Chen Shui-bian

“The road to democracy may be winding and is

like a river taking many curves, but eventually the
river will reach the ocean”

Chen Shui-bian (born October 12, 1950) is a former Taiwanese politician who was the
10th and 11th-term President of the Republic of China from 2000 to 2008. Chen, whose
Democratic Progressive Party has traditionally been supportive of Taiwan independence,
ended more than fifty years of Kuomintang rule in Taiwan.

Chen entered politics in 1980 as a lawyer and came to be known for his forceful
arguments; out of concern for reformation of the political system, Chen entered politics
as a member of the Tangwai movement and was elected to the Taipei City Council in
1981. Chen was jailed in 1985 for libel as the editor of the weekly pro-democracy
magazine Neo-Formosa, following publication of an article critical of Elmer Feng, a
college philosophy professor who was later elected a Kuomintang legislator. After being
released, Chen was elected a member of the Legislative Yuan in 1989, and Mayor of
Taipei in 1994.

Chen won the 2000 presidential election on March 18 with 39% of the vote as a result of
a split of factions within the Kuomintang, when James Soong ran for the presidency as an
independent against the party nominee Lien Chan, becoming the only non-Kuomintang
to hold the office of president. Although Chen received high approval ratings during the
first few weeks of his term, his popularity sharply dropped due to alleged corruption
within the Chen administration and the inability to pass legislation against the opposition
KMT, who controlled the Legislative Yuan. In 2004, during his re-election campaign,
Chen survived a shooting attempt while campaigning.
 Raúl Alfonsín

“With democracy we eat, with democracy

we educate, with democracy we heal"

Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín Foulkes was born on March 12 1927 in the town of
Chascomus, 78 miles from Buenos Aires, the oldest of five children. Raúl’s mother, Ana
Maria, was of British origin, and his parents ran a general store which had been founded
by his great-grandfather, who had emigrated from Galicia, in Spain, in 1870. Raúl’s
father Serafin had not, however, forsaken his Spanish roots, and had supported the
republican cause during the Spanish Civil War. His son later remarked: “I came from a
home where liberty was not only learned from books.”

Following the overthrow of Juan Perón in 1955, Argentina saw a succession of military
and civilian governments, while the Peronists remained a major political force. At 24
Alfonsín was elected a councillor for the UCR at his home town, Chascomus. He proved
both determined and outspoken, and on several occasions found himself under arrest.

In 1958 he was elected to the provincial legislature of Buenos Aires; and in 1963 — the
year in which the UCR’s Arturo Illia became president — Alfonsín was elected to the
national parliament.

“What we face,” he declared shortly before the poll, “is the need to address the problems
of the unemployed, of child care, of school dropouts, and the destruction of the national
economy.” He also attacked government corruption. The front-runner in the election was
Italo Luder, who had the support of the powerful Peronist trades union movement; but
when the electorate went to the polls in October 1983, Alfonsín won 52 per cent of the
vote to Luder’s 40 per cent.
 Benito Pablo Juárez García

“Democracy is the destiny of humanity;

freedom its indestructible arm”

Benito Pablo Juárez García was a Zapotec indian from Oaxaca who served five terms as
president of Mexico: 1858–1861 as interim, 1861–1865, 1865–1867, 1867–1871 and
1871–1872.[1] Benito Juárez was the first Mexican leader who did not have a military
background, and also the first full-blooded indigenous national ever to serve as President
of Mexico and to lead a country in the Western Hemisphere. He resisted the French
occupation, overthrew the Empire, restored the Republic, and used liberal efforts to
modernize the country.

He became a lawyer in 1834 and a judge in 1841. He was governor of the state of Oaxaca
from 1847 to 1852; in 1853, he went into exile because of his objections to the corrupt
military dictatorship of Antonio López de Santa Anna. He spent his exile in New
Orleans, Louisiana, working in a cigar factory. In 1854 he helped draft the Plan of Ayutla
as the basis for a liberal revolution in Mexico.

The conservatives led by General Félix Zuloaga, with the backing of the military and the
clergy, launched a revolt under the Plan of Tacubaya on December 17, 1857. The rebels
wanted the constitution revoked completely and another all-conservative government
formed, so they launched another revolt on January 11, 1858, proclaiming Zuloaga as
president. Comonfort re-established the congress, freeing all the prisoners and resigned
as president. Under the new constitution, the chief justice immediately became interim
president until proper elections could be made. Juárez took office in late January 1858.
Juárez was finally properly elected president in March for another four-year term, under
the Constitution of 1857.
 Nelson Mandela

“I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and

free society in which all persons live together
in harmony and with equal opportunities”

Nelson Mandela’s original name was Rolihlahla Mandela. (Nelson was added later.) He
was born in “Black” Transkei, Africa on July 18, 1918.

