I came across a very surprising fact in the book I am reading.  It was about a poll taken in 1937 and 1938 of freshman students at Princeton University.   One question they were asked was, who is the greatest living American?  Their first choice was FDR, followed by Charles Evans Hughs and Herbert Hoover in second that third position.

They were also asked to name the greatest living person, not just American.  The answer, in both of those years?  Adolf Hitler.  In second position was Albert Einstein.

The war had not started yet, that would not begin until September 1939.  However by 1938 German Jews were persecuted, Kristallnact had already taken place, and Germany had already invaded the Sudentenland.  The Nuremberg laws, which took all rights away from the Jews, was in 1935.   Yet, still, Princeton freshman selected Hitler as the greatest living person.

By 1945, Churchill replaced Hitler in that poll.  After 355  Princeton students and alums sacrificed their lives in the war.