Who are your favorite people of all time?

In his letter, Washington expressed not a like of "Hebrews," but an acceptance of them as American citizens and as men, with the same rights as all American men. It's that rejection of particularism that made the US uniquely great.

I admire Moses because he made Charlton Heston possible, and because he wrote the Ten Commandments. The Commandments are the foundation of Western civilization.

 

Sir John A MacDonald. The CPR would never have been completed in time to keep British Columbia in Confederation without his remarkable skills and determination. With the team work of MacDonald and Cartier, they built the nation.
Second choice would be King John. He was the first King of England who spoke English. He was a trained lawyer and an excellent administrator. He inherited a crushing debt from his brother Richard who squandered the treasury on military adventures. John was proud to be King of England and sided with the English peasants against the Norman Barons. Richard spent only 8 months of his reign in England and hated the place. John loved England. Of course he was also an unpleasant individual but, of Henry II's four sons, John was the brightest and most capable.

 

Sven is one of my favorite people because he was a notable king of the Dark Ages. He became the king of England through conquest and dragged England into the Scandinavian world. His son Cnut later became king. The Danes were partly responsible for the number of blue eyed blonds in the UK, especially east of the Dane Law. More importantly, he was my ancestor. My mother's family name is traced back to Sven. It is one of Europe's oldest traceable names.

 

Great post, was reviewing the thread, and was going to put Eleanor of Aquaitaine on it; married to the King of France and the King of England, Henry Plantanenet (who imprisoned her for 15-years). When she was released after Henry's death, she freed all the prisoners of England. Mother of English kinds Richard The Lionhearted (read the book "The Lute Player") and John (who signed the Magna Carter. But, after reading your amazing post, I have to bone up on my English history again regarding William Marshal. Didn't Henry II die as a child, don't think he made the throne, but didn't look it up. Anyways, great post........

 

Lets not forget that it was George Washington who was the major catalyst in bringing the American colonies together to write a new Constitution, as they were governed by Congress and the weak Articles of Confederation in the interim between the end of the Revolutionary War, and the writing of the current U.S. Constitution............

 

Jesus spoke in riddles (parables). Anybody from the First Century who followed or was acquainted personally with him, one of the Apostles, or particularly Mary Magdalene, who was alleged to be his favored, and possibly his wife would be a great conversation. The idea that Jesus might have been married and had normal human relations with her is the reason the Roman Catholic Church, in preparing the Bible, labeled her as a reformed prostitute. The Apostle Peter was particularly jealous of her relationship with Jesus.

A conversation with Jesus; Plato; the Buddha or Thomas Jefferson would be a philosophical delight.

Leaving Queen Eleanor of Aquataine on the list, but going back and research William Marshal.

William Wilberforce, the man who worked tirelessly and a lifetime, as a liberal in England for many causes, the most famous being the elimination of the slave trade, making it illegal to engage in it or make a profit. Angered many English aristocrats with shipping interests, who ran the slave ships out of Africa, and it set the British Navy against the slave runners at high seas. It was Wilberforce's efforts to eliminate the slave trade that prevented the English aristocratic community and the government from recognizing the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War, thank goodness.

Eleanor Roosevelt on any topic.

Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, the Los Angeles mobster with connections to Meyer Lansky, who is alleged to have invented the idea for Las Vegas. He didn't, but he would be a fascinating conversation, if he didn't lose his famous temper or kick the you know what out of you.

1950's R&B and Rock & Roll star Jackie Wilson, whose best songs were written by Barry Gordy, who used the money to found Motown Records, and amazing success story. Elvis Presley for the same reason's, and John Wayne on any topic...........

 

I got some things mixed up. Henry II was the dad; this guy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_II_of_England

His son was named Henry, but he was not given a numeral after his name and was called Henry the Younger: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_the_Young_King

 

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Not my favorite, just people I'd like to meet;

The Prophet Jesus, before his public life.

John Lennon.

Hitler.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

William F Buckley Jr.

Alexander the Great.​

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Yes, meeting Hitler in 1933...named as Chancellor of Germany; on the cusp of being a cult of personality... shaking his hand, telling a few anti-semetic jokes...

and then blowing his brains out, saving humanity from the 60 million odd deaths his Reich was either directly or indirectly responsible for.

I would gladly sacrifice my own life to ensure his was snuffed out prior to the events leading to WW2.

 

William Tecumseh Sherman

 

My brother told me years ago, that the more pages in a history book are dedicated to an individual, the more likely it is, that that person is responsible (directly or indirectly) for the death of thousands of people. And unfortunately it is true. I cannot think of anybody I'd like to talk to from history really. My pick would be probably people who I feel could help me get a better job...

 

Thomas Jefferson, Frederick Bastiat (wrote "the law", look it up) Lysander Spooner, Albert Nock, Ayn Rand, Roy Childs, Jr.

 

Ben Franklin. A very knowledgeable individual with a ton of common sense.

 

What makes you certain that you would not have just made it easier for Stalin to drive to the Atlantic?

 

I would like to speak to the man or woman who invented the wheel. Did that person boast other accomplishments? Whoever it was, that person was one of the people who propelled us into our modern world.

 

Rabbi Yeshua - Jesus apparently had an identical twin brother Judas Didymus Thomas and from what I have read of what he did during the three days that Rabbi Yeshua- Jesus was in the realm of the dead.........… I have came to a whole new level of understanding of how the Passion of the Messiah was not only a Passover event but a Yom Kippur fulfillment as well.

I am convinced that the message that Judas Didymus Thomas has for our generation is critical to the ushering in of that time period when lions will eat straw like an ox and nations will no longer make war.

http://www.thomastwin.com/6 A Thomas background.html

 

Keeping it on a political slant, I'd love a conversation with Aung San Suu Kyi and Australian Prime Minister (now deceased) Gough Whitlam (check out my avatar).

Also, Sean Connery would be very interesting.

 

Nelson Mandela
Albert Einstein
Leonardo de Vinci

I could go on and on... Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Copernicus... William the conqueror, uhm... Voltaire

 

Plato.

 

Judas Didymus Thomas.....(Doubting Thomas)...........
.... but you would need to read pages 137 to 170 of the book referred to her to fully understand my reasoning........
.... That book got me out of the Virgin Birth heresy............ I am relieved now...... but not so much at first......

http://www.thomastwin.com/6 A Thomas background.html