I’m a huge history buff. There’s something inspirational about the leaders of our past and how much of an impact they’ve made in the annals of time. Focus- Who are your favorite historical figures and why? Personally I love Winston Churchhill. Aside from his involvement in WW2, he has some of the best comebacks of all time. Teddy Roosevelt is another. Who else could survive an assasination attempt and give a speech afterwards?
My all time favorite Churchhill quote- Lady Nancy Astor “Winston, if you were my husband, I’d poison your tea” Wisnton- “Nancy, if I were your husband, I’d drink it”.
Teddy Roosevelt had a thing for hunting and I love him all the more for it. Hell, just check out all 512 animals he killed during ONE African safari!!
In terms of who I admire it is without a doubt Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. The man so moral, so accomplished, and so badass he was basically a warrior priest. His accolades include: Professor of Modern Languages at Bowdoin College and fluent in 10 languages. On the side he taught every other class Bowdoin offered at one point or another except for Science and Mathematics. Literally snuck away from his cushy professor job in order to volunteer to fight in the Civil War on purely moral grounds. Was offered the rank of Colonel but asked for a lesser rank to start off with. Ended the war Brevet Major General anyway. Wounded six times, cited for bravery four times, awarded the Medal of Honor. One of those wounds was so bad the doctors proclaimed it fatal. As it turned out he did die of that wound... in 1914. As a result he is considered the last casualty of the American Civil War. After the war he was elected Governor of Maine four times, twice by historic margins. After serving as governor, he returned to Bowdoin and went on to be the President of the college. While president of Bowdoin, he was called upon in his side gig as Commander of the Maine Militia to take control of a situation where armed men had seized the Maine State House during an electoral dispute for the Governorship of Maine. He dispersed the armed men, restored order, and babysat the State House until the State Supreme Court rendered its judgement, in the process turning down bribes (which included a Senate seat), facing down armed crowds by himself, and shrugging off assassination threats. Tried to volunteer for military service in the Spanish-American War at the age of 70. Was a founding member of the Maine Institution for the Blind at the age of 78. A less flawlessly virtuous man, I think there is still a great deal to respect about, and learn from, William Tecumseh Sherman. Southern revisionism portrays him as a mindless brute; as Grant's mad dog tearing through the innocent South, but the historical record reveals him to be a brilliant military commander and a sober and reluctant thinker on war. Plus the dude wrote like an absolute badass: The whole letter is worth reading.
Funny, I was just playing that fantasy dinner party game the other day. My list of ten that also fits this bill: PT Barnum (he pops up in the most interesting ways all over early 20th century NYC history and fucking fascinates me) Houdini (similar to Barnum, only on a wider scale, and his fight with the spiritualists/Arthur Conan doyle is especially interesting to me) Dorothy Parker (although I'd be anxious about keeping up with her, witticisms-wise) Frida Kahlo (and hopefully bang) Teddy Roosevelt (I guess I just want to be one of the cool kids) Nora Ephron (I want to be her) Jack Kerouac (and hopefully bang) Diana Vreeland (I want to be her) Bill Cunningham (although I'd probably just cry at him) Marlene Dietrich (I want to be her)
For anyone interested, I recommend reading The Rise of Teddy Roosevelt. One of the best things he did was purchase a ton of private land and preserve it as national parks because he feared corporations would just buy everything otherwise. I’m also a big fan of Genghis Khan. He was a horrifically violent and merciless human being, but how he was able to rally a bunch of small nomadic tribes and turn them into an empire that conquered most of Asia and into Europe is mind boggling.
Not only what he did, but the massive early handicaps he had while doing it. Alexander the Great was a tactical genius, but he was also the son of the King of Macedonia, heir to the throne, and was able to start his conquerin' early. Genghis by contrast was the son of a minor tribal leader, who was poisoned when Genghis was nine, at which point the tribe abandoned them, leaving his family destitute. He was then captured and enslaved at around fifteen and only after escaping was he able to start building any real influence. Unfortunately for him, his early successes drove a rift between him and his childhood friend, who then proceeded to whoop Genghis' ass so badly in battle that Genghis straight up disappeared from the historical record for ten years. He was thirty five years old and still led barely more than a single tribe of a nomadic people on the outskirts of the Chinese world. Alexander meanwhile had a kingdom at the center of the ancient world at his back at a mere sixteen.
Plus, its thought based on one academic paper that 0.5% of the world's population is a direct descendant of his. Thats a lot of fucking (raping). Another theory is that the Middle East never really recovered from the Mongol conquests in the 1200s. Baghdad didnt reach the same population level as before the conquests until the 20th century.
I'd say John Adams. After the HBO mini series I read his biography by David McCullough which was extremely well written. Otherwise it's lesser known historical figures like old Adirondack trappers such as E.J. Dailey and woodsman like famed hermit, Noah John Rondeau.