Random Most Surprising Jobs Held By People Who Later Became World Leaders (15 items)

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  (#1) Joseph Stalin

  • Dec. at 75 (1878-1953)

  One of the most notorious political leaders of the 20th century, Joseph Stalin led the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s to 1953. By 1937, he held complete personal control over both the Communist Party and the state.

  The son of a cobbler and a washerwoman, Stalin grew up in poverty. As a teenager, he enrolled at the Spiritual Seminary of Tiflis with the intention of becoming a priest. In constant trouble with his instructors, he eventually lost interest in his studies and joined a forbidden book club. It was through this club that he was first introduced to Marxism. Stalin left the seminary in 1899 and took a job at the Main Physical Observatory in Tiflis at the age of 21. There, he was employed as an observer and recorder of meteorological data. This was the only "ordinary" job the future General Secretary of the Communist Party and Premier of the Soviet Union would ever hold. 

  While working at the observatory, Stalin continued his revolutionary activities, and organized protests and strikes. This led to the end of his meteorological career in 1901. After this, Stalin began to work full-time for the socialist revolutionary movement. 
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  (#2) Borut Pahor

  • 55

  Borut Pahor's extremely successful political career has spanned three decades. He's the first person in Slovenia's history to have served as its speaker of the parliament, prime minister, and president, and only the second person to win two terms as president.

  Despite his extensive experience, his political rivals still refer to him as "Barbie" because of his previous work. While attending university in the capital city of Ljubljana (where he studied political science), Pahor worked as a male model to help pay for his studies.

  Today, Pahor doesn't shy away from his past career as a model. In fact, he leans into it. Using social media to help get his political message across, he has posted many photos of himself in different types of poses on Instagram. There is even a hashtag, #boruting, which Slovenians use to parody his social media poses and personas.
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  (#3) Mao Zedong

  • Dec. at 83 (1893-1976)

  Though widely recognized today as one of the most influential leaders in modern history, at one point in his life, Mao Zedong struggled to earn a living as a university librarian.

  Born into a wealthy farming family in 1893, Mao bounced from job to job as a young man. A supporter of the Xinhua Revolution, he joined the rebel forces. He resigned shortly after the Republic of China was formed in 1912 and, over the next few months, enrolled in and dropped out of various schools for soap production, law, and economics, as well as a police academy.

  In 1913, Mao tried to become a teacher and enrolled at the Hunan Provincial Fourth Normal School. After it was merged into the Provincial First Normal School, Mao became exposed to Marxist ideas and became convinced of the need to organize a communist party.

  After graduation, Mao moved to Peking (Beijing) and lost the financial support of his family. He landed a job as an assistant librarian at the university. Although he was able to continue his intellectual pursuits and get involved in political activities, Mao grew tired of his menial job and left the position in 1919.
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  (#4) Comedian - Jimmy Morales, President Of Guatemala

  • 50

  When Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina became embroiled in multiple corruption scandals prior to the 2015 presidential election, he inadvertently launched the career of an unlikely candidate from the tiny, underfunded National Convergence Front Party. Touting an anti-establishment platform, Jimmy Morales ran on the slogan, "neither corrupt, nor a thief," and voters responded. Morales, who had never held public office before, became president that October.

  At the time of his election, Morales held a degree in business administration, a master's in media management, and was pursuing a PhD in security and defense studies. However, he was best known to the public as a comedian. For 15 years, he had starred with his brother Sammy in the comedy series Moralejas ("Morals"). The television show, which was heavy on slapstick, showed Morales and his brother in various roles, including bumbling cowboys Nito and Neto. In one eerily prophetic episode, Neto (played by Jimmy Morales) accidentally runs for president of Guatemala and wins.

  After being elected - in large part because of his anti-corruption campaign - Morales, himself, and several family members faced accusations of fraud, money laundering, and other corruption charges. In 2017, his older brother Sammy and his eldest son José Manuel were charged with fraud by the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). Both men were acquitted by a Guatemalan court in August 2019. The CICIG also tried to have Morales impeached for alleged campaign finance irregularities, but the president survived a vote in Congress to strip him of immunity.

