Last time, as I stared at the ceiling, tossed and turned, I made a mental list of regrets, and it was a long one.
This time, it was people I always want to talk to and/or interview.
Jesus.
Christopher Columbus
Every Founding Father, especially Benjamin Franklin.
Every president, especially FDR, Truman, JFK, Johnson and Nixon. I have a million WWII questions for FDR. I'd like to talk to Truman about the atomic bomb and always being underestimated. You can spend years talking with Kennedy. Johnson needs to do some explaining about Vietnam. Nixon always fascinated me-- foreign policy genius but a personal wreck.
Dick Cheney. I want to know about that moment he gave the OK to shoot down civilian jets over the United States. No one is arguing about the call, but I'd love to know about having the guts to do it.
Vladimir Putin.
Every pope.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Nelson Mandela
Susan B. Anthony
Lewis & Clark
Martin & Lewis
Barney Clark
Every astronaut, especially Armstrong, Glenn, and Shepard.
Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite, John Chancellor, David Brinkley, Peter Jennings, Mike Wallace, 60 Minutes creator /news producer Don Hewitt, Linda Ellerbee, Paul Harvey, Tom Snyder
Bill Cullen, Ed Sullivan, Captain Kangaroo, Groucho, Casey Kasem., Cousin Brucie (I did meet his daughter once), Chuck Barris, Mark Goodson, Gene Rayburn, Allen Ludden, Charles Nelson Reilly, Tony Randall, Bob Vila, Dick Clark, Tom Kennedy
Larry, Curley, Moe and Shemp. Especially Larry. He was always my favorite.
Jackie Gleason, Art Carney, and Lucy
Johnny Carson and David Letterman. I'm sure Dick Cavett would be entertaining as heck. I did interview Cavett, very briefly, once. George Carlin, Drew Carey, Craig Ferguson, Robert Klein, Steve Martin
Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Hank Aaron
Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein
Beethoven
Sinatra
Charles Schultz
SGT Schultz
Various killers and dictators-- because I'd like to know what turned them evil.
All the Beatles, Billy Joel, Elton John, Harry Chapin, Elvis
Peter O'Toole, Robert Redford, Julia Roberts
Woodward and Bernstein
Orville and Wilbur
Julia Child and Graham Kerr
Jon Miller, Pat Summerall, Bryant Gumbel, Hugh Downs, Roone Arledge, Jim McKay, Keith Jackson, Dick Enberg, Jack Buck, Howard Cosell
Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe
Ernie Pyle
I never knew any of my grandparents particularly well. One was gone before I was born. Two passed when I was very young. The last didn't speak much English.
I'm sure there have some I missed. They will have to wait for the next bout of insomnia.
