# World Leaders NOT Born in the Nation They Led **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 11, 2006, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-leaders-not-born-in-the-nation-they-led/360278 "2006-06-11T04:38:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-leaders-not-born-in-the-nation-they-led/360278/21 "2015-09-30T01:53:45Z")
Ted Cruz hopes to join the list. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-leaders-not-born-in-the-nation-they-led/360278/22 "2015-09-30T02:37:26Z")
> [@mamboman](#): > > Australia has had a few foreign born Prime Ministers - JC Watson was born in Chile, GH Reid and Andrew Fisher wre born in Scotland, Joe Cook was born in England and Billy Hughes always played up his Welsh heritage, but he was in fact born in London. > > mm To those five you can add two more recent PMs. Julia Gillard was born in Wales and Tony Abbott was born in England ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-leaders-not-born-in-the-nation-they-led/360278/23 "2015-09-30T02:41:50Z")
There’s the joke that Austria’s greatest triumph was convincing the world that Beethoven was Austrian and Hitler wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-leaders-not-born-in-the-nation-they-led/360278/24 "2015-09-30T04:53:04Z")
AFAIK, every single one of the co-princes of Andorra were born outside of the country. Haakon VII of Norway was a rare (outside of the Vatican) elected monarch and was Danish, the son of the Danish King and the next king’s younger brother. Toomas Hendrik Ilves, President of Estonia, born in Sweden, raised in New Jersey. I suppose you could count everyone in the Baltic states, most of the -stans, etc. because it was technically USSR, but I don’t think that’s what you want. Stalin was born in what is now Georgia though. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-leaders-not-born-in-the-nation-they-led/360278/25 "2015-09-30T05:29:29Z")
Since this thread was started, Australia has had two prime ministers born in Britain (although I think a child born today in the same circumstances as Tony Abbott would be an Australian citizen at birth). ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-leaders-not-born-in-the-nation-they-led/360278/26 "2015-09-30T05:49:58Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > 1. Several Israeli Prime Ministers (including Golda Meir) were born far from Israel. The earliest Prime Ministers of Israel, including the first of them, David Ben-Gurion, were born before Israel even existed. The same could be said for the first several American presidents (although, of course, they were born in the colonies that became the United States). Any time a new country is created, its first top-dog leader, and probably the first several, will necessarily be born before that county existed. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-leaders-not-born-in-the-nation-they-led/360278/27 "2015-09-30T05:59:01Z")
Jomo Kenyatta, Idi Amin (both born in British East Africa, led Kenya and Uganda respectively) and Robert Mugabe (born in Rhodesia, leads Zimbabwe) all meet the letter of this. Emperor Baldwin of Constantinople was, IIRC, born in Flanders. Emperor Baldwin of Jerusalem was born in Lorraine. Simon Bolivar, born in Caracas Venezuela, presided over Venezuela, Gran Colombia, and Ecuador, the last of which qualifies him for this. Catherine the Great of Russia was born in Germany (Prussia). Chiang Kai-shek, president of Taiwan, was born in Xikou, mainland China. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-leaders-not-born-in-the-nation-they-led/360278/28 "2015-09-30T06:04:31Z")
England’s William the Conqueror, of course, was born in France. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-leaders-not-born-in-the-nation-they-led/360278/29 "2015-09-30T06:06:15Z")
Every Pakistani President or PM until Benezir Bhutto was born before there was a Pakistan. ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-leaders-not-born-in-the-nation-they-led/360278/30 "2015-09-30T09:54:06Z")
Brezhnev was born in Kamenskoye (now Dniprodzerzhynsk in Ukraine), his ethnicity was specified as Ukrainian in some documents and Russian in others. Augustus Henry Fitzroy, 3rd Duke of Grafton and the tenth British Prime Minister was born, but nobody knows where. George II was born at Schloss Herrenhausen, Hanover, Germany, William III was born in The Hague, Netherlands, and many British Monarchs were born [in France](https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zrRJwnXeepqg.kEwLy5BPQUjE&msa=0&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=50.958427%2C0.922852&spn=9.694083%2C28.125&z=5&source=embed). ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-leaders-not-born-in-the-nation-they-led/360278/31 "2015-09-30T10:10:00Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > The earliest Prime Ministers of Israel, including the first of them, David Ben-Gurion, were born before Israel even existed. The same could be said for the first several American presidents (although, of course, they were born in the colonies that became the United States). > > Any time a new country is created, its first top-dog leader, and probably the first several, will necessarily be born before that county existed. Israel is a special case. Benjamin Netanyahu is the \*only \*Israeli Prime Minister to be born in Israel; four previous Prime Ministers (Rabin, Sharon, Barak and Olmert) were born in the country that would be Israel in the future; while all other Prime Ministers (including every one prior to 1975) were born in various European countries. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-leaders-not-born-in-the-nation-they-led/360278/32 "2015-09-30T11:31:59Z")
