John Clouse Dies

Evansville, Indiana attorney John Clouse died on Thursday at the age of 82. His biography contains plenty of things for eulogizers to touch upon: he bravely fought in the Battle of the Bulge in World War II, and he was widely considered one of the region’s more formidable trial lawyers. But his accomplishments in travel are what made him internationally famous.
In 1995, the Guinness Book of World Records recognized Clouse as “the world’s most traveled man.” The world contains roughly 317 officially recognized countries and Clouse was the first person to have seen them all. Only a handful of humans can argue they have seen as much of Earth in person as he has. Married six times, Clouse understood all of the travel came at a cost. It invited numerous contenders for his crown, especially as travel become more accessible.
As the San Fransisco Chronicle describes, more and more people have had a claim to Clouse’s crown since he was first honored with it. Due in large part to a brewing controversy over who was in fact the most traveled, Guinness dropped the category of “most traveled man” in 1999. Clouse bemoaned the way the title has become a trophy, and offered this in response to competitor Charles Veley:

“It’s a competitive sport now. Charles gets off the plane, bops around and gets back on. I don’t mean to sound mean-spirited — he’s been very kind to me — but he wants me to surrender my sword.”

Regardless of whether Clouse was in fact the most traveled man, he was most certainly one of only a handful to have a legitimate claim to the title. RIP.