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Some people are doomed to be remembered for just one terrible act... Join us as we examine the figures whose entire legacies were defined by a single notorious deed! From betrayers to assassins, these individuals committed acts so infamous they overshadowed everything else about their lives.
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00:00The Booth had a very intense, personal hatred for Abraham Lincoln.
00:04Welcome to WatchMojo, and we're looking at people who went down in history for one
00:10unforgettably horrible thing they did.
00:13Soon, everything Nero had done as emperor seemed to finally come to a head.
00:18Grigory Rasputin
00:20During the reign of Tsar Nicholas II, Grigory Rasputin, a Russian mystic, rose to prominence,
00:27all thanks to his perceived ability to heal the emperor's son, Alexei.
00:32Alexei's health improved, cementing the royal family's belief that Rasputin had magical
00:38healing powers and guaranteeing his privileged place on the royal court.
00:44Today, we know that the doctors had prescribed aspirin, a drug that worsens hemophilia.
00:50That supposed power gained him deep trust, enormous influence, and plenty of enemies.
00:55While some viewed him as a holy man, others saw him as a manipulator surrounded by rumors
01:01of drunken orgies, bribery, and political interference.
01:05Things reached a breaking point during World War I, when Nicholas II left domestic affairs
01:11in the hands of his wife, Alexandra, who relied heavily on Rasputin.
01:15As Russia's economy crumbled, public hatred fell on him.
01:18By the end of World War I, they were convinced the only way to maintain order was to eliminate
01:24this sham of a holy man.
01:26In 1916, Rasputin was brutally assassinated, and the Romanov dynasty collapsed shortly after.
01:34Today, history still remembers him as the scandalous mystic, tied to the empire's downfall.
01:40Guy Fawkes, political rebel, martyr, or freedom fighter.
01:48However you frame him, Guy Fawkes will always be remembered for one thing.
01:53The Gunpowder Plot
01:55In 1605, he was caught guarding barrels of gunpowder beneath the House of Lords in London,
02:01part of a conspiracy to assassinate King James I and Parliament.
02:04Although it's lunatic, the plot is actually viable.
02:07It's the Big Bang Theory of Destruction, in which you take out your enemy and then work
02:10out what happens next.
02:12His motivation?
02:13Fawkes was a devout Catholic who had fought with Spanish forces against Protestant states.
02:18By the time he joined the Gunpowder Plot, he wasn't acting alone.
02:22In fact, he was part of a group determined to restore Catholic leadership in England through
02:27violent means.
02:28Under the very noses of the Protestant state, this powder keg would sit until Parliament reconvened.
02:34Unfortunately, their mission failed.
02:37When an anonymous letter exposed the plot, Fawkes was arrested, tortured, and executed
02:42for treason.
02:43November 5th marks the failed plot, and its most infamous conspirator.
02:48Remember, remember the 5th of November, the gunpowder, treason, and plot.
02:54Captain Edward Smith
02:56In 1912, the magnificent Titanic set sail, unaware of the disaster awaiting it in the Atlantic.
03:03Leading the voyage was Captain Edward Smith, a veteran mariner whose name is now forever
03:09linked to the tragedy.
03:11A year earlier, Smith had been involved in a major mishap while commanding the RMS Olympic.
03:17Despite that, he was chosen to captain the Titanic, and that streak of bad luck seemed
03:22to follow him.
03:23You got to be the captain of a ship such as the Titanic, not simply by being the best navigator
03:29or sea captain, but by having the social savoir-faire.
03:34Though high speeds were standard practice back then, when the luxurious ship sank, many blamed
03:39Smith.
03:40Critics argued that the ship had been traveling too fast, while others claimed that Smith had
03:44ignored warnings about icebergs.
03:54Sadly, the mariner didn't survive to defend himself, leaving him remembered as the captain
04:00of the 20th century's most iconic ocean liner.
04:04Herostratus
04:05To gain everlasting fame, Herostratus dared to burn down the Temple of Artemis, one of
04:11the seven wonders of the ancient world.
04:13Made almost entirely of marble, this Ephesus temple was known for its massive size and stunning
04:19artwork.
