These personalities have left a big mark in our history, and for this, we look to them with admiration and respect. However, once we set aside that lens of reverence, cracks began to appear in their personas.
Want to know more about such personalities? This article will help.
Woodrow Wilson
Ask Black Americans, and you’d hear what they think about Woodrow Wilson, the American President at the time of World War 1. While the rest of world sees him as the champion of democracy, human rights, and liberal International Institutions, the Black Americans remember Wilson as a bigot, racist, and chauvinist.
It was during his tenure that the Ku Klux Klan was re-born, segregation policy of the Government reached its epitome, and Black Americans were disenfranchised – both in and outside the White House.
Such diverging views about Woodrow Wilson prove the veracity of one point: some historical figures, despite all their achievements in public life, weren’t good human beings. And unlike that scoundrel in your neighborhood whose bad actions cannot cause much damage at a large scale, the actions of such personalities damaged generations.
Gandhi
Revered as the “Mahatma” by more than 1 billion Indians, Gandhi continues to divide opinions outside subcontinent to this day. One area where the life of Gandhi is still scrutinized is the divergence between his words and actions when it comes to sex.
Throughout his life, Gandhi preached asceticism – he even advised the newlywed couples to stay celibate for the entirety of their lives so that they can purify their souls. In his own life, however, it becomes apparent that as far as this topic was concerned, Gandhi was not a man of his words.
For instance, at the time when his father was dying, Gandhi left him to have sex with his wife. During that time, his father died. What’s more, according to his biographer Jad Adams, the Mahatma also had an inclination of sleeping right next to naked girls, with the biographer calling him “Sex Mad”.
Mother Teresa
In today’s world, it has become borderline illegal to harangue Mother Teresa. News articles want us to believe that when it comes to helping the poor, no one did more than her. So much is the pull of her achievements that the Catholic Church calls him “Saint Teresa”.
In India, however – the country where he “served” the most, the true motives of Mother Teresa have started to become appear. As reported by Times of India, the true purpose of her charitable behavior was not piety. Rather, what she wanted was to boost the number of Christians inside India.
What’s more, in a study published in Journal of Studies in Religion, it has been noted that she didn’t make full use of the charitable donations that were at her disposal.
Winston Churchill
Just like Woodrow Wilson, most people remember Winston Churchill as a war-hero. Some with a knack for history also take delight in his oratory skills. Still, there is one dark side of the former English Prime Minister which hasn’t been explored sufficiently to this date.
For example, according to a book titled Churchill’s Empire, Churchill during her youth took part in “expeditions” against the Africans. Later on, when he became a member of the Parliament, Churchill urged it to wage a war against the minorities.
These actions of his weren’t limited to Great Britain as his tenure saw the zenith of British Empire, Churchill. Regarding the Kurds, who were under British dominion at that time and wanted independence, Churchill advocated for the use of “poisoned gas” to spread a “lively terror”.
Walt Disney
Don’t tell the children, but Walt Disney couldn’t have been farther from the comic characters due to which he became famous, and wealthy at the same time.
According to one of her associates, Ward Kimball, Walt didn’t trust cats or “women”. In one letter – which she sent to a woman who wanted to work for the Disney Corp as an animator, Disney rejected her out rightly. And the reason for her rejection? In his own words, Disney stated that women “cannot do creative work”.
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