Cult of personality#Soviet Union

{{See also|Imperial cult}}

File:Statue-Augustus.jpg, 1st century CE]]

Throughout human history, monarchs and other heads of state were frequently treated with enormous reverence and they were also thought to be endowed with super-human qualities. Through the principle of the divine right of kings, notably in medieval Europe, rulers were said to hold office by the will of God or the will of the gods. Ancient Egypt, Imperial Japan, the Inca, the Aztecs, Tibet, Siam (now Thailand), and the Roman Empire are especially noted for their redefinition of monarchs as "god-kings". Furthermore, the Imperial cult of ancient Rome identified emperors and some members of their families with the divinely sanctioned authority (auctoritas) of the Roman State.

The spread of democratic and secular ideas in Europe and North America in the 18th and 19th centuries made it increasingly difficult for monarchs to preserve this aura, though Napoleon III,{{Cite book |last=Plunkett |first=John |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203941782 |title=Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography |date=2013|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0203941782 |editor-last=Hannavy |editor-first=John |pages=276–277 |language=en |chapter=Carte-de-visite |doi=10.4324/9780203941782}} and Queen Victoria{{Cite news |date=16 August 1860 |title=Fine Arts: Mr Mayall's Photographic Exhibition |page=6 |work=Morning Herald |location=London}} appreciated its perpetuation in their carte-de-visite portraits which proliferated, circulated and were collected in the 19th century.{{Cite book |last=Darrah |first=William C. |title=Cartes de Visite in Nineteenth Century Photography. |publisher=W. C. Darrah Publishing |year=1981 |isbn=978-0913116050 |location=Gettysburg, PA |pages=43 |language=en |oclc=8012190}}{{Cite web |last=Di Bello |first=Patrizia |date=19 March 2013 |title=Carte-de-visite: the photographic portrait as ʻsocial mediaʼ |url=http://www.britishportraits.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Di-Bello-The-carte-de-visite-as-social-media.pdf |website=Understanding British Portraits: Copy, Version and Multiple: the replication and distribution of portrait imagery. |via=Seminar: M Shed, Bristol}}{{Cite journal |last=Rudd |first=Annie |date=2016 |title=Victorians Living in Public: Cartes de Visite as 19th-Century Social Media |journal=Photography and Culture |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=195–217 |doi=10.1080/17514517.2016.1265370 |s2cid=193760648}}

The subsequent development of mass media, such as radio, enabled political leaders to project a positive image of themselves onto the masses as never before. It was from these circumstances in the 20th century that the most notorious personality cults arose. Frequently, these cults are a form of political religion.{{sfn|Plamper|2012|pp=13–14}}

The advent of the Internet and the World Wide Web in the 21st century has renewed the personality cult phenomenon. Disinformation via social media platforms and the twenty-four hour news cycle has enabled the widespread dissemination and acceptance of deceptive information and propaganda.{{cite journal |last1=Pathak |first1=Archita |last2=Srihari |first2=Rohini |last3=Natu |first3=Nihit |title=Disinformation: analysis and identification |journal=Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory |year=2021 |volume=27 |issue=3 |pages=357–375 |publisher=United States National Library of Medicine |doi=10.1007/s10588-021-09336-x |pmid=34177355 |pmc=8212793 }} As a result, personality cults have grown and remained popular in many places, corresponding with a marked rise in authoritarian government across the world.{{cite web |last1=Talisse |first1=Robert B. |title=Not all polarization is bad, but the US could be in trouble |url=https://theconversation.com/not-all-polarization-is-bad-but-the-us-could-be-in-trouble-173833 |website=The Conversation |date=January 3, 2022 |access-date=March 10, 2022 |language=en}}

The term "cult of personality" likely appeared in English around 1800–1850, along with the French and German versions of the term.{{Cite book |last=Heller |first=Klaus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CreuLAI0c9sC&pg=PA25 |title=Personality Cults in Stalinism/Personenkulte im Stalinismus |publisher=V&R Unipress |year=2004 |isbn=978-3899711912 |editor-last=Heller |editor-first=Klaus |location=Göttingen |pages=23–33 |editor2-last=Plamper |editor2-first=Jan}} It initially had no political connotations, but was instead closely related to the Romanticist "cult of genius". The first known political use of the phrase appeared in a letter from Karl Marx to German political worker Wilhelm Blos dated to November 10, 1877:

{{blockquote|text=Neither of us cares a straw of popularity. Let me cite one proof of this: such was my aversion to the personality cult [orig. Personenkultus] that at the time of the International, when plagued by numerous moves ... to accord me public honor, I never allowed one of these to enter the domain of publicity ...{{Cite web |last=Blos |first=Wilhelm |title=Brief von Karl Marx an Wilhelm Blos |url=http://www.zeno.org/nid/20003602281 |access-date=22 February 2013 |website=Denkwürdigkeiten eines Sozialdemokraten}}}}

File:Napoleon III, CDV by Disderi, 1859-retouch.jpg by Disdéri, which popularized the carte-de-visite format]]

There are various views about what constitutes a cult of personality in a leader. Historian Jan Plamper wrote that modern-day personality cults display five characteristics that set them apart from "their predecessors": The cults are secular and "anchored in popular sovereignty"; their objects are all males; they target the entire population, not only the well-to-do or just the ruling class; they use mass media; they exist where the mass media can be controlled enough to inhibit the introduction of "rival cults".{{sfn|Plamper|2012|p=222}}

In his 2013 paper, "What is character and why it really does matter", Thomas A. Wright stated, "The cult of personality phenomenon refers to the idealized, even god-like, public image of an individual consciously shaped and molded through constant propaganda and media exposure. As a result, one is able to manipulate others based entirely on the influence of public personality ... the cult of personality perspective focuses on the often shallow, external images that many public figures cultivate to create an idealized and heroic image."{{Cite journal |last1=Wright |first1=Thomas A. |last2=Lauer |first2=Tyler L. |date=2013 |title=What is character and why it really does matter |url=https://fordham.bepress.com/gsb_facultypubs/2/ |journal=Fordham University: Business Faculty Publications. |publisher=Fordham University |volume=2 |page=29 |access-date=June 13, 2019}}

Adrian Teodor Popan defined a cult of personality as a "quantitatively exaggerated and qualitatively extravagant public demonstration of praise of the leader." He also identified three causal "necessary, but not sufficient, structural conditions, and a path-dependent chain of events which, together, lead to the cult formation: a particular combination of patrimonialism and clientelism, lack of dissidence, and systematic falsification pervading the society's culture."{{Cite thesis |last=Popan |first=Adrian Teodor |date=August 2015 |title=The ABC of Sycophancy: Structural Conditions for the Emergence of Dictators' Cults of Personality |url=https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/46763/POPAN-DISSERTATION-2015.pdf |publisher=University of Texas at Austin |doi=10.15781/T2J960G15 |doi-broken-date=May 26, 2025 |hdl=2152/46763}}

One underlying characteristic, as explained by John Pittman, is the nature of the cult of personalities to be a patriarch. The idea of the cult of personalities that coincides with the Marxist movements gains popular footing among the men in power with the idea that they would be the "fathers of the people".{{According to whom|date=February 2022}} By the end of the 1920s, the male features of the cults became more extreme. Pittman identifies that these features became roles including the "formal role for a [male] 'great leader' as a cultural focus of the apparatus of the regime: reliance on top-down 'administrative measures': and a pyramidal structure of authority" which was created by a single ideal.

The twentieth century brought technological advancements that made it possible for regimes to package propaganda in the form of radio broadcasts, films, and later content on the internet.{{cn|date=May 2025}}

Writing in 2013, Thomas A. Wright observed that "[i]t is becoming evident that the charismatic leader, especially in politics, has increasingly become the product of media and self-exposure." Focusing on the media in the United States, Robert N. Bellah added, "It is hard to determine the extent to which the media reflect the cult of personality in American politics and to what extent they have created it. Surely they did not create it all alone, but just as surely they have contributed to it. In any case, American politics is dominated by the personalities of political leaders to an extent rare in the modern world ... in the personalized politics of recent years the 'charisma' of the leader may be almost entirely a product of media exposure."{{Cite journal |last=Bellah |first=Robert N. |date=1986 |title=The Meaning of Reputation in American Society |url=https://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2003&context=californialawreview |url-status=dead |journal=California Law Review |volume=74 |issue=3 |page=747 |doi=10.15779/Z386730 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190426192935/https://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2003&context=californialawreview |archive-date=April 26, 2019 |access-date=June 13, 2019}}

File:Napoleon at the Great St. Bernard - Jacques-Louis David - Google Cultural Institute.jpg, romantic version by Jacques-Louis David in 1805]]

Jan Plamper argues while Napoleon III made some innovations in France, it was Benito Mussolini in Italy in the 1920s who originated the model of dictator-as-cult-figure that was emulated by Hitler, Stalin and the others, using the propaganda powers of a totalitarian state.{{sfn|Plamper|2012|pp=4, 12–14}}

Pierre du Bois de Dunilac argues that the Stalin cult was elaborately constructed to legitimize his rule. Many deliberate distortions and falsehoods were used.{{cite journal |last1=du Bois |first1=Pierre |title=Stalin – Genesis of a Myth |journal=Survey. A Journal of East & West Studies |date=1984 |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=166–181}} See abstract in {{Cite book |first1=David R. |last1=Egan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C_7Xh2euykoC&pg=PA157 |title=Joseph Stalin: An Annotated Bibliography of English-Language Periodical Literature to 2005 |last2=Melinda A. Egan |publisher=Scarecrow Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0810866713 |page=157}} The Kremlin refused access to archival records that might reveal the truth, and key documents were destroyed. Photographs were altered and documents were invented.{{Cite journal |last1=Strong |first1=Carol |last2=Killingsworth |first2=Matt |date=2011 |title=Stalin the Charismatic Leader?: Explaining the 'Cult of Personality' as a legitimation technique |journal=Politics, Religion & Ideology |volume=12 |issue=4 |pages=391–411 |doi=10.1080/21567689.2011.624410 |s2cid=144628885}} People who knew Stalin were forced to provide "official" accounts to meet the ideological demands of the cult, especially as Stalin himself presented it in 1938 in Short Course on the History of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), which became the official history.{{Cite journal |last=Maslov |first=N. N. |date=1989 |title=Short Course of the History of the All-Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik) – An Encyclopedia of Stalin's Personality Cult |journal=Soviet Studies in History |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=41–68 |doi=10.2753/RSH1061-1983280341}}

Historian David L. Hoffmann states "The Stalin cult was a central element of Stalinism, and as such it was one of the most salient features of Soviet rule ... Many scholars of Stalinism cite the cult as integral to Stalin's power or as evidence of Stalin's megalomania."{{Cite journal |last=Hoffmann |first=David L. |author-link=David L. Hoffmann |date=2013 |title=The Stalin Cult |journal=The Historian |volume=75 |issue=4 |page=909 |doi=10.1111/hisn.12023_65 |s2cid=145070443}}

In Latin America, Cas Mudde and Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser link the "cult of the leader" to the concept of the caudillo, a strong leader "who exercises a power that is independent of any office and free of any constraint." These populist strongmen are portrayed as "masculine and potentially violent" and enhance their authority through the use of the cult of personality. Mudde and Kaltwasser trace the linkage back to Juan Perón of Argentina.

