Comments on: World Leader Family Photo Album

World Leader Family Photo Album

fenriq — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 12:39:36 -0800

World Leaders Were Kids Once Too
Photos of a whole bunch of world leaders as kids up through adulthood. Hey, Reagan was Teh Buff! And proof that Joe Stalin was NOT born with that mustache!

By: taschenrechner

taschenrechner — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 12:49:53 -0800

It's always kind of cool to see pictures of people before they went batshit insane. The young Arafat looks just like this one kid I went to kindergarten with (in the 80's).

By: Monstrous Moonshine

Monstrous Moonshine — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 12:52:49 -0800

Putin was fine as hell.

By: cloeburner

cloeburner — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 12:53:02 -0800

Vladimir Putin needs a hug.

By: fenriq

fenriq — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 12:55:50 -0800

Personally my favorite is Churchill as a petulant little boy who looks like he's unhappily waiting for his figgy pudding.

By: Gator

Gator — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 12:56:40 -0800

This image is hosted on ebaumsworld.com O...kay?

By: longbaugh

longbaugh — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 13:03:47 -0800

Chirac looks like the star of a 1960's French art house movie. It's also good to see Kim Jong Il going down the "Kid'n'Play" route with his hair in that 2005 picture. Awesome.

By: Afroblanco

Afroblanco — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 13:10:29 -0800

longbaugh - I was thinking that exact same thing about Chriac! Some other notables : * In one of his pictures, Tony Blair looks like he's in a 1960s British psychedelic rock band * Bush's 1970s quasi-afro makes me embarrassed for my hairstyle * Somehow, the ultra-blurry pictures of Stalin make him look even more like a murderer

By: you just lost the game

you just lost the game — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 13:10:46 -0800

Putin looks thrilled to be a father. Just beaming with joy.

By: Runkst

Runkst — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 13:11:31 -0800

So Hitler's moustache was the result of years of careful experimentation? And am I the only one weirded out by a baby Hitler without moustache? Meanwhile, the younger Castro looks like the illegitimate love child of Liam Neeson and Eric Bana.

By: oflinkey

oflinkey — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 13:12:45 -0800

Putin was good looking, but I think he is best looking now, to he honest. The picture of Churchill in his fancy uniform has a certain Dune-ish Kyle McLachlan quality to it.

By: Alvy Ampersand

Alvy Ampersand — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 13:15:06 -0800

Putin ~~was~~is fine as hell. And when he's wearing his judo jammies - GROWL!!! Weird how most of the folks I hold in contempt today looked like they needed a good smacking as youths.

By: Scoo

Scoo — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 13:18:16 -0800

Baby Hitler was such a little cutie! What the hell happened?

By: the_savage_mind

the_savage_mind — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 13:20:27 -0800

Come on... Putin was butt-ugly as a child, and still is. Chirac, on the other hand, was one suave mofo. My mom still thinks of Che as a gorgeous man. He sure had a great smile. But the way that beard ended up... yikes.

By: you just lost the game

you just lost the game — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 13:24:04 -0800

Afroblanco: He was.

By: longbaugh

longbaugh — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 13:38:54 -0800

Clearly those early pictures of Hitler are fake - look closely enough and you can see that they are in fact Donald Sutherland.

By: bardic

bardic — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 13:46:45 -0800

Amazing trivia about Putin's dad: He cooked for both Stalin and Lenin.

By: meringue

meringue — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 13:51:39 -0800

Ronald Reagan was good looking... no wonder he was an actor. Castro looks so innocent and hopeful as a child. Bush looks like the top of his head is missing. It's a small head to begin with, but it seriously looks like part of it's missing.

By: dgaicun

dgaicun — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 13:52:23 -0800

Who knew? Stalin was once Keanu Reeves.

By: stenseng

stenseng — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 13:55:33 -0800

"It's a small head to begin with, but it seriously looks like part of it's missing." I'm gonna go ahead and guess that the part missing is the part that provides ethics, judgement, and impulse control...

By: dgaicun

dgaicun — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 13:57:23 -0800

Also:

By: jamjam

jamjam — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 13:57:31 -0800

These are an amazingly good-looking bunch of young men. It really does seem to be what, first and foremost, we ask of our politicians whether or not we vote them into office.

By: IndigoJones

IndigoJones — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 14:04:36 -0800

Is it just me, or is Blair looking a little, well - stoned?

By: longbaugh

longbaugh — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 14:05:07 -0800

You're all insane if you think any of these people are in any way hot. Putin looks like Mccauley Culkin for fuck's sake.

By: bardic

bardic — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 14:05:12 -0800

George Bush II is Will Ferrell.

