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People of the Revolution and the USSR
Activity(set)
Affiliation
Position
Citizenship
Background
Era(set)
People of the Soviet Union
People of the Chinese revolution and the People’s Republic
People of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic era
People of the wider world
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Richard Milhous Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon
The Cold Warrior who opened détente with Moscow and Beijing, then became the only U.S. president to resign
Government and administration · United States state institutions
1913–1994
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Gerald Ford Gerald Ford
The unelected president who steered détente into its final phase
Government and administration · United States state institutions
1913–2006
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Charles Vanik Charles Vanik
The congressman who made emigration a condition of trade
Economy, finance and planning · United States state institutions
1913–2007
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Robert McNamara Robert McNamara
The quantitative defense secretary who led the Vietnam War and helped prevent nuclear war in the Cuban Missile Crisis
Government and administration · United States state institutions
1916–2009
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József Szilágyi Szilágyi József
Refused to cooperate at his show trial: tried separately and hanged two months before Imre Nagy
Government and administration · Hungary
1917–1958
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John F. Kennedy John F. Kennedy
The youngest U.S. president, who took the world to the brink of nuclear war and back
Government and administration · United States state institutions
1917–1963
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Hussein Kulmiye Afrah Xuseen Kulmiye Afrax
Leadership of Somalia’s revolutionary council
Security, intelligence and policing
1920–1993
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Karol Józef Wojtyła Karol Józef Wojtyła
A global pope from behind the Iron Curtain
Religion
1920–2005
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Tafari Benti ተፈሪ በንቲ
Early chairman of the Derg
Government and administration · Ethiopia
1921–1977
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Oldřich Černík Oldřich Černík
The miner's son and technocrat who led the Prague Spring government, then signed the Moscow Protocol under duress
Government and administration · Czechoslovakia
1921–1994
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Agostinho Neto Agostinho Neto
Physician-poet who led Angola's liberation struggle and became its first president
Political and party leadership · Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA)
1922–1979
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András Hegedüs Hegedüs András
A young premier who bore responsibility at the revolution’s threshold
Government and administration · Hungary
1922–1999
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Julius Kambarage Nyerere Julius Nyerere
Founding president who theorized Ujamaa and led non-aligned socialist Tanzania for 24 years
Political and party leadership
1922–1999
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Võ Văn Kiệt Võ Văn Kiệt
Architect of Đổi Mới and prime minister of Vietnam
Government and administration · Vietnam
1922–2008
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Kuan Yew Lee 李光耀
Singapore’s founding prime minister, who led the city-state through independence and its early development
Government and administration
1923–2015
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José Ramón Álvarez Fernández José Ramón Fernández Álvarez
Cuban revolutionary commander credited with defeating the 1961 Bay of Pigs landing (Brigade 2506)
Government and administration · Cuba
1923–2019
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George H. W. Herbert Walker Bush George H. W. Bush
The US president who declared the Cold War over with Gorbachev at Malta, yet whose caution nearly let history slip away
Government and administration · United States state institutions
1924–2018
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Lubomír Štrougal Lubomír Štrougal
Husák's right hand who ran the normalization cabinet for eighteen years, then fell backing Gorbachev's perestroika
Government and administration · Czechoslovakia
1924–2023
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Jimmy Carter Jimmy Carter
The 39th U.S. president whose administration marked both the peak and the end of détente
Government and administration · United States state institutions
1924–2024
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Patrice Lumumba Patrice Lumumba
Congo's first prime minister: one speech made him the empire's target
Political and party leadership · Congolese National Movement (MNC)
1925–1961
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Brent Scowcroft Brent Scowcroft
A cautious strategist at the Cold War's end
Government and administration · United States state institutions
1925–2020
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Fidel Castro Fidel Castro
Leader of the hemisphere's first socialist revolution: forty-seven years against imperialism
Government and administration · Cuba
1926–2016
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Tadeusz Mazowiecki Tadeusz Mazowiecki
Catholic intellectual of Solidarity who became the Eastern Bloc's first non-communist prime minister
Government and administration · Poland
1927–2013
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Ted Sorensen Ted Sorensen
Kennedy's speechwriter whose pen chose 'quarantine' over airstrikes at the nuclear brink