{{Main|List of cults of personality}}

File:Museo del Bicentenario - Afiche "Forjador de la Nueva Argentina".jpg

{{See also|Peronism|Evita Perón}}

Juan Perón, who was elected three times as President of Argentina, and his second wife, Eva "Evita" Perón, were immensely popular among many of the Argentine people, and to this day they are still considered icons by the leading Justicialist Party. In contrast, academics and detractors often considered him a demagogue and a dictator. Perón sympathised with the Axis powers when he was a colonel and Minister of War{{Cite magazine |date=February 18, 1946 |title=Neighbor Accused |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,792573,00.html |url-status=dead |magazine=Time |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090129121752/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,792573,00.html |archive-date=January 29, 2009}} and even served as a diplomatic envoy to Fascist Italy. During his regime he kept close ties with Francoist Spain. He ferociously persecuted dissents and potential political rivals, as political arrests were common during his first two terms. He eroded the republican principles of the country as a way to stay in power and forced statewide censorship on most media.{{Cite magazine |last=Martínez |first=Tomás Eloy |date=January 20, 1997 |title=The woman behind the fantasy. prostitute, fascist, profligate – Eva Perón was much maligned, mostly unfairly |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/1997/int/970120/cinema.the_woman.html |url-status=dead |magazine=Time |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011221053805/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/1997/int/970120/cinema.the_woman.html |archive-date=December 21, 2001 |access-date=January 28, 2009}} Following his election, he built a personality cult around both himself and his wife so pervasive it is still a part of Argentina's current political life.Politics and Education in Argentina, 1946–1962, by Mónica Esti Rein; trans by Martha Grenzeback. Published by M. E. Sharpe, Armonk, NY/London, 1998, pp. 79–80.

During Perón's regime, schools were forced to read Evita's biography La Razón de mi Vida, union and government jobs were only given to those who could prove themselves to be a fervent Peronist, newspapers were censored and television and radio networks were nationalized, and only state media was allowed. He often showed contempt for any opponents, regularly characterizing them as traitors and agents of foreign powers. Those who did not fall in line or were perceived as a threat to Perón's political power were subject to losing their jobs, threats, violence and harassment. Perón dismissed over 20,000 university professors and faculty members from all major public education institutions.{{Cite book |last=Rock |first=David |title=Argentina, 1516–1982 |publisher=University of California Press |year=1987}} Universities were then intervened, the faculty was pressured to get in line and those who resisted were blacklisted, dismissed or exiled. Numerous prominent cultural and intellectual figures were imprisoned.{{Cite web |title=Palermo online |url=http://www.palermonline.com.ar/noticias_2008/nota104_literatos_tos.htm |access-date=January 27, 2011 |website=Palermonline.com.ar}} Thousands of artists, scientists, writers and academics left the country, migrated to North America or Europe. Union leaders and political rivals were arrested and tortured for years{{Cite web |last=Pigna |first=Felipe |title=Ricardo Balbín |url=http://www.elhistoriador.com.ar/biografias/b/balbin.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111128221706/http://www.elhistoriador.com.ar/biografias/b/balbin.php |archive-date=November 28, 2011 |access-date=December 14, 2020 |website=Elhistoriador.com.ar |publisher=El Historiador |language=es}}{{Cite book |last=Feitlowitz |first=Marguerite |title=A Lexicon of Terror: Argentina and the Legacies of Torture |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2002}} and were only released after Perón was deposed.{{Cite web |date=August 2, 2001 |title=Clarín |url=http://www.clarin.com/diario/2001/08/02/p-02401.htm |access-date=January 27, 2011 |website=Clarin.com |archive-date=June 27, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090627040037/http://www.clarin.com/diario/2001/08/02/p-02401.htm |url-status=dead }}

{{Main|Heydar Aliyev's cult of personality}}

{{Main|Bolsonarism|2022–2023 Brazilian election protests|Lulism|Varguismo}}

{{Main|Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's cult of personality}}

File:Mritunjoyi Mujib Mural, Islamic University, Bangladesh.jpg at Islamic University in Kushtia. It was demolished after the Student–People's uprising in August 2024.]]

Mujibism initially began as the political ideology of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, which was gradually converted into a cult of personality around him by his daughter Sheikh Hasina, leader of the Awami League, the party which under the leadership of Mujib, led Bangladesh's secession from Pakistan.{{cite news |title=Ode to the father: Bangladesh's political personality cult |url=https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20240104-ode-to-the-father-bangladesh-s-political-personality-cult |work=France 24 |date=4 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240805120455/https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20240104-ode-to-the-father-bangladesh-s-political-personality-cult |archive-date=August 5, 2024 |language=en}}{{cite news |title=Bangladesh's growing political personality cult around 'Father of the Nation' |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/bangladeshs-growing-political-personality-cult-around-father-of-the-nation/article67706051.ece |work=The Hindu |date=5 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518174518/https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/bangladeshs-growing-political-personality-cult-around-father-of-the-nation/article67706051.ece |archive-date=May 18, 2024 |language=en-IN}} After being pushed to the sidelines by 2 successive military dictators Ziaur Rehman (who founded the Bangladesh Nationalist Party) & Hussain Muhammad Ershad (who founded the Bangladesh National Party), Mujib came back to dominate public consciousness from 2008 under the Awami League government led by Hasina. Hasina has been criticised for overemphasising the role of her father & the Awami League in securing Bangladeshi independence at the cost of sidelining other prominent figures & political parties of the time.{{cite news |last1=Chowdhury |first1=Jennifer |title=In Bangladesh, a Personality Cult Gives Way After Student Protests |url=https://newlinesmag.com/argument/in-bangladesh-a-personality-cult-gives-way-after-student-protests/ |work=New Lines Magazine |date=15 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240921075020/https://newlinesmag.com/argument/in-bangladesh-a-personality-cult-gives-way-after-student-protests/ |archive-date=September 21, 2024 |language=en}} Hasina had amended the constitution to make the presence of Mujib's portrait mandatory in every school, government office & diplomatic missions of the country & made it illegal to criticise Mujib, his ideals & his deeds, especially the one-party BAKSAL regime (1972–75) headed by him, through writing, speech or electronic media. Many events commemorating the birth-centenary of Bangabandhu ('Friend of Bengal' in Bengali, the honorific unofficial title given to Mujib in his lifetime) were launched by the Hasina administration, including an official biopic in collaboration with the Indian government. The Hasina government converted Mujib's residence in the capital city of Dhaka, where he & his family was assassinated by mutinous military personnel in 1975, into a memorial museum. Hasina designated the day of Mujib's assassination as the National Day of Mourning.{{cite news |title=Lessons from the fall of Bangladeshi icons Hasina and Mujib|url=https://www.dailymirror.lk/opinion/Lessons-from-the-fall-of-Bangladeshi-icons-Hasina-and-Mujib/172-289861 |work=Daily Mirror |date=20 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240922155643/https://www.dailymirror.lk/opinion/Lessons-from-the-fall-of-Bangladeshi-icons-Hasina-and-Mujib/172-289861 |archive-date=September 22, 2024 |language=English}}{{cite news |title=By Revoking Some National Holidays, Bangladesh Signals Shift Away from Cult Worship of Sheikh Mujib |url=https://thewire.in/south-asia/by-revoking-some-national-holidays-bangladesh-signals-shift-away-from-cult-worship-of-sheikh-mujib |work=The Wire |date=20 October 2024 |language=en}} The Hasina government also made the birthdays of Mujib, his wife Sheikh Fazilatunessa, eldest son Sheikh Kamal & youngest son Sheikh Russel as official government holidays, alongside March 7 (on that day in 1971, Mujib declared Bangladesh's secession at a speech in Dhaka). Under Hasina's rule, the country was dotted with numerous statues of Mujib alongside several roads & prominent institutions named after him. Critics state that Hasina utilises the personality cult around her father to justify her own authoritarianism, crackdown on political dissent & democratic backsliding of the country.{{Cite news |last=AFP |date=2024-01-05 |title=Bangladesh's growing political personality cult around 'Father of the Nation' |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/bangladeshs-growing-political-personality-cult-around-father-of-the-nation/article67706051.ece/ |access-date=2024-10-17 |work=The Hindu |language=en-IN |issn=0971-751X}} Following the violent overthrow of Sheikh Hasina in 2024, the cult of personality around Mujib is being systematically dismantled.{{Cite news |author=The Hindu Bureau |date=2024-10-16 |title=Bangladesh government cancels national holidays introduced by Hasina regime |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/bangladesh-government-cancels-national-holidays-introduced-by-hasina-regime/article68759906.ece/ |access-date=2024-10-17 |work=The Hindu |language=en-IN |issn=0971-751X}}{{cite magazine|url=https://time.com/7003130/bangladesh-student-protests-police-job-quota-hasina-awami-league-razakars/ |title=How Mass Protests Challenge Bangladesh's Past—and Threaten to Rewrite Its Future|last=Campbell|first=Charlie|date=25 July 2024|magazine=TIME|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240728014629/https://time.com/7003130/bangladesh-student-protests-police-job-quota-hasina-awami-league-razakars/ |access-date=6 August 2024|archive-date=July 28, 2024 |quote=In lieu of a true popular mandate—the U.S. deemed January's election, which returned the Awami League for a fourth straight term but was boycotted by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), as neither free nor fair—Hasina increasingly leans upon the cult of personality she's constructed around her father.}}

