People of the Revolution and the USSR
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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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Vitaly Ivanovich Vorotnikov Виталий Иванович Воротников
The last RSFSR premier who tried not to break Russia away
Government and administration · Soviet Union
1926–2012
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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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Li Peng 李鹏
The premier who declared martial law in May 1989, called “the butcher of Beijing”; Zhou Enlai’s ward
Government and administration · People’s Republic of China
1928–2019
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Arnold Rüütel Arnold Rüütel
The agronomist who pushed a sovereignty declaration through the Soviet system and led Estonia out of the empire
Legislature and state representation · Estonia state institutions
1928–2024
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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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Nikolai Ivanovich Ryzhkov Николай Иванович Рыжков
Premier during perestroika’s economic crisis
Government and administration · Soviet Union
1929–2024
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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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Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin Борис Николаевич Ельцин
The man who climbed onto the tank
Government and administration · Russian Federation state institutions
1931–2007
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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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Algirdas Brazauskas Algirdas Brazauskas
The communist who split his party from Moscow and became independent Lithuania's first president
Political and party leadership · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1932–2010
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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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Vitold Pavlovych Fokin Вітольд Павлович Фокін
From Soviet economic planner to independent Ukraine’s first prime minister
Government and administration · Ukraine state institutions
1932–2025
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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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Gavriil Kharitonovich Popov Гавриил Харитонович Попов
Moscow's first elected mayor, who told the U.S. ambassador of the coming coup
Government and administration · Russian Federation state institutions
1936–
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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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Vyacheslav Frantsevich Kebich Вячаслаў Францавіч Кебіч
Belarus's first prime minister; co-signed the Belovezh Accords and later testified the Russian delegation alone arrived with a plan
Government and administration · Soviet Union
1936–2020
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Didier Ratsiraka Didier Ratsiraka
Madagascar’s socialist charter
Government and administration · Madagascar
1936–2021
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Anatoly Aleksandrovich Sobchak Анатолий Александрович Собчак
Constitutional Assembly chairman and first elected mayor of Saint Petersburg
Government and administration · Russian Federation state institutions
1937–2000
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Mengistu Haile Mariam መንግሥቱ ኃይለ ማርያም
Consolidation of Derg rule
Political and party leadership · Ethiopia
1937–
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Islam Abduganiyevich Karimov Islom Abdugʻaniyevich Karimov
An authoritarian state-builder who made sovereignty his political principle
Government and administration · Uzbekistan state institutions
1938–2016
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Ayaz Niyazi oghlu Mutalibov Ајаз Нијази оғлу Мүтәллибов
The last Soviet leader caught between a renewed union and independence
Government and administration · Soviet Union
1938–2022
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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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Pyotr Luchinsky Petru Lucinschi
A politician who moved from Soviet party leadership to Moldova's presidency
Political and party leadership · Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
1940–
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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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Andrei Serafimovich Grachev Андрей Серафимович Грачёв
An insider witness to the collapse of reform
Government and administration · Soviet Union
1941–
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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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Anatolijs Gorbunovs Anatolijs Gorbunovs
The Communist Party secretary who led Latvia's Supreme Council through the restoration of independence
Legislature and state representation · Latvia state institutions
1942–
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Alexander Mitrofanovich Obolensky Александр Митрофанович Оболенский
The engineer who became the first person in Soviet history to run against a sitting General Secretary
Political and party leadership
1943–
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Kazimiera Danutė Prunskienė Kazimira Danutė Prunskienė
She tried to negotiate independence through pragmatism; her resignation removed the last obstacle to the military option
Government and administration · Lithuania state institutions
1943–2026
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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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Askar Akayevich Akayev Аскар Акаевич Акаев
Scientist-president who moved from reformist promise to prolonged rule
Government and administration · Kyrgyzstan state institutions
1944–
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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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Gennady Eduardovich Burbulis Геннадий Эдуардович Бурбулис
The philosopher who proposed the one sentence that declared the Soviet Union dead at Belovezh
Government and administration · Russian Federation state institutions
1945–2022
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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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Albertas Šimėnas Albertas Šimėnas
Economist-statesman of restored independence, Lithuania's shortest-serving premier
Government and administration · Lithuania state institutions
1950–
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Ivars Godmanis Ivars Godmanis
The physicist who walked Latvia out of the USSR and commanded the nights of the barricades
Government and administration · Latvia state institutions
1951–
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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–