Due to timey-wimey spaceballs I have access to a parallel universe (it’s like this one, except in 1955 Marty McFly invents rock n roll then Darth Vader blows up Vulcan).
I’m able to bring either George Washington, Thomas Jefferson or Benjamin Franklin forward from it to the current date for one week. They will be brought forward from the date one year before their death and after the day is up, send back a nanosecond after. So this would be from December 14, 1798 for Washington, July 4, 1825 for Jefferson and April 17, 1789 for Franklin.
Which one do you want to bring forward? I’ll transport them to your living room (with quantum parallel inoculation so they won’t catch a disease and die). They’ll go back to their parallel universe at the end, so nothing will change history wise.
Who do you want to spend a week with, have some choice words with, share the wonders of the future with?
I think either Jefferson or Franklin would be better conversationalists than Washington, and since Franklin himself said “Fish and visitors stink after three days,” I’d hope that Jefferson would be able to hold up his end for the entire week.
I admire Washington the most of the three, but he was stiff, remote, and difficult to talk to. Jefferson or Franklin. I voted for Franklin, because we’d have so much fun telling dirty jokes to each other.
And, also, he could tell me uncensored stories about Washington and Jefferson, so I get some of the best of all three.
I’m surprised Washington’s got no votes so far; from a foreign perspective he seems by far the most celebrated American. He’s even got a state named after him! One wonders what he would have made of that.
For my own part I’ve always wanted to chat with Jefferson, he seems from his writings someone I’d relate to in terms of trying to do what’s right - I’d bring up the elephant in the room and ask how slavery could be justified. Show him how the institution is regarded today, how it lead to the War Between the States.
Benjamin Franklin was my pick because he was a true polymath in a way rivaled by few others in world history. I would put him up there with Leonardo Da Vinci although he may even surpass him because his range of skills were even broader. The man did everything from electrical theory to inventing bifocal glasses, the public library, serving as the first U.S. ambassador to France as well as a being an overall ladies man. That is just a sample. He was never a U.S. President or even an elected politician yet his face is the one that graces the $100 bill. I still say that he is the best evidence yet that time-travel is possible because that is the best explanation for everything he did. The man was absolutely incredible.
Thomas Jefferson was a talented guy too but I hear he wasn’t a good conversationalist. He was very introverted and was horrible at speeches to Congress even though he wrote most of the Constitution. He had diverse interests but he was also terrible with money and personal relationships so that doesn’t sound like a fun time.
George Washington was a good guy but he was mainly a successful military commander who used other’s ideas to start a new country. There is nothing wrong with that but he would be my 3rd choice of the three.
I think Franklin would have less trouble than the others making sense of the future. My worry is that he’d be so obsessed with diving into scientific and mechanical books on all we’ve learned since he died that he’d tell you to pray let him finish before chatting. After seeing the car or plane how could a man like him rest until he learned how they worked?
Franklin would be the most fun of the three, I concede, but I have a very low regard for Jefferson for various reasons and am not at all tempted to bring him to the present day. I voted for Washington because I admire him the most. Yes, he could sometimes be a bit aloof, but could also be a very engaging and charming fellow. I’d be fascinated by the chance to talk with him, ask him all kinds of questions, answer any of his, and show him around the country he did so much - in both war and in peace - to establish.
I figure Washington is too reserved to be an interesting conversational partner. Jefferson is an intelligent man but I’d almost certainly end up arguing with him over the dichotomy between his espoused views and the way he actually lived - that or I’d spend the week biting my tongue. So I picked Franklin - I figured he’d have a lot of interesting things to say, he would actually be interested in talking, and I could relax and enjoy the conversation.
You’re probably thinking of the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson wasn’t even present at the constitutional convention - he was in France at the time.
Big Ben. For one thing, he was a chick magnet. Take him out in public and be surrounded by all the ladies. For another, he’d be genuinely interested in all the modern gadgetry. Surfing the web with him would be a blast, as would showing him dishwashers, furnaces, water heaters, microwaves, etc.
In college, my friends and I put forth the question to ourselves, “If given the opportunity to meet ANYONE in time and space, who would you choose?”
At that point in my life, my answer was Benjamin Franklin. For a number of very good reasons.
Upon 30 years of reflection, he might not be my first choice now.
Nevertheless, Old Ben was a very hoopy frood and he would be the one of the three men most capable of actually living here and now without freaking out.
I can imagine his perspective on the changes since his time would be very enlightening.
I voted for Jefferson to come here. Thoughts on the nation, what did ya want out of the 2nd Amendment, yadda yadda. Maybe I could keep him in a box and charge politicians and pundits $50 a minute to talk with him.
If I had to go back and spend a week, I’d choose Franklin cause that dude knew how to party. But I don’t think he has many contacts with modern day French partygirls and I don’t either so we’d both just be disappointed.
There’d be so much to talk about with Franklin, and he’d be the least put off by modern changes in civility.
I’d like to show him how his two endowments grew after 200 years, and what Philadelphia and Boston did with them. We’d talk about how the country has fared, and I’d find out what he thinks could be done about the gridlock and partisanship in government (if anything).
Finally, showing him everything science has accomplished would be a trip, and who knows but that in a week, maybe he’d have an idea with new technology to invent something else.
This. Jefferson was a brilliant man and even one hour of conversation with him would be amazing. But he also deserves a bitch-slap for his role in allowing slavery to continue, especially when he knew it to be morally wrong. I’d be more than happy to deliver said bitch-slap.