  In February 2019, another member of Morales's family was involved in a scandal when his wife was accused of cashing several illicit checks given to the couple during the 2015 presidential campaign.
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  (#5) Nicolás Maduro

  • 56

  Since his 2013 ascension to the Venezuelan presidency, Nicolás Maduro has faced numerous problems: His country's economy collapsed, crime rates rose, and the White House labeled him a dictator. The last occurred when Maduro made a power grab in the summer of 2017 by convening a super assembly to try and rewrite the country's constitution. During the ensuing protests, hundreds of citizens were slain. In January 2019, shortly after Maduro was reelected, National Assembly leader Juan Guaidó proclaimed himself interim president, alleging widespread vote rigging and that the presidency was vacant as a result.

  That's a lot of turmoil for someone who claims to have never aspired to become a world leader. The son of a prominent trade union leader, Maduro was born into a working-class family. He was the president of the student union of his high school, but never graduated. He began his working life as a bus driver, and worked several years for the Caracas Metro.

  During his employment there, Maduro joined the Socialist Union and helped to establish one of the company’s first informal trade unions - as official unionization was banned in the company at the time. Maduro met Hugo Chávez in 1993 and became a key figure in the latter's Bolivarian Movement. He helped to launch the Movement for the Fifth Republic in 1997, which backed Chávez’s presidential run. In 1998, when Chávez won an astonishing electoral victory, Maduro was elected as an MP.
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  (#6) Composer - Ivo Josipović, Former President Of Croatia

  • 62

  Ivo Josipović served as president of Croatia from 2010 to 2015, and became the first president of that country to not be elected to a second term. He is currently the leader of the non-parliamentary Forward Croatia Party, and has discussed the possibility of merging that party with the country's Social Democratic Party. He has denied any intention of running for president again.

  Josipović originally studied to become a musician, not a politician, and graduated from the Zagreb Music Academy in 1983. He has served as the music director of the international classical music festival Music Biennale Zagreb since 1991, and occasionally lectures at the Zagreb Music Academy.

  The composer of at least 45 chamber music pieces, Josipović's work has been performed by musicians both in Croatia and in other countries. He has won awards for his music, including one from the European Broadcasting Union (1985) and the Porin Award (1999) for his composition "Samba da Camera." He won another Porin Award in 2000 for his composition "Tisuću lotosa" ("A Thousand Lotuses").

  When he was elected president in 2010, Josipović vowed not to give up his musical career. He announced that he would spend his spare time composing an opera on John Lennon’s passing, but later admitted his duties were too time-consuming to allow him to work on it.
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  (#7) Oncologist - Tabaré Vázquez, President Of Uruguay

  • 79

  Tabaré Vázquez was elected to a second, non-consecutive term as president of Uruguay in 2015. With his previous win in 2004, he became the first person from a left-wing party to be elected president of the country. 

  Inspired to become a doctor from a young age, Vázquez chose to focus on oncology after both his parents and his sister passed from cancer in the 1960s. He studied medicine at the Universidad de la República and graduated in 1972. Vázquez later received a grant from the French government that allowed him to receive additional training at the Institut Gustave Roussy, a well-regarded cancer research institute located just outside of Paris.

  Since being elected to his first term as president in 2005, Vázquez has pushed for several health-related policies. In 2006, Uruguay became the first country in Latin America to ban smoking in indoor public places. In an effort to provide comprehensive health care to all its citizens, regardless of their ability to pay, the country introduced the National Integrated Health System in 2007. 

  In August 2019, the 79-year-old Vázquez was diagnosed with lung cancer. The president stated he has no plans to step down before his term ends in March 2020.
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  (#8) Comedian And Actor - Volodymyr Zelensky, President Of Ukraine

  • 41

  Zelensky is the world leader whose July 2019 phone call with Donald Trump is at the center of the current impeachment inquiry against the US president. Like Trump, Zelensky also went from television star to leader of a country.

  The comic-turned-politician had worked in the entertainment industry since the ripe age of 17. Although he has a real law degree, Zelensky was best known to Ukrainians for his role as the fictional president of Ukraine on Servant of the People, a satirical sitcom. The sitcom ran from 2015 until shortly prior to Zelensky's May 2019 inauguration, when he turned his fictional role into his real one. 
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  (#9) George Weah

  • 52

  Once regarded as one of the greatest players on the pitch, George Weah was elected president of Liberia in 2017.