By: longbaugh

longbaugh — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 14:06:21 -0800

Blair looks like Peter Duncan (fans of Blue Peter, Flash Gordon and Duncan Dares unite!)

By: meringue

meringue — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 14:11:33 -0800

You're all insane if you think any of these people are in any way hot. What? C'mon... Che, Reagan, Mandela... they were good looking.

By: Heywood Mogroot

Heywood Mogroot — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 14:22:45 -0800

here's a pic of 'W' I scanned from Daniel Yergin's "The Prize".

By: Aghast.

Aghast. — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 14:37:01 -0800

Mandela was really handsome and really slick. There are pictures of him looking beefier and even better out there.

By: amro

amro — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 14:53:47 -0800

Che Guevara with the puppy. Rowr.

By: Zack_Replica

Zack_Replica — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 14:56:20 -0800

It's probably me, but everytime I see this pic of George Bush, it makes me think of Ted Bundy. And that creeps me out.

By: crunchland

crunchland — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 14:58:11 -0800

Who knew? Stalin was once Keanu Reeves. Makes you wonder when Keanu will start his pogroms.

By: Zack_Replica

Zack_Replica — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 15:00:33 -0800

Keanu comes across so dopey in his movies that he probably thinks pogrom is program spelled wrong.

By: blacklite

blacklite — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 15:04:23 -0800

Chirac was fucking badass. I wish the old Putin pics would load, now that everyone's talking about them. Good link.

By: DyRE

DyRE — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 15:14:54 -0800

Anyone else think of Private Pyle from Full Metal Jacket when they saw this one?

By: jayder

jayder — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 15:18:35 -0800

Chirac was fucking badass. He's a normal-looking, thirtysomething man walking down the street. That makes him fucking badass? What am I missing? Maybe I'm fucking badass and didn't even know it.

By: modernerd

modernerd — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 15:24:50 -0800

jayder Vidal Sassoon used to be a street tough.

By: porpoise

porpoise — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 15:34:37 -0800

The young Saddam could have easily passed for a Bollywood star.

By: rob511

rob511 — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 15:36:12 -0800

Looking back, looking forward? (high-school-age pics)

By: psmealey

psmealey — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 15:44:08 -0800

Funny, but all the pictures of Ernie "Che" Guevara I have ever seen make him look like kind of a ratty homeless dude or a hippie after a three day acid trip, and not the rakishly handsome figure that many of us conjure upon hearing his name. Hitler looks pretty much like you would expect. How did that guy get anywhere politically? It boggles the mind. Chirac looks like he stepped out of Jules et Jim. Bush, well... Years of alcohol and blow appear to have taken their toll. He had potential to be a good looking older man, based on his start, but the partying has left us with the gnomish (simian?) creature we are all too familiar with. And Reagan... well, Reagan. He was the antichrist, after all. To paraphrase Albert Brooks in Broadcast News, if the devil came back to earth, would you expect him to have horns and a tail? He'd probably be charismatic, good looking, helpful, etc.

By: dgaicun

dgaicun — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 15:49:08 -0800

I see this pic of George Bush, it makes me think of Ted Bundy Yes. And now I've realized verbal comparisons are nothing without the bandwidth stealing side by side:

By: psmealey

psmealey — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 15:52:09 -0800

Those pictures of Vladimir "Pootie" Putin, are awesome. He has EXACTLY the same facial expression in every shot, even though the photos were all taken decades apart. Sort of reminds me of those Lindsey Lohan montages.

By: whatnot

whatnot — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 15:55:50 -0800

jayder, it's the brow and the shape of his face with that little ciggy dangling from his poochy, supple lips. Plus, that era's clothing was pretty flattering for men, IMO. Bonus points for being too cool to walk on the sidewalk. I may need a cold shower.

By: fenriq

fenriq — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 16:12:24 -0800

psmealey, that montage is awesome!

By: amro

amro — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 16:31:54 -0800

This one's even better, fenriq. Someone must have told Paris Hilton once that her right side is her good side, and she never forgot it.

By: washburn

washburn — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 16:40:46 -0800

Ah, the children! They are our past!

By: Decani

Decani — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 16:53:08 -0800

Anyone else look at that first picture of the young Stalin and think "now, there's no way a nice, friendly-looking young man like that is going to grow up to be a mass-murdering dictator"? I know I did.

By: the_savage_mind

the_savage_mind — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 17:03:47 -0800

He's a normal-looking, thirtysomething man walking down the street. That makes him fucking badass? What am I missing? Maybe I'm fucking badass and didn't even know it. In addition to what whatnot already said, it's also the studiously effortless jaunt to his walk that comes through even in a photo. No offense, but it's seriously doubtful you were/are that bad-ass in that particular way. I know I wasn't/am not.

