# Time-travel save one person born within the last 100 years **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 31, 2009, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235 "2009-05-31T03:56:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/1 "2009-05-31T03:56:45Z")
…I was going to call it “Kyle Reese one person…”, but that might have been a bit obscure. Well, [del]ripped off[/del] inspired by **The Second Stone** ’s [Terminator One person born within the last 100 years?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=11195447&posted=1#post11195447) thread, I’ve got a new scenario: you can send someone back in time to _save_ one person who was born in the last 100 years from death, who would you pick? The rule? You can’t save them from the ravages of old age. Treatable medical conditions, yes. I’ll tenatively allow at least some kinds of cancer as “treatable,” as it’s conceivable (and somewhat entertaining) that you could save someone’s life by having a naked cyborg supersoldier appear out of thin air and carefully tear out the target’s lung. (Hey, it can’t develop a tumor if it’s not there, right?) For starters, I’ll try…[Robert Lawrence Jr](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Henry_Lawrence,_Jr.). Anyone else? ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/2 "2009-05-31T04:20:40Z")
The first name that popped into my head was Anne Frank. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/3 "2009-05-31T04:52:12Z")
JFK. On a day I’m taking my meds, I could just wait with a silenced 45 near Oswalds sniper nest and take him out as he settles in. On my bad meds day I don’t have time to do anything about the grassy knoll or sewer snipers. When in my best frame of mind I just drop a dime and call all three locations in saying I heard Oswald say he and some guys were gonna cover it from three locations. Then call it in to the local media too. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/4 "2009-05-31T04:53:05Z")
Heath Ledger. Yeah, there might be several more choices that would benefit mankind better, but I don’t care, I want my Joker back. ---
**Author:** ![PeacePlease](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/71c47a/32.png) [@PeacePlease](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PeacePlease)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/5 "2009-05-31T04:55:56Z")
Yeah, my first thought was JFK. My understanding has always been that he was ready to pull troops out of Vietnam and if we could have avoided that nightmare… ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/6 "2009-05-31T05:02:15Z")
Steve Irwin ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/7 "2009-05-31T05:12:35Z")
I think I’d probably go more local on this one, and choose someone whose death directly affected people in my life. The highest profile ones would be to go back and save [Sylvia Likens](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Likens), who was a classmate/schoolmate of several of my family members, or [Shanda Renee Sharer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Shanda_Sharer), the daughter of a woman with whom I worked a few years ago. Others would be less known, or even unknown; friends who were killed in car accidents, that kind of thing. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/8 "2009-05-31T05:59:14Z")
Can you save someone so he can have a worse death later? I’d save Hitler. He got off too easily. Course if I could have killed him in 1930, that would have been better. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/9 "2009-05-31T06:20:04Z")
The second coming of Jesus. He comes back every generation, but if the amount of evil in the world is too great, he gets aborted/infanticide/mugged as a child or whatever. Let Jesus come back for real and save us all. ;p ---
**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:** [May 31, 2009, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/10 "2009-05-31T08:44:25Z")
George Gershwin. I often wonder how his music would have evolved if he hadn’t died so young. I thought of Anne Frank, but her diary has been so inspirational specifically because she didn’t survive. But I might save her anyway, given the chance. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_With_The_Golden_Gun)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/11 "2009-05-31T09:37:02Z")
Martin Luther King Jr. ---
**Author:** ![PeacePlease](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/71c47a/32.png) [@PeacePlease](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PeacePlease)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/12 "2009-05-31T11:25:39Z")
> [@The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](#): > > Martin Luther King Jr. It really would have been a beautiful thing to see him at President Obama’s inauguration, wouldn’t it? He would have been 80. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/13 "2009-05-31T15:44:16Z")
Raul Wallenberg. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/14 "2009-05-31T18:52:39Z")
Adam Walsh. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/15 "2009-05-31T18:59:17Z")
I would have stopped my best friend’s dad from committing suicide. ---
**Author:** ![Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/soul_brother_number_two/32/3515_2.png) [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul_Brother_Number_Two)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/16 "2009-05-31T19:47:50Z")
Bobby Kennedy. MLK my second choice. ---
**Author:** ![Daffyd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daffyd/32/8923_2.png) [@Daffyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daffyd)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/17 "2009-06-01T01:55:54Z")
Harvey Milk. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/18 "2009-06-01T02:02:50Z")
A friend of mine who died too young. ---
**Author:** ![newcrasher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b3f665/32.png) [@newcrasher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcrasher)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/19 "2009-06-01T02:14:00Z")
My little brother. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/20 "2009-06-01T02:25:01Z")
Davey Allison. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235.md?page=2)