{{Main|Mao Zedong's cult of personality|Xi Jinping's cult of personality}}{{see also|Chiangismm}}File:ZongTongWanSui.jpg proclaiming "Long Live the President", gloryfying Chiang Kai Shek]]

File:Zhenxing, Dandong, Liaoning, China - panoramio (1).jpg in China]]

Mao Zedong's cult of personality was a prominent part of Chairman Mao Zedong's rule over the People's Republic of China from his rise in 1949 until his death in 1976. Mass media, propaganda and a series of other techniques were used by the state to elevate Mao Zedong's status to that of an infallible heroic leader, who could stand up against The West, and guide China to become a beacon of Communism. Mao himself, however, publicly criticized the personality cult which was formed around him.Lin, Xu and Wu 1995. p. 48.

During the period of the Cultural Revolution, Mao's personality cult soared to an unprecedented height. Mao's face was firmly established on the front page of People's Daily, where a column of his quotes was also printed every day. Mao's Selected Works were later printed in even greater circulation; the number of his portraits (1.2 billion) was more than the inhabitants in China. And soon Chairman Mao badges began to appear; in total, about 4.8 billion were manufactured.{{Cite book|last=Barmé, Geremie.|title=Shades of Mao : the posthumous cult of the great leader|date=1996|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|isbn=0585269017|location=Armonk, NY|oclc=45729144}} Every Chinese citizen was presented with the Little Red Book – a selection of quotes from Mao. It was prescribed to be carried everywhere and displayed at all public events, and citizens were expected to quote the contents of the book daily.{{Cite book|last=Chang, Jung |title=Mao : the unknown story|date=2007|publisher=Vintage|others=Halliday, Jon|isbn=978-0099507376|location=London|oclc=71346736}} Mao himself believed that the situation had gone out of hand, and in a conversation with Edgar Snow in 1970, he denounced the titles of "Great Leader, Great Supreme Commander, Great Helmsman" and insisted on only being called "teacher".{{cite journal |author=阎长贵 |title="四个伟大"是谁提出来的 |journal=党史博览 |year=2006 |issue=8 |page=49 |url=http://cpc.people.com.cn/GB/68742/69118/69662/4718717.html |access-date=2014-11-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150304214827/http://cpc.people.com.cn/GB/68742/69118/69662/4718717.html |archive-date=2015-03-04 |url-status=live }} Admiration for Mao Zedong has remained widespread in China in spite of somewhat general knowledge of his actions. In December 2013, a Global Times poll revealed that over 85% of Chinese viewed Mao's achievements as outweighing his mistakes.{{Cite news |date=December 23, 2013 |title=Mao's achievements 'outweigh' mistakes: poll |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2013/12/mao-achievements-outweigh-mistakes-poll-2013122553410272409.html |work=al-Jazeera}}

Chiang Kai-shek had a cult of personality. His portraits were commonly displayed in private homes and they were also commonly displayed in public on the streets.{{sfn|Pakula|2009|page=[https://archive.org/details/lastempressmadam00paku_0/page/531 531]}}{{cite book |last=Tyson Li |first=Laura |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FRY0v7AH2ngC&pg=PA448 |title=Madame Chiang Kai-shek: China's Eternal First Lady |publisher=Grove Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-8021-4322-8 |page=448 |access-date=28 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727212728/https://books.google.com/books?id=FRY0v7AH2ngC&pg=PA448 |archive-date=27 July 2020 |url-status=live}} When the Muslim general and warlord Ma Lin was interviewed, he was described as having "high admiration for and unwavering loyalty to Chiang Kai-shek".{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gIBCAAAAYAAJ |title=The Moslem World, Volumes 31–34 |publisher=Hartford Seminary Foundation |year=1941 |page=183 |access-date=8 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727210636/https://books.google.com/books?id=gIBCAAAAYAAJ |archive-date=27 July 2020 |url-status=live}}

After the Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping and others launched the "Boluan Fanzheng" program which invalidated the Cultural Revolution and abandoned (and forbade) the use of a personality cult.{{Cite web|last=Teon|first=Aris|date=March 1, 2018|title=Deng Xiaoping On Personality Cult And One-Man Rule – 1980 Interview|url=https://china-journal.org/2018/03/01/deng-xiaoping-on-personality-cult-and-one-man-rule-1980-interview/|access-date=July 29, 2020|website=The Greater China Journal|language=en}}{{Cite web|last=Huang|first=Zheping|title=Xi Jinping could now rule China for life – just what Deng Xiaoping tried to prevent|url=https://qz.com/1215697/xi-jinping-could-now-rule-china-for-life-just-what-deng-xiaoping-tried-to-prevent/|access-date=July 29, 2020|website=Quartz|date=February 26, 2018 |language=en}}{{Cite web|title=第八章: 十一届三中全会开辟社会主义事业发展新时期|url=http://cpc.people.com.cn/GB/64184/64190/65724/4444936.html|access-date=July 29, 2020|website=cpc.people.com.cn|archive-date=March 1, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080301175128/http://cpc.people.com.cn/GB/64184/64190/65724/4444936.html|url-status=dead}}

A cult of personality has been developing around Xi Jinping since he became General Secretary of the ruling Chinese Communist Party and the regime's paramount leader in 2012.{{Cite web |date=March 3, 2015 |title=The rise of the personality cult of Xi Jinping- La Croix International |url=https://international.la-croix.com/news/the-rise-of-the-personality-cult-of-xi-jinping/876 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190726171715/https://international.la-croix.com/news/the-rise-of-the-personality-cult-of-xi-jinping/876 |archive-date=July 26, 2019 |access-date=July 26, 2019 |website=international.la-croix.com}}{{Cite web |last1=Fan |first1=Jiayang |last2=Zhang |first2=Taisu |last3=Zhu |first3=Ying |date=March 8, 2016 |title=Behind the Personality Cult of Xi Jinping |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/03/08/the-personality-cult-of-xi-jinping-china-leader-communist-party/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190726173241/https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/03/08/the-personality-cult-of-xi-jinping-china-leader-communist-party/ |archive-date=July 26, 2019 |access-date=July 26, 2019 |website=Foreign Policy |language=en-US}}{{Cite news |date=September 18, 2014 |title=The power of Xi Jinping |url=https://www.economist.com/china/2014/09/18/the-power-of-xi-jinping |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190726171710/https://www.economist.com/china/2014/09/18/the-power-of-xi-jinping |archive-date=July 26, 2019 |access-date=July 26, 2019 |newspaper=The Economist |issn=0013-0613}}

{{See also|Rafael Trujillo#Personality cult}}

Longtime dictator of the Dominican Republic Rafael Trujillo (ruled 1930–1961) was the center of a large personality cult. The nation's capital city, its highest peak, and a province were renamed for him. Statues of "El Jefe" were mass-produced and erected across the country, and bridges and public buildings were named in his honor. Automobile license plates included slogans such as "¡Viva Trujillo!" and "Año Del Benefactor De La Patria" (Year of the Benefactor of the Nation). An electric sign was erected in Ciudad Trujillo so that "Dios y Trujillo" could be seen at night as well as in the day. Eventually, even churches were required to post the slogan "Dios en el cielo, Trujillo en la tierra" (God in Heaven, Trujillo on Earth). As time went on, the order of the phrases was reversed (Trujillo on Earth, God in Heaven).Roorda, Eric, The Dictator Next Door: the good neighbor policy and the Trujillo regime in the Dominican Republic, 1930–1945. Durham: Duke University Press, 1998, p. 120.

{{Main|François Duvalier}}

François Duvalier, also known as Papa Doc, was a Haitian politician who served as the president of Haiti from 1957 until his death in 1971. He was elected president in the 1957 general election on a populist and black nationalist platform. After thwarting a military coup d'état in 1958, his regime rapidly became more autocratic and despotic. An undercover government death squad, the Tonton Macoute ({{langx|ht|Tonton Makout}}), indiscriminately tortured or killed Duvalier's opponents; the Tonton Macoute was thought to be so pervasive that Haitians became highly fearful of expressing any form of dissent, even in private. Duvalier further sought to solidify his rule by incorporating elements of Haitian mythology into a personality cult.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/04/23/archives/papa-doc-a-ruthless-dictator-kept-the-haitians-in-illiteracy-and.html|title=Papa Doc, a Ruthless Dictator, Kept the Haitians in Illiteracy and Dire Poverty|date=23 April 1971|author=Albin Krebs|work=The New York Times|access-date=9 December 2024|archive-date=17 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220717015719/https://www.nytimes.com/1971/04/23/archives/papa-doc-a-ruthless-dictator-kept-the-haitians-in-illiteracy-and.html|url-status=live}}

{{Main|Propaganda of Fascist Italy}}

File:1936-prima-classe-061.jpg. He always works for the good of the Fatherland and the Italian people. You have heard this many times, from your dad, mom, or teacher: If Italy is now far more powerful than before, we owe it to Him." (1936 first-grade textbook)]]

Benito Mussolini was portrayed as the embodiment of Italian Fascism and as a result, he was keen to be seen as such.{{sfn|Hamilton|1973|p=73}} Mussolini was styled by other Italian fascists as Il Duce ("The Leader"). Since Mussolini was represented as an almost omniscient leader, a common saying in Italy during Mussolini's rule was "The Duce is always right" (Italian: Il Duce ha sempre ragione).{{sfn|Bosworth|2006|p=3}} Mussolini became a unifying force in Italy in order for ordinary Italians to put their difference to one side with local officials. The personality cult surrounding Mussolini became a way for him to justify his personal rule and it acted as a way to enable social and political integration.