> [@JustinC](#): > > George II was born at Schloss Herrenhausen, Hanover, Germany, William III was born in The Hague, Netherlands, and many British Monarchs were born [in France](https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zrRJwnXeepqg.kEwLy5BPQUjE&msa=0&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=50.958427%2C0.922852&spn=9.694083%2C28.125&z=5&source=embed). Many _English_ monarchs between the Norman Conquest and the Tudors were born in France, because the Norman and Planatagenet lands included parts of what is now France. I don’t think many, if any, Scottish monarchs were born outside Scotland. George II was the last British monarch not born in Britain. Numbers of politicians born outside the UK have made it into Parliament, but the only one who became Prime Minister was Andrew Bonar Law, who was born in Canada (there were some eighteenth century ministers born in Ireland, but that was part of the UK then - and citizens of Commonwealth countries are entitled to vote and stand for election in the UK if they live here; the New Zealander Bryan Gould was at one time a contender for the Labour Party leadership). ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-leaders-not-born-in-the-nation-they-led/360278/33 "2015-09-30T11:35:55Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Israel is a special case. Benjamin Netanyahu is the \*only \*Israeli Prime Minister to be born in Israel; four previous Prime Ministers (Rabin, Sharon, Barak and Olmert) were born in the country that would be Israel in the future; while all other Prime Ministers (including every one prior to 1975) were born in various European countries. Surprising. The first generation born after '48 must be in their late 60’s by now, so one would have expected more than just Bibi. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-leaders-not-born-in-the-nation-they-led/360278/34 "2015-09-30T11:39:40Z")
When I lived in Ecuador in the early 90s, the president, Sixto Durán, was a man who had been born in Boston. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-leaders-not-born-in-the-nation-they-led/360278/35 "2015-09-30T12:03:31Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Surprising. The first generation born after '48 must be in their late 60’s by now, so one would have expected more than just Bibi. Bibi’s been in office for a long time, and he just came in under the wire - born in 1949. Besides, of the past four PMs, two were roughly his age (Olmert - 1945, Barak - 1942). Ariel Sharon was the outlier, having been born in 1928 and was largely considered a has-been when he was elected in 2001. Remember, he was seen as a “caretaker” Likud leader at the time, and his election came as a surprise to everyone. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-leaders-not-born-in-the-nation-they-led/360278/36 "2015-09-30T12:25:02Z")
[King Bhumibol of Thailand](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhumibol_Adulyadej) was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ---
**Author:** ![Malden\_Capell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malden_capell/32/5274_2.png) [@Malden\_Capell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malden_Capell)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-leaders-not-born-in-the-nation-they-led/360278/37 "2015-09-30T13:09:36Z")
The 1st Duke of Wellington was born in Ireland in 1769, when it was a separate, although British-dominated, country. Andrew Bonar-Law, as mentioned, was born in New Brunswick. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-leaders-not-born-in-the-nation-they-led/360278/38 "2015-09-30T14:06:19Z")
Soviet records indicate that Kim Jong-Il, the second leader of North Korea, was born in Russia. However, his official biography claims he was born in Korea - on a sacred mountain, no less. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-leaders-not-born-in-the-nation-they-led/360278/39 "2015-09-30T14:12:57Z")
You know who else was not born in the nation they led? 😃 mentioned int he OP, I know, but I had to get that in… As for the US, it would have been possible for a foreign born person to be president in the early days of the republic, but not now. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-leaders-not-born-in-the-nation-they-led/360278/40 "2015-09-30T14:17:57Z")
> [@Malden\_Capell](#): > > The 1st Duke of Wellington was born in Ireland in 1769, when it was a separate, although British-dominated, country. What country was he the leader of? 😕 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-leaders-not-born-in-the-nation-they-led/360278.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-leaders-not-born-in-the-nation-they-led/360278.md?page=3)