# Stalin had yellow eyes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 20, 2001, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalin-had-yellow-eyes/82838 "2001-09-20T18:02:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Daowajan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@Daowajan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daowajan)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalin-had-yellow-eyes/82838/1 "2001-09-20T18:02:16Z")
A Russian friend of mine made some remark about Stalin having “yellow eyes.” Did Stalin actually have yellow-tinted or yellow-colored eyes, or is this some sort of Russian expression for saying Stalin was like a demon? ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalin-had-yellow-eyes/82838/2 "2001-09-22T01:41:45Z")
His eyes were not only yellow, but they had vertical pupils. And his canines were an inch long and extremely sharp. And he had hooked claws in place of fingernails. He was born with a tail, which was surgically removed in his youth. However, the story that he had cloven hooves was just a silly rumour. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalin-had-yellow-eyes/82838/3 "2001-09-22T04:02:25Z")
[http://www11.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/01/interviews/kennan/](http://www11.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/01/interviews/kennan/) > [@](#): > > _George F. Kennan was the chief architect of the policy of containment and one of the most influential figures of the Cold War. Trained as a diplomat, Kennan began his career in Moscow in 1933. He served there off and on for the next three decades. In Moscow in 1946, he drafted his famous “Long Telegram,” a document that sounded the alarm over Soviet expansionism and became a prescient warning about the coming Cold War. He was interviewed for the “Cold War” series in May and June of 1996._ > > \ > > “Charles Bohlen, my colleague who succeeded me as ambassador there, was present at the Yalta and the Potsdam conferences. He told me that he saw only on one or two occasions when the assistants to Stalin had said or done something of which he didn’t approve, when he turned on them and then the yellow eyes lit up – you suddenly realized what sort of an animal you had by the tail there.” [http://library.thinkquest.org/10826/stalin.htm?tqskip=1](http://library.thinkquest.org/10826/stalin.htm?tqskip=1) > [@](#): > > Stalin was born with the name Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili on December 21st, 1897 in Georgia (No, NOT the state Georgia). As a young boy he was nicknamed “Soso”. He had a sickly childhood, with disease and poverty taking a toll on his life. In life he maxed out in height a 5’4". He had dark hair, **yellow eyes** , and a ruddy complexion. Stalin later accepted the name of “Stalin” in 1913 because it means “Man of Steel”. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalin-had-yellow-eyes/82838/4 "2001-09-22T04:36:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Duck Duck Goose \* > Stalin was born with the name Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili on December 21st, 1897 in Georgia (No, NOT the state Georgia) . . . Stalin later accepted the name of “Stalin” in 1913 because it means “Man of Steel”. Ah, so he was born in the Principality of Georgia on the Planet Krypton. I had always been confused about that. Sure looks like DC Comics has been whitewashing history! ---
**Author:** ![Daowajan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@Daowajan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daowajan)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalin-had-yellow-eyes/82838/5 "2001-09-22T05:16:36Z")
So how did he come to have the yellow eyes? Was it some genetic condition? ---
**Author:** ![Niobium\_Knight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc8723/32.png) [@Niobium\_Knight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Niobium_Knight)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalin-had-yellow-eyes/82838/6 "2001-09-22T05:21:08Z")
you get all different colours of eyes. some people have black iruses, some have orange, some yellow, turquoise, and some people have each eye a different colour. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalin-had-yellow-eyes/82838/7 "2001-09-22T05:31:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Doghouse Reilly \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Duck Duck Goose \* > > Stalin was born with the name Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili on December 21st, 1897 in Georgia (No, NOT the state Georgia) . . . Stalin later accepted the name of “Stalin” in 1913 because it means “Man of Steel”. > > Ah, so he was born in the Principality of Georgia on the Planet Krypton. I had always been confused about that. Sure looks like DC Comics has been whitewashing history! \*\* \ 😕 😕 That was a Copy and Paste from the website–blame them for the aside. ---
**Author:** ![Vinnie\_Virginslayer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/53a042/32.png) [@Vinnie\_Virginslayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vinnie_Virginslayer)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalin-had-yellow-eyes/82838/8 "2001-09-22T05:32:31Z")
What a bizarre little thread! I thought I considered myself an expert on Stalin, but apparently not- never heard this. Perhaps there is an undoctored (ie non-Soviet) color close up photograph on the Net we can analyze? ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalin-had-yellow-eyes/82838/9 "2001-09-22T05:33:25Z")
Oh, okay, never mind, I get it, Man of Steel, Krypton, ha ha [sub]going to bed now g’nite[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![tavalla](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tavalla/32/89_2.png) [@tavalla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tavalla)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalin-had-yellow-eyes/82838/10 "2001-09-22T11:50:41Z")