Mussolini's military service in World War I and survival of failed assassination attempts were used to convey a mysterious aura around him.{{sfn|Falasca-Zamponi|2000|pp=72–73}} Fascist propaganda stated that Mussolini's body had been pierced by shrapnel just like St. Sebastian had been pierced by arrows, the difference being that Mussolini had survived this ordeal.{{sfn|Falasca-Zamponi|2000|pp=72–73}} Mussolini was also compared to St. Francis of Assisi, who had, like Mussolini, "suffered and sacrificed himself for others".{{sfn|Falasca-Zamponi|2000|pp=65–66}}

The press were given instructions on what and what not to write about Mussolini.{{sfn|Hamilton|1973|p=73}} Mussolini himself authorized which photographs of him were allowed to be published and rejected any photographs which made him appear weak or less prominent than he wanted to be portrayed as in a particular group.{{sfn|Gallo|1973|pp=206–207}}

Italy's war against Ethiopia (1935–37) was portrayed in propaganda as a revival of the Roman Empire, with Mussolini as the first Roman emperor Augustus.{{sfn|Brendon|2016|p=329}} To improve his own image, as well as the image of Fascism in the Arab world, Mussolini declared himself to be the "Protector of Islam" during an official visit to Libya in 1937.{{sfn|Williams|2006|p=112}}

{{Main|Mahatma Gandhi|Indira Gandhi|Narendra Modi}}

File:Mahatma Gandhi in the Lap of Bharat Mata a print from the 1940's.jpg as the son of Bharat Mata.]]

During the days of the freedom struggle, Mahatma Gandhi had a cult-like following amongst the people of India. Congress leaders like Chittaranjan Das and Subhash Chandra Bose who opposed Gandhi's methods, found themselves sidelined within the party. The assassination of Gandhi in 1948 led to widespread violence against Marathi Brahmins by his followers. After Gandhi's death, his cult was eclipsed by another personality cult that had developed around India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.{{Cite news |last=Guha |first=Ramachandra |date=3 May 2014 |title=Dangers of hero worship – Reading Ambedkar in the time of Modi |url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/dangers-of-hero-worship-reading-ambedkar-in-the-time-of-modi/cid/186946 |work=The Telegraph}} C Rajagopalachari criticized the personality cult surrounding Nehru, saying that there should be an opposition group within the Congress. Rajagopalachari later formed the economically right-wing Swatantra Party in opposition to Nehru's socialist economic view.{{Cite web |last=Krishnan |first=Ravi |date=27 May 2014 |title=Nehru's India |url=https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/9x8RPd562DusWqVQQ91NfN/Nehrus-India.html |website=Mint}} The expression 'Nehruvian consensus' reflects the dominance of Nehruvian ideals, a product of Nehru's personality cult and the associated statism, i.e. the overarching faith in the state and the leadership.{{Cite web |title=Rise and Demise of Nehruvian Consensus: A Historical Review |url=https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/61434/1/MPRA_paper_61434.pdf}} However, Nehru himself actively discouraged the creation of a cult of personality around him.{{Cite web |last=Sherman |first=Taylor |title=The Myths and Reality of the Nehru Years |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/75th-independence-day/politics/the-myths-and-reality-of-the-nehru-years |website=Hindustan Times}} He wrote an essay titled 'Rashtrapati' in 1937 published in the Modern Review warning people about dictatorship and emphasizing the value of questioning leaders.{{Cite web |date=November 14, 2016 |title=We Want No Caesars: Nehru's Warning to Himself |url=https://caravanmagazine.in/vantage/want-no-caesars-nehrus-warning |website=caravanmagazine}}

The Congress party has been accused of promoting a personality cult centered around Nehru, his daughter Indira Gandhi and the Nehru-Gandhi family.{{Cite web |date=February 5, 2022 |title=Chacha's Musty Coat-Tails |url=https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/chachas-musty-coat-tails/292513 |website=outlookindia.com/}} Indira Gandhi has also been described as having a cult of personality during her administration.{{Cite web |last=Guha |first=Ramachandra |date=November 4, 2022 |title=The Cult of Modi |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/11/04/modi-india-personality-cult-democracy/ |access-date=2023-04-10 |website=Foreign Policy |language=en-US}} Following India's victory in the 1971 Indo-Pak war, Gandhi was hailed by many as a manifestation of the Hindu goddess Durga.{{Cite web |last=DHNS |title=Did Vajpayee refer to Indira as Durga avatar? |url=https://www.deccanherald.com/india/did-vajpayee-refer-indira-durga-2051824 |access-date=2024-07-06 |website=Deccan Herald |language=en}} In that year, Gandhi nominated herself as a recipient for the Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award of the country. During the Emergency period the then Congress party president Devakanta Barooah, had remarked 'India is Indira, Indira is India'. Her assassination in 1984 by her Sikh bodyguards sparked a massive wave of public grief and anti-Sikh violence. The Congress party led by her son Rajiv Gandhi utilised her death to win the general elections shortly held after. His assassination while campaigning in the 1991 general elections also led to widespread public grief, which was utilised by the Congress to win the elections despite unfavorable circumstances.{{citation needed|date=December 2024}}

Current Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is often criticized for creating a personality cult around him.{{Cite news |last=Vaidyanathan |first=Rajini |title=The 'personality politics' of Narendra Modi and Donald Trump |publisher=BBC |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-48332141 |access-date=September 29, 2019}}{{Cite news |last=Chatterjee |first=Manini |date=May 13, 2019 |title=I, me, myself: The Modi cult could threaten the BJP too |publisher=The Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/i-me-myself-the-cult-of-narendra-modi-could-threaten-the-bjp-too/cid/1690410 |access-date=September 29, 2019}} Despite some setbacks and criticism,{{Cite news |last=Vaishnav |first=Milan |date=May 25, 2019 |title=Opinion: If it's 'the economy, stupid,' why did Modi win? |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/05/25/if-its-economy-stupid-why-did-modi-win/ |access-date=July 31, 2021}}{{Cite news |last=Khare |first=Harish |date=November 25, 2016 |title=The Cult of the Leader: Demonetisation and Modi Worship |publisher=The Wire |url=https://thewire.in/economy/demonetisation-modi-stalinism |access-date=September 29, 2019}}{{Cite news |last=Safi |first=Michael |date=May 23, 2019 |title=India election results 2019: Modi claims landslide victory |newspaper=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/23/india-election-results-narendra-modi-bjp-victory |access-date=July 31, 2021}} Modi's charisma and popularity was a key factor that helped the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) return to power in the 2019 general elections.{{Cite news |last=Ghosh |first=Ambar Kumar |date=May 19, 2019 |title=Decoding the Modi personality cult |publisher=QRIUS |url=https://qrius.com/decoding-the-modi-personality-cult/ |access-date=September 29, 2019}} Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the chief minister of the country's second largest state, said in 2022, "He is superhuman and has traces of God in him."{{Cite news |last=Dhillon |first=Amrit |date=February 2, 2022 |title=Narendra Modi has traces of god in him, says BJP minister as personality cult grows |language=en |work=The Times |url=https://www.thetimes.com/world/asia/article/narendra-modi-has-traces-of-god-in-him-says-bjp-minister-as-personality-cult-grows-thr5nj637 |issn=0140-0460}} The Opposition often accused Modi for spreading propaganda using popular media such as movies, television and web series. Modi is often accused of having narcissist traits.{{cite news |last1=Bose |first1=Adrija |title=11 Times Prime Minister Narendra Modi Proved That Camera Is His First Love |url=https://www.huffpost.com/archive/in/entry/narendra-modi-camera_n_8212142 |access-date=May 22, 2022 |publisher=HuffPost |date=July 14, 2016}}{{cite news |last1=Staff |first1=The Wire |title='Narcissist', 'A Hint of Megalomania': What Observers Have Said About Narendra Modi |url=https://thewire.in/politics/narendra-modi-arun-shouri-tavleen-singh-ramachandra-guha |access-date=May 22, 2022 |publisher=The Wire |date=February 18, 2020}} In 2015, Modi wore a suit which has his name embroidered all over it in fine letters like a Hindu namavali (A sheet of cloth printed all over with the names of Hindu gods and goddesses usually worn by Hindu priests during puja) while greeting US president Barack Obama during his bilateral visit to India.{{cite news |others = HT Correspondents |title=Modi wears Modi: PM's suit has his name on it |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/modi-wears-modi-pm-s-suit-has-his-name-on-it/story-MhTATY2c26GSWCbGfxp1JJ.html |access-date=May 22, 2022 |publisher=Hindustan Times |date=January 27, 2015}} This suit was auctioned that year, selling at a record amount of 43.1 million Indian rupees, thereby earning the Guinness World Records for the most expensive suit.{{Cite news |date=August 22, 2016 |title=PM Narendra Modi's Rs 4.31 crore suit enter Guinness Book record |url=https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/EgxmYlGFQFVcLBZTwp4QGP/PM-Narendra-Modis-Rs431-crore-suit-enters-Guinness-Book-re.html |work=livemint.com}} In 2019, a biographical film of Modi was released, which was heavily criticized for its hagiographical nature.{{Cite news |last=Ray |first=Saptarshi |date=April 13, 2019 |title=How Narendra Modi has tried to co-opt Bollywood to push his cult of personality |newspaper=The Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/04/13/narendra-modi-has-tried-co-opt-bollywood-push-cult-personality/ |access-date=September 29, 2019}}{{Cite web |last=Tharoor |first=Shashi |date=May 28, 2019 |title=India's Cult of Modi |url=https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/narendra-modi-india-election-personality-cult-by-shashi-tharoor-2019-05?barrier=accesspaylog |access-date=September 29, 2019 |website=Project Syndicate}}{{Cite news |last=Sohini |first=C |date=February 5, 2019 |title=The triumph of Modi propaganda in Bollywood |newspaper=South China Morning Post |url=https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2184614/triumph-modi-propaganda-bollywood |access-date=September 29, 2019}}{{Cite news |last=Ghosh |first=Samrudhi |date=June 25, 2019 |title=Vivek Agnihotri: PM Narendra Modi did not even run for 7 days. This is what happens to propaganda films |publisher=India Today |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/bollywood/story/vivek-agnihotri-pm-narendra-modi-did-not-even-run-for-7-days-this-is-what-happens-to-propaganda-films-1555977-2019-06-25 |access-date=September 29, 2019}} In 2021, Modi named the world's largest cricket stadium after himself. During the 2024 general elections, Modi tried to divinise himself in an interview, in which he stated that he viewed himself to be sent directly by God to serve a special purpose on Earth.{{Cite web |date=2024-05-23 |title='God has sent me, convinced that my energy is not biological': Prime Minister Narendra Modi |url=https://www.businesstoday.in/india/story/god-has-sent-me-convinced-that-my-energy-is-not-biological-prime-minister-narendra-modi-430606-2024-05-23 |access-date=2024-07-03 |website=Business Today |language=en}} BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra while campaigning in the Hindu holy city of Puri stated that even Jagannath (the form of the Hindu god Vishnu which is venerated there) worships Modi.{{Cite web |last=Service |first=Statesman News |date=2024-05-20 |title=Lord Jagannath is devotee of PM Modi: Sambit Patra |url=https://www.thestatesman.com/india/lord-jagannath-is-devotee-of-pm-modi-sambit-patra-1503302208.html |access-date=2024-07-03 |website=The Statesman |language=en}} The BJP is also stated to have created a cult of personality around Hindu Mahasabha leader V. D. Savarkar and Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse to oppose the dominance of Gandhian philosophy in Indian society.{{Cite news |last=Guha |first=Ramachandra |date=22 September 2019 |title=Creating a cult of anti-Gandhis |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/columns/creating-a-cult-of-anti-gandhis/story-V97A411ikjlN64kBqiBFzL_amp.html |work=Hindustan Times}}{{Cite web |last=Serhan |first=Yasmeen |date=2022-06-02 |title=What the Veneration of Gandhi's Killer Says About India |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2022/06/godse-cult-gandhi-assassin-india/661154/ |access-date=2024-07-07 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}}

