It’s certainly hard to hold on to one’s faith in humanity in a world as cruel as ours, and even though there are many paths to becoming one of the most evil elected presidents who killed the most people, none are as heartbreaking as being elected. Of course, when researching massacres, genocides, wars, and other blood-chilling topics, it’s easy to come across lists that hold similarities to this one here, but are not quite the same. Why? Because they mostly feature men who achieved power exclusively through violence -such as military coups and/or revolutions-, and tend to include not only Presidents, but also Emperors, Kings, Ministers of War, and such. I will focus strictly on those who served as Presidents (and two Prime Ministers, because in some countries this is equivalent to President) who were somewhat democratically elected. Taking into account that the line of popular consensus here is, in most cases, pretty blurry, I ask you to please bear with me. Also, sometimes I make “clever jokes”, so if you’re iffy on the subject of mass-murder (that’s a joke btw), or highly sympathize with extreme right-wing leaders, I recommend you abandon this list immediately.
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First, I had to get our candidates, so I went through several lists on bloodthirsty rulers, on many different websites, such as True Activist, Daily Mail, to name a few. This one by Lifestyle9 I particularly liked, even though it’s not death-count based, I found it to be honest and properly explained. After inventorying more than 20 contenders, I researched each one individually and began to weed out those leaders who were not elected by vote. Un-surprisingly, I ended with my hands nearly empty; but after a few more cracks at it, I finally got the ball rolling.
Then came the issue of numbers. Since all sites featured fairly different death tolls for each ruler, for most of the data I used a website called Necrometrics (if author Matthew White is reading, I’d like to put forward the idea of renaming it “The Necro-Files”), which provides stats, sources, and averages, and therefore I trust way more than any silly ranking on Google. My ranking is not silly, it’s dead serious. Get it? DEAD SERIOUS. Still, please keep in mind that these numbers are estimates since people were too busy running and hiding to keep proper count, and the leaders were too “Meh, just shoot them all” to actually care.
Before we start, I just want to say it’s a shame this list of most evil elected presidents who killed the most people is only about the political presidential charge, because I sure would love to give a special shout out for Mr. Philip Morris (or any other of the 10 Most Evil Companies in the US, for that matter ), who opened his first shop in 1835, and later established Philip Morris & Co., of which he was, of course, President. Today tobacco kills 5.4 million people a year, so you do the math on that. Still, I reckon you came here to read about gruesome murder and violent genocide, so I shall bore you no longer; click NEXT, and be horrifically death-lighted!
10. Sassou Nguesso, Democratic Republic of Congo
Total death toll: 60,000
Sassou Nguesso definitely walks the line when it comes to deciding whether or not he belongs with the 10 most evil elected presidents who killed the most people. Evil? Check. President? Check. Killed a bunch of people? Check. Elected? That’s a tough call. He’s predecessor was deposed in 1979 in a technical coup, which is not the same as the military, so I’ll allow it.
Even though Sassou ruled Congo as a single-party Marxist state, counting with Soviet and Cuban aid, no martial law was ever in order. However, with the USSR’s fall in 1991, free elections were held in 1992, and Sassou did not do very well and fled. Sadly, evil men have a way of coming back, and since the then president was facing accusations of electoral fraud that resulted in revolts and, ultimately, the first Congo Civil War, Nguesso was able to regain power in 1997. His return to the country was the trigger for the 2nd Civil War, by which time, he had his own private army, the Cobra’s (got to give it to him: that is one cool name). Naturally, he won the election, because as you will understand if you keep reading, fear is a powerful master.
9. George W. Bush, USA
Total Death Toll: 171,000
I guess you’ve heard of this guy. Hell, you might have even voted for him yourself, so I do not need to explain to you that the elections were totally legal, popular, and all-round by-the-book. Recent events, however, have reminded me that Americans don’t always vote sensibly, so I’m not surprised to find a USA president on this list of most evil elected presidents who killed the most people.
