Nobody's perfect, but some people aren't even close, and that includes some of the most
beloved figures in all of history.
Sure, they look great at first glance, but a closer look reveals that these respected
historical figures were actually terrible people.
Screen legend John Wayne's reputation as an upstanding man's man gets tainted real fast
once you hear his views on anyone who wasn't white.
In a 1971 interview with Playboy, he actually said,
"I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility.
I don't believe in giving authority and positions of leadership and judgment to irresponsible
people."
Wayne also railed against black people getting too many opportunities, complaining that Hollywood
studios were, quote, "taking their tokenism a little too far."
The actor also had a problem with Native Americans.
In that same Playboy interview, he said that white people grabbing America from the Native
Americans was good.
As he put it,
"There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying
to keep it for themselves."
"There shouldn't be so much whining and bellyaching."
Comic book artist Bob Kane is known as the creator of Batman, alongside co-creator Bill
Finger.
While the Caped Crusader debuted in 1939, Finger had to watch as his more influential
friend took all the credit, belittled Finger's own claims of creatorship, and left him to
die in obscurity.
"You can take almost any Batman book of the shelf and open to the title page: Batman created
by Bob Kane."
It's true that Kane came up with the concept for a character called Bat-Man, but his version
would wear a red suit, have wavy blonde hair, and fly around using a pair of bat wings.
But Kane also conscripted Bill Finger to flesh out the character.
Finger then created the Batman costume we know today, removed the character's superpowers,
and made him a detective.
Finger also created Catwoman, Robin, and the Joker to boot.
Kane, meanwhile, used his own creative powers to invent ways to secure a contract with DC
that forbade the company from crediting his friend.
While Kane would make money off Batman from day one, Finger wouldn't get a creator credit
until 2015.
Unfortunately, Finger died in 1974.
"And for that, there is no forgiveness for Bob Kane."
While there are plenty of presidents who cheated on their wives, John F. Kennedy is probably
the most famous for it.
He slept with movie stars and secretaries, and it was absolutely terrible for the pain
it caused his wife.
Jackie Kennedy is famous for being the picture-perfect first lady and the ever-dutiful spouse.
But Jackie was aware of many of Jack's affairs.
In fact, she considered divorce at least twice.
The first time was in 1956 when JFK left his pregnant wife at home to go on a Mediterranean
cruise.
When she gave birth to a stillborn daughter, he couldn't even cut his vacation short and
come home to her.
But every time she thought of ending it, her family talked her out of it.
JFK might have been a great president, but he wasn't exactly the best husband.
South Carolina native Strom Thurmond was the longest serving senator in U.S. history.
But even though plenty of his constituents loved him, he had some terrible views about
race.
When Thurmond ran for president in 1948 on a state's rights and segregationist platform,
he managed to get over a million votes.
And he continued his fight against equality when he got to the Senate.
In 1957 President Eisenhower proposed some basic civil rights laws, but Thurmond filibustered
against them for over 24 hours, still the longest speech in Senate history.
But what makes Thurmond much worse than almost any other racist was that he was also a hypocrite.
When he was 22, he impregnated a 16-year-old black domestic worker.
He completely ignored his daughter, Essie Mae Washington-Williams, until she was 16,
after which he started giving her money from time to time.
This was partly to keep her quiet, as he knew exposure could ruin his political career.
Nelson Mandela's marriage with his wife Winnie survived nearly three decades of his imprisonment,
but it fell apart in 1996 when it was revealed that she cheated on him with her younger bodyguard.
Winnie was a fighter like her husband and earned herself the title "mother of the nation."
But she was involved in some seriously controversial activities.
If she suspected someone of being a traitor to the cause, she might order a "necklacing":
putting a gasoline-soaked car tire around someone's neck and lighting it on fire.
Winnie Mandela was eventually convicted of kidnapping, assault, and fraud.
And when she became part of the government as a deputy minister, she ended up getting
fired for insubordination.
"He needed the blood of those who loved him" is what Pablo Picasso's granddaughter Marina
once said about her artist grandfather.
One of the most famous artists who ever lived, Picasso completely changed what modern art
could be.
But as he scaled these dizzying heights, he displayed a distinct penchant for misogyny.
Picasso himself wasn't shy about these views.
He's on record as calling women "machines for suffering."
He ensured his children and their wives depended on him for money.
When Marina's parents broke up, he kept her and her alcoholic mother in poverty to teach
them a lesson.
Being one of Picasso's women also meant watching as he slept with hundreds of people.
He once said he thought women were either goddesses or doormats, but he often only treated
them more like the latter.
It's borderline blasphemous to criticize Mother Teresa.
Did anyone in history do more to help the poor and the sick?
Turns out, maybe she wasn't that great after all.
As reported by the Times of India, Mother Teresa's true motives were less about helping
people and more about boosting the numbers for her own religion.
Mother Teresa's mission buildings, despite having tons of charitable donations at their
disposal, rarely actually helped poor, sick people become healthy.
In fact, most of these places, according to a 2013 paper published in Studies in Religion,
were dirty, short on doctors, low on food, and largely bereft of painkillers.
Nevertheless, Teresa found the suffering beautiful.
We know this because she said it to writer Christopher Hitchens.
"There is something beautiful in seeing the poor accept their lot, to suffer it like Christ's
Passion.
The world gains much from their suffering."
Naturally, this didn't apply to Teresa herself, who, according to Hitchens, would regularly
get care at far more reputable hospitals.
"She's forever on some scumbag's Learjet going around cashing in on everyone else's belief
that she's a saint."
But Teresa's true goal was to use her charitable efforts to convert people to Roman Catholicism.
She truly felt that the poor, the sick, and the suffering were akin to Jesus.
If they suffered as He did, in her mind, that would bring them closer to Him.
It would seem she skipped the parts in the Bible where Jesus actually healed sick people.