One study claims that India's political culture since the decline of the Congress' single-handed dominance over national politics from the 1990s onwards as a fallout of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement and Mandal Commission protests has paved way for personality cults centered around leaders of the small regional parties,{{Cite web |last=Sircar |first=Neelanjan |date=2022-02-04 |title=From Modi to Mamata, how did Indian politics become so dependent on the cult of personality? |url=https://scroll.in/article/1016267/from-modi-to-mamata-how-did-indian-politics-become-so-dependent-on-the-cult-of-personality |access-date=2024-07-06 |website=Scroll.in |language=en}} derived from hero-worship of sportspersons and film industry celebrities{{Cite news |date=2014-02-13 |title=The cult of the leader |url=https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/the-cult-of-the-leader/article5685768.ece/ |access-date=2024-12-31 |work=The Hindu |language=en-IN |issn=0971-751X}} and the concept of bhakti,{{Cite news |last=Guha |first=Ramachandra |date=4 December 2016 |title=Why bhakti in politics is bad for democracy |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/columns/why-bhakti-in-politics-is-bad-for-democracy/story-wiZUVhmmY9exCStaATBSqK.html |work=Hindustan Times}} which in turn has fostered nepotism, cronyism and sycophancy. Among these leaders, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha had one of the most extensive ones. She was widely referred by leaders and members of her party as Amma ('mother' in Tamil, also used to refer to Hindu goddesses) and would prostrate themselves before her. She would be regularly publicly applauded with Tamil titles like Makkalin Mudhalvar (people's chief minister), Puratchi Thalaivi (revolutionary female leader), Thanga Thalaivi (golden female leader) etc by her cadres. Her government provided various kinds of subsidised goods under the brand name of Amma. Widespread violence broke out throughout the state when she was arrested on charges of corruption. A huge wave of public grief swept all over the state, with some even committing suicide, following her death in 2016.{{Cite web |title=Deconstructing Jayalalithaa's Cult of Personality |url=https://thewire.in/politics/deconstructing-jayalalithaas-cult-of-personality |access-date=2024-07-06 |website=The Wire |language=en}}{{Cite news |date=2016-12-05 |title=Jayalalitha: The 'goddess' of Tamil Nadu politics |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-37503616 |access-date=2024-07-06 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |date=2016-09-14 |title='Bhakti cult' |url=https://frontline.thehindu.com/politics/bhakti-cult/article9103720.ece |access-date=2025-02-01 |website=Frontline |language=en}} Another leader, Mayawati, was also known for attempting to foster a cult of personality during her tenure as the Chief Minister of India's most populous state by getting constructed large statues of herself and the elephant (which was the electoral symbol of her party) that were installed in public parks at the cost of government exchequer.{{Cite news |last=Sardesai |first=Rajdeep |date=20 October 2011 |title=Idolatry Ambedkar Wouldn't Have Liked |url=https://www.navhindtimes.in/2011/10/20/opinions/opinion/opinion-idolatry-ambedkar-wouldn-t-have-liked/?amp |work=Navhind Times}}{{Cite web |last=DHNS |date=2009-07-09 |title=Ambedkar loathed idolatry, but Mayawati loves it |url=https://www.deccanherald.com/archives/ambedkar-loathed-idolatry-mayawati-loves-2551322 |access-date=2024-12-27 |website=Deccan Herald |language=en}}

Historical personalities are also deified to the level of cult worship long after their lifetimes which is utilised by politicians to woo their followers for electoral purposes. Prominent examples are the cult of Shivaji in Maharashtra{{Cite news |last=Joshi |first=Yogesh |date=15 Jan 2020 |title=Why is Shivaji so very important for every party in Maharashtra |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/opinion/why-is-shivaji-so-very-important-for-every-party-in-maharashtra-opinion/story-sTVujpQj5rSsSFFack1cxL_amp.html |work=Hindustan Times}} and the cult of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar among Dalits.{{Cite news |last=Ramachandran |first=Narayan |date=18 April 2016 |title=Ambedkar and idle worship |url=https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/dr55MGOs2TQwZNpLFwNABM/Ambedkar-and-idle-worship.html |work=livemint.com}}{{Cite web |date=2024-12-19 |title=Why Ambedkar issue has got BJP scrambling |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/br-ambedkar-dalit-icon-bjp-amit-shah-statement-opposition-congress-rahul-gandhi-kharge-firefighting-mode-explained-2652479-2024-12-19 |access-date=2024-12-27 |website=India Today |language=en}}

{{Main|Adolf Hitler's cult of personality|Führerprinzip}}

File:Albert Reich (1881–1942) – Entwurf Hitler-Ehrung.jpg (1881–1942)]]

Starting in the 1920s, during the early years of the Nazi Party, Nazi propaganda began to depict the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler as a demagogue figure who was the almighty defender and savior of Germany. After the end of World War I (1918) and the Treaty of Versailles (1919), the German people experienced turmoil under the Weimar Republic, and, according to Nazi propaganda, only Hitler could save them and restore Germany's greatness, which in turn gave rise to the "Führer-cult".{{Cite news |date =January 30, 2008 |title =The Führer Myth How Hitler Won Over the German People |work=Der Spiegel |url =https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/the-fuehrer-myth-how-hitler-won-over-the-german-people-a-531909.html}} During the five election campaigns in 1932, the Nazi newspaper Völkischer Beobachter portrayed Hitler as a man who had a mass movement united behind him, a man with one mission {{--}} to solely save Germany as the 'Leader of the coming Germany'.{{sfn|Kershaw|1998|pp=36–37}} The Night of the Long Knives in 1934 – after which Hitler referred to himself as being single-handedly "responsible for the fate of the German people" – also helped to reinforce the myth that Hitler was the sole protector of the Volksgemeinschaft, the ethnic community of the German people.{{sfn|Kershaw|1998|p=95}}

Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels cultivated an image of Hitler as a "heroic genius". The myth also gave rise to the saying and concept, "If only the Führer knew". Germans thought that problems which they ascribed to the Nazi hierarchy would not have occurred if Hitler had been aware of the situation; thus Nazi bigwigs were blamed, and Hitler escaped criticism.{{sfn|Kershaw|1998|p=95}}

British historian Ian Kershaw published his book The "Hitler Myth": Image and Reality in the Third Reich in 1987 and wrote:

{{blockquote|Hitler stood for at least some things they [German people] admired, and for many had become the symbol and embodiment of the national revival which the Third Reich had in many respects been perceived to accomplish.{{sfn|Kershaw|1998|p=71}}}}

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H12704, Bad Godesberg, Vorbereitung Münchener Abkommen.jpg, Germany, 1938]]

During the early 1930s, the myth was given credence due to Hitler's perceived ability to revive the German economy during the Great Depression. However, Albert Speer wrote that by 1939, the myth was under threat and the Nazis had to organize cheering crowds to turn up to events. Speer wrote:

{{blockquote|The shift in the mood of the population, the drooping morale which began to be felt throughout Germany in 1939, was evident in the necessity to organize cheering crowds where two years earlier Hitler had been able to count on spontaneity. What is more, he himself had meanwhile moved away from the admiring masses. He tended to be angry and impatient more often than in the past when, as still occasionally happened, a crowd on Wilhelmsplatz began clamoring for him to appear. Two years before he had often stepped out on the "historic balcony." Now he sometimes snapped at his adjutants when they came to him with the request that he show himself: "Stop bothering me with that!"{{sfn|Speer|2009|p=158}}|author=|title=|source=}}

The myth helped to unite the German people during World War II, especially against the Soviet Union and the Western Allies. During Hitler's early victories against Poland and Western Europe the myth was at its peak, but when it became obvious to most Germans that the war was lost then the myth was exposed and Hitler's popularity declined.

