# Ruthless dictators put to death? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 9, 2007, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruthless-dictators-put-to-death/387250 "2007-01-09T03:13:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![blinkingblinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@blinkingblinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinkingblinking)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruthless-dictators-put-to-death/387250/1 "2007-01-09T03:13:54Z")
Are there others in modern times? All the ones I think of the top of my head were not Stalin Lenin Pol Pot Hitler Idi Amin Pinochet ---
**Author:** ![blinkingblinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@blinkingblinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinkingblinking)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruthless-dictators-put-to-death/387250/2 "2007-01-09T03:18:11Z")
Mussolini ? Mao ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruthless-dictators-put-to-death/387250/3 "2007-01-09T03:23:46Z")
Ceausescu in Romania ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruthless-dictators-put-to-death/387250/4 "2007-01-09T03:34:53Z")
My definition of ‘put to death’ excludes all those mentioned in the OP. I thought they all died without violent intervention except Hitler and, possibly, Pol Pot. Hitler committed suicide and Pol Pot may have taken the same route. ---
**Author:** ![blinkingblinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@blinkingblinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinkingblinking)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruthless-dictators-put-to-death/387250/5 "2007-01-09T03:47:25Z")
[QUOTE=Chez Guevara] My definition of ‘put to death’ excludes all those mentioned in the OP. I thought they all died without violent intervention except Hitler and, possibly, Pol Pot. Hitler committed suicide and Pol Pot may have taken the same route. [/QUOTE] From what I have read Pol Pot was not put to death. He may have been killed by someone, but that seems unlikely from the reports. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruthless-dictators-put-to-death/387250/6 "2007-01-09T04:00:08Z")
My apologies. I missed the word ‘not’ in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Ruffian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@Ruffian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruffian)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruthless-dictators-put-to-death/387250/7 "2007-01-09T06:06:22Z")
[QUOTE=Cunctator] Ceausescu in Romania [/QUOTE] Not only was he (and his wife Elena) executed by firing squad in 1989, it was televised on live national television. Their bullet-ridden bodies were left on display in town for days. I think it’s safe to say he was hated. And with good reason. I went to Romania 5 years after. His stench still permeated the hospitals and orphanages. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruthless-dictators-put-to-death/387250/8 "2007-01-09T06:49:24Z")
[QUOTE=blinkingblinking] Mussolini ? Mao [/QUOTE] Mussolini most certainly was put to death; his body (along with that of his mistress and a couple other schmos) was hung by its ankles on public display. [Graphic photo link](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Mussolini_e_Petacci_a_Piazzale_Loreto%2C_1945.jpg). Mao, though, lived to be 82 and died of Lou Gehrig’s Disease. His body lay in state for a while afterward. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruthless-dictators-put-to-death/387250/9 "2007-01-09T08:22:28Z")
There have been a number of cases of dictators being put to death by succeeding dictators: [Mohammed Najibullah](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Najibullah), the last of Afghanistan’s pro-Soviet leaders and by most accounts a pretty ruthless dictator, was eventually put to death by the Taliban (who were themselves ruthless dictators and also religious fanatics). [Samuel Doe](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Doe) overthrew–and killed–Liberian President [William Tolbert](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_R._Tolbert%2C_Jr.) (who was himself the last member of a century-long string of Presidents who ruled as part of a [one-party state](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_Whig) in Libera) and ruled as a ruthless dictator for ten years before being tortured and killed himself by a rival thug. I don’t know how ruthless they were, but [Colonel Ignatius Kutu Acheamphong](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignatius_Kutu_Acheamphong) overthrew an elected government in Ghana; Colonel Acheamphong was subsequently deposed by [Lt. General Fred Akuffo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Akuffo); then Flight Lieutenant [Jerry Rawlings](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Rawlings) overthrew General Akuffo, and had both Colonel Acheamphong and General Akuffo shot, along with an earlier military strongman, [General Akwasi Afrifa](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akwasi_Afrifa). ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruthless-dictators-put-to-death/387250/10 "2007-01-09T16:58:27Z")
I’m not sure if you would count them as ruthless dictators in their own right, but several collaborationist leaders were executed after WWII, including Vidkun Quisling (Norway), Jozef Tiso (Czechoslovakia), Ferenc Szálasi (Hungary), and Ion Antonescu (Romania). Philippe Pétain, the French collaborationist leader, was tried and sentenced to death after WWII, but the sentence was commuted to life in prison. Hideki Tojo, the Prime Minister of Japan, was executed after WWII. He was ruthless enough, but calling him a dictator is iffy given that he served under Emperor Hirohito. ---
**Author:** ![Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruthless-dictators-put-to-death/387250/11 "2007-01-09T17:07:38Z")
Does Julius Caesar count? ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruthless-dictators-put-to-death/387250/12 "2007-01-09T17:33:23Z")
[QUOTE=bibliophage] Hideki Tojo, the Prime Minister of Japan, was executed after WWII. He was ruthless enough, but calling him a dictator is iffy given that he served under Emperor Hirohito. [/QUOTE] From what I’ve heard, the emperor was mostly a figurehead by this point, not unlike the British royalty. If Tojo qualifies as a dictator (and I’m not saying that he does; I don’t know one way or the other) the fact that he was nominally a servant of the emperor shouldn’t disqualify him. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruthless-dictators-put-to-death/387250/13 "2007-01-09T17:41:11Z")
Here are some executed dictators/Head of State who were executed and haven’t been mentioned yet. Ion Antonescu WWII Romanian Facist dictator Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Reasonably nasty Pakistani President Maurice Bishop President of Grenada. Ruthless (according to Ronald Reagan). Pierre Laval Pro-Nazi Head of Vichy France [Arthur Seyss-Inquart](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Seyss-Inquart) Not exactly a ruthless dictator, but he was Chancellor of Austria. Ran concentrion camps in Holland. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruthless-dictators-put-to-death/387250/14 "2007-01-09T19:00:11Z")
[QUOTE=Alive At Both Ends] Does Julius Caesar count? [/QUOTE] Considering his fatal tendency to forgive his enemies, probably not. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruthless-dictators-put-to-death/387250/15 "2007-01-09T19:06:28Z")
Sorry, that wasn’t clear. I meant to say that Caesar probably wasn’t ruthless enough to count as a ruthless dictator. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruthless-dictators-put-to-death/387250/16 "2007-01-09T20:17:35Z")
[QUOTE=Alive At Both Ends] Does Julius Caesar count? [/QUOTE] I wouldn’t consider him a dictator in the sense that Hitler and Saddam were dictators. Certainly Sulla was a more bloodthirsty dictator than Caesar was. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruthless-dictators-put-to-death/387250/17 "2007-01-09T21:19:26Z")
[QUOTE=jackelope] Mussolini most certainly was put to death; [/QUOTE] I think the term “put to death” implies a judicial execution following due process of law. Mussolini was lynched without trial, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruthless-dictators-put-to-death/387250/18 "2007-01-09T21:57:48Z")
[QUOTE=ivylass] I wouldn’t consider him a dictator in the sense that Hitler and Saddam were dictators. [/QUOTE] The Gauls, I’d imagine, would have felt quite differently. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruthless-dictators-put-to-death/387250/19 "2007-01-09T22:01:22Z")
Well, he’s hardly in ‘modern times’ anyway. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruthless-dictators-put-to-death/387250/20 "2007-01-09T22:09:16Z")
wasn’t Ceasar actually killed to prevent him becoming dictator ruthless or benevolent Also, was Lenin considered ruthless? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ruthless-dictators-put-to-death/387250.md?page=2)