By: alidarbac

alidarbac — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 17:13:25 -0800

Am I a bad person for laughing at the boobs on Nelson Mandela?

By: pieoverdone

pieoverdone — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 17:23:31 -0800

Barbara Bush looked like an old woman even when she was a young woman. Tony Blair looks like someone I would do monster bonghits with. W looks like every dimwitted generic frat jock with a business degree. Oh wait.

By: fenriq

fenriq — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 17:32:28 -0800

amro, yeah with the difference being that I kind of like Lindsey Lohan and I loathe Paris Hilton. But both are pretty creepy. I would imagine this would work pretty well with any model though.

By: psmealey

psmealey — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 17:51:44 -0800

Tony Blair looks like someone I would do monster bonghits with. Young Tony Blair looks like he'd be very angry to know what the old Tony Blair has been up to. In fact, Tony Blair of five years ago, might be just as livid. Yo, Blair: what happened to you, mate?

By: kittyprecious

kittyprecious — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 17:54:16 -0800

W looks like every dimwitted generic frat jock with a business degree. Oh wait. Looking at that picture directly below the one hosted by ebaumsworld, the first thing I pictured was him arriving at my front door and me telling him, "No, you may not take my daughter out."

By: the_savage_mind

the_savage_mind — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 17:59:43 -0800

Yo, Blair: what happened to you, mate? Among other things, he apparently became a pretty far-out, born-again religious loony. Not sure if it's his wife's influence or what, but it's supposedly the tie that binds him so closely to W.

By: hoverboards don't work on water

hoverboards don't work on water — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 18:07:58 -0800

Brilliant post. Putin and Kim Jong Il have clearly been psychobastards from day one. Churchill's the hottest and Jacques Chirac's the coolest. These are an amazingly good-looking bunch of young men. It really does seem to be what, first and foremost, we ask of our politicians whether or not we vote them into office. Good looks correlate strongly with success in all fields, and it's not too hard to see why. Ugly people get the short end of every stick and end up scudding around the lower reaches of society. Except Hitler. What a greasy oik.

By: jamjam

jamjam — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 18:19:08 -0800

Could you take another look at those photos, amro? Some of them have mirror-image writing in the background, which I took to mean that they had been switched to emphasize the sameness of Hilton's pose. She has an asymmetry about her eyes which I judged to have switched sides along with the mirror writing, as well.

By: orange swan

orange swan — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 18:20:35 -0800

It's Hitler's mesmeric baby eyes that have always freaked me out. Churchill was actually a respectably good looking young man. Who knew.

By: jam_pony

jam_pony — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 18:33:35 -0800

In the college picture of GWB, it looks as if he is carrying a bottle in a brown paper bag.

By: subaruwrx

subaruwrx — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 18:36:48 -0800

Mandela was a bad motherfucker. Also, putin looks like a very depressed being.

By: psmealey

psmealey — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 18:47:37 -0800

Ugly people get the short end of every stick and end up scudding around the lower reaches of society. Excepting if you have overwhelming talent or super-human drive, I suppose: Bill Gates, Richard Nixon, Lance Armstrong, LBJ and John Lennon are/were all exceptionally homely men (and Mick Jagger's visage is an all out assault on the eyes, even when he was young), but they all seemed to do pretty well. Honestly, famous people aside, is this true? It seems to be conventional wisdom, but I think it's a basic fallacy. Even on a personal level, I have found that having some charisma, a modicum charm (even if it's forced), going that extra mile to be nice or interesting is always an edge over guys that have nothing else and look like Rob Lowe or George Clooney.

By: Jimbob

Jimbob — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 19:02:03 -0800

Kohmeni vs. Connery:

By: piratebowling

piratebowling — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 19:05:15 -0800

Is there a picture on record of Putin smiling? I'm begining to doubt so.

By: piratebowling

piratebowling — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 19:08:29 -0800

Also, Chirac looks like a French James Dean. AND! All picture of Kennedy are coming up as a question mark. CONSPIACY?!?!

By: amro

amro — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 19:09:54 -0800

Could you take another look at those photos, amro? Some of them have mirror-image writing in the background, which I took to mean that they had been switched to emphasize the sameness of Hilton's pose. Yeah, I noticed that after posting the link. Some sly trickery, that.

By: cenoxo

cenoxo — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 19:17:15 -0800

Great link (and an interesting site, too.) To fill in a few 20th Century stateside gaps, here are boyhood photos of Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton. The White House has thumbnails to small versions U.S. presidential portraits. Note that smiles don't generally appear until Truman; only Kennedy's eyes are hidden; and the only photographs (and the only ones with a visible U.S. flag in the background) are Clinton and Bush.

