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People of the Revolution and the USSR
Activity(set)
Affiliation
Position
Citizenship
Background
Era
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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Fred Oelßner Fred Oelßner
Economist and the SED’s chief ideologue until 1958, when he was expelled from the Politburo in the Schirdewan affair
Ideology and propaganda · Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED)
1903–1977
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Ferenc Nagy Nagy Ferenc
Smallholder premier of Hungary's second republic, forced out by Soviet-backed communists
Government and administration · Hungary
1903–1979
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Zoltán Vas Vas Zoltán
Rákosi-era planning chief who fell from grace and joined Imre Nagy
Economy, finance and planning · Hungary
1903–1983
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Gjergj Jaçim Kokoshi Gjergj Kokoshi
From antifascist resistance to postwar opposition
Education · Albania
1904–1960
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Mihály Farkas Farkas Mihály
Defence minister in Rákosi's ruling foursome
Government and administration · Hungary
1904–1965
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Pyotr Georgievich Lazutin Пётр Георгиевич Лазутин
Chairman of the Leningrad City Executive Committee and one of the six executed in the Leningrad Affair
Government and administration · Soviet Union
1905–1950
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Federica Montseny Federica Montseny
Spanish anarchist who served in the Republican government
Government and administration · Spanish Republic
1905–1994
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Nikolai Alexandrovich Tikhonov Николай Александрович Тихонов
The conservative premier of late Brezhnevism
Government and administration · Soviet Union
1905–1997
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Rezső Kasztner Kasztner Rezső
Zionist lawyer who negotiated with Eichmann to send 1,684 Jews to Switzerland on what became known as the Kasztner train
Social movements and organizing
1906–1957
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James Webb James Edwin Webb
The administrator who organized Apollo
Government and administration · United States state institutions
1906–1992
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Phạm Văn Đồng Phạm Văn Đồng
Ho Chi Minh's closest lieutenant and Vietnam's longest-serving prime minister, governing for 32 years
Government and administration · Vietnam
1906–2000
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Pierre Mendès France Pierre Mendès France
French prime minister who promised a ceasefire within four months after Điện Biên Phủ and concluded the 1954 Geneva Accords
Government and administration · France state institutions
1907–1982
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Paul Nitze Paul Nitze
A Cold War strategist who moved between nuclear buildup and arms control
Government and administration · United States state institutions
1907–2004
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Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon B. Johnson
A Cold War president caught between reform and war
Government and administration · United States state institutions
1908–1973
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Salvador Guillermo Allende Salvador Guillermo Allende
First elected Marxist head of state; pursued the peaceful 'Chilean road to socialism' (copper, land, cybernetics) until the 1973 coup
Government and administration · Chile state institutions
1908–1973
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Boris Nikolayevich Chernousov Борис Николаевич Черноусов
The RSFSR premier who rose in the Leningrad Affair's wake and fell at the 19th Party Congress
Government and administration · Soviet Union
1908–1978
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Kwame Nkrumah Kwame Nkrumah
Architect of Pan-African Marxism who led sub-Saharan Africa's first independence
Political and party leadership
1909–1972
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Mohammad Daoud Khan محمد داود خان
Afghan prince who overthrew his cousin to found a republic, then was killed five years later in the same palace by a communist coup
Government and administration · Afghanistan
1909–1978
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Piotr Jaroszewicz Piotr Jaroszewicz
The premier of technocratic growth
Government and administration · Poland
1909–1992
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Souphanouvong ສຸພານຸວົງ
Pathet Lao and the first presidency
Legislature and state representation · Laos
1909–1995
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Mikhail Sergeyevich Smirtyukov Михаил Сергеевич Смиртюков
The non-Politburo power who was the institutional memory of the Soviet government for 25 years
Government and administration · Soviet Union
1909–2004
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Bruno Leuschner Bruno Leuschner
East German planner who ran planning in the German Economic Commission and then chaired the State Planning Commission
Economy, finance and planning · East Germany
1910–1965
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Józef Cyrankiewicz Józef Cyrankiewicz
A resistance survivor who became a guardian of the system
Government and administration · Poland
1911–1989
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Ferenc Donáth Donáth Ferenc
A politician who linked revolution and reform while carrying the wounds of dictatorship
Agriculture and land policy · Hungary
1913–1986
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Willy None Brandt Willy Brandt
A social democrat who made reconciliation a politics of divided cities
Government and administration · Germany state institutions
1913–1992
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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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Xi Zhongxun 习仲勋
A founder of the northern Shaanxi base, purged for sixteen years, who opened Guangdong’s special economic zones
Government and administration · People’s Republic of China
1913–2002
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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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Mikhail Sergeyevich Solomentsev Михаил Сергеевич Соломенцев
Brezhnev-era industrial technocrat who ran the Russian republic for 12 years
Government and administration · Soviet Union
1913–2008
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Kirill Trofimovich Mazurov Кирилл Трофимович Мазуров
Belarusian partisan leader who rose to Brezhnev's Politburo and served as USSR First Deputy Premier for thirteen years
Government and administration · Soviet Union
1914–1989
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Alexander Pavlovich Lyashko Александр Павлович Ляшко
The Donetsk-born Soviet economic manager who led Ukraine's government for 15 years through the Brezhnev era
Government and administration · Soviet Union
1915–2002
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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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Tikhon Yakovlevich Kiselyov Тихон Яковлевич Киселёв
Belarus's premier for nearly 20 years who rose to First Secretary and candidate Politburo member, then died of cancer two years later
Government and administration · Soviet Union
1917–1983
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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