo Jean-Jacques Rousseau Martin Luther King, Jr. Franklin Delano Roosevelt Queen Anne and Prince George (so I can see who my school and my county are named after) Wolfgang Mozart Thomas Edison Amelia Earheart Ida B. Wells Barnett John Locke ---
**Author:** ![Gadfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@Gadfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadfly)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-you-would-like-to-meet/235108/9 "2004-03-19T05:18:32Z")
Jesus, just to ask him about how he feels about all the trouble he’s caused. ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-you-would-like-to-meet/235108/10 "2004-03-19T05:43:52Z")
Robin Hood (Assuming he’s a single person not a hybrid of outlaws/legend. Jury’s out on that one…) Marion (See above) Dorothy Parker Mae West Jean Harlow Katherine Hepburn ---
**Author:** ![Necro\_Romancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/50afbb/32.png) [@Necro\_Romancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necro_Romancer)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-you-would-like-to-meet/235108/11 "2004-03-19T07:10:53Z")
Twelve year old Jesus Christ. Thirty three year old Jesus Christ. Moses Ralph Waldo Emerson Stalin Abraham Lincoln Mohammed Napoleon ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-you-would-like-to-meet/235108/12 "2004-03-19T07:15:03Z")
Isaac Newton. I figure if I can get him laid, he’ll have fewer hang-ups and get more useful work done. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![SSgtBaloo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@SSgtBaloo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SSgtBaloo)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-you-would-like-to-meet/235108/13 "2004-03-19T07:23:33Z")
[ul] [li]Charles Dickens, if only to thank him for “A Christmas Carol” (I find most of his other works to be ponderous reading).[/li][li]Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain[/li][li]Jack Benny[/li][li]Abraham Lincoln[/li][li]Abraham (the patriarch – I suspect I’d need a translator).[/li][li]Solomon, if only to ask him how can a man so renound for wisdom make the mistake of marrying so many women? Sheesh! I’d be satisfied with _one_![/li][/ul] I’m afraid I’ve read too much about the ancient world (for me, anything before the age of enlightenment) to think I’d enjoy the company of very many people who had to survive in the social environment of such times. Heck, if you go back only 30-50 years you find many accepted attitudes towards race, gender, sexual orientation, etc., that you will find distasteful. –SSgtBaloo ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-you-would-like-to-meet/235108/14 "2004-03-19T07:40:00Z")
Colette (who lived where the previously mentioned Cardinal Richelieu had lived) Michael Collins Rosa Parks (living) Madame George Sand George and Ira Gershwin Ernest and Hadley Hemingway Frida Kahlo Bernadette Devlin Ezra Pound Josephine Baker Cole Porter Gee, I need to branch out a little… ---
**Author:** ![Already\_in\_Use](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-you-would-like-to-meet/235108/15 "2004-03-19T08:29:30Z")
Tristan Tzara Marcel Duchamp Salvador Dali Max Ernst Hieronymus Bosch Emperor Norton Igor Stravinsky Edgard Varese John Lennon George Harrison Jimi Hendrix, preferably in one of his more lucid states Frank Zappa Leonardo da Vinci Michelangelo Buonarroti Albrecht Dürer Diogenes the Cynic (the original one, although I’m sure his Doper namesake is a swell fellow as well) Rasputin Adolf Hitler Ilse Koch Mahatma Gandhi Martin Luther King Jr. Lao Tzu Chuang Tzu Lin-chi Spike Jones Odin and Thor and any other Viking gods, if their mythological qualities are in any way derived from traits of real Scandinavian leaders King Harald Fairhair of Norway Snorri Sturluson Leif Eiriksson Richard Feynman James Joyce Genghis Khan Stanley Kubrick Robert Heinlein George Washington Thomas Jefferson Benjamin Franklin (not a complete list, just what I thought of off the top of my head) ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-you-would-like-to-meet/235108/16 "2004-03-19T14:41:24Z")
The reason I would like to meet and talk to this guy…I would like to understand how any human being could send MILLIONS of innocent people to their deaths, without it bothering him one bit! Also, I’d like to know if he (Stalin) was friendly or miserable to his friends/enemies! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-you-would-like-to-meet/235108/17 "2004-03-19T15:06:28Z")
Let’s make it a little harder - you can’t list more than one person from a particular discipline (for instace, you can’t list more than one President, dictator, religous leader, etc.) Thomas Jefferson, but not George Washington. Jefferson was well-read, thoughtful on a variety of subjects, and enjoyed company (even though he much preferred to listen to what his guests had to say rather than sharing much of his own opinion). Washington, while an able leader, doesn’t seem to have had much personality. From all accounts, he was a bit of a stick in the mud. Michelangelo, but not Da Vinci. I want to sit and talk with the man that could produce the Pieta. Plus, I get the impression that he was a bit of a independent, free spirit. The Buddah, but not Jesus. I’m sure Jesus was a pretty hip guy (I wish I could find a T-shirt with the Laughing Jesus on it), but I picture him as incredibly low key. The Buddah would probably be good for both conversation and laughs. Plus, I don’t think I’d like the dessert. Chico Marx, but not Groucho Marx. Chico, from what I can gather, was a gas. Womanizer, gambler, man about town. Groucho, from what I can gather, was a prick. My great grandfather, bu not my grandfather. I’ve talked to several relatives about my grandfather so I’ve got a good impression of him (good guy all around), but no one alive ever met my great grandfather. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-figures-you-would-like-to-meet/235108/18 "2004-03-19T16:13:03Z")
Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s first minister. A very two-sided figure in history: facilitated the printing of the first authorized Bible in English, but also initiated secret trials under Star Chamber. The political force behind not only the Anglican Church as we now know it, but also the world’s first attempt at a modern dictatorial state. Held an iron hand over his political enemies, but couldn’t even control his disappointment of a son. Sent many foes to the block, but ended up separated from his own head, too. I wrote my master’s thesis on him, and I’d like to know what he thinks of it.