04:20But in 356 BCE, on the same day Alexander the Great was born, Herostratus, an obscure figure,
04:27chose to destroy it.
04:29And yes, if you're wondering how do you burn down a stone temple, the answer is that there
04:33are wooden structural elements, because of course, as you know, stone is very strong
04:37under compression, but weak under tension.
04:39Instead of glory, he was arrested immediately and tortured to death, to stop his name from
04:45living on.
04:46Authorities issued damnatio memori, banning his name from ever being spoken or recorded.
04:51They cleared the site and rebuilt the shrine, making it even larger and more magnificent
04:55in the temple that had been destroyed.
04:58Ironically, ancient historians documented the story anyway, ensuring his plan succeeded
05:03centuries beyond his lifetime.
05:05Today, little is known about Herostratus, except that he destroyed beauty to feed his ego.
05:11In fact, we have the term Herostratic fame, which is used by pedantic people like me who
05:17give discourses on the structural features of stone, to mean the kind of fame you get for
05:21being famous or having done something wicked in order to become famous.
05:25Joseph McCarthy.
05:27When you hear the word McCarthyism, what comes to mind is fear replacing fact and power gone
05:33wrong.
05:34And that's because of Joseph McCarthy.
05:36The explosive charges trigger public hearings in the Senate.
05:39Live TV coverage provides millions of Americans with their first sustained look at the crusading
05:44senator and his bare knuckle methods.
05:47Remembered as one of the consequential figures in American politics, he weaponized paranoia and
05:53destroyed lives.
05:54In the early 1950s, during the Cold War panic, Senator McCarthy claimed he had a list of communists
06:00infiltrating the US military, government and media.
06:03Apparently, the president may now agree on the necessity of getting rid of communists.
06:09We apparently disagree only on how we should handle those who have been protecting communists.
06:15The problem?
06:17He rarely provided solid evidence.
06:20Accusations shifted, names changed, and careers were destroyed based on suspicion alone.
06:26Was he lying?
06:27Not entirely, since there were indeed spies.
06:30But McCarthy's methods were reckless and often unconstitutional.
06:34His downfall came during the 1954 Army McCarthy hearings, where his tactics were exposed.
06:41Six months later, the Senate officially censures him.
06:45His reign of terror is over.
06:46In 1957, he died, disgraced and largely abandoned.
06:50Typhoid Mary.
06:52You've probably heard the name Typhoid Mary, a label for anyone who spreads disease or misfortune.
06:58It belonged to Mary Mallon, an Irish immigrant cook in early 20th century New York.
07:03She's believed to have infected between 51 and 122 people, with three confirmed deaths.
07:10We don't know when she originally got typhoid fever, but she was definitely a carrier.
07:14Mallon looked healthy, even as the wealthy families she served fell ill.
07:19Public health investigator George Soper eventually identified her as an asymptomatic carrier,
07:24something almost unheard of at the time.
07:27Still, Mallon refused to stop cooking, denied responsibility, leading to her forced quarantine
07:33in 1907.
07:34After her release, she secretly returned to work, sparking new outbreaks.
07:39Mallon didn't have a way to make a decent living doing anything else though,
07:42so when the city lost touch with her, she went right back to the kitchen.
07:45Arrested again, she lived the rest of her life quarantined at North Brother Island,
07:50passing away in 1938 at age 69.
07:54Health experts still debate the ethics of how their profession treated Mary Mallon,
08:00but there's no doubting the long shadow she continues to cast as Typhoid Mary.
08:06Lee Harvey Oswald.
08:08Before the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald was largely unknown.
08:14A former U.S. Marine, he had a history of drifting through life.
08:18He shoots on a rifle range 212, which means he qualifies for the second-highest position
08:23in the Marine Corps, that of a sharpshooter.
08:25He was court-martialed twice, briefly jailed and eventually discharged from active duty.
08:30At one point, he even defected to the Soviet Union.
08:33When he came to us and began to ask for asylum here so insistently, the first reaction was to refuse
08:41and not to give him permission to stay in the Soviet Union, let alone to give him political asylum.
08:47Then came November 22, 1963, which changed the way he'd be viewed forever.