A report is given in the little Bavarian town of Markt Schellenberg on March 11, 1945:

{{blockquote|When the leader of the Wehrmacht unit at the end of his speech called for a Sieg Heil for the Führer, it was returned neither by the Wehrmacht present, nor by the Volkssturm, nor by the spectators of the civilian population who had turned up. This silence of the masses ... probably reflects better than anything else, the attitudes of the population.{{sfn|Kershaw|2001|p=766}}|author=|title=|source=}}

{{Main|North Korean cult of personality}}

File:The statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il on Mansu Hill in Pyongyang (april 2012).jpg and Kim Jong Il in 2012]]

The cult of personality which surrounds North Korea's ruling family, the Kim family,{{Cite news |last=Williamson |first=Lucy |date=December 27, 2011 |title=Delving into North Korea's mystical cult of personality |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16336991 |url-status=live |access-date=January 9, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130202083328/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16336991 |archive-date=February 2, 2013}} has existed for decades and it can be found in many aspects of North Korean culture.Choe, Yong-ho., Lee, Peter H., and de Barry, Wm. Theodore., eds. Sources of Korean Tradition, Chichester, NY: Columbia University Press, p. 419, 2000. Although not acknowledged by the North Korean government, many defectors and Western visitors state there are often stiff penalties for those who criticize or do not show "proper" respect for the regime.{{Cite web |last=Forer |first=Ben |date=January 12, 2012 |title=North Korea Reportedly Punishing Insincere Mourners |url=https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/01/north-korea-reportedly-punishing-insincere-mourners/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120414203420/https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/01/north-korea-reportedly-punishing-insincere-mourners/ |archive-date=April 14, 2012 |access-date=January 9, 2013 |publisher=ABC News}}{{Cite web |date=December 2, 2011 |title=DPRK, Criminal Penalties |url=https://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_988.html#criminal_penalties |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130101184313/http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_988.html |archive-date=January 1, 2013 |access-date=January 9, 2013 |publisher=US State Dept}} The personality cult began soon after Kim Il Sung took power in 1948, and was greatly expanded after his death in 1994.

The pervasiveness and the extreme nature of North Korea's personality cult surpasses those of Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong.{{Cite book |last=Armstrong |first=Charles K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eUf-_XACg3UC&pg=PA222 |title=The North Korean Revolution, 1945–1950 |publisher=Cornell University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0801468797 |location=Ithaca |page=222}} The cult is also marked by the intensity of the people's feelings for and devotion to their leaders,{{Cite book |last=Hunter |first=Helen-Louise |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lrz5OJvCkmIC&pg=PA25 |title=Kim Il-song's North Korea |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=1999 |isbn=978-0275962968 |page=25 |access-date=August 31, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140111161606/http://books.google.com/books?id=lrz5OJvCkmIC&pg=PA25 |archive-date=January 11, 2014 |url-status=live}} and the key role played by a Confucianized ideology of familism both in maintaining the cult and thereby in sustaining the regime itself. The North Korean cult of personality is a large part of Juche and totalitarianism.

Yakov Novichenko, a Soviet military officer who saved Kim Il Sung's life on 1 May 1946, is reported to also have developed a cult of personality around 1984. He is considered the only non-Korean to have developed a cult of personality there.{{Cite web |last=Young |first=Benjamin R. |date=2013-12-12 |title=Meet the man who saved Kim Il Sung's life |url=https://www.nknews.org/2013/12/meet-the-man-who-saved-kim-il-sungs-life/ |access-date=2023-05-08 |website=NK News |language=en-US}} {{clear left}}

{{Main|Fujimorism}}

{{Main|Diehard Duterte Supporters|Ferdinand Marcos's cult of personality}}

File:Imee and Ferdinand Marcos during the latter's 21 year reign as Philippine president.jpg (pictured with his daughter Imee) was a Philippine dictator and kleptocrat. His regime was infamous for its corruption.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/07/10bn-dollar-question-marcos-millions-nick-davies|title=The $10bn question: what happened to the Marcos millions?|author=Nick Davies|date=May 7, 2016|work=The Guardian}}]]

{{Excerpt|Ferdinand Marcos's cult of personality}}

Nowadays both conservative and liberal groups have developed cult of personalities around their political frontman, most notably supporters of Leni Robredo who are dubbed as 'kakampinks' or less commonly 'pinklawan' , both a play on her affiliation with the Liberal Party and her branding of pink/magenta colors, Bongbong Marcos and his family, mostly surrounding his father's legacy, and Rodrigo Duterte and his family dubbed 'Diehard Duterte Supporters' , a play on the acronym of Rodrigo Duterte's Davao Death Squad.

{{Main|Józef Piłsudski's cult of personality|Edward Rydz-Śmigły's cult of personality}}

{{Main|Carol II of Romania's cult of personality|Nicolae Ceaușescu's cult of personality}}

{{Main|Public image of Vladimir Putin|Russia under Vladimir Putin}}

File:Putin on a tricycle bike.jpeg on a Harley-Davidson tricycle with a Russian biker gang on a visit to Ukraine in 2010]]

Russian President Vladimir Putin has created a cult of personality for himself as an outdoorsy, sporty, tough guy public image, demonstrating his physical capabilities and taking part in unusual or dangerous acts, such as extreme sports and interaction with wild animals.{{cite web|last=Bass |first=Sadie |url=https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2009/08/putin-bolsters-tough-guy-image-with-shirtless-photos/ |title=Putin Bolsters Tough Guy Image With Shirtless Photos, Australian Broadcasting Corporation |publisher=Abcnews.go.com |date=5 August 2009 |access-date=22 June 2013}}

{{Main|Stalin's cult of personality|Stalinism}}{{Multiple image

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| footer = Vladimir Lenin's cult of personality is part & parcel of Communist-ruled states. From left to right are – 1) Chinese stamp issued in 1954 by the PRC commemorating a sculpture of Lenin & Stalin created by Soviet sculptors Veniamin Pinchuk & Robert Taurit unveiled in 1949 at Gorky, 2) statue of Lenin at a public park in Hanoi, 3) a monument dedicated to Lenin in Havana & 4) statue of Lenin in Kolkata installed in 1970 by the CPI(M), an alliance member of the then state government and would later form the world's longest ruling democratically elected Communist government

}}

The first cult of personality to take shape in the USSR was that of Vladimir Lenin. Up until the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, Lenin's portrait and quotes were a ubiquitous part of the culture. However, during his lifetime, Lenin vehemently denounced any effort to build a cult of personality, as (in his eyes) the cult of personality was antithetical to Marxism.{{Cite journal |last=Tucker |first=Robert |date=1979 |title=The Rise of Stalin's Personality Cult |url =http://bclearningnetwork.com/LOR/media/hist12/Reading/Stalin.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=The American Historical Review |volume =84 |issue =2 |pages =347–366 |doi =10.2307/1855137 |jstor =1855137 |archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20210227131726/http://bclearningnetwork.com/LOR/media/hist12/Reading/Stalin.pdf |archive-date =February 27, 2021 |access-date =February 17, 2018}} Despite this, members of the Communist Party used Lenin's image as the all-knowing revolutionary who would liberate the proletariat. Lenin attempted to take action against this; however it was halted after Lenin was nearly assassinated in August 1918. His health would only further decline as he suffered numerous severe strokes, with the worst in May 1922 and March 1923. In this state Lenin would lose the ability to walk and speak. During this time the Bolshevik Party began to promote the accomplishments of Lenin as the basis for a cult of personality, using him as an image of morality and of revolutionary ideas.{{Cite journal |last=Pittman |first=John |date=2017 |title=Thoughts on the "Cult of Personality" in Communist History |url =https://guilfordjournals.com/doi/abs/10.1521/siso.2017.81.4.533?journalCode=siso |journal =The Russian Revolution One Century Later |volume=81 |issue=4 |pages=533–547 |doi =10.1521/siso.2017.81.4.533 |via=Guilford Press Periodicals|url-access=subscription }}

File:Poster of Azerbaijan 1938. Stalin, Lenin.jpg

After Vladimir Lenin's death in 1924 and the exile of Leon Trotsky in 1928, Joseph Stalin came to embody the Soviet Union. Once Lenin's cult of personality had grown, creating enough influence, Stalin integrated Lenin's ideals into his own cult. Unlike other cults of personalities, the Lenin and Stalin cults were not created to give the leaders power, they were created to give power and validation to the Communist Party. Stalin initially spoke out against the cult and other outrageous and false claims centered around him. However Stalin's attitude began to shift in favor of the cult in the 1930s, and he began to encourage it following the Great Purge of 1936 to 1938.{{Cite book |last=Pisch |first=Anita |title=The Personality Cult of Stalin in Soviet Posters, 1929–1953 |publisher=ANU Press |year=2016 |isbn=978-1760460624 |location =Australia |pages =87–190}} Seldom did Stalin object to state actions that furthered his cult of personality, however he did oppose some initiatives from Soviet propagandists. When Nikolai Yezhov proposed to rename Moscow to {{translit | ru | Stalinodar}}, which translates as "gift of Stalin", Stalin objected.{{Cite journal|last=Kotkin|first=Stephen|date=1995|title=Review of Stalinist Terror: New Perspectives|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/131639|journal=The Russian Review|volume=54|issue=4|pages=635–637|doi=10.2307/131639|jstor=131639|issn=0036-0341|url-access=subscription}} To merge the Lenin and Stalin cults together, Stalin changed aspects of Lenin's life in the public's eye in order to place himself in power. This kept the two cults in a line that showed that both Lenin and Stalin had the same ideas and that Stalin was the rightful successor of Lenin, leading the USSR in the fashion Lenin would have done.

