Disgusted with 20th century problems such as world wars , atomic weapons and radioactive poisoning , Paul Driscoll ( Dana Andrews ) solicits the help of his colleague Harvey ( Robert F. Simon ) and uses a time machine , intent to remake the present by altering past events . Paul first travels to Hiroshima on August 6 , 1945 and attempts to warn a Hiroshima police captain about the atomic bomb , but the captain dismisses him as insane . Paul then travels to a Berlin hotel room to assassinate Adolf Hitler in August 1939 ( immediately before the outbreak of World War II the following month ) , but is interrupted when a housekeeper knocks on his door and later calls two SS guards to his room . On his third stop , Paul tries to change the course of the '' Lusitania '' on May 6 , 1915 to avoid being torpedoed by a German U-boat , but the ship ’s captain questions his credibility . Paul accepts the hypothesis that the past can not be changed . He then uses the time machine to go to the town of Homeville , Indiana in 1881 , resolving not to make any changes , but just to live out his life free of the problems of the modern age . Upon his arrival , he realizes that President James A. Garfield will be shot the next day , but resists the temptation to intervene . He stays at a boarding house in town and meets Abigail Sloan ( Patricia Breslin ) , a teacher . At one of the boarding house ’s dinners , a boarder named Hanford vehemently espouses American imperialism . Paul delivers an angry rebuttal in which he accuses Hanford of speaking from ignorance of war and a certainty that he himself will not have to take part in any fighting , while dropping numerous allusions to wars that have yet to take place . Abigail is impressed and privately tells him that she shares his views , having lost her father and two brothers in the American Civil War . He kisses Abigail , but she becomes alienated when he refuses to explain his earlier remarks about future wars
torpedoed
Sinking of the RMS Lusitania
No Time Like the Past