  As a professional footballer, Weah was known for his acceleration, speed, dribbling, and ability to finish. During his distinguished 18-year career, Weah was nicknamed "King George" by his fans, and became the first non-European to win the Ballon d'Or - the award for the FIFA Player of the Year - while playing for AC Milan. He remains the only African player to win that honor. Weah was named the African Player of the Century in 1996, and also won European and World Footballer of the Year titles between 1995 and 2000. In 2004, Pelé included him on his list of the greatest soccer players in history.

  Weah moved into politics following his 2003 retirement from the game. He first ran for president in 2005, but lost in a run-off election to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. He eventually was elected to the Liberian Senate in 2014, then won the 2017 presidential election by receiving more than 60% of the vote.
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  (#10) Silvio Berlusconi

  • 82

  A billionaire media mogul and current member of the European Parliament, Silvio Berlusconi served three separate terms (1994-95, 2001-06, and 2008-11) as the prime minister of Italy. He has been a polarizing figure for most of his political life, as evidenced by Italians' reaction to his 2011 resignation: They celebrated in the streets.

  Prior to becoming a media mogul and politician, Berlusconi sang in bars and on cruise ships in the Mediterranean. This was during the 1950s and early '60s as Berlusconi was studying to become a lawyer. One of the places where he performed was Bar Kontiki on the island of Elba.

  Over the course of his career, Berlusconi has been tried in Italian courts for a multitude of allegations, from bribery to tax fraud to abuse of office, and more. He was convicted on the tax fraud charges in 2013, but avoided jail time due to his advanced age. The conviction originally carried with it a ban prohibiting Berlusconi from running for office, though the ban was overturned on appeal.

  Despite all the scandals that have surrounded him, Berlusconi the performer still had some fans. When he announced in 2011 that he would be stepping down as prime minister, the owner of Bar Kontiki offered to give him his old job as a singer back.
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  (#11) Dentist - Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov, President Of Turkmenistan

  • 62

  Berdymukhamedov was appointed the acting president of Turkmenistan after his predecessor, Saparmurat Niyazov, passed in December 2006. He subsequently ran for election in 2007 - after a provision in the Turkmen constitution barring acting presidents from doing so was removed by the People's Council - and faced only a token opposition. He was reelected in 2012, allegedly with 97% of the vote.

  Berdymukhamedov originally trained to be a dentist, graduating from the Turkmen State Institute in 1979 and later earning a PhD in medical sciences. He worked as a dentist from 1980 to 1995, after which he was named head of the dentistry center of the Turkmen Ministry of Health. At the same time, he was appointed associate professor and dean of the dentistry faculty of the Turkmen State Medical Institute. He subsequently became President Niyazov's personal dentist and, in 1997, was named the country's health minister. 

  Unfortunately, under his term as health minister, Turkmenistan reportedly had some of the worst health care in the region. In 2005, all hospitals were closed and all health workers were fired in the country except those in the capital, Ashgabat. However, conditions improved after Berdymukhamedov came to power and reversed some of his predecessor's policies.

  Known for his PR stunts, Berdymukhamedov is a colorful world leader. He has written books on subjects such as tea drinking and herbal medicine, and even wrote a rap song about horses. His presidency is officially called the era of Might and Happiness. However, Turkmenistan ranks extremely low on the world freedom index and has been branded as one of the most repressive states in the world.
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  (#12) James A. Garfield

  • Dec. at 50 (1831-1881)

  James Garfield was the first sitting member of the US Congress to be elected president. He served in Congress as a representative from Ohio for nearly 20 years, but his role as the 20th president of the United States was much briefer. He was assassinated in July 1881, less than seven months into his term.

  In his adolescence, Garfield worked to help support his widowed mother. At 15, he decided to try his luck at sea, but failed to land a position as a crew member on a schooner. He instead went to work for his cousin, Amos Letcher, who was the captain of a canal boat called the Evening Star. Letcher agreed to pay Garfield $8 a month to drive mules on the Erie Canal between Cleveland and Pittsburgh. These mules pulled boats containing copper ore by walking slowly along the banks. Their driver was known as the "hoggee."