The Iraq War (2003-2011) was motivated by the presumption that Saddam’s government was developing weapons of mass destruction (this was never proven) and supporting Al-Qaeda, and therefore becoming a threat to the USA. Still, however much of a prick Hussein was, this does not justify –in my view- invading a country and slaughtering innocent people without having substantial evidence, so I’m not sure if George was evil, or just plain stupid, but he’s still welcome on my list.
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8. Bashar Al-Assad, Syria
Total Death Toll: + 191,000
Even though the Ba’ath party had previously achieved power through a coup, Bashar, the next one in our list of most evil elected presidents who killed the most people was elected for his third term in Syria’s first multi-candidate, direct presidential election; he remains in power. If you ask me, he –barely- makes the cut for this list, mainly because there was another party, and another candidate; there was a challenge, and he won. Not sure if it was fair, but it was definitely square.
This here is an evil man, and a crappy president. He has displaced thousands from their homes, and staved, tortured and killed many others; here are some pictures (do not watch if you are impressionable). Due to the ongoing Civil War in Syria, which began in 2011 as a rebellion against Al-Assad and his party, this country accounts for the largest refugee number in the world. The losses, according to the BBC, are higher than 191,000 (although necrometrics averages it in 93,000, which is oddly slim).
7. Josip Broz Tito, Yugoslavia
Total Death Toll: 200,000
Before rising to power, Croatian-born Josip Tito, the number 7 in our list of most evil elected presidents who killed the most people had served Russia, fighting against the Austro-Hungarian army in WW2. Later on, in 1953, he became president of Yugoslavia, a place that doesn’t exist today; its former capital, Ljubljana, is the current capital of Slovenia.
Tito was a communist leader, and an authoritarian one at that, and even before the war, his regime had slaughtered a lot of anti-communist “rebels”, mostly Serbian. Even though he was already Yugoslavia’s virtual dictator, he was elected (in fraudulent one-party elections), and the monarchy was deposed.
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6. Benito Mussolini, Italy
Total Death Toll: 224,250
We are continuing our list of most evil elected presidents who killed the most people with Benito Mussolini who was voted Prime Minister in the general elections of 1924; Giacomo Matteotti, the only guy who dared denounce fascism as corrupt and therefore demanded a recount, was immediately murdered. I’m actually surprised someone spoke out, I guess he wasn’t quite aware of the hell that lied ahead. However unsavory the election was, he was voted for, so he has earned the honor of being on my most murderous, evil elected Presidents of all times.
People tend to bag Hitler and Mussolini together, but the truth is that even though he was one of the fascism’s founding fathers, the latter was way less vicious than the first -although he was in fact an A-grade a**hole. As stated here: “Mussolini was a bad leader. He made bad decisions; he launched campaigns without enough planning, he squandered assets, he generally was not much of a dictator. He did persecute his people, Communists especially”, but he never made it to his Austrian pal’s level. Also, he proclaimed himself “Il Duce” (The Duque), which is only something an absolute LOSER would do; it sounds like it could be the name of a lame barbershop quartet. Personally, I think “Il Douchebag” would have been more appropriate.
5. Charles Taylor, Liberia
Total Death Toll: 250,000
Up next in our list of most evil elected presidents who killed the most people is Charles Taylor who served as President from 1997 to 2003, and partook in Both Liberian Civil Wars, one from 1989 t0 1996, another from 1999 to 2003. Having been trained as a guerrilla officer in Libya, Taylor returned to his country in ’89 with a lot of backup and started the First Liberian Civil War, by the end of which he was a world renowned warlord. This might have helped him win in the 1997 elections, where he got 75.3% of the votes. The second War was initiated by revolutionary dissidents and finalized with Taylor’s stepdown, when he handed the torch to Vice President Blah. Soon after, the USA issued a capture order; he escaped but was caught later on, and in 2012 he became the second Head of State ever convicted by an international tribunal (first one was Karl Dönitz, Hitler’s Vice, at the Nuremberg Trials).
