Here's where I get myself into trouble:
Hitler was a "technically" great leader who GREATLY abused his power. Don't get me wrong, my family's half Jewish, I have ancestors who died in the holocaust; Hitler was HORRIBLE, but he knew how to lead.
"Birth of a Nation" is a horribly racist, black-face piece of trash which was unfortunately made by a man whose technical mastery was superior to his peers.
Both Hitler and Griffith's film are, at their core, evil entities, but the mastery with which each performed its evil deeds was, quite unfortunately, unmatched.