In 1942,Nelson joined the African National Congress (ANC), which, at the time, was
polite to the government. Soon Nelson Mandela had persuaded the ANC to use boycotts
and strikes against the government instead of being polite. In his spare time, Nelson
Mandela studied to become a lawyer so that he could protect blacks

After the Shapesville massacre in which many blacks were killed, the white rule banned
the ANC. Nelson went underground. He created the MK, which was the military portion
of the ANC. During Nelson Mandela’s jail time he had secret talks with South Africa’s
president, P.W. Botha, and his successor, F.W. de Klerk. As a result, in 1990 he was
freed.

He was appointed Deputy President of the ANC. The ANC decided to suspend its 30-
year armed struggle. In July of 1991, Nelson Mandela was appointed President of the
ANC. Nelson decided to join the government and other parties to negotiate South
Africa’s future. In 1993, Nelson Mandela shared the Nobel Peace Prize with F.W. de
Klerk for dismantling apartheid, and in 1994 he became the first democratically elected
South African president. In June of 1999, Nelson Mandela retired from the presidency,
and returned to live in the town of Qunu, Transkei, in which was born.

Ronald Reagan

“Democracy is worth dying for, because it's the

most deeply honorable form of government
ever devised by man”

Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was the 40th President of the
United States (1981–1989) and the 33rd Governor of California (1967–1975).

Reagan served as president of the Screen Actors Guild, and later spokesman for General
Electric (GE); his start in politics occurred during his work for GE. Originally a member
of the Democratic Party, he switched to the Republican Party in 1962. After delivering a
rousing speech in support of Barry Goldwater's presidential candidacy in 1964, he was
persuaded to seek the California governorship, winning two years later and again in
1970. He was defeated in his run for the Republican presidential nomination in 1968 as
well as 1976, but won both the nomination and election in 1980.

As president, Reagan implemented sweeping new political and economic initiatives. His
supply-side economic policies, dubbed "Reaganomics", advocated controlling the money
supply to reduce inflation, and spurring economic growth by reducing tax rates,
government regulation of the economy, and certain types of government spending. He
was reelected in a landslide in 1984, proclaiming it was "Morning in America". His
second term was primarily marked by foreign matters, such as the ending of the Cold
War, the bombing of Libya, and the revelation of the Iran-Contra affair

Reagan left office in 1989. In 1994, the former president disclosed that he had been
diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease earlier in the year; he died ten years later at the age
of 93. He ranks highly in public opinion polls of U.S. Presidents.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

“My notion of democracy is that under it the
weakest shall have the same opportunities
as the strongest”

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869 in Porbandar, India. He

became one of the most respected spiritual and political leaders of the 1900's. Gandhi
helped free the Indian people from British rule through nonviolent resistance, and is
honored by his people as the father of the Indian Nation. The Indian people called
Gandhi Mahatma, meaning Great Soul.

Gandhi studied law in London and returned to India in 1891 to practice. In 1893 he
accepted a one year contract to do legal work in South Africa. At the time South Africa
was controlled by the British. When he attempted to claim his rights as a British subject
he was abused, and soon saw that all Indians suffered similar treatment. Gandhi stayed in
South Africa for 21 years working to secure rights for Indian people. Within 15 years he
became the leader of the Indian nationalist movement. Using the tenets of Satyagraha he
lead the campaign for Indian independence from Britain. Gandhi was arrested many
times by the British for his activities in South Africa and India.

India was granted independence in 1947, and partitioned into India and Pakistan. Rioting
between Hindus and Muslims followed. Gandhi had been an advocate for a united India
where Hindus and Muslims lived together in peace. On January 13, 1948, at the age of
78, he began a fast with the purpose of stopping the bloodshed. After 5 days the opposing
leaders pledged to stop the fighting and Gandhi broke his fast. Twelve days later he was
assassinated by a Hindu fanatic who opposed his program of tolerance for all creeds and
religion.

Abraham Lincoln
“Democracy is the government of the people,
by the people, for the people”

Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) served as the 16th President of
the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully
led the United States through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War,
preserving the Union and ending slavery. Before his election in 1860[1] as the first
Republican president, Lincoln, reared in a family of modest means and mostly self-
educated, had been a country lawyer, an Illinois state legislator, a member of the United
States House of Representatives, and twice an unsuccessful candidate for election to the
His tenure in office was immersed in the defeat of the secessionist Confederate States of
America in the American Civil War. He introduced measures that resulted in the
abolition of slavery, issuing his Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and promoting the
passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

Lincoln successfully defused the Trent Affair, a war scare with the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland late in 1861. Under his leadership, the Union took control of the
border slave states at the start of the war. Additionally, he managed his own reelection in
the 1864 presidential election.

