The Most Famous
POLITICIANS from U.S. Virgin Islands
This page contains a list of the greatest Politicians. The pantheon dataset contains 19,576 Politicians, 1 of which were born in U.S. Virgin Islands. This makes U.S. Virgin Islands the birth place of the 211th most number of Politicians behind French Guiana, and Macedonia.
Top 2
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Politicians of all time. This list of famous Politicians is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.
1. Judah P. Benjamin (1811 - 1884)
With an HPI of 47.90, Judah P. Benjamin is the most famous Politician. His biography has been translated into 27 different languages on wikipedia.
Judah Philip Benjamin (August 6, 1811 – May 6, 1884) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Louisiana, a Cabinet officer of the Confederate States and, after his escape to Britain at the end of the American Civil War, an English barrister. Benjamin was the first Jew to hold a Cabinet position in North America and the first to be elected to the United States Senate who had not renounced his faith. Benjamin was born to Sephardic Jewish parents from London who had moved to Saint Croix in the Danish West Indies when it was occupied by Britain during the Napoleonic Wars. Seeking greater opportunities, his family immigrated to the United States, eventually settling in Charleston, South Carolina. Benjamin attended Yale College but left without graduating. He moved to New Orleans, where he read law and passed the bar. He rose rapidly both at the bar and in politics, becoming a wealthy slaveholding planter who was elected to and served in both houses of the Louisiana legislature prior to his election by the legislature to the U.S. Senate in 1852. There, he was a vocal advocate of slavery. After Louisiana seceded in 1861, Benjamin resigned as senator and returned to New Orleans. He soon moved to Richmond after Confederate President Jefferson Davis appointed him as Attorney General. Benjamin had little to do in that position, but Davis was impressed by his competence and appointed him as Secretary of War. He was a firm supporter of Davis, who reciprocated that loyalty by promoting him to Secretary of State in March 1862, while Benjamin was being criticized for the Confederate defeat at Roanoke Island. As Secretary of State, Benjamin attempted to gain official recognition for the Confederacy by France and the United Kingdom, but his efforts were ultimately unsuccessful. To preserve the Confederacy as military defeats made its situation increasingly desperate, he advocated freeing and arming the slaves, but his proposals were only partially accepted in the closing month of the war. When Davis fled the Confederate capital of Richmond in early 1865, Benjamin went with him. He left the presidential party and was successful in escaping from the mainland United States, but Davis was captured by the Union Army. Benjamin sailed to Britain, where he settled and became a barrister, again rising to the top of his profession before retiring in 1883. He died in Paris in the following year.
2. John de Jongh Jr. (b. 1957)
With an HPI of 28.89, John de Jongh Jr. is the 2nd most famous Politician. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.
John Percy de Jongh Jr. (born November 13, 1957) is an American businessman and politician who served as the Governor of the United States Virgin Islands from 2007 to 2015. He has been active in Virgin Islands politics and the business community since returning to St. Thomas after graduating from college in 1981. De Jongh has been involved in community development, commercial banking, served on the boards of business and philanthropic organizations, appointed to government positions and elected to public office. De Jongh ran for governor in the 2002 general election as an independent candidate, placing second with 24.4% of the vote and losing to the incumbent, Charles W. Turnbull. In the 2006 general election de Jongh ran as the Democratic Party candidate and defeated former Lieutenant Governor Kenneth Mapp in a runoff and became governor. In 2010, he was re-elected to a second term and served until January 5, 2015, when he was term limited.
People
Pantheon has 2 people classified as politicians born between 1811 and 1957. Of these 2, 1 (50.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living politicians include John de Jongh Jr.. The most famous deceased politicians include Judah P. Benjamin. As of April 2024, 1 new politicians have been added to Pantheon including John de Jongh Jr..
