The invective and verbal broadsides that have surrounded both the UK ’s Brexit referendum and the U.S. Presidential election have grown progressively coarse as 2016 has gone by — but political revilement polemist are nothing new . From Chief Executive to Prime Ministers , via the likes of Field - Marshal Haig and even the Prince Regent , some of history ’s most famous figures have been at both the giving and receive end of some famed political zingers .
1. HERBERT HOOVER of FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
The 1932 U.S. election campaign was a bitter and pregnant one , with Republican Herbert Hoover clashing frequently with Democrat ( and eventual victor ) Franklin Roosevelt . Roosevelt ’s supporter might not have helped matter by calling Hoover a “ fat , faint-hearted capon , ” but Hoover had barbs of his own to have back at his opponent ; show out how often Roosevelt seemed to change his stance on important issues , Hooverfamously likened himto “ a chamaeleon on tartan . ”
2. THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON of THE PRINCE REGENT
Arthur Wellesley , 1st Duke of Wellington , secure his property in history with his frustration of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 . But in later life Wellington entered government , and serve two ( albeit fairly unforesightful ) damage as British Prime Minister , as well as a figure of other high - ranking ministerial placement in the British cabinet , in the early nineteenth century . His telling political and military careers were enough to see him mix with the highest of British high companionship at the metre , include the Prince Regent of the House of Hanover ( afterwards King George IV)—whom it appears he did n’t take to particularly well at all :
This comment , in which Wellington compares the prince to Shakespeare ’s drunken lothario Sir John Falstaff , was muttered ( presumptively in confidence)to Wellington ’s friend and fellow pol , Thomas Creevey .
3. MARGOT ASQUITH of DAVID LLOYD GEORGE
Margot Asquith was the socialite wife of HH Asquith , Prime Minister of Great Britain for the first one-half of the First World War , while David Lloyd George was for much of this time Asquith ’s Chancellor of the Exchequer . But after eight years in mightiness , a serial of political ( and , follow the outbreak of the War , military ) flub eventually led Asquith to ill-use down in 1916 and Lloyd Georgeto take his plaza . The pair had a bitter and very public descend out that threw their Liberal Party into mental confusion — but it was Lloyd George ’s constant unfavorable judgment of his former Quaker and Prime Minister that take to Asquith ’s wife famously commenting that “ He could not see a belt without hit below it . ”
4. ABRAHAM LINCOLN of STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS
As northerly popular presidential candidate for President , Stephen A. Douglas was one of Abraham Lincoln ’s opponents in the 1860 election , but the pair had a long story of sparring and disagreement — culminating in the famous Lincoln – Douglas debates of 1858 . It wasduring some stump speech , however , that Douglas pass off to poke sport at Lincoln ’s low beginnings as a storekeeper , which led Lincoln to call on the put-on around on his opponent :
5. JAMES MAXTON of RAMSAY MACDONALD
The Scottish politician James Maxton was among the most controversial Members of the British Parliament in the early 20th century . A staunch supporter of Scottish base principle , he was a painstaking dissident who fight Britain ’s involvement in the First World War and once had his parliamentary privileges taken away after he tag Conservative MP Sir Frederick Banbury a “ murderer ” for absent free milk from schoolhouse . One of Maxton ’s most famous quotes , however , came when he interrupted a speech by Labour Party Leader Ramsay MacDonald with this immortal job : “ Sit down man ! You ’re a bloody disaster . ”
6. FIELD-MARSHAL HAIG of EARL OF DERBY
Field - Marshal Douglas Haig was Commander of the British Expeditionary Force from 1915 until the end of the First World War , and coordinated Britain ’s military action on the Western Front , including during the Battle of the Somme . During that meter Edward Stanley , 17th Earl of Derby , was the British Secretary of State for War , butDerby ’s to a fault compliant and sycophantic behaviorin parliament contrasted with Haig ’s naturally authoritative character , and put the two men at odds — a relationship summed up in this famously barbed gossip by Haig :
7. HENRY WATTERSON of GROVER CLEVELAND
8. THEODORE ROOSEVELT of WOODROW WILSON
In ancient Byzantium , alogothetewas a pencil - push administrator — so when Theodore Rooseveltfamously labeledPresident Woodrow Wilson “ a tangled logothete ” in 1915 , he was accusing him of dithering over America ’s participation in the First World War . ( To whichThe New York Timeshilariously react [ PDF ] , “ If it were so , it were a gregious fault ; but in the names of all the words at once , what is ‘ a logothete ’ ? fell to the lexicon … ” ) .
9. BENJAMIN DISRAELI on WILLIAM GLADSTONE
The British politician ( and acclaimed novelist ) Benjamin Disraeli double served as Prime Minister in the mid-19th century . He is notable for his verbal spar peer with four - time Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone , of whom he splendidly said , “ he has not one single redeeming defect . ” Disraeli was no more soft on of fellow Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel , whose smile he purportedly likened to “ the silver-tongued fittings on a coffin . ”
10. JOHN ADAMS of ALEXANDER HAMILTON
Not even the Founding Fathers were resistant to the harshest of revilement : in a letterto Benjamin Rush in January 1806 , John Adams label Alexander Hamilton “ a fake brat of a Scotch pedler . ” In fact , Adams liked the comment so much that he dot it off just about every time he had to mention Hamilton in print : Merriam - Webster ’s archive have unearthed Adams usingprecisely the same expressionagain , in letters dating from 1813 and 1816 .
All double good manners of Getty Images .
