Politics

People shaping governments, policy, and public life.

People in Politics

14 profiles

President · South Africa

Nelson Mandela

Helping end apartheid and becoming South Africa’s first Black president.

Prime Minister · United Kingdom

Winston Churchill

Being a racist bigot and responsible for the orders that led to the Bengal famine of 1943, in which an estimated three million people died.

President · United States

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Leading the United States through the Great Depression and most of the Second World War.

President · United States

George Washington

Commanding the Continental Army and becoming the first US president.

Political thinker

Rosa Luxemburg

Arguing for revolutionary socialism and opposing the First World War.

President · United States

John F. Kennedy

Leading the United States through the Cuban Missile Crisis and setting the Moon-landing goal.

Chancellor · Germany

Angela Merkel

Serving as Germany’s chancellor for sixteen years.

Prime Minister · United Kingdom

Margaret Thatcher

Becoming Britain’s first female prime minister and reshaping its economy through privatisation and limits on trade-union power.

President · United States

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Commanding the Allied invasion of Western Europe in 1944 and serving as the 34th US president.

Secretary of State · United States

Hillary Clinton

Serving as US secretary of state and becoming the first woman nominated for president by a major American party.

Prime Minister · India

Jawaharlal Nehru

Serving as independent India’s first prime minister from 1947 to 1964.

Prime Minister · India

Indira Gandhi

Becoming India’s first woman prime minister and a powerful, deeply contested political leader.

Political leader

Mao Zedong

Founding the People’s Republic of China and ruling through revolutionary campaigns that caused immense suffering.

Prime Minister · Congo

Patrice Lumumba

Leading Congo's independence movement and becoming its first prime minister after Belgian colonial rule.