Which worldwide political leaders of recent history do you believe made a positive impact?

FDR, Churchill, Nelson Mandela, Gandhi, MLK, Vaclev Havel, Malcom X, Al Gore, Gorbachev, Eisenhower, Barry Goldwater, Prince Carlos, de Gaulle, Pope John XXIII.

@pdworkin An impressive list

@pdworkin Why Barry Goldwater?

Because he was in favor of gay rights way, way before anyone else even thought it was important.

Denks.

Everyone @pdworkin said, only replace Al Gore with Ladybird Johnson.

Oh, I could easily add her. LBJ I thought about, but sadly the Vietnam War overshadows his accomplishments for me. But why replace Al Gore? Instead of moping or becoming an irritant he went out and did good work.

I am in complete awe of Nelson Mandela’s life. What an amazing hero!

I ‘ll go with some of the original ones by pdworkin: Mandela, Gandhi and Gorbachev. Even though I adore Havel (and have met him in person) I don’t think he changed the world as much. Gorbachev was probably not trying to change the whole world, but did so anyway. The late Pope did a lot to correct past mistakes and reconcile different faiths, and I’d even say Putin had a positive impact, or rather prevented a negative one. I think that if there were anyone else in his position there would be a lot more bloodshed going on and possibly even a nuclear war.

Castro, Chavez, Che, Nasser to some extent, punched above their weight politically speaking.

Chavez is a clown, but Castro, certainly, especially after the fall of the USSR. I don’t think we ever saw Che at his full potential. Nasser was a very interesting man. Good call.

@pdworkin Chavez is a clown i haven’t been to Venezuela but i saw a fascinating documentary on the political machinations of the Venezuelan petroleum industry and there was indeed a healthy dose of Venezuelan humour to lighten a potentially deadly situation. Yes Chavez is a clown, but a serious and rather skillful one.