Copperheads and other opponents of the war criticized Lincoln for refusing to
compromise on the slavery issue. Conversely, the Radical Republicans criticized him for
moving too slowly in abolishing slavery. Even with these opponents, Lincoln
successfully rallied public opinion through his rhetoric and speeches; his Gettysburg
Address became an iconic symbol of the nation's duty. At the close of the war, Lincoln
held a moderate view of Reconstruction, seeking to speedily reunite the nation through a
policy of generous reconciliation. Lincoln has consistently been ranked by scholars as
one of the greatest of all U.S. Presidents.

Jawaharlal Nehru
“Democracy is good. I say this because
other systems are worse”.

Jawaharlal Nehru 4 November 1889–27 May 1964[ was an Indian statesman who was
the first (and to date the longest-serving) prime minister of India, from 1947 until 1964.
One of the leading figures in the Indian independence movement, Nehru was elected by
the Congress Party to assume office as independent India's first Prime Minister, and re-
elected when the Congress Party won India's first general election in 1952. As one of the
founders of the Non-aligned Movement, he was also an important figure in the
international politics of the post-war era. He is frequently referred to as Pandit Nehru
("pandit" being a Sanskrit and Hindi honorific meaning "scholar" or "teacher") and,
specifically in India, as Panditji (with "-ji" being a honorific suffix).

The son of a wealthy Indian barrister and politician, Motilal Nehru, Nehru became a
leader of the left wing of the Indian National Congress when still fairly young. Rising to
become Congress President, under the mentorship of Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru was a
charismatic and radical leader, advocating complete independence from the British
Empire. In the long struggle for Indian independence, in which he was a key player,
Nehru was eventually recognized as Gandhi's political heir. Throughout his life, Nehru
was also an advocate for Fabian socialism and the public sector as the means by which
long-standing challenges of economic development could be addressed by poorer
nations.

Aung San Suu Kyi

“The democracy process provides for political
and social change without violence”

Aung San Suu Kyi born 19 June 1945 is a Burmese opposition politician and a former
General Secretary of the National League for Democracy. In the 1990 general election,
Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won 59% of the national
votes and 392 of 492 seats in Parliament. Some people claim that this implies Suu Kyi
was elected Prime Minister. She had, however, already been detained under house arrest
before the elections. She has remained under house arrest in Myanmar for almost 14 out
of the past 20 years.

Aung San Suu Kyi returned to Burma in 1988 to take care of her ailing mother. By
coincidence, in the same year, the long-time leader of the Socialist ruling party, General
Ne Win, stepped down, leading to mass demonstrations for democracy on 8 August 1988
(8-8-88, a day seen as auspicious), which were violently suppressed. On 26 August 1988,
she addressed half a million people at a mass rally in front of the Shwedagon Pagoda in
the capital, calling for a democratic government. However in September, a new military
junta took power. Later the same month, the National League for Democracy (NLD) was
formed, with Suu Kyi as general secretary.

One of her most famous speeches is the "Freedom From Fear" speech, which begins, "It
is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and
fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it."

She also believes fear spurs many world leaders to lose sight of their purpose.
"Government leaders are amazing", she once said. "So often it seems they are the last to
know what the people want."
 Kim Dae Jung

“Every nation that has embraced both democracy

and a market economy has been successful”.

Kim Dae-jung (3 December 1925 – 18 August 2009) was President of South Korea from
1998 to 2003, and the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize recipient. A Roman Catholic since 1957,
he has been called the "Nelson Mandela of Asia" for his long-standing opposition to
authoritarian rule.

Kim was again put under house arrest upon his return to Seoul, but resumed his role as
one of the principal leaders of the opposition. When Chun Doo-hwan succumbed to the
popular demand in 1987 and allowed the country's first honest presidential election, Kim
Dae-jung and Kim Young-sam both ran, despite an initial promise to unite behind one
candidate. As a result, the opposition vote was split in two, and ex-general Roh Tae-woo
— Chun Doo-hwan's hand-picked successor — won with only 36.5% of the popular
vote.

The preceding presidents Park Chung Hee, Chun Doo-hwan, Roh Tae-woo, and Kim
Young-sam originated from the Gyeongsang region, which became wealthier since 1945
partly due to the policies of the Park, Chun and Roh's regimes. Kim Dae-jung was the
first president to serve out his full term who came from the Jeolla region in the
southwest, an area that had been neglected and less developed, at least partly because of
discriminatory policies of previous presidents. Kim's administration included more
individuals from the Jeolla province, leading to charges of reverse discrimination.
However, the actual numbers of the ministers and administrators of Kim Dae Jung's
government from Jeolla region indicate that they were not over-represented.