The premise behind Six Degrees of Separation is that a connection between any two people exists through six or fewer social connections. Though originally from a 1929 short story, it was more recently resurrected in 1994 as Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. I envision a two-sided pyramid scheme which intersects, providing an expected connection between two individuals.
My dad recently reminded his children about a family history story (more below) that had me asking: what famous (or infamous) people are in my six degrees of separation? Turns out, it’s not really that difficult.
The Beatles
One winter day as a toddler, my dad and I were walking through the snow when he walked into an Odetta recording session: I assumed it was planned, how does one stumble into a recording session. Odetta saw me standing in my soaking-wet snowsuit and exclaimed something like Get that child out of those wet clothes and proceeded to take my snowsuit off.
I’m from Bob Dylan‘s home state (Minnesota), and Odetta met Dylan in Minneapolis in 1960 (probably during Dylan’s lone year studying at the University of Minnesota when he was still Robert Zimmerman). Later she recorded an album of Dylan songs.
Dylan introduced the Beatles to cannabis.
Scott >> Odetta >> Bob Dylan >> John, Paul, George, Ringo
Joseph Stalin
President John F. Kennedy committed to the creation of the Peace Corp following the 1960 Democratic National Convention. My grandfather’s advertising firm was hired to create the film nationally announcing its creation. My grandfather wrote the treatment that (intentionally) included President Kennedy speaking to the nation, requiring he and two others to go to the White House to film the President’s speech.
[Dad, if you’re reading this: yes, your family history contains many more, interesting details but it’s not relevant here. Perhaps a future blog.]
President Kennedy met Nikita Khrushchev in 1962 at the US Embassy in Vienna.
Khrushchev and Stalin were both members of the either the Central Committee or Politburo (contradictory sources), Khrushchev was elected as candidate member in January 1938 and full member in March 1939.
[And many in Wisconsin are even more directly connected, as Svetlana Stalin lived and died in Wisconsin.]
Scott >> Grandfather >> JFK >> Khrushchev >> Stalin
Klaus Fuchs
Klaus Fuchs was one of three (known) spies working on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos (New Mexico) labs who passed atomic bomb secrets to the Soviet Union.
I am currently reading Spies: The Epic Intelligence War Between East and West by Calder Walton, which discusses the sorry state of US national security during and after WWII that allowed the Soviet Union to easily acquire the technical, scientific, and industrial secrets of the United States.
[Other books draw the same conclusions, but this book is recent (published 2023) and references newly-declassified government documents from both the United Kingdom and United States. I highly recommend it.]
The Oppenheimer movie provided an opportunity for my dad to remind us our family history: his mother, a mid-20s nurse stationed in New Mexico (where she grew up) met General Leslie Groves, in charge of the entire Manhattan Project at Los Alamos because her boyfriend (not my grandfather) was the head of Los Alamos security and took her on-site. Supposedly she knew the general by his nickname, Porky. It’s doubtful that she had security clearance.
Scott >> Grandmother >> Los Alamos Head of Security >> Leslie Groves >> Klaus Fuchs
Adolf Hitler
JFK’s father was Joseph Kennedy, and – most useful here – was the United State Ambassador to the United Kingdom from May 1938 to October 1940. He was considered a defeatist for his views on Britain’s ability to defeat Germany and was also shown to be anti-semitic.
In June 1938, Joesph Kennedy met Herbert von Dirksen, the German Ambassador to the United Kingdom to discuss the Jewish question.
Multiple sources mention Dirksen meeting with Hitler to discuss various topics, including informing Hitler that Britain would likely go to war against Germany.
Scott >> Grandfather >> JFK >> Joseph Kennedy >> Dirksen >> Hitler
Others
I have personal examples with friends and acquaintances that I’m hesitant to share without their permission:
- friends with connections to national security that are two hops away from the Indian Prime Minister (perhaps Indira Gandhi) and US presidents;
- a friend who worked on major Hollywood movies and met various directors and actors;
- the actor husband of a couple my wife and I met on The Canadian and who met Tom Cruise on a movie set;
- an acquaintance who attended law school with Thomas J. Wickham Jr., the Parliamentarian of the United States House of Representatives from 2012-2020, three hops to connect me to influential politicians in Washington, DC;
- a friend who bro-hugged Dennis Rodman in a bar, which means it’s three hops to the North Korean dictator, Kim Jong Un.
By now you’re likely considering your own six-degrees and wondering who might be there. I bet you’ll be surprised!
Follow-up on Odetta: my father took me to Cafe-a-Go-Go on Bleeker Street to see a taping of folk singers, he wanted to see Phil Ochs, Odetta was there, and so was I.
