With the revolution in new technologies that was part of the larger revolution in industry more than just strong character and virtue was needed to be famous. In the age of television commercials, public relations and televised debates (as the Kennedy-Nixon debate amply demonstrated) it is questionable whether a man like George Washington could be elected president if he were to run for office today, when image has in so many ways supplanted substance. 

Imagine Gandhi. What is he wearing? Chances are your mind’s eye sees him in a simple piece of white fabric wrapped around his waist and legs. He’s wearing a dhoti, a seven-yard-long rectangular piece of unstitched cloth that is the traditional garb for men in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka.

But before Gandhi became the leader of the Indian independence movement and the inspiration for freedom fighters everywhere, he was a barrister who studied law at University College London. And at the time, he wore a suit.