# If you could bring back one assassinated person . . . **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 6, 2014, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-back-one-assassinated-person/682977 "2014-03-06T01:12:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-back-one-assassinated-person/682977/1 "2014-03-06T01:12:00Z")
If, through some special magic, you were granted the ability to bring back one historical figure who was assassinated, who would you choose? Anyone you bring back is guaranteed to live out a reasonably long lifespan. Your choice can be made through any reasoning - what would have the most impact on the world, what you personally would like the best, etc. I’d probably go with Lincoln. Had he lived, the Southern Reconstruction wouldn’t have been as royally messed up as it was, segregation in the US would have most likely not been quite as awful, and the current animosity between the Republicans and the Democrats might not be so bad (admittedly, that last one requires a few logical leaps). I also thought about the Archduke Ferdinand, as he’s considered the spark that set off WWI (which, in turn, created the Treaty of Versailles which contributed to WWII) but I think that Europe was so politically tense at that time, something else would have started the war. The inner Beatles fan in me wants to say John Lennon, as we could have had a few more classic songs, but I don’t know how he measures up to Lincoln. 😃 So, how about you? Would you bring back JFK? MLK? Any other of the many, many assassinated figures the world has seen? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-back-one-assassinated-person/682977/2 "2014-03-06T01:21:12Z")
I’d have to agree with Lincoln. I think his assassination caused more disruption and misery than any other. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-back-one-assassinated-person/682977/3 "2014-03-06T01:37:57Z")
What do you mean by bring back? Have them be alive and here in the present? Or magically alive in their own timeline? Because my answers would be different. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-back-one-assassinated-person/682977/4 "2014-03-06T01:42:08Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > What do you mean by bring back? Have them be alive and here in the present? Or magically alive in their own timeline? Because my answers would be different. Sorry I wasn’t clear in the OP - they’d be alive in their own timeline. Say, Lincoln would have decided not to go to the theater, or JFK would have skipped Texas. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-back-one-assassinated-person/682977/5 "2014-03-06T01:49:21Z")
Jesus. “Hey, I thought you died… twice…” ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-back-one-assassinated-person/682977/6 "2014-03-06T01:50:21Z")
Another vote for Lincoln, for the reasons already mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-back-one-assassinated-person/682977/7 "2014-03-06T02:06:02Z")
> [@Octarine](#): > > Sorry I wasn’t clear in the OP - they’d be alive in their own timeline. Say, Lincoln would have decided not to go to the theater, or JFK would have skipped Texas. Then I would have to go with Lincoln too. If I thought it would do any good I would say Franz Ferdinand but if he lived something else would have been the catalyst for WWI. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-back-one-assassinated-person/682977/8 "2014-03-06T02:10:22Z")
I’ll add RFK to the list. I’ve got no beef with Lincoln though. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-back-one-assassinated-person/682977/9 "2014-03-06T03:00:11Z")
I’ll take a non-Western Hemisphere approach here and offer Gandhi. Had he lived, he might have been able to help bridge the gap between India and Pakistan. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-back-one-assassinated-person/682977/10 "2014-03-06T03:06:31Z")
In what way were things after Lincoln’s death any worse then they would have been had he been still alive and serving as President? What, historically, would have turned out better, if Lincoln had still been alive? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-back-one-assassinated-person/682977/11 "2014-03-06T03:57:45Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > In what way were things after Lincoln’s death any worse then they would have been had he been still alive and serving as President? What, historically, would have turned out better, if Lincoln had still been alive? Reconstruction could have been a lot more substantial and meaningful. I agree with the Lincoln choice. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-back-one-assassinated-person/682977/12 "2014-03-06T04:09:49Z")
I’m going to pick somebody who hasn’t been mentioned: Song Jiaoren. He was a Chinese politician who had just led the Kuomintang to electoral victory and would have been China’s first democratically elected Prime Minister when he was assassinated in 1913. If Song had lived China might have had a democratic government instead of a series of dictators. ---
**Author:** ![Werekoala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7993a0/32.png) [@Werekoala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Werekoala)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-back-one-assassinated-person/682977/13 "2014-03-06T05:13:12Z")
Julius Caesar. His death ushered in the Imperial Age of the Roman Era and I think lead to a great amount of misplaced miltarism in order to perpetuate the Imperial system. I’m not suggesting that there wouldn’t have been something resembling it going forward, but I think a decade or so of his steady and war-weary hand at the helm of Rome could have (would have) lead to a much different world. No, I don’t really have anything to support my claim (aside from nearly 25 years of obesssion with ancient Rome) but remembering the maxim that the winners write the history books, I’d put a few Talents on J.Caesar to run the table. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-back-one-assassinated-person/682977/14 "2014-03-06T05:16:24Z")
Hitler… Oh no, wait, that’s been done. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-back-one-assassinated-person/682977/15 "2014-03-06T05:59:33Z")
I wonder what effect McKinley never having been assassinated would have on the country. I don’t know if it would have been good or bad, but I think the US would not be the super power it is today without Teddy Roosevelt becoming president (he may have been on the way to that anyhow without McKinley dying). ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-back-one-assassinated-person/682977/16 "2014-03-06T06:21:59Z")
L.H. Oswald. Too interesting and enigmatic to die. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-back-one-assassinated-person/682977/17 "2014-03-06T06:55:00Z")
> [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](#): > > Hitler… Oh no, wait, that’s been done. > > 🙂 In all seriousness, a lot of people would love to bring him to justice. Like throw him into one of his own death camps. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-back-one-assassinated-person/682977/18 "2014-03-06T07:11:00Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Then I would have to go with Lincoln too. If I thought it would do any good I would say Franz Ferdinand but if he lived something else would have been the catalyst for WWI. I was going to go with him, but, then I remembered that his wife died with him, which would be 2 people. Anastasia, perhaps? Patrice Lumumba? Emiliano Zapata? Michael Collins? I don’t agree that Lennon was assassinated; I think he was just murdered. This is a great question; unfortunately, it makes my head spin. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-back-one-assassinated-person/682977/19 "2014-03-06T07:37:50Z")
RFK was my vote as we’ll. Lennon wasn’t in good health. I don’t know what you would have got out of him. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-back-one-assassinated-person/682977/20 "2014-03-06T08:19:05Z")
I’ll be the first to say Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-back-one-assassinated-person/682977.md?page=2)