File:Poster of Azerbaijan 1938. Constitutions.jpg featuring Stalin, 1938|left|275x275px]]

In December 1929, Stalin celebrated his 50th birthday, which featured prominently in the Soviet press.{{sfn|Gill|1980}} The media used positive adjectives like, "Great", "Beloved", "Bold", "Wise", "Inspirer", and "Genius" to describe him.{{sfn|Gunther|1936|pp=516–517, 530–532, 534–535}} Similarly, speeches that were given by people to the peasants described Stalin as "Our Best Collective Farm Worker", "Our Shockworker, Our Best of Best", and "Our Darling, Our Guiding Star".{{sfn|Gunther|1936|pp=516–517, 530–532, 534–535}} By 1934, under Stalin's full control of the country, socialist realism became the endorsed method of art and literature. Even under the communist regime, the Stalin cult of personality portrayed Stalin's leadership as patriarchy under the features laid out during Khrushchev's 1956 speech. After 1936, the Soviet press described Stalin as the "Father of Nations".{{Cite web |date=March 21, 2017 |title=Joseph Stalin's Cult Of Personality |url =https://historycollection.com/joseph-stalin-cult-personality/ |website=History Collection}}

One key element of Soviet propaganda was interaction between Stalin and the children of the Soviet Union. He was often photographed with children of different ethnic backgrounds of the Soviet Union and was often photographed giving gifts to children. In 1935 the phrase, "Thank You, Dear Comrade Stalin, for a Happy Childhood!" started to appear above doorways at nurseries, orphanages, and schools; children also chanted this slogan at festivals.{{sfn|Kelly|2005|pp=206–207}} Another key element of Soviet propaganda was imagery of Stalin and Lenin. In many posters, Stalin and Lenin were placed together to show their camaraderie and that their ideals were one. Throughout the 1930s, posters with both images were used as a way to bring the nation and the military together under the policies of the Communist Party during World War II, with the idea of Lenin as the father of the revolutionary ideas and Stalin as the disciple who would fulfill the communist ideals. Stalin was also portrayed in numerous films produced by Mosfilm, which remained a Soviet-led company until the fall of the Soviet Union.

{{See also|Francoist Spain}}Following the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, Francisco Franco's image was deliberately crafted through extensive nationalist propaganda that portrayed him as a messianic figure and savior of traditional Spanish values against republican and communist forces preventing Spain from becoming a Soviet puppet.{{cite journal|last=Mahamud|first= Kira | title= Emotional indoctrination through sentimental narrative in Spanish primary education textbooks during the Franco dictatorship (1939–1959) |journal=History of Education Quarterly|volume=45|issue=5|pages=653–678| date=March 2016|doi= 10.1080/0046760X.2015.1101168|s2cid= 146848487 }} The carefully constructed narrative emphasized his military prowess and Catholic piety, with state-controlled media consistently depicting him as "El Caudillo" (The Leader), a divinely appointed guardian of Spain's cultural and religious heritage.{{Cite book |last=Cazorla Sánchez |first=Antonio |title=Franco: the biography of the myth |date=2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-44949-1 |series=Routledge historical biographies |location=London New York}}

{{See also|Al-Assad family|Hafez al-Assad's cult of personality}}

File:دوار السبع بحرات- دوار الرئيس حاليا - panoramio (cropped).jpg, who is revered as their Al-Abad (Immortal Leader) by followers of Syrian Ba'athism{{Cite journal |last=Bader Eddin |first=Eylaf |date=8 November 2022 |title=Al-Abad: On the Ongoing |journal=Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication |volume=15 |issue=4 |pages=367–372 |doi=10.1163/18739865-01504004 |s2cid=253455744 |doi-access=free }}]]

Syria's Hafez al-Assad, a Ba'athist officer who seized power through a coup d'état in 1970, established a pervasive cult of personality to maintain his dictatorship. As soon as he took over power, Ba'ath party loyalists designated him as "Al-Abad"; an Arabic terminology with deep religious dimensions. Linguistically, Al-Abad means "forever, infinite and immortality" and religious clerics use this term in relation to Divine Attributes. By designating Assad as "Al-Abad", Syrian Ba'ath Movement ideologically elevated Hafez al-Assad as its "Immortal", "god-like figure" who is supposed to represent the state as well as the Syrian nation itself. Another meaning of Al-Abad is "permanent", which is used in state propaganda to denote the perpetual status quo of an "eternal political order" created by Hafez al-Assad, who continues to live in Assadist ideology. The term's verbal form "Abada" means "to commit genocide" including the "symbolical; performative side of violence". This dimension has been weaponized by the Assad regime to monopolize violence against alleged dissidents and justify state terrorism, including genocidal acts of mass murder like the Hama Massacre, Qamishli Massacre and other massacres of the Syrian civil war.

Arab Socialist Ba'ath party initially manufactured Hafez al-Assad's cult of Arab socialist heroism in consultancy with Soviet state propagandists, mimicking the pervasive personality cults prevalent across Soviet Bloc dictatorships like Romania and North Korea. Beginning as a tool to bind every Syrian citizen with the obligation of undying loyalty (bay'ah) to Assad in 1970s, the propaganda was further intensified and personalist depictions reached new heights during the 1980s. The state began re-writing Syrian history itself, with the Ba'ath party deifying Hafez al-Assad as their "leader for eternity" ["qa'iduna ila l-abad"] and portraying him as "the second Saladin" who guarantees Arab peoples victory over Zionist Crusaders. Through kindergarten, school books, educational institutions and Baathist media; Assadist propaganda constructed the image of a homogenous Arab nation protected by a fatherly leader revelling under the "cult of Saladin". Assad regime venerates Hafez al-Assad's personalist iconography perpetually in the public and private spheres of everyday Syrian life; through monuments, images, murals, posters, statues, stamps, Ba'athist symbolism, currency notes, photos, banners, state TV, etc.{{Cite book |last1=Gruber|first1= Christiane |first2=Sune|last2=Haugbolle|title=Visual Culture in the Modern Middle East: Rhetoric of the Image |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-253-00884-8 |location=Bloomington, Indiana |pages=57–75 |chapter=3: Memory and Ideology: Images of Saladin in Syria and Iraq}}{{Cite journal |date=15 February 2017 |title=From Kurdish Sultan to Pan-Arab Champion and Muslim Hero: The Evolution of the Saladin Myth in Popular Arab Culture |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jpcu.12503 |journal=The Journal of Popular Culture |volume=50 |issue=1 |pages=65–83 |doi=10.1111/jpcu.12503 |via=Wiley Online Library |last1=Sayfo |first1=Omar |hdl=1874/361826 |hdl-access=free }}{{rp|65–83}}

More than a leader of the masses, Ba'athist propaganda equated Hafez al-Assad itself with "the people", apart from declaring him as the "father of the nation" and as an exceptional human being; being assigned with multiple roles as a doctor, soldier, lawyer, educator, statesman, general, etc. Every civil society organization, trade union and any form of cultural or religious associations in Syria, are obliged to declare their "binding covenant to Hafez al-Assad and display his iconography, in order to be legalized. The far-reaching personality cult of his father has been weaponized by Bashar al-Assad as a pillar of his regime's legitimacy and also as a supplement to enhance his own personality cult. Bashar's cult downplayed religious elements for technocratic Arab socialist themes, with a constant militaristic emphasis on conspiratorial threats from forces of Zionism due to an allegedly ongoing "dormant war with Israel".{{rp|64–74}}

One utilization of the personality cult has been to enable the Assad dynasty to downplay the rural Alawite origins of their family from public eyes. Images of Assad family members are installed across Syria's numerous heritage sites and monuments, to wed the dynasty with Ba'athist Syrian history. Murals and statues of Hafez al-Assad and Bashar al-Assad were constructed across Syrian cities, towns, villages, etc. depicting them in the costumes of medieval Bedouins or as sultans like Harun al-Rashid.{{rp|79–80}} Assadist cult of personality functioned as a psychological tool for the totalitarian regime; which attempted to claim towards the Syrian society that the Ba'athist system shall continue ruling eternally, forever, with no end. The Assadist cult is being dismantled following the fall of the Assad regime.{{Citation needed|date=January 2025}}

{{Main|List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire|Neo-Ottomanism|Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's cult of personality|Kemalism|Public image of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan|Erdoğanism}}{{Excerpt|List of cults of personality#Turkey}}

{{Main|Saparmurat Niyazov#Cult of personality}}

File:Stans08-036 (3134870208).jpg in Turkmenistan]]

Saparmurat Niyazov, who was President of Turkmenistan from 1985 to 2006,"[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/dec/22/tomparfitt.mainsection Bizarre, brutal and self-obsessed. Now time's up for Turkmenistan's dictator]". The Guardian. December 22, 2006. is another oft-cited cultivator of a cult of personality.[https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2001/eur/8359.htm "Turkmenistan"]. Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. U.S. State Department. March 4, 2002.International Crisis Group. July 2003. Central Asia: Islam and the State. ICG Asia Report No. 59. Available on-line at http://www.crisisgroup.org/Shikhmuradov, Boris. May 2002. Security and Conflict in Central Asia and the Caspian Region. International Security Program, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University. Available on-line at http://www.ciaonet.org/ Human Rights Watch, in its World Report 2012, said there was a cult of personality of President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow.{{cite book |url=https://www.hrw.org/world-report-2012/world-report-2012-turkmenistan |chapter=Turkmenistan: Events of 2011 |access-date= July 24, 2012 |title=World Report 2012 |date=January 22, 2012|publisher=Human Rights Watch}} Agence France-Presse reported a developing personality cult.{{cite news|url=https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gMrcDVqoJ2g2dYJxI88whdc_06Rg?docId=CNG.c45b1499618bdfc8c2602868ded684ec.901|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140131141415/http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gMrcDVqoJ2g2dYJxI88whdc_06Rg?docId=CNG.c45b1499618bdfc8c2602868ded684ec.901|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 31, 2014|title=Turkmenistan president 'sings own birthday song{{'-}}|agency=Agence France-Presse|date=July 3, 2011|access-date= July 24, 2012|work=Google News}} Reporters Without Borders said the president was promoting a cult of personality around himself and that his portraits had taken the place of those of the previous president.{{cite web|url=http://en.rsf.org/predator-gurbanguly-berdymukhamedov,42425.html|title=Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, President, Turkmenistan|access-date=2012-07-24|publisher=Reporters Without Borders|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120710065533/http://en.rsf.org/predator-gurbanguly-berdymukhamedov,42425.html|archive-date=2012-07-10|url-status=dead}}

{{Further|Trumpism#Cult of personality}}

{{multiple image

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| image8 = Official Presidential Portrait of President Donald J. Trump (2025).jpg

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| footer = Presidents in American history who have been assessed by various historians as being supported by the effects of a cult of personality include George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and Donald Trump.

