# Who is the ugliest head of state? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 14, 2011, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-ugliest-head-of-state/578405 "2011-04-14T20:24:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-ugliest-head-of-state/578405/1 "2011-04-14T20:24:29Z")
Who is the ugliest person who currently heads up a country? If you want to get all technical I’m more interested in heads of government rather than ceremonial heads of state, but all nominations are welcome. I will also entertain nominations for ugliest ruler of all time (Arafat, I’m looking at you (or trying not to)). ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-ugliest-head-of-state/578405/2 "2011-04-14T20:29:44Z")
My own personal nominations: the Pope and Kaddafi. Momar’s face looks like a rapidly melting candle to me. Ratzinger and his sunken eyes look like something out of a horror movie, maybe Leprechaun VII: Leprechaun at Castel Gandolfo. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-ugliest-head-of-state/578405/3 "2011-04-14T20:37:48Z")
I don’t think Gaddafi is very attractive. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-ugliest-head-of-state/578405/4 "2011-04-14T20:40:38Z")
[Viktor Yushchenko](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4105035.stm) would be a strong candidate after his alleged poisoning, but I see his term ended last year. ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-ugliest-head-of-state/578405/5 "2011-04-14T21:40:06Z")
Kim Jong-il could make 'em all run up a tree. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-ugliest-head-of-state/578405/6 "2011-04-14T21:53:16Z")
A) not a head of state, but a head of government (not all heads of state have political power, particularly in parliamentary democracies). B) no longer in power. That said, ladies and gentlemen, I give you the former Taoiseach of Ireland, [Brian](http://olearyanalytics.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Brian-Cowen-In-Studio-Image.jpg) [Cowen](http://www.topnews.in/files/Brian-Cowen004.jpg). What do I win? ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-ugliest-head-of-state/578405/7 "2011-04-14T22:41:06Z")
Going the other direction, I would nominate India’s [Manmohan Singh](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manmohan_Singh) as the most adorable. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-ugliest-head-of-state/578405/8 "2011-04-15T00:58:14Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Going the other direction, I would nominate India’s [Manmohan Singh](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manmohan_Singh) as the most adorable. I’d pick President [Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner](http://politicoone.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/cristina.jpg) of Argentina. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-ugliest-head-of-state/578405/9 "2011-04-15T01:23:24Z")
I know the OP specified “current” heads of state so this does not count but as ugliest ever I give you [Golda Meir](http://www.imemc.org/attachments/oct2010/golda_meir.jpg) (that is a woman BTW). Make no mistake…she was very good at her job\* and a total badass. But “fugly” barely covers it. [sub]\* IIRC she was having a discussion with President Nixon after the Yom Kippur War (I think) where Nixon supposedly told her he’d give her any three US generals for General Moshe Dyan who performed brilliantly. She supposedly responded something to the effect of, “Sure. I’ll take General Motors, General Electric and General Dynamics.” She was also the one who ordered all the terrorists who killed Israeli athletes in Munich hunted down and killed. Took years but they did it. She was not a woman you wanted to cross.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-ugliest-head-of-state/578405/10 "2011-04-15T02:44:41Z")
> [@Erdosain](#): > > My own personal nominations: the Pope and Kaddafi. Momar’s face looks like a rapidly melting candle to me. Ratzinger and his sunken eyes look like something out of a horror movie, maybe Leprechaun VII: Leprechaun at Castel Gandolfo. No, no, no, get it right: the Pope looks like _Palpatine_. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-ugliest-head-of-state/578405/11 "2011-04-15T04:35:10Z")
Of all time? Poor Abe Lincoln’s got to be in the running. ---
**Author:** ![nani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/58956e/32.png) [@nani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nani)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-ugliest-head-of-state/578405/12 "2011-04-15T05:04:44Z")
Submitted for your consideration: Sudan President [Omar al Bashir](http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/WORLD/africa/03/30/sudan.darfur/art.bashir.afp.gi.jpg) Unfortunate. Also, wanted for genocide charges. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-ugliest-head-of-state/578405/13 "2011-04-15T05:26:42Z")
