Which historical figures would you invite to dinner?

[Chizzy]

http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/images/al16.jpg
Abraham Lincoln: Successfully preserved the Union during the American Civil War; issued Emancipation Proclamation freeing all slaves in rebelling states; he was the President from 1861-65

http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/images/fr32.gif
Franklin D. Roosevelt: Only American President elected for 3rd and 4th terms (1933-45); developed reforms and projects known as the New Deal; guided U.S. through the Great Depression and WWII.

http://www.toy-soldier-gallery.com/Articles/Churchill/Churchill0.jpg
Sir Winston Churchill:Rallied the British people during WWII; Pursued a successful global war strategy against Axis powers; introduced the phrase "Iron Curtain" to describe the division between Western powers and the area controlled by the Soviet Union. As such the speech marks the onset of the Cold War.


http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/images/ht33.gif
Harry S. Truman:Established "containment" policy against Soviet Union, Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, NATO, Central Intelligence Agency, U.S. into Korean War; U.S. President from 1945-53.

[96Squig]

I'd actually invite Bismarck, one of the best tactitians ever.
Than I think a dinner with Marx and Engels would be controvesrial, but nontheless it would be a lot of fun. Same with Roussueau, Hobbes and Montiesqeu.

Than the brothers Grimm come to mind, as well as Karl May and Hans Christian Anderson, as the stories would be great for dinner.

Some other persons like C. Iulius Caesar, Seneca, Aristoteles and many other from the ancient times would be interesting also if we get somebody to translate the spoken. I would not want to watch those ppl eat though, as they'd behave like pigs which was custom at that point of time.

[Dead Fingers]

Frederick the Great
Robert Capa
Crazy Horse
Einstein
Beethoven
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Edison

and why not?

[Toon³]

Lord Collingwood
B.Disraeli
W.Gladstone
Lord Wellington
William of Orange
Anne Frank
Hitler
Stalin
Alfred the Great
Henry IV

and Jesus

[topcatcole]

Lord Collingwood
B.Disraeli
W.Gladstone
Lord Wellington
William of Orange
Anne Frank
Hitler
Stalin
Alfred the Great
Henry IV

and Jesus :eek: :eek: Are you trying to start a war? I mean, Hitler and Stalin, OK. But Disraeli and Gladstone in the same room!! :D

[Howard Zinn]

Stalin, Lenin, and Trotsky. (I want them all to come together wearing the same outfit) :D

Marx
Zinn (duhhhh, look at the name)
William T. Sherman
Robert Kennedy


Pretty kick arse list, wouldn't you say? :cool:

[grandinquisitor28]

Oscar Wilde: As funny as he was in his plays, and essay's, he was according to many at the time, the world's greatest and most humorous conversationalists, more quickwitted than anyone in modern memory. I still love the famous, exasperated, response he had to Frank Harris' dinner time name dropping in London, "Yes, yes, Frank. We know you've been to every great House in England. ONCE."

Groucho Marx: You can't have a dinner without Groucho Marx.

Lincoln: No American figure has had a more powerful grip on my imagination (although the airmen of Torpedo Squadron 8, and how they remind me of the bravery of the Spartans at Thermypolae also hold a powerful grip on my mind).

Alexander Hamilton: Most neglected Founding Father in the Classroom. Whether you love him or hate him, most of his time considered him the smartest, or 2nd smartest and most gifted founding father of our generation. His upbringing makes him all the more amazing, and for good or bad, his imprint is upon every aspect of our political and economic foundations. Also was supposedly a fairly charming, and enjoyable man to be around.

I wouldn't mind inviting Wollstonecraft, Teddy R., the Grimke Sisters, John Brown, Malcolm X right before his death (when he'd sussed out that Elijah Muhammad was full of manure) Elanore Roosevelt (seems much more interesting and principled than her husband, though I admire him as well), maybe Bogie and Carey Grant to see how they'd get on with Wilde.

From a World History perspective things could get very interesting as well and this is just off the top of my mind. Really interesting topic. Damn, there is one that's just on the cusp of my mind that I keep forgetting. Shoot.

[YankHibee]

in no order whatsoever

Tycho Brahe
Lincoln
Washington
Burke
Fox
George III
Gandhi
Henry VIII
Innocent III
Boniface VIII
Socrates
Josephus
Caligula
Nero
Pilate
Montezuma
Crazy Horse
Geronimo
Justinian
Ankhnaton

[DoctorD]

Vlad the Impaler

[taosjohn]

in no order whatsoever

Tycho Brahe
Lincoln
Washington
Burke
Fox
George III
Gandhi
Henry VIII
Innocent III
Boniface VIII
Socrates
Josephus
Caligula
Nero
Pilate
Montezuma
Crazy Horse
Geronimo
Justinian
Ankhnaton

Used to play this as a parlor game years ago; you are the only person ever to join me in choosing Ankhnaton... but I'd love the chance to find out what he saw and thought...