}}

A number of presidents in American history have been noted by various historians as being supported by the effects of a cult of personality,Isemberg, Nanmu and Burstein, Andrew (2019) [https://books.google.com/books?id=Z_xlDwAAQBAJ&q=%22Cult+of+personality%22&pg=PT15 The Problem of Democracy: The Presidents Adams Confront the Cult of Personality]. New York: Penguin. pp. 66, 447–448. {{isbn|9780525557517}} among them George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Theodore Roosevelt,Hawley, Joshua David. [https://books.google.com/books?id=UiYRkL4GqP4C&dq=%22Cult+of+personality%22+%22Theodore+Roosevelt%22&pg=PA187 Theodore Roosevelt: Preacher of Righteousness]. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. p. 187. {{isbn|9780300145144}}Cullinane, Michael Patrick. [https://books.google.com/books?id=gnSlDgAAQBAJ&dq=%22Cult+of+personality%22+%22Theodore+Roosevelt%22&pg=PA87 Theodore Roosevelt's Ghost: The History and Memory of an American Icon] Baton Rouge: Louisiana: LSU Press. p. 87. {{isbn|9780807166734}} Franklin D. Roosevelt,Bilias, George Athan and Brob Gerald N. (1971) [https://e/books.google.com/books?id=2E52AAAAMAAJ&q=%22Cult+of+personality%22+%22American+history%22&dq=%22Cult+of+personality%22+%22American+history%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjmgLPNnqzjAhUHWs0KHY0MCaU4ChDoAQgyMAI 'American history: retrospect and prospect]{{Dead link|date=December 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} New York Free Press.{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryr00bill | url-access=registration | quote=Cult of personality American history. |title = American history: Retrospect and prospect| publisher=Free Press |last1 = Billias|first1 = George Athan|last2 = Grob|first2 = Gerald N.|year = 1971}} Ronald Reagan, and Donald Trump.{{cite web|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/republicans-have-built-a-cult-of-personalty-around-trump-2021-3|title=Republicans have built a cult of personality around Trump that glosses over his disgraced presidency|first=John|last=Haltiwanger|date=March 4, 2021|work=Business Insider|access-date=September 25, 2022}}Steven Hassan The Cult of Trump: A Leading Cult Expert Explains How the President Uses Mind Control, 2019. {{ISBN|9781982127336}}{{cite web |last1=Serwer |first1=Adam |title=Donald Trump's Cult of Personality Did This |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/donald-trump-menace-public-health/608449/ |website=The Atlantic |access-date=April 15, 2020 |date=March 20, 2020}}Woods, Thomas E. Jr. (2007) [https://books.google.com/books?id=xvEjA46pDMUC&dq=%22Cult+of+personality%22+%22American+history%22&pg=PA136 33 Questions About American History You're Not Supposed to Ask] New York, Crown. p. 136 {{isbn|9780307406125}} Conrad Black, who wrote several biographies of American presidents, argued that "supreme champion of the American personality cult" has "deservedly" been Abraham Lincoln.{{cite news |last1=Black |first1=Conrad |author1-link=Conrad Black |title=Abraham Lincoln is worthy of his reputation |url=https://nationalpost.com/entertainment/abraham-lincoln-was-worthy-of-his-reputation |website=National Post |access-date=January 10, 2022 |language=en |date=October 9, 2012}} John F. Kennedy's cult of personality largely came about after his assassination, although his and his wife Jackie Kennedy's appearance all contributed to the aura of "Camelot" which surrounded his administration.Beck, Kent M. (1974) [http://www.jstor.org/stable/4634927 "The Kennedy Image: Politics, Camelot, and Vietnam"]. The Wisconsin Magazine of History, v. 58, n. 1, pp. 45–55. Retrieved May 28, 2021

Another American politician to whom a cult of personality has been ascribed is Huey Long, the populist governor of Louisiana from 1928 to 1932, who continued to control the politics of the state as a United States senator until he was assassinated in 1935.Kaplan-Levinson, Laine (November 23, 2018) [https://www.wwno.org/post/huey-long-vs-media "Huey Long Vs. The Media"] New Orleans Public RadioCurtis, Michael (January 24, 2016) [https://www.newenglishreview.org/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/63474/The-Danger-of-the-Cult-of-Personality-in-Politics "The Danger of the Cult of Personality in Politics"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211024162723/https://www.newenglishreview.org/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/63474/The-Danger-of-the-Cult-of-Personality-in-Politics |date=October 24, 2021 }} New English Review The LaRouche movement has been considered to be a personality cult based upon Lyndon LaRouche.{{Cite news |last=Severo |first=Richard |date=February 13, 2019 |title=Lyndon LaRouche, Cult Figure Who Ran for President 8 Times, Dies at 96 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/13/obituaries/lyndon-larouche-dead.html |access-date=2024-08-21 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite book |last=Goldwag |first=Arthur |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DDbM5GeMgXIC |title=Cults, Conspiracies, and Secret Societies: The Straight Scoop on Freemasons, the Illmuniati, Skull & Bones, Black Helicopters, the New World Order, and Many, Many More |date=August 11, 2009 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-307-45666-3 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=King |first=Dennis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JBR5AAAAMAAJ&q=LaRouche%20movement%20cult%20of%20personality |title=Lyndon LaRouche and the New American Fascism |date=1989 |publisher=Doubleday |isbn=978-0-385-23880-9 |language=en}}

{{Main|Hugo Chávez's cult of personality|Bolivarianism}}

File:Ho Chi Minh city parc Saigon (39543927211).jpg statue in front of the City Hall of Ho Chi Minh City]]

The Vietnamese Communist Party regime has continually maintained a personality cult around Ho Chi Minh since the 1950s in North Vietnam, and it was later extended to South Vietnam after reunification, which it sees as a crucial part of its propaganda campaign surrounding Ho and the Party's past.

The former capital of South Vietnam, Saigon, was officially renamed Ho Chi Minh City on May 1, 1975, one day after its capture, which officially ended the Vietnam War.{{cite news | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18328455 | title=Uncle Ho's legacy lives on in Vietnam | first=Viv | last=Marsh | work=BBC News | date=June 6, 2012 | access-date=December 2, 2012}}

{{Main|Josip Broz Tito#Legacy}}

A cult of personality was created around Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito, imitating that of the cult of Stalin.{{cite book |last1=Pirjevec |first1=Jože |title=Tito and His Comrades |date=2018 |publisher=The University of Wisconsin Press |location=Madison, WI |page=434}} Homage included naming towns and cities after him, inscribing the name TITO on walls and mountain slopes, and planting memorial alleys.{{cite book |last1=Zalar |first1=Charles |last2=United States Congress Senate Committee on the Judiciary |title=Yugoslav Communism: A Critical Study |date=1961 |publisher=United States Government Printing Office |location=Washington, DC |page=300}}{{cite book |last1=Tkalec |first1=Sarah |title=Kult osebnosti Josipa Broza Tita |date=2019 |publisher=Univerza v Ljubljani, Filozofska fakulteta |location=Ljubljana}}

Some senior commercial executives, following in the footsteps of the likes of heroes such as Henry Ford or Thomas J. Watson,

{{cite book

|last1 = Maney

|first1 = Kevin

|date = 3 August 2004

|orig-date = 2003

|chapter = World Conquest

|title = The Maverick and His Machine: Thomas Watson, Sr. and the Making of IBM

|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=G8OdEAAAQBAJ

|edition = reprint

|publication-place = Hoboken, New Jersey

|publisher = John Wiley & Sons

|page = 380

|isbn = 9780471679257

|access-date = 15 May 2025

|quote = The IBM culture {{--}} in effect, the Watson cult {{--}} revolved around Watson worship that was both flagrant (Watson's photo hanging in every office and factory) and subtle (managers mimicking his style of dress). [...] nobody could seek out and drink in more adulation than Watson, and do it without a hint of embarrassment.

}}

have also become "omnipotent superstars" and the objects of cults of personality.

{{cite book

|last1 = Lloyd

|first1 = Tom

|date = 22 October 2009

|chapter =

|title = Business at a Crossroads: The Crisis of Corporate Leadership

|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=5cFdAQAAQBAJ

|publication-place = Basingstoke

|publisher = Springer

|pages =

|isbn = 9780230250987

|access-date = 15 May 2025

|quote = This cult of personality infected the entire system. Institutional investors demanding change saw the CEO as the crucial variable in business success and failure [...]. [...] Investment analysts responded to this leader-centric view of their ultimate clients, exploited investor relations strategies that co-opted CEOs as their principal marketing assets and substituted for an analysis of the intrinsic strengths of a company's business, an assessment of its CEO's character, philosophy and management style and detailed examinations of his or her pronouncements, statements and sound bites. [...] The 'CEO as hero' cult was convenient for asset managers and stock analysts [...]. [...] Investment bankers [...] also found the CEO cult convenient [...]. [...] The elevation of CEOs into omnipotent superstars with pay packets to match, is not [...] an inevitable consequence of the interaction of natural human impulses with the capitalist system. [...] It is, rather, the product of a 'market failure' [...].

}}

• Bread and circuses
• Charismatic authority
• Great man theory
• Imperial cult
• List of cults of personality

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• [https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970204908604574336383324209824#mod=article-outset-box Why Dictators Love Kitsch] by Eric Gibson, The Wall Street Journal, August 10, 2009

{{Media culture}}

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