By: Serial Killer Slumber Party

Serial Killer Slumber Party — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 19:20:31 -0800

The first photographic record of Che and Castro together (well, as far as my knowledge says so) kind of looks like they had enjoyed a night together, but Papa Castro has gotta get to work real early. He promises Che he'll call. I gotta say, when they were young, they were quite the good looking duo.

By: keswick

keswick — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 19:28:42 -0800

cenoxo: official presidential portraits are not painted until the president is out of office. here's clinton:

By: jrossi4r

jrossi4r — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 19:28:44 -0800

Aw...would someone please tickle Putin? Or give him a raspberry on the stomach or something?

By: cenoxo

cenoxo — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 19:28:45 -0800

The spookiest royal morph is still the King [of Pop].

By: stenseng

stenseng — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 19:30:28 -0800

On what planet are John Lennon and Lance Armstrong "homely looking?"

By: Scoo

Scoo — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 19:36:53 -0800

Except Hitler. What a greasy oik. Oh, I don't know. He's not that bad looking with a shave. Still a bit too intense, perhaps, but moderately handsome. That iconic moustache may have been the source of his power...

By: cenoxo

cenoxo — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 20:10:09 -0800

Keswick said: ...official presidential portraits are not painted until the president is out of office. True, but Clinton's portrait unveiling occurred at the White House two years ago. Perhaps somebody needs to update the Presidents' bio page (and the Portraits of the Presidents page at the National Portrait Gallery, which has an interesting historical essay about official portraiture.)

By: maryh

maryh — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 23:01:36 -0800

If all these guys were cast together in a crazy teen comedy, King Fahd would be the guy with no lines who communicated solely through kooky sound effects.

By: Devils Slide

Devils Slide — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 23:56:18 -0800

Amusing post. A lot of them were good looking kids and young men, but Putin? I don't get it. I guess it's true what they say about chicks liking guys who brood.

By: dgaicun

dgaicun — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 00:36:44 -0800

I guess it's true what they say about chicks liking guys who brood. See also.

By: CeruleanZero

CeruleanZero — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 03:35:08 -0800

Wow, Churchill is so British.

By: Civil_Disobedient

Civil_Disobedient — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 04:32:31 -0800

Someone must have told Paris Hilton once that her right side is her good side, and she never forgot it. I think that's actually because she has a lazy eye.

By: substrate

substrate — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 05:38:17 -0800

That 2004 photo of Arafat can't really be 2004, can it?

By: cenoxo

cenoxo — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 06:40:00 -0800

Putin laughing with all the gang [via Getty Images].

By: Wolfdog

Wolfdog — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 09:49:13 -0800

Stalin: "So, pointwise convergence almost everywhere actually implies uniform convergence on all but an arbitrarily-small set?"

By: hoverboards don't work on water

hoverboards don't work on water — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 10:29:55 -0800

Excepting if you have overwhelming talent or super-human drive, I suppose: Bill Gates, Richard Nixon, Lance Armstrong, LBJ and John Lennon are/were all exceptionally homely men (and Mick Jagger's visage is an all out assault on the eyes, even when he was young), but they all seemed to do pretty well. I will grant you Mick Jagger as an outlier, but would question the rest of the list, especially John Lennon. Honestly, famous people aside, is this true? Yeah, pretty much: "Pretty people earn more" and "We find that unattractive individuals commit more crime in comparison to average-looking ones" I've also heard it as an explanation for why so few women make it into top jobs: if top jobs require (a) decades of experience, and (b) physical attractiveness, then very few women will be able to satisfy both those criteria since our current society's current yardstick of female beauty treats women over 35 as somehow worn out and faded, whereas our standards of male beauty mean that a very large number of men look better at 45 than at 18.

By: Devils Slide

Devils Slide — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 20:23:49 -0800

Thanks, dgaicun. I find biological/evolutionary explanations of human and animal behavior very interesting. I'd never heard of that particular analysis, and it certainly makes sense.

By: Lizc

Lizc — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 11:30:11 -0800

Putin laughing with all the gang [via Getty Images]. posted by cenoxo /shudder

By: bitter-girl.com

bitter-girl.com — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 18:35:05 -0800

Clinton presidential portrait? mrrrrrow! Meeting him at a booksigning is the only time in my life I can recall being absolutely dumbstruck and unable to speak... he looked at me and shook my hand and POW! My boyfriend, standing right behind me (who's known me since I was 15) nearly died laughing at the sight of me so speechless. I don't know what it is, but damn, that man's got presence.