Most Underrated Historical Figures

[La France Blanche]

In no particular order:

Andrew Jackson - most underrated U.S. president, a true man of the people and the best leader working-class Americans ever had, vilified for being a "rayciss" slave owner and mean to Indians - some of his anti-Indian policies actually did go too far but overall he was a great president and wrongly vilified - classic example of so-called "historians" wrongly and hypocritically judging a 19th century figure by 21st century "standards"

Christopher Columbus - explorer, merchant, leader, changed the world forever, should have been awarded title of Person of the 2nd Millennium AD, vilified because of his 15th century values being judged by 21st century "standards," treated the Indians better than most of them treated each other

Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain - Columbus' sponsors, known and vilified for (rightly) kicking the Muslim and Jewish invaders out of Spain, but their more important achievement was uniting the Christian kingdoms of the Iberian peninsula, ending centuries of war, and laying the foundations for a great empire

Charles Martel - savior of not just Western civilization, but civilization itself - without him, no Renaissance, no Age of Discovery, no Reformation, no Enlightenment; certainly the Person of the 1st Millennium AD

James Watson and Francis Crick - co-discoverers of DNA, two of the most brilliant and most important scientists of all time, vilified for politically incorrect views, falsely accused of racism, sexism, and "stealing" research

Harrison Schmitt - One of only twelve human beings to walk on the moon, and the only one who was a scientist by profession (the other eleven were all test pilots). Vilified for believing that climate change is caused by nature instead of humans.

William Bligh - Captain of HMS Bounty, falsely accused of cruelty (the real reason for the mutiny was the fact that the crew had just spent several months living the easy life in Tahiti collecting breadfruit and didn't want to go back to shipboard work). More than half the sailors remained loyal to Bligh during the mutiny, and he and his loyal men were set adrift in an open boat. Every single man in the boat (except for one killed by natives on an island) survived an ocean voyage of thousands of miles thanks to Bligh's leadership. Meanwhile, the mutineers ended up turning on and killing each other.

Brendan Eich - inventor of the JavaScript programming language (an essential tool of the modern Internet, necessary for enabling interactive webpages, far more than just a "brand" - all major Internet browsers have a dedicated JavaScript engine). Forced to resign his position as CEO of Mozilla simply because he opposed homosexual marriage. Like Schmitt, Watson, and Crick, was persecuted by morons who had literally less than half his IQ.

Dietrich von Choltitz - German general, commander of the German garrison in Paris in 1944 when Allied troops approached the city. Refused to obey Adolf Hitler's orders to burn the city to the ground when it was about to be captured; by surrendering the city peacefully, von Choltitz saved the priceless level of White culture that had been collected in Paris over thousands of years. Little known among the general public, vilified by left-wing "historians" as "just another Nazi."

Albert Speer - architect, industrialist, Minister of Armaments for Germany during World War II. By refusing to obey Adolf Hitler's orders to destroy all infrastructure as the German army retreated at the end of the war, Speer saved the lives of millions of Germans. Falsely accused of "war crimes" at the Nuremberg Trials, wrongly convicted and sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment. Post-war, initially correctly acknowledged as a decent human being whose only "crime" was being born in the wrong country, now the target of a vicious left-wing smear campaign aiming to falsely portray him as a mustache-twirling Nazi villain.

 

[werewolf]

"William Bligh..."

I first read the Bounty trilogy - Mutiny on the Bounty, Men Against The Sea, and Pitcairn's Island - when I was about twelve. I loved those books and still do. Bligh and his loyal crewmembers' open boat voyage was one of the most incredible in history. Captain Bligh was a master seaman, but I don't suppose he was a great guy to work for. He was the victim of two more mutinies in subsequent years plus the men in his open boat almost mutinied against him as well!

Replica of the Bounty sunk in Hurricane Sandy

 

[La France Blanche]

"William Bligh..."
I first read the Bounty trilogy - Mutiny on the Bounty, Men Against The Sea, and Pitcairn's Island - when I was about twelve. I loved those books and still do. Bligh and his loyal crewmembers' open boat voyage was one of the most incredible in history. Captain Bligh was a master seaman, but I don't suppose he was a great guy to work for. He was the victim of two more mutinies in subsequent years plus the men in his open boat almost mutinied against him as well!

I'm sure it's highly unlikely that you or I or anyone else from the 21st century would enjoy working for Bligh and his 18th century standards - but that's exactly the point that I've been trying to make with all the examples - historical figures cannot be judged by 21st century standards. By the standards of his time and especially by the standards of an 18th century British ship captain, Bligh was a fair and reasonable man - it was said of him that he yelled when other captains would have whipped, and whipped when other captains would have hanged.

 

[werewolf]

I'm sure it's highly unlikely that you or I or anyone else from the 21st century would enjoy working for Bligh and his 18th century standards - but that's exactly the point that I've been trying to make with all the examples - historical figures cannot be judged by 21st century standards. By the standards of his time and especially by the standards of an 18th century British ship captain, Bligh was a fair and reasonable man - it was said of him that he yelled when other captains would have whipped, and whipped when other captains would have hanged.

He probably would have done all three to me if I was on his ship when I was in the navy!

Nordhoff and Hall wrote the Bounty trilogy in the 1930's while living in Tahiti. Their lives too are fascinating.

 

[werewolf]

"Dietrich von Choltitz - German general, commander of the German garrison in Paris in 1944 when Allied troops approached the city. Refused to obey Adolf Hitler's orders to burn the city to the ground when it was about to be captured; by surrendering the city peacefully, von Choltitz saved the priceless level of White culture that had been collected in Paris over thousands of years. Little known among the general public, vilified by left-wing "historians" as "just another Nazi."

French culture flourished under German occupation. Educational tv here once did an hour long special on that showing how Paris thrived. TV wasn't as bad then as it is now. They'd never show that now and have probably destroyed the film. One of the greatest movies ever made was made in Paris at that time with a massive cast, "Children of Paradise". Compare Paris then and now.

 

[Deus Vult]

Man, these days I have to include Thomas Jefferson. Leading political figures, especially libertarian-types, used to call their political philosophy "Jeffersonian."
DNA tests suggested that some male from Jefferson's line fathered a child with mulatress Sally Hemmings. It was inconclusive as to whether that had to be Thomas Jefferson himself, but the hateful media declared TJ a "rapist." There was also in the late 90's a slew of unprecedented literary attacks on Jefferson for his "racism." Jefferson spoke and wrote the plain truth, as best he could. The current zeitgeist is hostile to plain truth.
A generation earlier, even liberals like JFK revered Jefferson. JFK famously remarked that there was never so much intellectual firepower in the White House "as when Jefferson dined there alone."
Today, Jefferson is very undervalued. They only mention him anymore to attack his legacy.

 

[Charles Martel]

Sir John A MacDonald

Father of Confederation - the George Washington of Canada. Now his statues are being vandalized.

From wiki: "Historian Constance Backhouse has written that Macdonald appealed to anti-black racism and anti-Americanism to justify retaining the death penalty for rape, though unenforced since the early 1840s. She cited a letter to the Chief Justice of Nova Scotia in which Macdonald stated that it was "expedient" to keep it on the books "principally on account of the influx of blackguards of all kinds from the United States", and "on account of the frequency of rape committed by Negroes, of whom we have too many in Upper Canada. They are very prone to felonious assaults on white women".[177][178] He stated that were the penalties not severe, "there would be great dread of the people taking the law into their own hands"."

MacDonald spoke the truth.