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Betancourt, Rómulo

(Encyclopedia)Betancourt, Rómulo rōˈmo͞olō bĕtänko͝orˈ [key], 1908–81, Venezuelan political leader, president of Venezuela (1945–48, 1959–64). Following a stormy career as a leader of radical student...

Zetkin, Klara

(Encyclopedia)Zetkin, Klara kläˈrä tsĕtˈkĭn [key], 1857–1933, German Communist leader and feminist. A teacher, she early joined the Social Democratic party and together with Rosa Luxemburg, became prominent...

Rakhmon, Emomali

(Encyclopedia)Rakhmon, Emomali, 1952–, Tajik political leader. His surname was Rahkmonov until 2007, when he called for Tajiks to revive their traditions and derussify their names. Rakhmon was the head of a state...

Pierpont, Francis Harrison

(Encyclopedia)Pierpont, Francis Harrison, 1814–99, Union leader in Virginia during the American Civil War, “Father of West Virginia,” b. near Morgantown, Va. (now W.Va.). When Virginia seceded, he became a le...

Robinson, Arthur Napoleon Raymond

(Encyclopedia)Robinson, Arthur Napoleon Raymond, 1926–2014, Trinidadian political leader, b. Tobago. A barrister before being elected (1961) to parliament, he was a founding member of the People's National Moveme...

Howard, Michael

(Encyclopedia)Howard, Michael, 1941–, British politician, leader of the Conservative party (2003–5), b. Llanelli, Wales, as Michael Hecht. The son of immigrants (his father changed the family name after becomin...

Kabila, Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Kabila, Joseph käbēˈlä [key], 1971–, Congolese political leader, eldest son of Laurent Kabila. He was educated in Tanzania while his father was in exile there, and after his father became presid...

Whitlam, Gough

(Encyclopedia)Whitlam, Gough gŏf [key], 1916–2014, Australian political leader. Edward Gough Whitlam studied law and entered practice near Sydney after serving in World War II. A member of the Labour party, he w...

Samaras, Antonis

(Encyclopedia)Samaras, Antonis äntōˈnēs sämäräsˈ [key], 1951–, Greek political leader, premier of Greece (2012–15), b. Athens, grad. Amherst (1974), Harvard (M.B.A., 1976). He was first elected to parli...

Smith, Ian Douglas

(Encyclopedia)Smith, Ian Douglas, 1919–2007, Rhodesian political leader. A cattle farmer who was the son of a Scottish immigrant, he served in the Southern Rhodesia legislative assembly from 1948 until 1953, when...