08:53On Wednesday evening, two days before the assassination,
08:56One of the boarders at the rooming house recalls Oswald intently watching a TV news story about
09:03President Kennedy's visit to Dallas.
09:05On that fateful day, as Kennedy's motorcade passed through Dallas, Oswald fired from the
09:10Texas School Book Depository, killing Kennedy and injuring Texas Governor John Connolly.
09:16Shortly after, he shot and murdered a Dallas police officer while fleeing.
09:20Oswald was finally arrested, but before he could stand trial,
09:24He was shot on live TV by nightclub owner Jack Ruby.
09:27Nero
09:28The emperor who, according to legend, fiddled while Rome burned.
09:33Nero ruled from 54 to 68 CE and is remembered as one of Rome's most despised leaders.
09:39The last of the Julio-Claudian emperors, Nero transformed the greatest empire the world has
09:44ever seen into a playground for his darkest desires.
09:47Regarded as extravagant and ruthless, he eliminated rivals, killed his mother,
09:53and persecuted Christians.
09:55To be fair, his reign wasn't entirely bad.
09:58He supported the arts, implemented reforms, and launched public works to help Rome recover from
10:03earlier disasters.
10:04Still, these achievements are often overshadowed by his reputation.
10:08Not only is he viewed as the incompetent emperor who did nothing while Rome burned,
10:13but some even believe he started the fire.
10:16Over a total of nearly nine days, two-thirds of Rome had burned to the ground.
10:20Declared enemy of Rome, he fled, and has been portrayed in a negative light ever since.
10:26Emperor Nero died that morning, unloved and alone, a pariah to his people.
10:32John Wilkes Booth
10:33All because he refused to accept emancipation and equality,
10:37John Wilkes Booth committed one of history's most devastating crimes.
10:41The president and Mrs. Lincoln saw him perform twice, both times in Ford's theater.
10:47This is the first time in a play called The Marble Heart, 17 months before the assassination.
10:53They live!
10:55Some onlookers think Booth uses the play to threaten Lincoln.
10:59To Booth, President Abraham Lincoln represented everything he hated.
11:03The abolition of slavery, the Union's victory, and the possibility of black civil rights.
11:09First, he planned to kidnap Lincoln and use him as leverage to free Confederate prisoners.
11:14But when that failed, and the war ended, Booth escalated to murder.
11:19On April 14, 1865, he shot Lincoln at Ford's theater.
11:23Notice the bulge in Booth's pocket.
11:26That's a .44 Derringer.
11:27Small, easy to conceal, the perfect assassin's gun.
11:34But here's the thing, it only carries one shot.
11:38Booth will have to get as close as he possibly can to the president.
11:42Instead of becoming the hero he imagined, he was hunted down and killed 12 days later.
11:48All thanks to his hateful act.
11:50His name is synonymous with infamy, often overshadowing the fact that he was once a celebrated actor.
11:57Paralyzed from the neck down, Booth slowly, painfully died.
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12:18Judas Iscariot
12:20Out of Jesus' twelve disciples, Judas Iscariot took it upon himself to betray his rabbi.
12:26For that, his name has become synonymous with treachery.
12:29Now, Smithers, how'd the beating go?
12:32Sir, I, there was no beating.
12:34What? Well, that's a hell of a thing. Why?
12:36Because I, I called it on.
12:38Judas!
12:39Scriptures hint at his darker tendencies, but everything reached its peak on the night of the
12:44betrayal. According to the Gospel of Matthew, Judas handed Jesus over to the religious authorities
12:50for thirty pieces of silver, identifying him with a kiss.
12:53The actual sum was very small, thirty pieces of silver. It might have kept him going for a month
12:59or so, but not for very long.
13:01That single gesture set in motion Jesus' arrest, torture, and crucifixion.
13:07The betrayal cuts deeper because Judas was part of Jesus' inner circle, not just a distant
13:12follower, though he later returned the money in remorse. History never forgave him for what he did.
13:18He remains a lasting symbol of betrayal, greed, and tragic downfall.
13:33What other historical figures are remembered for one terrible thing?
13:37Drop a line in the comments section.
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