# The Time Machine is set for Aug. 1, 1952 **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 1, 2002, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-machine-is-set-for-aug-1-1952/121880 "2002-08-01T15:07:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2002, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-machine-is-set-for-aug-1-1952/121880/21 "2002-08-02T00:41:16Z")
Well, me and my new good buddy, BILL GATES would probably take a ride on my new, patented SKATE BOARDS that I would gladly share the rights to, if he promises to share his rights to anything HE should invent. Then we would probably hightail it over to STEVIE SPIELBERG’s house and we would share stories and we would copyright them together - stuff about ET’s, and adventurer’s with fedoras. Later, I would write some cool songs about Sgt. Pepper and send them to my pen pals, John and George in England and ask if they needed a drummer when Pete Best splits - I wouldn’t mind touring with them to Hamburg and, I donno, see what happens afterwards… I would probably buy some really cheap land on Las Vegas Boulevard, maybe purchase a few acres in Orlando… ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2002, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-machine-is-set-for-aug-1-1952/121880/22 "2002-08-02T00:59:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mobo85 \* > _1963_-Attempt to tell Mr. Kennedy not to visit Dallas, or, if he does, to be very careful. He probably won’t listen to me, but what the heck. > > _1968_-More attempts to stop assassinations. Martin Luther King, watch out! Don’t go to the hotel, Bobby! I imagine that at this point the FBI would become very interested in you. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2002, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-machine-is-set-for-aug-1-1952/121880/23 "2002-08-02T01:00:25Z")
Oh - what I would do? At the right time, go visit my parents and stop the wedding to see what happens to the space-time continuum. ---
**Author:** ![lurkernomore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@lurkernomore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lurkernomore)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2002, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-machine-is-set-for-aug-1-1952/121880/24 "2002-08-02T01:04:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ResIpsaLoquitor \* > \*\* > My sports memory isn’t great, but I’d at least plunk all my money on the 1981 Philadelphia Phillies. > \*\* Uh, the Dodgers won in '81… Wonder what a Jets/Mets bet woulda paid in '69? ---
**Author:** ![Mooney252](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7c8e57/32.png) [@Mooney252](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mooney252)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2002, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-machine-is-set-for-aug-1-1952/121880/25 "2002-08-02T03:31:22Z")
I’d make my fortune in 1954: who’d bet that the Indians would set an AL record for wins? Then lose to the Giants in four straight in the World Series? Then I could rest in sports obscurity until the Indians are in the Series again in the 90s. Or bet against the Red Sox in 1986. But I suspect that I’d have more mundane concerns – like keeping my brother away from bad influences. Or trying to stop my parents from the cigarettes that would eventually kill them. . . ---
**Author:** ![Creaky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e68b1a/32.png) [@Creaky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Creaky)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2002, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-machine-is-set-for-aug-1-1952/121880/26 "2002-08-02T03:42:19Z")
First, I’d find a way to downtown Baltimore to Penn Station; maybe I’d hitchhike (in 1952 it might be okay??). Then I’d board the train and hide in the ladies room until the conductor had collected tickets. I’d ride as far as Andrews Airforce Base, and somehow get from the depot to the base. I’d get a job as a clerk typist at Andrews and maybe snag me a handsome pilot officer stationed on base. After the war, we’d move to the suburbs, build a bomb shelter, and have patio parties. I’d be perfectly happy to stay in 1952, I guess, even if it meant I’d be old now. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2002, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-machine-is-set-for-aug-1-1952/121880/27 "2002-08-02T03:58:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bryan Ekers \* > \*\*I start warning all the COBOL programmers to use 4 digits for the year, not 2. \*\* What is this COBOL of which you speak? It is only 1952. Maybe you could invent it. Even if there were COBOL programmers, it’s only 1952. The programs that they are writing are _never_ going to be in use by 1999. Heck, we’ll all be driving our rocket cars on the Moon. FWIW, I tried bringing this up in 1988 when I first started working professionally in systems and was told the above, but not by COBOL programmers. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2002, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-machine-is-set-for-aug-1-1952/121880/28 "2002-08-02T04:12:47Z")
Hey, if anybody does go back to 1952 and makes a load of money might I suggest picking up **The Chicago Reader** sometime before 1995 and putting your money in the bestest, fastest most superest servers your ill-gotten gains can buy. I know I would. Just think how nice Cecil will be to you! ---
**Author:** ![TVGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/82dd89/32.png) [@TVGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2002, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-machine-is-set-for-aug-1-1952/121880/29 "2002-08-02T05:08:02Z")
Let’s see - first, I’d be in the same 1914 house I’m sitting in now, in the basement, just like now. Problem - I’m now in someone else’s house at 10:00 at night in 1952… Could be a small problem, so the first thing I’ll do is sneak out the back door as quietly as I could. Then, assuming the portal actually does put me back at the same time of day, I’d be walking the streets at 10:00 at night in 1952 - likely to get picked up by a cop, or at least questioned about where I’m going and what I’m doing. Since I wouldn’t have any good answers, I’d probably get arrested and spend at least the night in jail… If I got out of jail? Well, then I guess I’d have to get a job and start making a living. I think the first paycheck might be spent on some sports betting - then when I win outrageously because I picked all the winners in 100 to 1 games, I’d have enough money to buy a car (probably a nice 1953 Chevy) and skip town to avoid the bookies. With the rest of the money, I’m with others here - buy some IBM, buy some AT&T - then go see some really cool 1950’s sci-fi and have a great time sitting through all the neat newsreels, cartoons, coming attractions and all. I just can’t decide if I’d get bored without all the technology in my life… ---
