I've got a dual question to ask. Who was the greatest world leader and the worst world leader of the 20th century. Lets try to be original, but serious. Thanks a lot guys.

Have there been any Roman Catholic presidents after Kennedy? Just curious.

None before, none after.

Thanks Chagur, just wondering. I was reading a encyclopedia entry on JFK. Thanks again for quenching my thirst of curiosity.

Probably have to say, Nelson Mandella(South Africa) as the best world leader.

As for the worst probably, Sudan Hussein(Iraq) who cares nothing for his people, no matter what anyone says. And possibly President Suharto(Indonesia) who also cared nothing for his people but only his family and his and their pockets. ie money.

I didn't put Stalin(Soviet Union), because I think he actually did care somewhat about his people. A leader should always care about those below him.

Hey Deadwood,

How about that Cambodian guy, Pol Toc I think?

You mean Pol Pot, I think he's dead now. But yes, very nasty piece of work. Don't forget the recently arrested Milosovic, now awaiting trial in the Hague.

As far as great leaders.... unfortunately not many spring to mind. The great Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Mandella of course.




Unfortunately, great or poor leaders often exist in turbulent times. Very few are created in times of peace or prosperity.

http://www.kamat.com/mmgandhi/fakir.jpg Peace be with you big guy in the sky!!

Oh yes, I forgot.

Pol Pot would be one of the worst also. My best friends mum is actually a daughter of a Prince in Cambodia. Until, Pol Pot came into the picture. They really stuffed things up. Not to mention thre is a lot of land mines there.
About Pol Pot being dead. My friends' not sure about that because they didn't actually show his head when they said that he was dead. He could still be alive, for all we know. But when he was in power people could only eat one table spoon of rice mixed in with heaps of water so you get less. Pretty sad, hey. :(

I also totally forgot about Ghandi. Ghandi and Mandella, also if I could name another who is not really a world leader but a leader in human rights, Martin Luther King. These three followed passive resistance. Very good examples. I just wish protesters protesting for democracy could protest this way instead of using force. Which is a contradiction.

Anyway, sorry for rambling. They are add ons for my pics. (Can't believe I forgot them).

One Friday night in December 1981, Lech Walesa and other leaders of Solidarity were arrested after meeting in Gdansk. For sixteen months, their free trade union movement had shaken the foundation of communist power in Poland by occupying factories and staging strikes. Now, martial law had been imposed, and Solidarity was looking down the gun barrel of defeat. But when he was taken away, Walesa challenged his captors. "At this moment, you lost," he told them. "We are arrested, but you have driven a nail into your communist coffin.... You'll come back to us on your knees" (1998).

If violence is power, and if repression has no answer, then Walesa's words were foolish. But he knew that Solidarity had already defined the course of the conflict by depriving the regime of the Polish people's consent. When the state had run out of ways to coerce their compliance, it would have to come to terms. Seven years later, General Wojciech Jaruzelski, the leader who had jailed Walesa, invited him and other Solidarity leaders to join roundtable talks that led to elections and the formation of a new government. In 1990, Walesa, a shipyard electrician only ten years before, became president of Poland. He had never fired a shot, nor had any one in Solidarity. But he and his followers threw back the shroud of authoritarian power and gave freedom to every Pole.

Actually, the Pope had a lot to do with it as well. You could say he sped up the process. Though I have a bit of a dislike for Christianity getting into politics, you could probably say that this was a good result. But then again, here I am talking about Christianity in politics while my old archbishop now holds the highest position in Australian politics. Which is the governor general(queens representive). I hope he does a lot to help the less fortunate like the last one.

also, biggles, I have some of the original biggles books in my room. Just in case you took your name from that book character.

Best world leader of the 20th Centry: Ronaldus Maximus, Ronald Reagan. Ended the Cold War, reunited East and West Germany, tore dow nthe Berlin Wall, destroyed the USSR, turned double digit, inflation, unemployment, and interest rates around into the most prosperous and peaceful period in history.

World world leader of the 20th Centry: Nelson Mandella, the racist murderous terrorist bastard who should have been executed, not jailed.

Now 10% of the population has AIDS, 45% are unemployed, 50% are in poverty, and there are 5 million major crimes reported each year (including 20,000 murders, 260,000 rapes, 500,000 assaults, 390,000 home and businesses broken into, and 100,000 vehicles stolen)

There have only been four world leaders in the twentieth century. Money, petrolium, opium, and religion. The faces we put on them are irrelevant, they merely controlled the distrubition and influence of said entities. If I were to rate the mask that these leaders wore, I would have to judge them by loss of human life and suffering. The worst:Hitler/Stalin. The best:Ghandi/JFK

I've got a dual question to ask. Who was the greatest world leader and the worst world leader of the 20th century. Lets try to be original, but serious. Thanks a lot guys.

BEST:
Gene Roddenbury. Even though he held no political office, his futuristic and forward looking vision has inspired the people of the Earth in ways that no politician could.

The pen is more mighty than the sword....
Gene's hopeful "Startrek" future has reached a great many people of the Earth. It is an envisioned future of people accepting each other and working together to build a brighter tomorrow. His vision shared ---- has had an extremely positive effect on people the world over, while never incorporating war and the death of real human beings. I definately am a believer that the great things accomplished by anyone is offset by the pain and death that is paid to accomplish these supposed great things.

Even though Gene Roddenbury may not be considered as a world leader, I continue to believe that he was responsible for seeding later 20th century Earth with ideas of tolerance, peace, and a hopeful future for humanity that is unequaled by any 20th century dictator, religious leader, prez, ect......

WORST:
Hard to say. Was it Hitler, Stalin, ect....., or the politicians of other countries who allowed them to reach their positions of power? Ultimately, the responsibility lies squarely on the shoulders of the people who elected the worst world leader, or allowed the leader to take power to begin with. The majority of this responsibility really is with those who controlled the media forms, since a Hitler would never has risen to power if the people of Germany had been informed before he was able to set up his own propaganda machine. This bothers me every time I watch a one sided news program that obviously leans to a political philosophy without being fair and balanced. When the music's over, which one person is truly the greatest, or the worst?????

I think that too much emphasis is placed on "world leaders." Every event of the past builds upon each following event, and so on. Granted, world leaders do have a major effect on the historical passages throughout the times, but I believe that it is really up to the common individual actions of each of us that ultimately make the leaders "look" --- BEST/WORST.......


......THANKS Curly, great question......

I could not single out just one. So many have made contributions to our lives. Even those with evil intent such as Hitler inadvertently managed to bring peoples of other nations together.

Originally posted by mrun
Best world leader of the 20th Centry: Ronaldus Maximus, Ronald Reagan. Ended the Cold War, reunited East and West Germany, tore dow nthe Berlin Wall, destroyed the USSR, turned double digit, inflation, unemployment, and interest rates around into the most prosperous and peaceful period in history.

World world leader of the 20th Centry: Nelson Mandella, the racist murderous terrorist bastard who should have been executed, not jailed.

Now 10% of the population has AIDS, 45% are unemployed, 50% are in poverty, and there are 5 million major crimes reported each year (including 20,000 murders, 260,000 rapes, 500,000 assaults, 390,000 home and businesses broken into, and 100,000 vehicles stolen)

Which dimension did you just drop in from?

Well...first I must say that the Gandhi photo really made me laugh. :D And yes, maybe he was the best leader. Non-violence is always to prefer.

And Hitler the worst, of course. His huge manifestation of "evil" had an enormous impact on the whole world. But have we learned anything from it? Did all the jewes die in vain?

Best world leader of the 20th Centry: Ronaldus Maximus, Ronald Reagan

Hahaha...oh hahahaha