  In Horatio Alger's biography of Garfield, From Canal Boy to President, the author claims two mules fell into the canal on Garfield's first day at work. The Evening Star got tangled up with another canal boat, but fortunately, the teenager was able to get himself and the mules to safety. When asked what he had been doing in the canal, Garfield allegedly said, "I was just taking my morning bath."

  Garfield did not have very good luck in this job, as that was the first of 14 times he reportedly fell or was dragged into the canal. His mother eventually convinced him to go back to school.
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  (#13) Herbert Hoover

  • Dec. at 90 (1874-1964)

  The future 31st president of the United States had an entrepreneurial bent from an early age. While still a teenager, Herbert Hoover co-founded a company that repaired sewing machines.

  As a member of the very first class (1891) at Stanford University, Hoover did not have to pay tuition. He did, however, need to cover the costs of his room, board, and textbooks. To help with these costs, he started a successful laundry service for students. He even made a profit when he sold the business to another student.

  Hoover majored in geology in college, and during the summers worked as a student assistant on geological survey teams in Arkansas, California, and Nevada. He looked for a job as a surveyor after graduation, but instead ended up pushing an ore cart in a gold mine near Nevada City, California. Hoover eventually got a job as an engineer inspecting and evaluating mines for potential purchase. He moved to Australia in 1897 and then to China in 1899, where he worked as a mining engineer until 1902. He opened his own mining consulting business in 1908.
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  (#14) Boyko Borisov

  • 59

  Boyko Borisov is currently serving his third term as prime minister of Bulgaria, although he has twice resigned from the position - once in response to nationwide political protests and once following the 2016 election. He has been involved in several scandals during his various terms as prime minister, including an accusation of having ties with the Bulgarian mob.

  Borisov held several positions in the Ministry of Internal Affairs before quitting to form the private security company Ipon-1. The company was charged with the protection of the former communist leader of Bulgaria, Todor Zhivkov. Borisov subsequently worked as the personal bodyguard for Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the former king of Bulgaria, when the royal returned from exile.

  In addition to his political role, Borisov has occasionally played for the professional soccer club FC Vitosha Bistritsa. In 2013, after he resigned from his first stint as prime minister, he became the oldest person to ever play in a game for a professional Bulgarian soccer team; he was 54.
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  (#15) Harry S. Truman

  • Dec. at 88 (1884-1972)

  While serving in WWI, Truman met Edward "Eddie" Jacobson. The two men had such good success running the canteen at Camp Doniphan in Oklahoma that they decided to go into business together after the conflict ended. Their haberdashery, Truman & Jacobson, opened its doors on November 28, 1919, in Kansas City, Missouri.

  The store sold mainly gentlemen's accessories (shirts, belts, neckties, etc.) but also some suits. Jacobson acted as buyer while Truman, who had sold his holdings in the family farm in order to provide most of the startup money for the haberdashery, was the accountant. Truman wrote one fellow veteran, "We are not handling any booze or candy or apples” but “our shirt line and the rest of it are as good as money can buy.”

  Truman later claimed that the business made a profit of around $70,000 in 1920, and filed the articles of incorporation that would have made him the president of the store on February 23, 1921. However, the United States was in the midst of a post-WWI recession, and the fortunes of the store soon changed. Truman & Jacobson had amassed an inventory worth about $30,000, and was forced to stage the equivalent of a fire sale before closing its doors in September 1922. Jacobson went into bankruptcy; Truman, though heavily in debt, managed to avoid the same fate.

  Despite the failure of their business, the two men remained friends. In 1923, Truman was elected as a judge in Jackson County, Missouri, which kickstarted his political career. Jacobson remained in the clothing business as a traveling salesman, and eventually opened another store in Kansas City. It was Jacobson who, in 1948, persuaded Truman to meet with Dr. Chaim Weizmann, the leader of the Zionist movement. The meeting helped lead to the US becoming the first country to grant diplomatic recognition to the new nation of Israel.

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