Jonathan Tremblay: Vladimir Putin to Run for Third Term: A History of Russian Baldness
[Jonathan Tremblay is a historian and a Breaking News Editor for the History News Network]
Vladimir Putin, currently serving as Prime Minister of Russia and former President (2000-2008), has said he is considering a run to regain his presidential title. The Russian constitution restricts a person to two terms yet the amount of time for each of these terms has recently been increased to six years rather than four. As such, Putin could run to serve four more years. The Russian electorate, not to mention international observers, may be uneasy with the dynastic power Putin seems to want but he has one clear-cut advantage that his opponents may not have. He is bald.
Indeed, there exists a conspicuous alternation between full-haired and bald rulers of the northern empire/Soviet state/republic, a superstition which is taken very seriously by electing citizens. It would be the first time that a leader actually hand-picks his successor and then returns to power himself but the important thing is that he was bald(ing), his chosen successor President Medvedev has a nice head of hair and he will be back balder than ever.
Two Revolutions, a Cold War and some “Heads”
1. Georgy L’vov (Bald) – March 1917-July 1917 – 1st President of the Russian provisional government between the two revolutions of 1917.
2. Alexander Kerensky (Hair) – July 1917-November 1917 – 2nd President of the Russian provisional government that lasted until the Bolshevik coup.
3. Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov Lenin (Bald) – 1917-1924 – First chairman of the council of people’s commissars. Along with adjutant Trotsky and disciples such as Stalin, his Marxist vision of things to come for Soviet Russia was a more economic and philosophical one than what would be enacted by his sucessors.
4. Joseph Vissarionovitch Dzhugashvili Stalin (Hair) – 1924-1953 – General Secretary of the communist party of the Soviet Union, he gained power by pushing aside Trotsky and his supporters. Stalin was a major antagonist to his people as well as to the Western World, in part provoking the Cold War.
5. Nikita Khrushchev (Bald) – 1953-1964 – He was the eastern counterpart to John F. Kennedy during the Cuban missile crisis. His “loss” of this conflict led to his ultimate humiliation and forced resignation.
6. Leonid Brezhnev (Hair) – 1964-1982 – He directed the ruin of the Russian economy by excessive military build-up at the height of the Cold War. Outlasting many of his international counterparts, archives of his “presidency” remain highly classified and thus all analysis remains circumstantial.
7. Yuri Andropov (Bald) – 1982-1984 – He oversaw an uneventful administration that ended with his death. He worked for peace but was shunned by both Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.
8. Konstantin Chernenko (Hair) – 1984-1985 – His was another short, 13-month period that announced a pacification of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War.
9. Mikhail Gorbatchev (Bald) – 1985-1991 – He ended the Cold War by encouraging independence in Easter Europe with his Perestroïka (openness) program and through reconciliation with the West through his glastnost (transparency) policy.
10. Boris Yeltsin (Hair) – 1991-1999: First President of the Russian Republic and father to the economic collapse of the country.
11. Vladimir Putin (Bald) – 1999-2008: He stabilised the economic situation but has also acquired the surname “butcher of Grozny” for his violent reactions towards Chechen separatists. He will consider a third term in the future, a prospect that will not be hindered by his hair (or lack of).
12. Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev (Hair) – 2008-…: Putin’s hand-picked successor must live in the former President/new Prime Minister’s shadow and with very tense relations with the Western World. For now, Russia is working to solve its antagonistic relations with the United States, with Europe and especially with its former Soviet satellite states.
In the end, Putin is an extravagant character that likes to shock and have worldwide media talk about him. This is why he stipulated on a third term during a self-initiated public forum called “A Conversation with Vladimir Putin: The Sequel”. One would be tempted to not take the statement too seriously but that would be ignoring the limitless ambition of the one they call “The Butcher of Grozny”.
Read entire article at The End is Coming (History Blog)
Vladimir Putin, currently serving as Prime Minister of Russia and former President (2000-2008), has said he is considering a run to regain his presidential title. The Russian constitution restricts a person to two terms yet the amount of time for each of these terms has recently been increased to six years rather than four. As such, Putin could run to serve four more years. The Russian electorate, not to mention international observers, may be uneasy with the dynastic power Putin seems to want but he has one clear-cut advantage that his opponents may not have. He is bald.
Indeed, there exists a conspicuous alternation between full-haired and bald rulers of the northern empire/Soviet state/republic, a superstition which is taken very seriously by electing citizens. It would be the first time that a leader actually hand-picks his successor and then returns to power himself but the important thing is that he was bald(ing), his chosen successor President Medvedev has a nice head of hair and he will be back balder than ever.
Two Revolutions, a Cold War and some “Heads”
1. Georgy L’vov (Bald) – March 1917-July 1917 – 1st President of the Russian provisional government between the two revolutions of 1917.
2. Alexander Kerensky (Hair) – July 1917-November 1917 – 2nd President of the Russian provisional government that lasted until the Bolshevik coup.
3. Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov Lenin (Bald) – 1917-1924 – First chairman of the council of people’s commissars. Along with adjutant Trotsky and disciples such as Stalin, his Marxist vision of things to come for Soviet Russia was a more economic and philosophical one than what would be enacted by his sucessors.
4. Joseph Vissarionovitch Dzhugashvili Stalin (Hair) – 1924-1953 – General Secretary of the communist party of the Soviet Union, he gained power by pushing aside Trotsky and his supporters. Stalin was a major antagonist to his people as well as to the Western World, in part provoking the Cold War.
5. Nikita Khrushchev (Bald) – 1953-1964 – He was the eastern counterpart to John F. Kennedy during the Cuban missile crisis. His “loss” of this conflict led to his ultimate humiliation and forced resignation.
6. Leonid Brezhnev (Hair) – 1964-1982 – He directed the ruin of the Russian economy by excessive military build-up at the height of the Cold War. Outlasting many of his international counterparts, archives of his “presidency” remain highly classified and thus all analysis remains circumstantial.
7. Yuri Andropov (Bald) – 1982-1984 – He oversaw an uneventful administration that ended with his death. He worked for peace but was shunned by both Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.
8. Konstantin Chernenko (Hair) – 1984-1985 – His was another short, 13-month period that announced a pacification of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War.
9. Mikhail Gorbatchev (Bald) – 1985-1991 – He ended the Cold War by encouraging independence in Easter Europe with his Perestroïka (openness) program and through reconciliation with the West through his glastnost (transparency) policy.
10. Boris Yeltsin (Hair) – 1991-1999: First President of the Russian Republic and father to the economic collapse of the country.
11. Vladimir Putin (Bald) – 1999-2008: He stabilised the economic situation but has also acquired the surname “butcher of Grozny” for his violent reactions towards Chechen separatists. He will consider a third term in the future, a prospect that will not be hindered by his hair (or lack of).
12. Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev (Hair) – 2008-…: Putin’s hand-picked successor must live in the former President/new Prime Minister’s shadow and with very tense relations with the Western World. For now, Russia is working to solve its antagonistic relations with the United States, with Europe and especially with its former Soviet satellite states.
In the end, Putin is an extravagant character that likes to shock and have worldwide media talk about him. This is why he stipulated on a third term during a self-initiated public forum called “A Conversation with Vladimir Putin: The Sequel”. One would be tempted to not take the statement too seriously but that would be ignoring the limitless ambition of the one they call “The Butcher of Grozny”.