Four years ago, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford disappeared from the public eye for five days, telling his staff he was “Hiking the Apalachian trail.” Since then, the expression has become the euphemism in American popular culture for infidelity, but Sanford may have the last laugh.
The 52-year-old Republican pulled off an unexpected political comeback, winning Tuesday’s race for South Carolina’s 1st district congressional seat, and reminded every disgraced leader that redemption is (almost) always possible.
Here are a few examples of resurrected leaders around the world who managed to come back from embarrassing scandals, bruising defeats and the depths of political wilderness…