4. Harry Truman, USA
Total Death Toll: 716,000
This guy was the bomb! And yes, that’s another one of my clever jokes.
Now that I got that out of my system, I can begin to tell you about all the air raids the USA committed in 1945, the year Truman took office. Unlike most of the other Presidents listed here, he did not particularly enjoyed in murdering his people, he just did what he had to do to end the war. I’m never in favor of War, but I can see how that might have been a tricky issue at the time. The most well-known attacks are those of Hiroshima (122,000) and Nagasaki (45,000), but there were also bombings in Tokyo (84,000), Dresden (35,000), Berlin (25,000), Yokahama (5,000), and an approximate of 400,000 military deaths lost in battle.
The thing is, our list of most evil elected presidents who killed the most people is on EVIL Presidents, and I’m not sure Truman meets our psycho requirements, so I’ll throw this USA President in for free: $20 Dollar Andrew Jackson is accountable for the merciless and violent slaughter of a depressingly vast number Native Americans (I cannot give you a proper estimate, but you know the drill), including women and children, and the seizing of their lands. I cannot use the word I want here, so I’ll just say that he was one hell of an evil man-who-makes-love-to-his-mother.
3. Kim Il Sung, North Korea
Total Death Toll: 3,000,000
Who’s surprised to find North Korea here? Not me!
Trying to appear democratic, Kim Il Sung, the number three in our list of most evil elected presidents who killed the most people, was elected President in 1972 under a new constitution, and remained in charge until his death in 1994. This man is crucially responsible for the Korean War, which took place back in 1950, right after he was named Premier of North Korea. After the end of WW2, Japan forfeited its claim of Korea, and the country was split in two, the North remaining communist. I don’t know how Kim got into his head it’d be a good idea to start another war only five years after, but he did, so he determined himself to invade South Korea. Of course, the South had friends, friends with guns, friends who had just won the Second World War and were frenetic with victory, so North Korea was crushed.
2. Hideki Tōjō, Japan
Total Death Toll: 3,990,000
We are continuing our list of most evil elected presidents who killed the most people with Tōjō who was elected Prime Minister of Japan in the 1942 general election, which was one-party, extremely dubious, and untrustworthy, but an election nonetheless, without preceding application of the Martial Law. Prior the election, he was Minister of War, a charge he preserved during his presidency, so the death toll listed is actually the result of a lifetime of killing, according to Rummel.
This fervent Nationalist is responsible for the infamously well-known Attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, which was the trigger to the USA’s official involvement in WW2 and claimed the life of 2,403 Americans (which is really not as many as one would have thought looking at Tōjō’s total death toll). He committed several other massacres, too many to list, and also ought to be blamed for Japan’s total death toll during WW2, which rounded 1.9 million. In 1945, once the War was over and Japan was monumentally biting the dust, Tōjō was captured by USA military forces, and was sentenced to Death by hanging.
1. Adolf Hitler, Germany
Total Death Toll: 15,500,000
I don’t need to tell you what Hitler did, you know what he did, otherwise you wouldn’t be looking at this list. What you might not know -whether you choose to believe it or not- is that he was in fact voted President by the people in 1932. True, folks were scared sh*tless at the time, and opposing him was almost as definitive as suicide, but still, a LOT of people supported him, and he did win the elections, which makes him number 1 in the 10 most evil elected presidents who killed the most people list, with a death toll of 15,500,000.
Furthermore, Necrometrics says “These numbers only include outright murders, but keep in mind that some 28M civilians and 14M soldiers died in the European War. That’s 42,000,000 deaths which can probably be blamed on Hitler to one extent or another.” If that were correct (although I think it’s a long stretch), he’d also be ahead of Mao, who is considered to be the biggest killer in history.
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Now, to end with a reflection I’m taking you back to Philip Morris, who I mentioned in the intro, because throughout history tobacco has killed more people than World War I and World War II together. Now I almost feel sorry for the guys on this list; they tried, but I think we know who gets the biggest killer award in the end, right?
