Famous Politicians

The ranked list (from #601)

1. 601Ivan GašparovičSlovak lawyer who served as president for two terms from 2004, the first in the country to win re-election.Slovak · Born March 27, 1941
2. 602Ramiz AliaSucceeded Enver Hoxha as Albania's communist leader in 1985, then oversaw the first steps towards multi-party politics before the regime collapsed.Albanian · Born October 18, 1925 · Died October 7, 2011
3. 603Abdurrahman WahidFormer head of Nahdlatul Ulama who became Indonesia's first president elected after Suharto's fall.🇮🇩Indonesian · Born August 4, 1940 · Died December 30, 2009
4. 604Theresa MayBecame prime minister after the Brexit referendum and failed to get her withdrawal agreement through Parliament.🇬🇧British · Born October 1, 1956
5. 605Mengistu Haile MariamLeader of Ethiopia's Derg regime, whose rule included the Red Terror.🇪🇹Ethiopian · Born May 21, 1937
6. 606Anders Fogh RasmussenDanish prime minister who went on to lead NATO from 2009 to 2014.🇩🇰Danish · Born January 26, 1953
7. 607Alassane OuattaraFormer IMF economist and prime minister who became Ivory Coast's president after the disputed 2010 election.Ivoirian · Born January 1, 1942
8. 608Mike PenceServed as vice president under Donald Trump from 2017 to 2021, having earlier been governor of Indiana.🇺🇸American · Born June 7, 1959
9. 609Yakov SverdlovBolshevik organiser who served as the first head of state of Soviet Russia, chairing the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.🇷🇺Russian · Born May 22, 1885 · Died March 16, 1919
10. 610Leopoldo GaltieriArgentine junta leader who ordered the invasion of the Falkland Islands in 1982.🇦🇷Argentine · Born July 15, 1926 · Died January 12, 2003
11. 611August BebelCo-founder of the German Social Democratic Party who led it for decades and wrote Woman and Socialism.Prussian · Born February 22, 1840 · Died August 13, 1913
12. 612Risto RytiWartime Finnish president who led the country through the Winter War and the Continuation War against the Soviet Union.🇫🇮Finn · Born February 3, 1889 · Died October 25, 1956
13. 613Jules GrévyRepublican who served as French president in the early Third Republic.🇫🇷French · Born August 15, 1807 · Died September 9, 1891
14. 614Georgios PapadopoulosColonel who led the 1967 coup and the military junta in Greece.🇬🇷Greek · Born May 5, 1919 · Died June 27, 1999
15. 615Ioannis KapodistriasDiplomat who served as Russia's foreign minister and then became the first head of state of modern Greece in 1828.🇬🇷Greek · Born February 10, 1776 · Died September 27, 1831
16. 616Lin BiaoCommunist marshal named Mao's successor who died in a mysterious plane crash in 1971.🇨🇳Chinese · Born December 5, 1907 · Died September 13, 1971
17. 617Akhmad KadyrovChechen mufti who switched sides to Russia and became head of Chechnya's pro-Moscow administration before being assassinated.🇷🇺Russian · Born August 23, 1951 · Died May 9, 2004
18. 618Chiang Ching-kuoSon of Chiang Kai-shek who, as president of Taiwan, oversaw rapid economic growth and lifted martial law in 1987.Taiwan · Born April 27, 1910 · Died January 13, 1988
19. 619Agostinho NetoPoet and MPLA leader who became the first president of independent Angola in 1975.Angolan · Born September 17, 1922 · Died September 10, 1979
20. 620Fahri KorutürkTurkey's sixth president, a former admiral who commanded the naval forces before serving a seven-year term in office.🇹🇷Turkish · Born August 3, 1903 · Died October 12, 1987
21. 621Vincent AuriolServed as the first president of the Fourth French Republic, holding the post for a full seven-year term from 1947.🇫🇷French · Born August 27, 1884 · Died January 1, 1966
22. 622Dalia GrybauskaitėLithuania's first woman president, who won re-election in 2014 after serving as a European Commissioner.Lithuanian · Born March 1, 1956
23. 623Michael D. HigginsPoet and Labour politician who served as President of Ireland for two terms, from 2011 to 2025.🇮🇪Irish · Born April 18, 1941
24. 624Mário SoaresSocialist leader who guided Portugal's transition to democracy as prime minister, then served as president from 1986 to 1996.🇵🇹Portuguese · Born December 7, 1924 · Died January 7, 2017
25. 625Austen ChamberlainConservative statesman who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his part in negotiating the Locarno Treaties.🇬🇧British · Born October 16, 1863 · Died March 16, 1937
26. 626René CotyLast president of France's Fourth Republic, he invited Charles de Gaulle to form a government in 1958 during the Algerian crisis.🇫🇷French · Born March 20, 1882 · Died November 22, 1962
