We used to play a game called “Six Degrees of Separation,” in which we tried to connect ourselves to a famous person within six contacts, someone like a US president.
You’ve probably heard of the game, based on the theory that everyone on the planet is only six people-connections (as trivial as your tour guide) away from everyone else.
According to Wikipedia, the theory originally was developed by Hungarian Frigyes Karinthy and popularized by John Guare‘s 1990 play Six Degrees of Separation.
It’s always fun to figure out how you might be loosely “connected” to a famous person, or an obscure one. I used to scoff–“how could I possibly be connected to a person who lives in Siberia?”
But my husband pointed out my parents (1) had a tour guide (2) while in the Soviet Union, who probably went to university where he met someone from Siberia (3), who undoubtedly had lots of friends in the area (4), who probably knew someone in an obscure village (5) and thus I was connected.
How many connection from me to a Nobel Prize winner?
Two.
Can guess which one?
(I hate to admit this. Yassir Arafat through Jane Fonda).
We quit playing the game when we realized we knew CINC-PAC (Commander in Chief Pacific) (1) who knew the CNO (Chief of Naval Operations) (2), who briefed then-President Clinton (3) who knew everyone, including President Nixon (4), who had shaken hands with Chairman Mao (5) who met Hitler (6).
It didn’t seem so much fun anymore.
Still, it’s amusing to contemplate whose hand has touches whose (like the story of Beethoven’s kiss given to composer Franz Listz, who passed it on to his student Emil von Sauer who bestowed it on pianist Ander Foldes).
One day a group of my friends discussed who had met a US president. I’ve never met one, so it was fun to hear their stories.
Several friends had shaken hands with Presidents Nixon or Clinton (I’m one step closer to Hitler than I thought). One had met the first President Bush.
My elderly friend Jo is a native of Charlottesville, Virginia. Upon reflection, she nodded. “I’ve met Calvin Coolidge.”
“Get out of here,” I laughed. “Nobody’s met Calvin Coolidge!” Click to Tweet.
“I was seven or eight years old. I held my father’s hand and we walked up the steps to the White House. I remember his bright red hair!”
She was born in 1918. Coolidge was president 1923-1929. Some one I know well had met a man who was only a silent character from the past.
I didn’t know he had red hair–the only photos I’ve seen of Coolidge were black and white. (But you can see his official portrait does show red hair!)
Jo also met a very young PT boat captain when he came through her office at the Navy building in Washington D. C.
“He was headed to the Pacific,” Jo remembered, “and was thin with a startling smile. He was shorter than I expected, but then, I didn’t realize Lieutenant John Kennedy would become president some day. He was just eager to go overseas.”
That makes me two degrees of separation away from both Calvin Coolidge and JFK!
I love these brushes with history.
Don’t you?
Have you ever met a president? Click to Tweet
I’ve never met a president. But I did meet Robert Francis Kennedy, the man who would have been president. I was almost thirteen. I had campaigned for RFK with my dad, a public school junior high history/math teacher.
I met Bobby two months before he was assassinated. He made a lasting impression even though today, I’m a republican.
Kathy–
I didn’t meet RFK but he came to Ft. Bragg for the dedication of the JFK Center for Special Warfare, where I was assigned. It was an outdoor affair, a nice balmy Carolina day, and several of our people were packing heat, keeping an eye on the crowd. Apparently they’d gotten word that he was a potential target for assassination.
When he finished, Gen. Yarborough ushered him back into the bldg., and immediately folks ran forward to touch the chair where Kennedy sat! Most remarkable.
And yeah, I’m a Republican, too.
I also must be fewer than 6 steps from Hitler, as a close high school friend of mine (that is, close then, close now), through her work with Intel’s science program (and award) for high school students (actually, she runs the program) has met the last three (possibly four) US presidents, which includes Clinton. Wow. I myself have never met a president.
never met a President but I typed letters that were signed by Lyndon Johnson. When I graduated from high school, I worked for the Natural Disaster Division of the Office of Emergency Planning ( now Known as FEMA). When a disaster was declared, our office typed the letters for the President to sign declaring it a disaster. This was ancient technology. Letters were typed on IBM Selectric typewriters. And no errors were allowed. Sometimes we had 2 or 3 people typing the same letter trying to get it typed without an error. I also worked sometimes in he Executive Office Building which was right next door to the White House. Stll never met the President. My granddaughter (staring Middle School next year) just receiving an Academic Award signed by President Obama. We are very, very proud of her. But I never really met a President. If I could meet a President I would like to meet Abraham Lincoln or JFK.
You never met one, but essentially ghost typed for one! Good question about who you’d like to meet. I think Teddy Roosevelt would be a lot of fun, and I imagine Bill Clinton would have plenty of stories!
I have heard that I am related to Rosalyn Carter through ancestors. I do not know how many levels of ancestors, but that may be within the six degrees. I work in a county where Michelle Obama had ancestors so perhaps I have met someone who knew her family?? Also, now I remember I use to use a devotional book written by a pastor who met with several presidents. I have momentarily met that pastor. Our family has vacationed in the area the Clinton’s vacationed in so perhaps we ran into someone unknowingly who knew someone who had served them dinner, etc. And the one time I visited in CA we went with my friend over to Stanford and I believe that may be where Chelsea was in college. We went to the bookstore—so many possibilities. May I end it with, God only knows?
I saw Nixon in a parade in San Juan Capistrano when I was a kid. The bookstore owner in San Clemente knew his assistant who would transport autographed books to her and I know a poet who shopped at his dad’s grocery store in Whittier. His helicopter used to fly right over our house and made our dog bark like crazy!
Ken knows several people who worked with Kevin Bacon on “Hollow Man.”
I met President Clinton when he came to speak at my children’s school, praising the city of Long Beach for their city-wide School Uniform initiative…
When we lived in Hawai’i, the Clintons visited often and it seemed like every time I turned around, someone I met had just played golf with him! The year we moved back to the north American continent, we drove across country and it felt like he was following us! He turned up at our hotel in Waikiki, toured LA, we watched Airforce One land in Denver, he was in Chicago with us and finally, we went to DC. That guy sure is friendly and knows how to meet people! Was he as charming as he seems? 🙂