# If you could bring one person from history to the present day, who would it be? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 5, 2013, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-person-from-history-to-the-present-day-who-would-it-be/665392 "2013-08-05T14:37:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-person-from-history-to-the-present-day-who-would-it-be/665392/1 "2013-08-05T14:37:55Z")
[Inspired](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=698444) by this thread. Much as I’d love to bring Shakespeare here and get his reaction to the idea that his works are classics that are still being produced, my first choice would be Hitler. Mostly to ask him “What the fuck were you thinking?” ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-person-from-history-to-the-present-day-who-would-it-be/665392/2 "2013-08-05T14:51:18Z")
I’d like to bring Leonardi da Vinci to the modern world. ---
**Author:** ![aNewLeaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-person-from-history-to-the-present-day-who-would-it-be/665392/3 "2013-08-05T14:57:39Z")
Do you get to put the person back in their own time, or are they stuck here? ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-person-from-history-to-the-present-day-who-would-it-be/665392/4 "2013-08-05T14:59:02Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > I’d like to bring Leonardi da Vinci to the modern world. That’s a good one, but I think Archimedes would be even better. May have been even a little more clever and from a period that we don’t know as much about. We may have more to learn from him. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-person-from-history-to-the-present-day-who-would-it-be/665392/5 "2013-08-05T14:59:22Z")
I’ll be selfish and say my Dad. I miss him. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-person-from-history-to-the-present-day-who-would-it-be/665392/6 "2013-08-05T15:07:37Z")
I’d like to hit up the strip clubs with Ben Franklin. ---
**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:** [August 5, 2013, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-person-from-history-to-the-present-day-who-would-it-be/665392/7 "2013-08-05T15:18:03Z")
Jefferson would be interesting. ---
**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:** [August 5, 2013, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-person-from-history-to-the-present-day-who-would-it-be/665392/8 "2013-08-05T15:22:17Z")
Mohammed. I want to see him confront the terrorists. Actually . . . this could end badly. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-person-from-history-to-the-present-day-who-would-it-be/665392/9 "2013-08-05T15:35:39Z")
James Madison, in the hope that he would tell the textualist/originalist judges that they’re nuts, of course the Constitution should be looked at relative to current societal standards. Of course, he could disappoint me on that one. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-person-from-history-to-the-present-day-who-would-it-be/665392/10 "2013-08-05T16:09:22Z")
Jesus. So that he could read the bible and be all, “WTF?! I never said any of this bullshit! Who’s responsible for all this fuckery?!?” How funny would it be to hear Jesus swearing. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-person-from-history-to-the-present-day-who-would-it-be/665392/11 "2013-08-05T16:35:53Z")
Winston Churchill. We’d sit around all evening smoking cigars, drinking, watching Marx Brothers movies, and telling war stories. ---
**Author:** ![Longshanks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Longshanks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Longshanks)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-person-from-history-to-the-present-day-who-would-it-be/665392/12 "2013-08-05T18:52:46Z")
Genghis khan. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-person-from-history-to-the-present-day-who-would-it-be/665392/13 "2013-08-06T13:41:48Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > …, my first choice would be Hitler. Mostly to ask him “What the fuck were you thinking?” Or you could just read his book, the happy little _Mein Kampf_. Leave that fucker in hell! Let’s bring back Don Knotts instead. ---
**Author:** ![DrumBum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e79b87/32.png) [@DrumBum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrumBum)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-person-from-history-to-the-present-day-who-would-it-be/665392/14 "2013-08-06T14:12:03Z")
I would transport James Madison back. I would be interested to hear what he has say about those 27 words he wrote ( the 2nd Amendment ), as they pertain to our present day. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-person-from-history-to-the-present-day-who-would-it-be/665392/15 "2013-08-06T15:22:32Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Jesus. Well, if we’re including fictional characters, I’m going w/ Gandalf! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-person-from-history-to-the-present-day-who-would-it-be/665392/16 "2013-08-06T17:54:10Z")
Benjamin Franklin or Mark Twain. I think either one would be fascinating for maybe a day. Then Twain would hit me up for a loan to buy a ticket back to Hartford "I just want to see Olivia again. I am SO horny!"and Franklin would try to get me to invest in some crazy invention, like a death ray. “I tried to get George Washington in on this, but he had some moral scruples about vaporizing Cornwallis’ army, the big pussy.” ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-person-from-history-to-the-present-day-who-would-it-be/665392/17 "2013-08-06T18:05:22Z")
Tesla, if only to show him that he was right. Elon Musk would probably like to give him a guided tour of the car plant. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-person-from-history-to-the-present-day-who-would-it-be/665392/18 "2013-08-06T18:18:38Z")
Do I have to know who it is? Can I bring someone who worked on the Voynich Manuscript? Someone from the Roanoke Colony? Someone from Atlantis? Babushka Lady? DB Cooper? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-person-from-history-to-the-present-day-who-would-it-be/665392/19 "2013-08-06T18:18:49Z")
> [@Longshanks](#): > > Genghis khan. To watch him walk around meeting people and going [“My eyes … my chin … my hairline … my ears …”](http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2010/08/1-in-200-men-direct-descendants-of-genghis-khan/#.UgE9n6w8Axo) ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-person-from-history-to-the-present-day-who-would-it-be/665392/20 "2013-08-06T19:28:07Z")
I’d love to play a game of Warhammer 40K with HG Wells. (Wells invented table top war gaming in 1913, and W40K’s setting of monstrous alien invaders and a callous and degraded humanity seems like it would appeal to the guy who wrote _War of the Worlds_ and _The Time Machine_.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-bring-one-person-from-history-to-the-present-day-who-would-it-be/665392.md?page=2)