27. 627Wang JingweiKuomintang politician who headed the Japanese-backed collaborationist government in Nanjing during the Second World War.🇨🇳Chinese · Born May 4, 1883 · Died November 10, 1944
28. 628Laurent-Désiré KabilaLed the rebellion that overthrew Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997 and then ruled the Democratic Republic of the Congo until his assassination.Congolese · Born November 27, 1939 · Died January 16, 2001
29. 629Félix FaurePresident of France during the Dreyfus Affair, he died in office at the Élysée Palace in 1899.🇫🇷French · Born January 30, 1841 · Died February 16, 1899
30. 630Óscar Arias SánchezWon the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize for his plan to end Central America's civil wars while serving as Costa Rica's president.Costa Rican · Born September 13, 1941
31. 631Sergei BubkaPole vaulter who set world records repeatedly and became the first man to clear six metres.Ukraine · Born December 4, 1963
32. 632Gustav HeinemannSocial-minded Protestant statesman who served as West Germany's federal president, after earlier holding the posts of mayor of Essen and justice minister.🇩🇪German · Born July 23, 1899 · Died July 7, 1976
33. 633Michel BarnierChief EU negotiator for Brexit who later served briefly as French Prime Minister in late 2024.🇫🇷French · Born January 9, 1951
34. 634Léon BourgeoisChampioned the doctrine of solidarism and helped shape the League of Nations, winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1920.🇫🇷French · Born May 21, 1851 · Died September 29, 1925
35. 635Bertie AhernTaoiseach who helped secure the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which brought a lasting settlement to the conflict in Northern Ireland.🇮🇪Irish · Born September 12, 1951
36. 636Abd al-Karim QasimArmy officer who overthrew Iraq's monarchy in 1958 and led the new republic.Ottoman · Born November 21, 1914 · Died February 9, 1963
37. 637Vittorio Emanuele OrlandoLed Italy as prime minister in the final year of the First World War and represented it at the Paris Peace Conference.🇮🇹Italian · Born May 18, 1860 · Died December 1, 1952
38. 638Antanas SmetonaLithuania's first president, who returned to power in a 1926 coup and ruled until Soviet occupation.Lithuanian · Born August 10, 1874 · Died January 9, 1944
39. 639Harold WilsonLabour leader who won four general elections and led two governments, in 1964–70 and again in 1974–76.🇬🇧British · Born March 11, 1916 · Died May 23, 1995
40. 640José Antonio Primo de RiveraFounded the Falange Española, a Spanish fascist-inspired movement, and was executed by Republican authorities early in the Civil War.🇪🇸Spanish · Born April 24, 1903 · Died November 20, 1936
41. 641Tedros Adhanom GhebreyesusBecame the first African director-general of the World Health Organization, guiding its response to the Covid-19 pandemic.🇪🇹Ethiopian · Born March 3, 1965
42. 642Simone VeilAuschwitz survivor who, as French health minister, secured the 1975 law legalising abortion and later presided over the European Parliament.🇫🇷French · Born July 13, 1927 · Died June 30, 2017
43. 643Hun SenDominated Cambodian politics as prime minister for almost four decades, then handed the post to his son in 2023.Cambodian · Born August 5, 1952
44. 644Sirimavo BandaranaikeBecame the world's first female prime minister in 1960 and went on to lead Sri Lanka three times.Sri Lankan · Born April 17, 1916 · Died October 10, 2000
45. 645Valdas AdamkusLithuanian president over two separate terms, during which his country joined NATO and the EU.Lithuanian · Born November 3, 1926
46. 646Pehr Evind SvinhufvudFinnish statesman who headed the government at independence in 1917 and later served as president in the early 1930s.🇫🇮Finn · Born December 15, 1861 · Died February 29, 1944
47. 647Nelson RockefellerFour-term governor of New York who later served as Gerald Ford's vice president.🇺🇸American · Born July 8, 1908 · Died January 26, 1979
48. 648Megawati SoekarnoputriDaughter of Sukarno who became Indonesia's first woman president in 2001, after serving as vice president under Abdurrahman Wahid.🇮🇩Indonesian · Born January 23, 1947
49. 649Mikheil SaakashviliLed Georgia's Rose Revolution and later served as the country's president, before working in Ukrainian politics.Georgian · Born December 21, 1967
50. 650Evo MoralesBecame Bolivia's first indigenous president in 2006, governing for nearly fourteen years before resigning amid protests over a disputed election.Bolivian · Born October 26, 1959