Pol Pot

== Personal life and characteristics ==
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| quote = To add to the confusion, even his [Pol Pot's] identity remains in question. In an interview with Yugoslav television in 1977, Pol Pot said he had come from a poor peasant family. But a Cambodian refugee in Paris, Laau Phuok, insists that Pol Pot's real name is Saloth Sar, and that his father was a landowner distantly related to the royal family. A third version is that Pol Pot is really Tol Sat, a revolutionary who was elected to the Khmer Rouge ''People's Representative Assembly'' in Phnom Penh in 1976. To complete the mystery, photographs of Pol Pot tend to change in appearance ever so slightly through the years.
| source=— Journalist Christopher Jones, 1981<ref name=":3" />
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David Chandler characterized Pol Pot as having a thirst for power,{{sfn|Chandler|1992|p=3}} being introspective,{{sfn|Chandler|1992|p=6}} self-effacing,{{sfn|Chandler|1992|p=159}} and displaying self-control.{{sfn|Chandler|1992|p=159}} He was also described as being highly reclusive,{{sfn|Chandler|1992|p=7}} obsessed with secrecy,{{sfn|Chandler|1992|p=182}} and fearful of the threat of assassination.{{sfn|Chandler|1992|p=139}} He was often in control while pretending not to be;{{sfn|Chandler|1992|p=179}} Short stated that he "delighted in appearing to be what he was not&nbsp;– a nameless face in the crowd".{{sfn|Short|2004|p=6}} During his political career, he used a wide array of pseudonyms: Pouk, Hay, Pol, 87, Grand-Uncle, Elder Brother, First Brother and in later years he used the pseudonyms 99 and Phem.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=5}} He told a secretary that "the more often you change your name the better. It confuses the enemy".{{sfn|Short|2004|p=5}} In later life he concealed and falsified many details of his life.{{sfn|Chandler|1992|p=7}} He never explained why he chose the pseudonym "Pol Pot",{{sfn|Short|2004|p=212}} although in 1997, [[William T. Vollmann]] stated that it was derived from the French phrase "politique potentiel".<ref name=Vollman>[https://books.google.com/books?id=HpC1D--hcoAC&pg=PA85 Holiday in Cambodia], by [[William T. Vollman]]; in ''[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]''; published March 1997; p. 85</ref>

According to the official biography of Pol Pot published in September 1978 by the ''Department of Press and Information Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Democratic Kampuchea'', Pol Pot liked to live and work in the calm, he had "a large spirit of union", he showed "revolutionary optimism" and he was "deeply and firmly confident in the people, the masses, especially in the poor peasants".<ref>''[https://www.marxists.org/archive/pol-pot/cpk-biography-of-polpot.pdf Biography of Comrade Pol Pot, Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kampuchea]'', Department of Press and Information of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Democratic Kampuchea (September 1978) p. 6–7</ref> Pol Pot displayed what Chandler called a "genteel charisma",{{sfn|Chandler|1992|p=5}} and what Short described as a "magnetic personality".{{sfn|Short|2004|p=396}} As a child, his brother characterized him as having been sweet tempered and equable, while fellow school pupils recalled that Pol Pot was mediocre but pleasant.{{sfn|Chandler|1992|p=5}} As a teacher, he was characterized by his pupils as having been calm, honest and persuasive,{{sfn|Chandler|1992|p=5}} having an "evident good nature and an attractive personality".{{sfn|Short|2004|p=120}} Chandler noted that he had the "common touch" when interacting with people;{{sfn|Chandler|1992|p=172}} according to Short, Pol Pot's varied and eclectic upbringing meant that he was "able to communicate naturally with people of all sorts and conditions, establishing an instinctive rapport that invariably made them want to like him".{{sfn|Short|2004|p=44}} Many observers commented on his distinctive smile.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=44}} When speaking to audiences he usually carried a fan, which in Cambodian culture was traditionally associated with monkhood.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=341}}

Pol Pot was softly spoken.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=338}} During speeches he was serene and calm, even in the midst of using violent rhetoric.{{sfn|Short|2004|pp=340–41}} Chandler noted that when meeting with people, Pol Pot displayed an "apparent warmth" and was known for his "slowly uttered words".{{sfn|Chandler|1992|pp=111–12}} Kong Duong, who worked with Pol Pot in the 1980s, said that he was "very likeable, a really nice person. He was friendly, and everything he said seemed very sensible. He would never blame you or scold you to your face."{{sfn|Short|2004|p=338}}

Pol Pot suffered from [[insomnia]]{{sfn|Short|2004|p=210}} and was frequently ill.{{sfn|Chandler|1992|p=139}} He suffered from malaria and intestinal ailments, which left him ill several times a year whilst he was in power.{{sfn|Chandler|1992|pp=106, 139}} As well as having a love of traditional Khmer music,{{sfn|Short|2004|p=433}} in childhood he became interested in romantic [[French poetry]], with the work of [[Paul Verlaine]] being among his favorites.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=31}}

Chandler suggested that the seven years that Pol Pot primarily spent in jungle encampments among his fellow Marxists had a significant effect on his world-view, and they "probably reinforced his sense of destiny and self-importance".{{sfn|Chandler|1992|p=69}} Pol Pot had a nationalistic attitude and displayed little interest in events outside Cambodia.{{sfn|Chandler|1992|p=6}} He was self-righteous,{{sfn|Chandler|1992|p=179}} and typically rejected compromise or attempts to gain a consensus.{{sfn|Chandler|1992|p=187}}
Short related that "Pol did believe he was acting for the common good and that sooner or later everyone would recognise that."{{sfn|Short|2004|p=296}} Chandler noted that Pol Pot displayed "a tendency" towards violence and terror.{{sfn|Chandler|1992|p=179}}
Short suggested that Pol Pot, along with other senior members of the Khmer Rouge, engaged in the "glorification of violence" and saw bloodshed as a "cause for exultation". This, Short suggested, marked the Khmer Rouge's leadership out as being different from those who led the Chinese and Vietnamese Marxist movements, who tended to see violence as a necessary evil rather than something to embrace joyfully.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=248}}

Pol Pot wanted his followers to develop a "revolutionary consciousness" that would allow them to act without his guidance and was often disappointed when they failed to display this.{{sfn|Short|2004|p=339}} Partly because he did not fully trust subordinates he micro-managed events, scrutinising things such as menus for state receptions or the programming schedules for radio broadcasts.{{sfn|Short|2004|pp=339–40}} Although some of Pol Pot's supporters wanted a personality cult devoted to him akin to those in other Marxist-governed countries, this never successfully emerged in Cambodia. Although some busts and paintings of him were produced during the start of the war with Vietnam, Cambodia never saw songs and plays written about him, his photograph was not included in party literature, and there were no publication of his "thoughts", as had been seen with leaders in countries like China and North Korea.{{sfn|Chandler|1992|p=158}} Chandler thought that the proposed personality cult "never became full-blown" in large part because "self-advertisement did not come easily to Pol Pot."{{sfn|Chandler|1992|p=157}} It may also have reflected his sincere opposition to individualism.{{sfn|Chandler|1992|p=158}}