Ugliest ruler _of all time_? [Carlos II](http://www.google.com/images?complete=1&hl=en&biw=1155&bih=643&q=carlos%20ii%20of%20spain&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi) of Spain, probably. His cousin [Leopold I](http://www.kipar.org/period-galleries/paintings/1660/leopold_1660.jpg), Holy Roman Emperor, was also not the best-looking, though he made up for it with the awesome outfits. None of the Habsburgs were very handsome. Most of them had mandibular prognathism (underbite) of some degree, plus huge noses. [John of Austria,](http://historywarsweapons.com/wp-content/uploads/image/DonJohn.jpg) illegitimate son of Charles V, was perhaps the most normal looking of them, though even he has some facial distortions evident (unevenness of the eyes.) ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-ugliest-head-of-state/578405/14 "2011-04-15T07:24:05Z")
I’d go with Arafat. I remember sitting in a room with my aunt and uncle and I commented on Arafat’s scarf (kafiyeh?). My uncle said “I wish he’d put it around his face.” ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-ugliest-head-of-state/578405/15 "2011-04-15T10:20:24Z")
> [@Rodgers01](#): > > Of all time? Poor Abe Lincoln’s got to be in the running. Actually, I think Lincoln was hot. Tall and lanky is my type. So I’ll have to go with [Arafat](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.fansonline.net/images/coventrycity/Yasser-arafat-1999-2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.fansonline.net/coventrycity/article.php%3Fid%3D322&usg=__6LU-d4yKCQplwy6PDPBPGCdy1Ks=&h=576&w=705&sz=76&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=vRQjOUWD85cpOM:&tbnh=125&tbnw=153&ei=kRuoTdbmC4qU0QGgltz5CA&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dyasir%2Barafat%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26channel%3Ds%26biw%3D1052%26bih%3D1036%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=765&vpy=726&dur=4326&hovh=203&hovw=248&tx=127&ty=147&oei=kRuoTdbmC4qU0QGgltz5CA&page=1&ndsp=35&ved=1t:429,r:34,s:0). ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-ugliest-head-of-state/578405/16 "2011-04-15T11:41:00Z")
[Leonard Brehzniv](http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40339000/jpg/_40339045_ussr_brezhnev_ap_use.jpg)fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down. ---
**Author:** ![BDoors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BDoors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BDoors)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-ugliest-head-of-state/578405/17 "2011-04-15T11:44:36Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > That said, ladies and gentlemen, I give you the former Taoiseach of Ireland, [Brian](http://olearyanalytics.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Brian-Cowen-In-Studio-Image.jpg) [Cowen](http://www.topnews.in/files/Brian-Cowen004.jpg). > > What do I win? “Biffo” Cowen is so magnificently ugly he’s almost beautiful. Almost. If you’re going to be an ugly fucker, might as well do it in style, I say. New Zealand seems to have a knack for plain PMs. Not sure about the incumbent (I’m straight male, hard for me to say), but the previous two, [Helen Clark](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Clark) and the one before her. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-ugliest-head-of-state/578405/18 "2011-04-15T11:49:40Z")
I was going to post Helen Clark but I didn’t want to upset our Kiwi friends (especially when we have Julia Gillard). But Clark was very hard on the eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-ugliest-head-of-state/578405/19 "2011-04-15T13:50:42Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > Ugliest ruler _of all time_? [Carlos II](http://www.google.com/images?complete=1&hl=en&biw=1155&bih=643&q=carlos%20ii%20of%20spain&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi) of Spain, probably. good god. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-ugliest-head-of-state/578405/20 "2011-04-15T15:01:05Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > [Leonard Brehzniv](http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40339000/jpg/_40339045_ussr_brezhnev_ap_use.jpg)fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down. Fortunately, his massive eyebrows protected him. [Manuel Noriega](http://www.foxnews.com/images/304221/0_61_noriega_manuel.jpg) was no beauty. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-ugliest-head-of-state/578405.md?page=2)