# Have any historical villans ever been rehabilitated ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 4, 2008, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-historical-villans-ever-been-rehabilitated/443956 "2008-04-04T17:56:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-historical-villans-ever-been-rehabilitated/443956/41 "2008-04-07T13:26:53Z")
Not completely rehabilitated, by any means (nor can he ever be, I think), but Reinhard Heydrich’s record as _Reichsprotektor_ of Bohemia has been reevaluated a bit in recent years. He knew the Germans needed the Czechs’ industrial machine humming along smoothly during WW2, so he raised wages, opened resorts to Czech workers, gave them more vacation time, etc. He at least gave lip service to the puppet Czech government and actually tried to win over the Czech people to the German cause, not entirely through police-state tactics. Still the same evil Nazi who chaired the Wannsee Conference, though. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-historical-villans-ever-been-rehabilitated/443956/42 "2008-04-07T14:10:31Z")
[QUOTE=Krokodil] Cardinal Richelieu and Richard Nixon both benefit from a more nuanced view of history [/QUOTE] Only Nixon could go to China. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-historical-villans-ever-been-rehabilitated/443956/43 "2008-04-07T15:39:17Z")
We have a very different opinion of black leaders (such as leaders of slave revolts) nowadays than most people did in 1860. There is a plaque honoring [Toussaint L’Ouverture](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toussaint_Louverture) in the Pantheon in Paris now, and there is at least some support for the idea that his remains should be moved there. I’m sure that’s not how the French of the early 1800s would have thought of him. > [@mbh](#): > > Once they were dead or safely imprisoned, Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull started getting better press. Native Americans in general get better press now than they once did. Witches are portrayed more positively now than they once were, at least in the mainstream in Europe and the non-fundamentalist mainstream in America. So are members of other non-Christian religions. This isn’t quite what the OP had in mind, but [George Wallace](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Wallace#Change_of_views_and_final_term_as_Governor), of “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever” fame, eventually had a change of heart and apologized for his earlier ideas and actions. > [@RealityChuck](#): > > It’s hard to argue that it’s false if it comes up with something that is discovered years later Johannes Kepler predicted that Mars would have two moons. This was discovered years later to be correct, but his reasoning was totally wrong- he thought that, since Earth has one moon and Jupiter was thought to have four at the time, the planet in between should have two. There _is_ such a thing as a coincidence, after all. > [@](#): > > More’s account, with someone who claimed to be in on the plot, predicted where the bodies would be found. I’m not very familiar with the Tower of London (I’ve only been there once, on the tour), but how many reasonable places are there in the Tower to bury bodies in secret? If there aren’t many, it gets a lot easier to make a good guess. Also, how specific is More’s prediction? If it’s something vague, something on the order of the stereotypical psychic’s prediction, then it could easily be counted as a true prediction even if it isn’t- the same thing happens with psychics’ predictions today. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-historical-villans-ever-been-rehabilitated/443956/44 "2008-04-07T19:25:34Z")
Bligh does not seem to have been a people person - he was put out of his ship (the _Director_) again in the Spithead Mutinies of 1797 ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-historical-villans-ever-been-rehabilitated/443956/45 "2008-04-07T20:23:36Z")
Gen. Benjamin “Beast” Butler took a lot of postbellum heat from Southern historians for his actions as military governor of New Orleans during the Civil War, but is generally credited today for enforcing law and order, reducing disease, improving sanitation standards and protecting the previously-oppressed black population. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-historical-villans-ever-been-rehabilitated/443956/46 "2008-04-08T02:50:24Z")
Spartacus comes to mind. A villain to the Roman authorities; a hero to many in modern times. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-historical-villans-ever-been-rehabilitated/443956/47 "2008-04-08T02:52:19Z")
Billy the Kid has gone from villain to hero and back again. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-historical-villans-ever-been-rehabilitated/443956/48 "2008-04-08T03:47:02Z")
**spoke-** has worked hard, and with some success, to rehabilitate the reputation of Nathan Bedford Forrest at this message board. I know this isn’t what the OP was looking for, but Frank Abagnale reformed and went to work for the feds. The Italian people deposed and executed Mussolini and spent the last part of World War II on the side of the Allies. Michael Milken, rapacious capitalist? No! Michael Milken, [philanthropist](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Milken)! ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-historical-villans-ever-been-rehabilitated/443956/49 "2008-04-08T10:50:54Z")
Ned Kelly, the Australian bushranger has gone round in a similar circle from villain-hero-villain again [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-historical-villans-ever-been-rehabilitated/443956.md?page=2)