# 'Great' people who were total A-holes **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 7, 2011, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-people-who-were-total-a-holes/598867 "2011-10-07T04:22:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-people-who-were-total-a-holes/598867/21 "2011-10-07T14:33:25Z")
MLK was a notorious philanderer. ---
**Author:** ![No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_umlaut_for_U)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-people-who-were-total-a-holes/598867/22 "2011-10-07T15:33:53Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Henry Ford was the first person I thought of, also Stalin had his dark side believe it or not. This. Ford’s antisemitism isn’t that well-known. I think that man was hit by the evil stick around 1928. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-people-who-were-total-a-holes/598867/23 "2011-10-07T15:51:55Z")
Steve Jobs was a great at designing tech devices, and a dick. Edison, brilliant inventor, and a dick. Henry Ford, inventor, designer, captain of industry, and a dick. The list goes on and on. It’s a dog eat dog world, and the biggest successes are often those who are willing to screw the other guy to get what they want. After success, a swelled ego and the inevitable side effects of that will emerge also. I shouldn’t be too critical either. I have shared a common characteristic with those guys from time to time. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-people-who-were-total-a-holes/598867/24 "2011-10-07T15:59:12Z")
Steve Martin, for all his various talents, is really an asshole. And don’t get me started on Woody Allen. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-people-who-were-total-a-holes/598867/25 "2011-10-07T16:04:00Z")
**Sampiro** , it is from you that I know Rosa Parks was as friendly as a badger. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-people-who-were-total-a-holes/598867/26 "2011-10-07T16:48:14Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > I would add Marcus Aurelius, the Stoic Roman Emperor. Gandhi had that whole “sleeping with naked girls” thing, but can we let that slide? > > Martin Luther King, Jr was a womanizer by more recent accounts… > > Julius Caesar flouted the Roman Republic and took it over, and had the reputation for sexual conquest and general Macchiavellian behavior - while being a very successful general, politician and ultimately Emperor. The debate between his assholeishness and greatness continues to this day… Gandhi, after all he is just one letter away from being an asshole. Michael Schumacher, greatest driver, but a bloody cheat. Kubrick and Francis Ford Coppola. When you cause the heart attack of a 37 year old man, you are certainly an asshole. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-people-who-were-total-a-holes/598867/27 "2011-10-07T16:51:25Z")
> [@bup](#): > > **Sampiro** , it is from you that I know Rosa Parks was as friendly as a badger. Though in fairness I only met her when she was old. Perhaps she was once much nicer. Or perhaps somehow I turned her (I _never ever_ should have seated her at the back of the restaurant). ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-people-who-were-total-a-holes/598867/28 "2011-10-07T16:57:52Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Steve Martin, for all his various talents, is really an asshole. And don’t get me started on Woody Allen. I’ve heard in a few interviews that Steve Martin is actually a really sweet guy, but crushingly shy, hence coming off bad. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-people-who-were-total-a-holes/598867/29 "2011-10-07T17:43:50Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Julius Caesar flouted the Roman Republic and took it over, and had the reputation for sexual conquest and general Macchiavellian behavior - while being a very successful general, politician and ultimately Emperor. I don’t think _Julius_ Caesar was ever an Empreror proper. His protege _Augustus_ Caesar is generally regarded as the first Emperor. Julius did have the tile Imperator conferred on him, but others had held it before him and at that time it was not synonymous with what we now think of as Emperor. Julius _was_ a Dictator. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-people-who-were-total-a-holes/598867/30 "2011-10-07T17:54:26Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > Julius _was_ a Dictator. With an emphasis on “dick” according to many contemporaries (well, they killed him, didn’t they?). ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-people-who-were-total-a-holes/598867/31 "2011-10-07T18:07:46Z")
Lyndon Johnson. Asshole Extreme. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-people-who-were-total-a-holes/598867/32 "2011-10-07T18:08:52Z")
He was more a dick, in that he liked to flaunt it. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-people-who-were-total-a-holes/598867/33 "2011-10-07T18:15:23Z")
> [@No\_umlaut\_for\_U](#): > > This. Ford’s antisemitism isn’t that well-known. I think that man was hit by the evil stick around 1928. It is true, Ford wrote a series of articles published in the Detroit Free Press, lambasting “the Jews”. But I maintain it was largely based upon ignorance. The fact is, Ford did make a public apology (also printed in the papers), so at least he did acknowledge the error of his ways. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-people-who-were-total-a-holes/598867/34 "2011-10-07T18:16:35Z")
Clinton was well known to be nasty to his staff-I say him rip into a staffer (it was on TV). I bet he’s a real prize at home! ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-people-who-were-total-a-holes/598867/35 "2011-10-07T18:30:46Z")
I don’t know how many people consider him great\*, but people are surprised to learn that Jimmy Carter has a huge temper. I used to work with a guy who is close to the Carters both personally and professionally and he had some amazing stories of him losing his temper at screwups. \*I happen to think that Carter is the greatest ex-president this nation has ever had and has done more with his ex-presidency, than most presidents (including himself) are able to do while in office. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-people-who-were-total-a-holes/598867/36 "2011-10-07T18:32:05Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > The passing of Steve Jobs and the hoopla over it has me thinking of the stuff I read about him in _Pirates of Silicon Valley_ and a couple of articles from former employers over the years. All acknowledge his brilliants His brilliant what? Joe ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-people-who-were-total-a-holes/598867/37 "2011-10-07T19:43:15Z")
You can add V S Naipaul to the literary assholes list. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-people-who-were-total-a-holes/598867/38 "2011-10-07T19:55:30Z")
> [@lisiate](#): > > You can add V S Naipaul to the literary assholes list. Oh, yes. His views on women in literature are … special. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-people-who-were-total-a-holes/598867/39 "2011-10-07T20:24:37Z")
**Walt Disney** was a huge anti-semite. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-people-who-were-total-a-holes/598867/40 "2011-10-07T20:29:45Z")
> [@wheresgeorge04](#): > > His brilliant what? > > Joe His [brilliants](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brilliant_(diamond_cut)). Apparently he had quite the diamond collection. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-people-who-were-total-a-holes/598867.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-people-who-were-total-a-holes/598867.md?page=3)