If he hadn’t been so tall and dashing, could the cult of Fidel Castro ever have lasted this long? For that matter, had Che Guevara been fat and bald, would college students bother wearing his picture on their T-shirts? I doubt it.

Perhaps this sounds absurdly reductive, but there’s no exaggerating the dazzling effect that good looks can have upon the unwary. And fairly or not, people instinctively associate stature with intelligence and leadership, which is why CEOs and political successes tend to be much taller than the average Joe.