7 Adorable Childhood Photos of History’s Worst Monsters

1. Saddam Hussein – The Boy Who Would Become a Tyrant

Born in 1937 in a small village near Tikrit, Iraq, young Saddam Hussein posed for this photo with the kind of sweet, gap-toothed smile that would make any grandmother pinch his cheeks. But this adorable child grew up fatherless and raised by abusive relatives, eventually seizing power in Iraq and ruling for over two decades through fear and brutality . His regime killed tens of thousands, and he was finally executed in 2006 for crimes against humanity—a far cry from the innocent boy in this photograph.