I seem to dimly recall, from my high school history classes, something about Stalin having bouts of jaundice, which would account for yellowing of the sclera. I might be misremembering (but I don’t think so); I’ll try to find a cite. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalin-had-yellow-eyes/82838/11 "2001-09-22T12:16:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Niobium Knight \* > \*\*you get all different colours of eyes. some people have black iruses, some have orange, some yellow, turquoise, and some people have each eye a different colour. \*\* Colleen Moore, the famous Silent Film Commedienne, had one brown eye, and one blue one. Funny, talented, _and_ beautiful, she made many silent films, and a few talkies. She was the prototype for the Flapper Girl of the 1920’s. She was one of few people in Hollywood who stayed loyal to D.W. Griffth after his career tanked. Her eulogy to him in her autobiography is one of the more moving things I’ve ever read. After retiring, she brought together some of the greatest technical & art people in Hollywood to help her create the greatest dollhouse in history. Which is on display today in Chicago’s Museum of Science & Industry. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalin-had-yellow-eyes/82838/12 "2001-09-22T13:47:02Z")
A search for “stalin jaundice” doesn’t turn up anything. And this doesn’t sound like the same thing. [http://www.csindy.com/csindy/2000-01-20/outsider.html](http://www.csindy.com/csindy/2000-01-20/outsider.html) > [@](#): > > Last week, The New York Times contained a long obituary of Ella Goldberg Wolfe, who died on Jan. 9 at age 103. Wolfe’s life spanned three centuries, and what a life it was! In 1919, with her husband, Bertram Wolfe, she wrote the manifesto that created the Communist Party of the United States. > > The Times ran Edward Weston’s portrait of Ella from about 1925 with the obit; it shows a grave, beautiful young woman, half-smiling at the camera. She looks like a person upon whose judgment you could rely. > > In 1929, the Wolfes went to Moscow, where they met Stalin. They dared contradict him on a minor point of party orthodoxy, which resulted in their arrest and eventual expulsion from the workers’ paradise. They were, of course, lucky to escape with their lives. Sixty-five years later, Ella described Stalin: > > “He was smaller than I expected, with a pockmarked face, a brutal mouth **and the yellow eyes of a mountain lion.** ” Pix of mountain lion for comparison. [http://www.eaglestock.com/mtlion01.htm](http://www.eaglestock.com/mtlion01.htm) Maybe a better word might be “topaz”, but that’s probably too flattering for posterity’s taste. So yeah, I’d say that Stalin had yellow eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Daowajan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@Daowajan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daowajan)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalin-had-yellow-eyes/82838/13 "2001-09-22T14:56:43Z")
That’s certainly odd. I mean, you don’t normally see people with yellow eyes running around. One blue and one brown is understandable, but _yellow?_ ---
**Author:** ![Waverly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/57b2e6/32.png) [@Waverly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waverly)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalin-had-yellow-eyes/82838/14 "2001-09-22T15:20:58Z")
The color was most likely amber, and it is indeed a rare but naturally occurring color. A search with google will find a multitude of cats, vampires, and even the rare person purporting to have this color, which to my understanding is very light shade of hazel. I know this because my own hazel eyes recently lightened a shade and became the dreaded ‘yellow’ color. [never fear, I’m half a foot too tall to be the reincarnation of Uncle Joseph] Cecil does not explain amber eyes, but this article does go into the mechanics of eye color and changes thereof: [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a971205.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a971205.html) ---
**Author:** ![Ripley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/74df32/32.png) [@Ripley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ripley)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalin-had-yellow-eyes/82838/15 "2001-09-22T16:49:43Z")
Are we talking about yellow irises? I assumed that if you said a person had yellow eyes, you would be referring to the "whites’ of the eyes. Some ethnic groups have “whites” of the eyes that are yellowish. I suppose they could be discolored by vitamin deficiencies or other health problems, too. ---
**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:** [September 22, 2001, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalin-had-yellow-eyes/82838/16 "2001-09-22T19:36:31Z")
Don’t I remember a _National Geographic_ cover photo of a woman with amber irises? This would have been in the late 80s or early 90s, I think. There was something very odd about her eyes, but I can’t remember for sure if they were amber. ---
**Author:** ![tavalla](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tavalla/32/89_2.png) [@tavalla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tavalla)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalin-had-yellow-eyes/82838/17 "2001-09-22T20:01:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Duck Duck Goose \* > **A search for “stalin jaundice” doesn’t turn up anything. And this doesn’t sound like the same thing.** Yeah, I’ve been looking for a cite, and I can’t find a danged thing. I think I’m going to have to find my high school teacher and have a word to her… I took the OP as meaning Uncle Iosef had yellow sclera, which might indicate some kind of liver disease, but if it was yellow irises then that’s something else. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalin-had-yellow-eyes/82838/18 "2001-09-22T22:01:22Z")
Yeah, I’m pretty sure we’re talking about yellow (amber, topaz) irises. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalin-had-yellow-eyes/82838/19 "2001-09-23T01:07:24Z")
> [@](#): > > When the assistants to Stalin had said or done something of which he didn’t approve, when he turned on them and then the yellow eyes lit up – you suddenly realized what sort of an animal you had by the tail there [http://www4.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/01/interviews/kennan/](http://www4.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/01/interviews/kennan/) ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalin-had-yellow-eyes/82838/20 "2001-09-23T02:29:10Z")
Thank you, Reeder, but that’s the same CNN interview as in my link. 🙂 Evidently CNN has it in two different places, one under [11.cnn.com](http://11.cnn.com) and the other under [4.cnn.com](http://4.cnn.com) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stalin-had-yellow-eyes/82838.md?page=2)