Who is your favorite person in history?

Question

They can be living or dead.
My pick would be Benjamin Franklin for a couple of reasons.
A) He discovered electricity! [I mean, c'mon. Ya gotta love a man who discovered a thing that changed the world!]
B) He had a sense of humor. [A good one, at that!]
And finally,
C) He was loyal to America. [God bless us all!]

Answer 1

Abraham Lincoln

1. preserved the Union in role as commander in chief
2. had a great way of making people feel good in telling stories exhibiting a sense of humor
3. could have been a dictator, suspended elections and forced his will even on his people and declared total martial law
4. great leader despite his depression ,personal setbacks , assassination letters on a frequent basis, and a war that could have gone either way until Sherman rolled from Atlanta to the sea.

Answer 2

Just because I love reading about military history:

1) Napoleon Bonaparte
2) Julius Caesar
3) Robert E. Lee
4) George Washington
5) Alexander the Great

Answer 3

Thomas Edison

Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman who developed many devices which greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph and a long lasting light bulb. Dubbed "The Wizard of Menlo Park" by a newspaper reporter, he was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of mass production to the process of invention, and therefore is often credited with the creation of the first industrial research laboratory.

Edison is considered one of the most prolific inventors in history, holding 1,093 U.S. patents in his name, as well as many patents in the United Kingdom, France and Germany.

Answer 4

I personally like Theodoric the Goth, because he's fun to study but also
1) he was a barbarian administering Italy when Italians were bent on the old Roman glory
2) he set up a system that integrated Roman law and Germanic tradition when even his successors failed to do so
3) The failures of his system allow me to have a job (as a historian)

I personally like to study societies, and i like 4th century Rhine Frontier societies of the Romans, Franks and Alamans

Answer 5

General Curtis E. LeMay

Answer 6

James K Polk

Answer 7

Catherine the Great- I've always been fascinated by women leaders and Russian History.

Answer 8

U.S.Grant for his ability to rise from the depths of adversity, selling wood door to door to feed his family and building their home by hand. For his morale courage and determination as a general which allowed him to capture three enemy armies and defeat others. For his integrity and his inability to get bigheaded with success, for his love of wife and family. Finnaly, for the naked courage of a man who despite the rapid onset of throat cancer painfully scribbled out a bestseller (his memoirs) to ensure his family would be provided for after his death. All that and he never took himself too seriously.

Answer 9

my pick would be Leonardo Di Vinci because of the many fields he was a genius in and the fact that he spent his life working on the Mona Lisa.

Answer 10

I love dictators. not because I am communist or anything, but I find them fascinating to study,

It is soooo fun to find out what made an "evil" person turn out that way. Consequently, I am also fascinated with psychology...