Supreme leader

Updated on Dec 13, 2023

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A supreme leader typically refers to the person among a number of leaders of a state, organization or other such group who has been given or is able to exercise the most – or complete – authority over it. In a religion, this role is usually satisfied by a person deemed to be the representative or manifestation of a god or gods on Earth. In politics, a supreme leader usually has a cult of personality associated with them, such as below:

Adolf Hitler (Führer) in Germany

Benito Mussolini (Duce) in Italy

Emperor Hirohito in Japan

Joseph Stalin (Vozhd) in the Soviet Union

The Supreme Leader of Iran

The Supreme Leader of North Korea

The Paramount leader of China

General Secretary of the Communist Party in Communist states

There have been many dictators and political party leaders who have assumed such personal and/or political titles to evoke their supreme authority. World War II, for example, saw many fascist and other far right figures model their rule on Hitler's Führer or Mussolini's Duce personae. On the far left, several communist leaders adopted "Supreme"-styled titles and/ or followed Stalin's Vozhd example.

List of titles

Listed by date of establishment.

1930s and earlier

Benito Mussolini, dictator of Fascist Italy, Prime Minister and leader of the National Fascist Party was titled Duce, which means "The Leader".

Antanas Smetona, the authoritarian president of Lithuania, adopted the title of Tautos Vadas ("Leader of the Nation").

Karlis Ulmanis, the authoritarian president of Latvia, adopted the title of "Leader of People" and "Father of the Nation".

Getúlio Vargas, dictator of Brasil, named in his era since 1930 as "Supreme Leader of Revolution".

Adolf Hitler, dictator of Germany from 1933 to 1945, was known as der Führer ("The Leader").

Francisco Franco, dictator of Francoist Spain, assumed the title Caudillo, originally an honorary title for an army leader.

Ioannis Metaxas, Greek dictator during the 4th of August Regime from 1936 until his death in 1941, assumed the title of Αρχηγός (Archigós, IPA: [arçiˈɣos]) meaning "The Leader".

Chiang Kai-shek, de facto leader of Kuomintang Republic of China, was sometimes referred as 領袖 (translit. lingxiu - "The Leader")

Joseph Stalin, de facto leader of the Soviet Union, decreed that he was to be officially designated as Вождь (translit. Vožd - "Chief", "Leader") from his fiftieth birthday in 1929. Alexander Kolchak, one of the leaders of White Movement, styled himself the "supreme ruler (verkhovny pravitel) of Russia".

Rafael Trujillo, Dominican dictator from 1930 to 1961, assumed the nickname of "El Jefe" ("The Boss").

Birger Furugård, leader of the Swedish National Socialist Party had the title of Riksledaren ("Leader of the Realm").

Subhas Chandra Bose, an Indian revolutionary in the Indian independence movement, was known as Netaji ("Respected Leader").

Engelbert Dollfuss and Kurt Schuschnigg, austrofascist leaders of Austria from 1933 to 1938, were referred to as Bundesführer ("Federal Leader") as heads of the Patriotic Front.

World War II

Ante Pavelić, as dictator of the Independent State of Croatia, named himself Poglavnik ("The Leader").

Ferenc Szálasi, as dictator of the Hungarian State, named himself Nemzetvezető ("Leader of the Nation").

Josef Tiso, President of the First Slovak Republic, named himself Vodca ("The Leader") in 1942.

Ion Antonescu, as Prime Minister of Romania during most of World War II, named himself Conducător ("The Leader").

Vidkun Quisling, leader of Nasjonal Samling and from 1942 Minister-President of the nominal Quisling regime, named himself Fører.

Frits Clausen, leader of the National Socialist Workers' Party of Denmark, had the title of Fører.

Anton Mussert, leader of the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands, was allowed to use the title Leider van het Nederlandsche Volk ("Leader of the Dutch people") by the Germans in 1942.

Léon Degrelle, leader of the Rexist Party, was named Chef-du-People-Wallon ("Leader of the Walloon people") in December 1944.

Jef van de Wiele, leader of the DeVlag party, was named Landsleider van het Vlaamsche Volk ("National Leader of the Flemish people") in December 1944.

Staf de Clercq, co-founder and leader of the Flemish nationalist Vlaamsch Nationaal Verbond, was referred to as den Leider by his followers.

Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists, was known as "The Leader".

Cold War era

Mao Zedong, the first Chairman of the Communist Party of China, officially named 伟大领袖毛主席 (translit. Wěidà Lǐngxiù Zhǔxí - "Great Leader Chairman").

Kim Il Sung, the first head of state of North Korea, is officially referred to by the North Korean government as 위대한 수령 (translit. widaehan suryŏng - "Great Leader").

Liaquat Ali Khan, the first Prime Minister of independent Pakistan was named as Quaid-i-Millat ("Father of the Nation") and Shaheed-i-Millat ("Martyr of Nation").

Sukarno, the president of post-revolution Indonesia was known as the Pemimpin Besar Revolusi (Great Leader of the Revolution) and Bung Karno ("Comrade Karno").

François Duvalier, the president-dictator of Haiti, obtained from the pocket parliament "Supreme Leader of Revolution" amongst other titles.

Ferdinand Marcos, the president-dictator of the Philippines, sometimes named as "Leader of Nation".

Fidel Castro, the communist ex-president of Cuba was known as the Máximo Líder ("Greatest Leader").

Enver Hoxha, the communist president of Albania was named as "The Leader", "Supreme Comrade", "Sole Force", "Great Teacher".

Nicolae Ceaușescu, the communist leader of Romania from 1965 to 1989, also adopted the title Conducător.

Mobutu Sese Seko, the president-dictator of Zaire, sometimes named as "Father of People" and "Saver of Nation".

Alfredo Stroessner, the dictatorial president of Paraguay from 1954 to 1989, was eulogized as Gran Líder and Único Líder.

Abd al-Karim Qasim, Prime Minister of Iraq from 1958 to 1963, named as al-za‘īm ("The Leader").

Saddam Hussein, the president-dictator of Iraq from 1979 to 2003, named as "The Leader".

Muammar Gaddafi, the Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution of Libya from 1979 to 2011.

Omar Torrijos, de facto dictator of Panama from 1968 to 1981, assumed the title Líder Máximo de la Revolución Panameña ("Supreme Leader of the Panamanian Revolution").

Nur Muhammad Taraki, the first president of pro-Soviet Afghanistan from 1978 to 1979 named as "The Great Leader", "The Star of the East" or "The Great Thinker".

The Supreme Leader of Iran, the highest-ranking political and religious authority in the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The first person to hold this title was the Ayatollah Khomeini

The President of the United States is sometimes referred to colloquially within the United States as "Leader of the Free World". Note that this was never adopted as an official title.

Post-Cold War

Nursultan Nazarbayev, since 1991 the President of Kazakhstan, was granted the title Ұлт Лидері (translit. Ult Lideri - "Leader of the Nation") by a parliamentary decision in 2010.

Saparmurat Niyazov, president-for-life and dictator of Turkmenistan, gave himself the title Türkmenbaşy ("Leader of all Turkmens") and Serdar ("The Leader").

Kim Jong-Il is officially referred to by the North Korean government as 친애하는 지도자 (translit. ch'inaehanŭn chidoja - "Honorable Leader") and "The Leader" (his father Kim Il Sung after death stayed as "Great Leader").

Kim Jong-Un had a "Supreme Guide" after his father Kim Jong-Il died in 2011.