In 1841, Juan Nepomuceno Fernandez Lindo y Zelaya (Juan Lindo for short) became the first ever Jewish head of state when he became the President of newly independent El Salvador.

A few caveats here: 1) Clearly, there were Jewish heads of state in the ancient world (your Judeas, etc). 2) Only Lindo's father was Jewish; he himself was apparently Catholic... It is what it is. We didn't really expect to find a full-blown Jew in charge of a country named "El Salvador".

It only took six years to get the second Jewish head of state. It happened in neighboring Honduras, who elected... Juan Lindo!

That's right, Juan Nepomuceno Fernandez Lindo y Zelaya (Juan Lindo for short) was first the President of El Salvador, and then the President of Honduras!

How on earth did he pull that off?