Who qualifies as the most despicable world leader in recent history?

I think the obvious choice is Mao, followed very closely by Stalin. Lenin was an awful person, but didn't stay in power long enough to exact the kind of brutality that Stalin and Mao did. Stalin may have been more personally ruthless and willing to murder his populace, but Mao had a case of chronic elitism that ended up murdering a hell of a lot of people AND destroying unbelievable amounts of history.

Hitler was clearly a terrible person as well, but he's way too obvious to be a choice here.

Depending on what you count as recent History, but from this list i would choose Mao. Mao's reforms and revolution killed millions and was the start of the current Chines system that isn't particularly concerned with the welfare of it's citizens. Also the fact that he had a thing for 9-12 year old girls doesn't help. Although when i think recent history it think 90's-present day. In that time frame Kim, and various African warlords come to mind.

If I have to pick someone on the list it would be a hard choice between Stalin and Mao, but in the end I would pick Mao.

What about Henry the 8th,Caligula,Andrew Jackson this list is to small. Usually I would not defend communist leaders but it seems unfair to just target them.

Et tu, pedro?

Rick Santorum?

He's not a world leader, and while a complete nutjob, doesn't even come close to being the worst and most despicable.

I'm actually surprised by the amount of people who chose to be malformed, sub-human commie bastards who take offense at the truth. Anyway, I chose Mao, for pretty much the same reasons as everyone else.

Vladdy P.

Another one of these eh?

who is vladdy p?

Vladimir Putin, I assume?

You couldn't have suggested Kim Jong Il? (How do you spell it?). Hes pretty evil you know.

Mao has killed the most people in history... So obviously Kali is the true choice.

So, most people in history were killed by Mao. Yep, believable.

Minoans? killed by Mao
Pompeii? Mao.
British conquest of India? Mao.
the 300 spartans? Xerxes was Mao in disguise.
the Irish potato famine? Mao.
Columbine? Mao.
Virginia Tech? Mao.
The Trans-Atlantic Slave trade? Mao.

Man, i mean, all those people killed, but i have to say Mao is a badass if he can kill people before/after he died.

Also, Pol Pot.

He is just that awesome.

and then he flew a spaceship into a black hole and killed everyone in the multiverse. The Chairman says to the space-time continuum

I would nominate Mao, because... well... he killed 43 million people.

The most recent leader that first comes to mind however is Saddam.