**Author:** ![MachV](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@MachV](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MachV)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2002, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-machine-is-set-for-aug-1-1952/121880/30 "2002-08-02T15:42:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DMark \* > \*\*Well, me and my new good buddy, BILL GATES would probably take a ride on my new, patented SKATE BOARDS that I would gladly share the rights to, if he promises to share his rights to anything HE should invent. > \*\* If by _invent_ you mean _stole, borrowed_ or _bought_… :D&R: _[sub]Fixed coding and Disabled Smilies - **DrMatrix** [/sub]_ ---
**Author:** ![MachV](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@MachV](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MachV)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2002, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-machine-is-set-for-aug-1-1952/121880/31 "2002-08-02T15:45:09Z")
Nice coding by me. Second day in a row. Can I get a hand from a mod, please? I’ll bake some cookies… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2002, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-machine-is-set-for-aug-1-1952/121880/32 "2002-08-02T21:42:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ResIpsaLoquitor \* > \*\* > Hell…I could find some chronic gamblers and bet on everything. > > Me in 1977: “Betcha $5000 the next Pope is Polish.” > Bookie: (grinning) “You’re on.” \*\* That bookie will enjoy pocketing his 1977 prices 5 grand. Whereas I would bet that the next _but one_ Pope would be Polish. Regarding the OP, I also first thought of going on steam trains on closed down railway lines in Scotland to closed down mainline termini. There are also several sporting events in the 50s that I’d love to have been at, regardless of betting scams. There are many places I’d like to go to see what they were like before ugly roads and buildings were built on them. I would also try and sail on the Queen Mary, if I could find the means to get on it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2002, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-machine-is-set-for-aug-1-1952/121880/33 "2002-08-02T21:44:56Z")
Oh, I’d also grass up the murderer Christie to stop Timothy Evans getting hanged, ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2002, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-machine-is-set-for-aug-1-1952/121880/34 "2002-08-03T12:04:01Z")
Oh, I’d love to see downtown Washington at its peak, before the riots – shop at Lansburgh’s, Woodies and the Palais Royale, ride the streetcars, see a movie at the Loew’s Capitol on F Street – but DC is too hot to stay in for long in an era when air-conditioning was nowhere near ubiquitous, so I’d move to Chicago and get some kind of clerical job. (Job security still exists in 1952! Yippee!) I could rent a nice apartment in South Shore fairly cheap, as that neighborhood was falling out of favor as the suburbs expanded. ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2002, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-machine-is-set-for-aug-1-1952/121880/35 "2002-08-03T12:05:35Z")
Or even Uptown, which was nowhere near the slum it later became. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2002, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-machine-is-set-for-aug-1-1952/121880/36 "2002-08-03T12:17:00Z")
Hitchhike down to Hollywood and work my way into some studio. Then, because this is the end of the nitrate era, do anything/everything I can to save all of the film I can get my hands on, converting as many people as possible to this new concept of film preservation. With my greater understanding of storage requirements (temperature, RH, etc.), maybe by the time we reach the end of the century, I will have helped increase the number of surviving pre-1950 films from the atrocious (and current) 50%. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2002, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-machine-is-set-for-aug-1-1952/121880/37 "2002-08-03T13:02:38Z")
> [@](#): > > 1963-Attempt to tell Mr. Kennedy not to visit Dallas, or, if he does, to be very careful. He probably won’t listen to me, but what the heck. Lots of people did that very thing. If I could start over in 1952, knowing what I know now, I would invest in Texas Instruments and in Florida Gulf Coast real estate, with a couple of orange groves in Orlando for good measure. While I waited for those investments to pay off, I would pay more attention in school, finish college, stay in touch with friends, never take that first drink of an alcoholic beverage and persuade my ex-wife’s parents to keep her out of my sight forever. If I had to pick only one thing, it would be to avoid ever meeting my ex. ---
**Author:** ![Osakadave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f07891/32.png) [@Osakadave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osakadave)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2002, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-machine-is-set-for-aug-1-1952/121880/38 "2002-08-03T14:26:16Z")
I’d have to make my way up to Tokyo by hook or by crook. I’d do my darndest to locate some smallish company called Sony and offer my services to Mr. Akio Morita as a liason to the states and generallyt make myself imortant to that company as they come out with the first transisitor radios in 1952. (IIRC, it may be the next couple of years though, giving me more time. 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2002, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-machine-is-set-for-aug-1-1952/121880/39 "2002-08-03T16:52:46Z")
hmmmm, it’s 8 days before my parents get married… Could I stand in the back of the church behind a pillar and not upset the space-time continuum? ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2002, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-machine-is-set-for-aug-1-1952/121880/40 "2002-08-03T21:34:02Z")
Well, black woman without ID, in the middle of someone’s living room in (what was) a nice area of town. I’d be getting arrested. Things would most likely go downhill from there. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-machine-is-set-for-aug-1-1952/121880.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-machine-is-set-for-aug-1-1952/121880.md?page=3)