# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/21 "2009-06-01T13:09:55Z")
Archduke Ferdinand. ---
**Author:** ![palindromemordnilap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/db5fbb/32.png) [@palindromemordnilap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/palindromemordnilap)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/22 "2009-06-01T13:20:49Z")
> [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](#): > > Bobby Kennedy. > > MLK my second choice. Can’t beat these choices. ---
**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:** [June 1, 2009, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/23 "2009-06-01T13:51:41Z")
I would sell my soul to let Timothy McVeigh live for three more months. He was executed on June 11, 2001 thinking he was some king of big old terrorist for having killed 168 people. I wish he had lived to see 9/11 and realize that, in the world of terrorism, he was chickenshit. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/24 "2009-06-01T15:04:19Z")
There are several people I went to school with who have ended too soon. The choice of who to save would be difficult at best. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/25 "2009-06-01T15:13:42Z")
Adam Walsh is a good choice but I’ll go with my dad. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/26 "2009-06-01T22:46:50Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Archduke Ferdinand. Oooh. Good call. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/27 "2009-06-01T23:35:07Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Oooh. Good call. Nah. Ferdinand’s assassination was just the spark that set off the whole tinderbox. If it hadn’t been him, it would have been some other incident. ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/28 "2009-06-02T00:32:42Z")
I think John Lennon still had a few songs in him for us. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/29 "2009-06-02T06:50:18Z")
I think Bobby Kennedy might be the best choice. It’s possible that Kennedy and MLK both had legacies that benefited from their early demise, although saving JFK might, just might have saved some people from dying in Vietnam. I agree with BroCadfael on the Archduke Ferdinand thing. ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/30 "2009-06-02T12:39:17Z")
I would save my wife’s best friend’s husband. He was our age (40) and died of some weird, fast growing type of cancer. It was 6 months from the time he was diagnosed to the time he passed away. My wife’s best friend is now alone raising two children. My heart just breaks every time I think of them. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/31 "2009-06-02T13:48:06Z")
Phil Hartman’s wife would be found face down in the tub on an otherwise perfect day in 1998. ---
**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:** [June 2, 2009, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/32 "2009-06-02T13:52:06Z")
> [@Larry\_Mudd](#): > > Phil Hartman’s wife would be found face down in the tub on an otherwise perfect day in 1998. Um, shouldn’t this be in the _kill one person_ thread rather than in the _save one person_ thread? Maybe there should be a _trade one person_ thread. ---
**Author:** ![MannyL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@MannyL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MannyL)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/33 "2009-06-02T14:15:58Z")
I’d pick the pilot in charge of one of the planes that went into one of the WTC towers. ---
**Author:** ![Terraplane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@Terraplane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terraplane)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/34 "2009-06-02T15:50:42Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > The first name that popped into my head was Anne Frank. This was my first thought as well, and even after seeing some of the other good picks in this thread I think she would still be my choice. Any chance I can get a bonus entertainer save too? Though I’ll probably have to flip a coin to decide between Jimi Hendrix or Robert Johnson. ---
**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/35 "2009-06-02T17:00:30Z")
One of my best friends died falling off a ladder while cleaning his gutters. There’s not a week that goes by that I don’t think of him, and how that day I’d decided not to go help him because I felt the drive was too far. Yes, I do this out of guilt: I’d save him in an eyeblink. ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/36 "2009-06-02T17:31:45Z")
So can you guy explain the Anne Frank choice? I don’t want to seem cruel or anything but it seems like she did more good dead. If she would have lived, no one would have seen her diary and she would just be an unknown holocaust survivor. I guess I’d save Hemingway from himself or something. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/37 "2009-06-02T17:36:41Z")
Jim Henson pops into mind. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/38 "2009-06-02T18:18:39Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Archduke Ferdinand. This is a very interesting thought, but unfortunately Ferdinand was born in 1863 and does not meet the qualifications of the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/39 "2009-06-02T21:33:04Z")
You know who else wasn’t born within the last 100 years? HITLER, that’s who! ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235/40 "2009-06-02T21:52:45Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > This is a very interesting thought, but unfortunately Ferdinand was born in 1863 and does not meet the qualifications of the OP. My choice was off by 10 years too. I’ll have to figure out another one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-save-one-person-born-within-the-last-100-years/498235.md?page=3)