Government and administration · United States state institutions
1928–2010
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Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzezinski Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzeziński
Carter's National Security Advisor who drew the Soviet Union into the Afghan trap
Diplomacy and international organization · United States state institutions
1928–2017
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Albert Tévoédjrè Albert Tévoédjrè
Writer and economist, rapporteur of Benin's National Conference
Ideology and propaganda · Benin
1929–2019
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Helmut Josef Michael Kohl Helmut Kohl
The chancellor who seized the initiative on the German question with a ten-point unification plan days before Malta
Political and party leadership · Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
1930–2017
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Richard Ratsimandrava Richard Ratsimandrava
Fokonolona and local communities
Security, intelligence and policing · Madagascar
1931–1975
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Pascal Lissouba Pascal Lissouba
The scientist-president overthrown after the Congo's first free election
Government and administration · Republic of the Congo
1931–2020
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Gyula Horn Horn Gyula
Hungarian foreign minister who cut the Iron Curtain, and reform prime minister
Diplomacy and international organization · Hungary
1932–2013
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Mathieu Kérékou Mathieu Kérékou
Benin’s people’s republic and transition
Government and administration · Benin
1933–2015
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Imre Pozsgay Pozsgay Imre
The reformist Politburo member who called 1956 a 'popular uprising' and dismantled his own party's orthodoxy
Ideology and propaganda · Hungary
1933–2016
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Nicéphore Soglo Nicéphore Soglo
Benin’s transitional government and pluralism
Government and administration · Benin
1934–
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André Milongo André Milongo
The World Bank official who steered the transition
Government and administration · Republic of the Congo
1935–2007
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Pen Sovann ប៉ែន សុវាន
First prime minister of the Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Party
Political and party leadership · People’s Republic of Kampuchea
1936–2016
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Didier Ratsiraka Didier Ratsiraka
Madagascar’s socialist charter
Government and administration · Madagascar
1936–2021
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Mengistu Haile Mariam መንግሥቱ ኃይለ ማርያም
Consolidation of Derg rule
Political and party leadership · Ethiopia
1937–
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Haidar Abu Bakr al-Attas حيدر أبو بكر العطاس
South Yemen's last head of state and the united republic's first prime minister
Government and administration · Yemen state institutions
1939–
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Joaquim Chissano Joaquim Chissano
Mozambican rehabilitation and peace
Government and administration · Mozambique
1939–
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Saparmurat Atayevich Niyazov Saparmyrat Ataýewiç Nyýazow
A Turkmen leader who turned late-Soviet rule into personal rule over an independent state
Political and party leadership · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1940–2006
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Ernest Kombo Ernest Kombo
The Owando bishop who chaired the National Conference
Religion
1941–2008
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Václav Klaus Václav Klaus
The market reformer who rejected a third way
Government and administration · Czechia state institutions
1941–
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Lech Wałęsa Lech Wałęsa
Electrician who became president as the leader of Solidarity
Social movements and organizing · Solidarity (Solidarność)
1943–
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Maurice Bishop Maurice Bishop
The Caribbean revolutionary who cut illiteracy from 35% to 5% and declared 'we are not in anybody's backyard'
Government and administration · Grenada
1944–1983
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Mohammad Najibullah محمد نجیبالله
The last communist president of Afghanistan, who outlasted the Soviet withdrawal by three years before the Taliban tortured and hanged him
Political and party leadership · People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA)
1947–1996
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Miklós Németh Németh Miklós
Hungary's reform premier who opened a gate in 1989
Government and administration · Hungary
1948–
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Thomas Sankara Thomas Sankara
The 'African Che' who traded the state Mercedes fleet for Renault 5s
Government and administration · Burkina Faso state institutions
1949–1987
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Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin Владимир Владимирович Путин
A ruler who recast the loss of the Soviet Union as a narrative of state restoration
Government and administration · Russian Federation state institutions
1952–
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Viktor Mihály Orbán Orbán Viktor
From anti-communist youth leader in 1989 to architect of 'illiberal democracy'
Government and administration · Hungary
1963–
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Mohamed Siad Barre Maxamed Siyaad Barre
Somali military rule and socialism
Government and administration · Somalia
?–1995