Which Politician do you think has the most interesting backstory?

[carbonmonoxide321]

What politician no matter what the party has the most interesting backstory?

[Pringles]

I've always liked Harry Truman's. I could go on, but Truman was always interesting for me just because of how... simple his life was before he even remotely became involved with politics. 

[vcczar]

Probably Ulysses S Grant. In the 1860 census, he's listed as a leather goods clerk and making less than the median income (they have income in that census). In the 1870 census, he's listed as president of the united states. 

[Rezi]

I'll say he technically counts and go with John McAfee. He founded the godawful McAfee antivirus, did some other shit business ventures, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. Can't go wrong with a man who married a prostitute, moved to Belize and tried to form a paramilitary group, lived in international waters, probably murdered some people, and did just about every  drug imaginable. Also almost won the libertarian nomination too

[Timur]

18 hours ago, Patine said:

It's hard to decide. History is my favourite subject. Napoleon Bonaparte, Alexander Mackenzie, Nelson Mandela, Lech Walsea, Fidel Castro, John Major, Boris Yeltsin, Josip Broz Tito, and, even for two of the most evil men in history, Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin, had VERY fascinating backstories. Hell, Mohammed Omar and Kim Il-Sung MUST have, because they were such ciphers, mostly, even to international intelligence groups and such. And, before anyone says the inevitable chastening, there's nothing in this opening post I'm quoting that says, "American," as a qualifier. And I avoided BORN monarchs (though Napoleon declared himself one later, and Kim kind of de facto did) or theocrats (could include Omar if he wasn't thoroughly denounced by mainstream Muslims so much) to best fit in with the definition of, "politician," and didn't go back further than the early 19th Century.

He is alleged to have murdered two people when he was in high school He was born to devout evangelical Christian parents--in fact, his father was a diehard anti-Communist.

Edited October 13, 2021 by Timur

[The Blood]

1 hour ago, Timur said:

his father was a diehard anti-Communist.

Damn, I guess Kim took "rebelling against the old man" to a whole new level there.

[Timur]

5 minutes ago, Patine said:

Yes, but then there's also the theory (which you'd never dare utter in North Korea) that the Great Leader who founded the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, was not actually the Kim Il-Sung who was the Red Army Officer, Chinese Communist Party cadre, and leader and hero among of the Manchurian-based Pro-Communist Anti-Japanese Korean Resistance (which was separately organized and run from the Shanghai-centred Korean Independence Army), but that the Anti-Japanese guerilla leader died, but few were present at the time, and some previously-nobody among those ragtag Communist rebels stepped into his shoes and became the Kim Il-sung we know.

Yeah, there is such a theory.