Ankhnaton
Anne Hathaway Shakespeare
Benjamin Franklin
Edward Preble
Dolly Madison
Tecumseh
Sarah Emma Edmonds/Pvt Franklin Thompson
Virginia Woolf
Dorothy Sayers
Kid Ory

[yasik19]

Socrates
Leonardo da Vinci
Torquemada
Walter Scott
Mozart
Maria Medici
Alexander Nevsky
Louis XIV
Marat
Remarque
Gogol
Gorchakov
Churchill
Lincoln
Gorbachev
Rodin

[Zenit]

Rurik
Orthodox Saints Boris, Gleb, & Cyrill
Peter the Great
Oliver Cromwell
Aleksandr Nevsky
Benjamin Disraeli
Ivan the Terrible & his son
Aleksandr I, Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov & Napoleon
Marshals of the Soviet Union Georgi Zhukov, Ivan Konev, Vasily Chuikov & Konstantin Rokossovsky
Mikhail Bulgakov
Leo Tolstoy
Edgar Allen Poe
Ronald Reagan
Theodore Roosevelt
General George S. Patton III
Field Marshal Erwin Rommel
Field Marshal Erich von Manstein
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Admirals Alfred Thayer Mahan & Sir Jack Fischer

[nicephoras]

I can understand the rest Zenit, although Reagan?
And really, your table's going to get into such a massive squabble so fast. I'd expect at least two of your guests not to make it out alive.

[Pmoliu]

I'd be content with reading about historical figures if I could have dinner with my Dad one more time.

Sorry for the sentimentality.

Paul

[minorthreat]

Are we assuming 'historical' to mean 'dead?'

Politicians
Eamon de Valera, Ireland's greatest statesman
Qin Shihuan, first Emperor of China
Muhammad Ali Jinnah, founder of Pakistan
Otto von Bismarck, Germany's greatest statesman
Niccolo Machiavelli, political theorist

There'd be some serious discussion of power politics at work there. No liberal institutionalists need apply - tonight's dinner will feature a main course of realpolitik, served cold.

Artists
Oscar Wilde, playwright and author
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, composer
Franz Liszt, pianist

Now there would be quite a cocktail. All three were notorious for their flamboyance and wit, and watching them try to up the ante in terms of humor would be quite a sight. Plus, I'm very interested to see how the notoriously pretentious and condescending Wilde would react when confronted with a musical giant in every sense on one hand and the greatest pianist who ever lived on the other.

[Howard Zinn]

I think some of you guys invited way too many people too dinner. How are you going to converse with a table of 14? :eek:

[dfb547490]

Let's set the limit at 5 guests here.

Jesus
George Washington
Julius Caesar
Winston Churchill
George W. Bush--or whoever the current President would be

The first 3 were easy, I debated a lot on the 4th one (considered everyone from Alexander the Great to Ronald Reagan to Hitler/Stalin to Genghis Khan to Qin Shihuangdi) but finally settled on Churchill. I picked the current President because I feel that person would be able to learn a lot from the other guests and apply that to whichever situations the country would find itself in at that time.

BTW, dude, Howard Zinn is not a historical figure.

[Howard Zinn]

Let's set the limit at 5 guests here.

Jesus
George Washington
Julius Caesar
Winston Churchill
George W. Bush--or whoever the current President would be

The first 3 were easy, I debated a lot on the 4th one (considered everyone from Alexander the Great to Ronald Reagan to Hitler/Stalin to Genghis Khan to Qin Shihuangdi) but finally settled on Churchill. I picked the current President because I feel that person would be able to learn a lot from the other guests and apply that to whichever situations the country would find itself in at that time.

BTW, dude, Howard Zinn is not a historical figure.

He will be when he's dead. ;)


With these new rules, I have to change my list:

Marx
Lenin
Stalin
Trotsky
R. Kennedy

[dfb547490]

Isn't that kind of overkill??

[Howard Zinn]

Isn't that kind of overkill??


Aren't you the same prick that neg repped me over on the politics board for no reason other than trying to defend your religion? I suppose you followed me over here just to piss me off. :rolleyes: