Hey NT, suggest me some controversial historical figures.

[so slickening]

I have paper assigned in my college english course and we have to pick someone in history whose legacy can be viewed in different ways. Someone who is known for something in history, but there's a further truth that can change people's views on them.

For example, some people in my class are doing:
- Christopher Columbus (he's celebrated by American for "finding" the continent, but was actually a killer and pillager of the Native Americans)
- Benedict Arnold (his name is synonymous with "traitor," but apparently there was more to the story)
- Julius Ceasar
- Che Guevara

Etc.

I figure NT is full of people with different ranges of knowledge, so maybe some of y'all can suggest me someone that's not as known, but really interesting, or just someone who would fit the topic well.

Thanks

 

[sillyputty]

Galileo and Charles Darwin pretty much turned the known world upside down.

 

[keepzdasneakz]

Chiang Kai Shek?

 

[so slickening]

Originally Posted by sillyputty

Galileo and Charles Darwin pretty much turned the known world upside down.

Do they have a controversial aspect to them? Like, we all see them as geniuses and all, but do they have an aspect to their story that isn't really known and could actually change the shape of their image if it was known?

 

[sillyputty]

Originally Posted by So Slickening

Originally Posted by sillyputty

Galileo and Charles Darwin pretty much turned the known world upside down.

Do they have a controversial aspect to them? Like, we all see them as geniuses and all, but do they have an aspect to their story that isn't really known and could actually change the shape of their image if it was known?

Hitler had a gay best friend and that dude was the only person to ever get to call him "Adolf" instead of The Fuhrer. 

 

[eff ecks]

Genghis Khan
Adolf Hitler
Alexander The Great
Napoleon Bonaparte
Huey NewtonJ. Edgar Hoover

 

[so slickening]

Originally Posted by Eff Ecks

Genghis Khan
Adolf Hitler
Alexander The Great
Napoleon Bonaparte
J. Edgar Hoover

He sounds interesting. DiCaprio is playing him in an upcoming movie directed by Eastwood. Any general background info on what about him?

 

[eff ecks]

Originally Posted by So Slickening

Originally Posted by Eff Ecks

Genghis Khan
Adolf Hitler
Alexander The Great
Napoleon Bonaparte
J. Edgar Hoover

He sounds interesting. DiCaprio is playing him in an upcoming movie directed by Eastwood. Any general background info on what about him?

-first director of the FBI-basically build the FBi into what it is today-held amzing power in government and abused it often

 

[so slickening]

Originally Posted by Eff Ecks

Originally Posted by So Slickening

Originally Posted by Eff Ecks

Genghis Khan
Adolf Hitler
Alexander The Great
Napoleon Bonaparte
J. Edgar Hoover

He sounds interesting. DiCaprio is playing him in an upcoming movie directed by Eastwood. Any general background info on what about him?

-first director of the FBI-basically build the FBi into what it is today-held amzing power in government and abused it often

Hm. I just looked him up, and it seems that his controversies are pretty known and it's already a part of his image. I'm looking for people who are generally seen as a certain way but have a different story contradicting how they're seen in the public eye.

 

[so slickening]

Another great example that someone in my class is doing would be Shakespeare and the conspiracy that the famous playwright isnt even real.

 

[peja4prez]

Benedict Arnold. He was arguably one of the greatest Revolutionary Heros for the U.S. before he went to the British. He was continuously disrespected and left because of that. Check it out.

 

[celticsfan9783]

The Kennedy family.

 

[so slickening]

Originally Posted by Peja4Prez

Benedict Arnold. He was arguably one of the greatest Revolutionary Heros for the U.S. before he went to the British. He was continuously disrespected and left because of that. Check it out.

I'm really interested in that story, but the fact that my professor used Arnold as the example for the class makes him corny to use. You have exactly the right idea, though. Someone who's seen a certain way throughout history and public knowledge, but actually has a story that would change his image if known.

Also, if you give me a suggestion, it would be cool if you gave a little background info on why. Just a short sentence or so. Thanks!

 

[rico x hood]

Malcolm X
Ronald Reagan
Thomas Jefferson

 

[zoomgp]

george w bush

 

[rashi]

Copernicus. 

Anyone that the Catholic Church hates you know was doing fantastic and controversial work.

 

[Smorgasbordgie]

Grigori Rasputin.

 

[Gex the Damaja]

Originally Posted by So Slickening

Another great example that someone in my class is doing would be Shakespeare and the conspiracy that the famous playwright isnt even real.

If you want to go that route, I would pick Homer than. 

 

[so slickening]

Originally Posted by Gex The Damaja

Originally Posted by So Slickening

Another great example that someone in my class is doing would be Shakespeare and the conspiracy that the famous playwright isnt even real.

If you want to go that route, I would pick Homer than. 

With Homer, it's a little different... Shakespeare could possibly be an alias another playwright wrote under, but with Homer, it's a question of how does one give credit to the "author" of a story passed down orally from generation to generation.

I just looked up Rasputin, but I'm not sure what I'd write about. What was he known for in history, and what about him contradicts what's known?

 

[b smooth 202]

Originally Posted by sillyputty

Charles Darwin pretty much turned the known world upside down.

don't listen to that clown... Darwin was not even the originator of the theory...

pick Karl Marx especially with whats going on in our world today.

 

[soltheman]

Malcolm X, or El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. He's one of my favorite historical figures.

Pope Benedict XVI (the current pope...member of the Hitler Youth, has constantly reiterated that condoms are not a real or moral solution to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, etc)

Joan of Arc (adored by her peers, considered the devil by the English)

King James (basically changed the Bible at will)

if those aren't good enough I have some more...

 

[smoothrick007]

Dennis Rodman

 

[Bend_The_Knee]

trujillo

 

[persiafly]

Ayatollah Khomeini would be an interesting one.

He led the Iranian revolution as a pious old man and many thought he'd be the world's new Ghandi. Then the hostage crisis happened and he became a villain throughout the world, to the extent that Time magazine's single most controversial and derided cover was their Khomeini Man of the Year issue (more people cancelled subscriptions over that issue than any other).

 

[6dollaburger]

Michael Jackson