# Ferdinand de Lesseps — The Crowd character guide

> Ferdinand de Lesseps in The Crowd by Gustave Le Bon.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** de Lesseps

**First appearance:** 0002-the-crowd

## Snapshot

The celebrated engineer-diplomat whose dazzling prestige shows how a crowd's faith can crown a man — and how quickly that crown can slip.

## Who they are

In Le Bon's gallery of crowd leaders, de Lesseps stands as the type whose renown alone once commanded obedience, proof that prestige can substitute for argument. Le Bon notes that such leaders often seek only personal interest, flattering base instincts, and that their influence, however great, is always ephemeral. His rise and fall dramatize the book's central claim that a crowd's devotion is a force no individual can manufacture or keep.

## In the story

### [The Leaders of Crowds and Their Means of Persuasion](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_crowd_se/chapters/iii-the-leaders-of-crowds-and-their-means-of-persuasion)

Cited as an example of a leader with enduring strength of will, a founder of great undertakings.

### [The Leaders of Crowds](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_crowd_se/chapters/1-the-leaders-of-crowds)

Presented as a prime example of a leader with enduring willpower, who succeeded in cutting the Suez Canal despite immense opposition.

### [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_crowd_se/chapters/endnotes)

Mentioned in the context of his condemnation after the Panama failure, contrasted with his earlier triumph at Suez, highlighting the fickleness of public opinion.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_crowd_se/characters/de_lesseps
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_crowd_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_crowd_se/characters