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● E OUTROS ATENTADOS TERORISTAS - http://diario.iol.pt/internacional/islao-video-geert-wilders/933150-4073.html




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●JACQUESCHIRAC2007
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La candidature de Chirac, REVUE DE PRESSE
SÉGOLÈNEROYAL2007
SEGOLENE ROYAL UNE FEMME PRESIDENTE?; Ségolène Royal ;;Femmes mises à nu: Rencontre avec Segolene Royal; Ségolène Royal - ; Ségolène Royal, la néo puritaine, le blog pas franchement ...; SEGOLENE2007 : Tout le programme de Ségolène Royal pour 2007; Ségolène 2007; ; Ségolène Royal en vidéo; Ségolène: See what people are saying right now on Technorati
GEORGESPOMPIDOU
Centro Georges Pompidou - Wikipédia
VALÉRIGISCARDD'ESTAING
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing - Wikipédia; Valéry Giscard d'Estaing - EVENE
CHARLESDEGAULE
Charles de Gaulle - Wikipédia; Charles de Gaulle - Wikipédia
BILLCLINTON
Bill Clinton - Wikipédia; Hillary Rodham Clinton, Senator from New York;Bill Clinton - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
HILLARYCLINTON
HillaryClinton.com - Welcome;Hillary Clinton - Wikipédia; Hillary Rodham Clinton - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
LYNDONJOHNSON

Lyndon B. Johnson - Wikipédia
DWIGHTDEISENHOWER
Biography of Dwight D. Eisenhower
MACARTHUR
KWCC Biography - MacArthur; United States of America Korean War Commemoration; Harry S. Truman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
HARRYSTRUMAN
Harry S. Truman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Flash>> - Le projet de résolution de l'ONU sur l'Iran a l'air - KABILA -
...Kabila investi nouveau président de la RDCongo. 2006-12-07 13:12:27 ... M. Kabila est le tout premier président élu au suffrage universel direct dans ce ...
JOSÉMARIAAZNAR
Winston Churchill - Edouard Fillias Weblog
Mais quelle contribution au progrès de la liberté dans le monde. ... Sans aucune doute! Comme homme politique je me permet de citer JOSE MARIA AZNAR! ...
FRANCEélectionsSégolène;NicolasSarkozy
Ministère de l'intérieur : les élections en France
Résultats provisoires du premier tour des présidentielles à 22h15
Le vote des français au premier tour de l'élection présidentielle 2007 serait réparti ainsi selon des résultats provisoires (taux de participation 84.98%)

30.47 % Nicolas Sarkozy
24.39 % Ségolène Royal
18.29 % François Bayrou
11.46 % Jean-Marie Le Pen
4.33 % Olivier Besancenot
2.64 % Philippe de Villiers
1.81 % Marie-George Buffet
1.70 % Frédéric Nihous
1.55 % Dominique Voynet
1.48 % Arlette Laguiller
1.47 % José Bové
0.4 % Gérard Schivardi

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20:01:11, Catégories: Les candidats, 58 mots
Un duel Royal- Sarkozy

Ségolène Royal et Nicolas Sarkozy s'affronteront le 6 Mai prochain pour la Présidence de la République.
Avec 29.6% des suffrages Nicolas Sarkozy devancerait Ségolène Royal qui obtiendrait 25.2% des voix.
Déception pour François Bayrou ( 18.3%) et Jean-Marie Le Pen ( 11.9%).
Le score des 8 autres candidats est encore difficile à estimer mais serait extrêmement décevant.

1 commentaire
18:48:29, Catégories: Les candidats, 60 mots
Des résultats partiels du 1er tour dès 20 heures

Les rumeurs les plus folles circulent actuellement sur le nom des 2 candidat(e)s qui s'affronteront le 6 Mai pour être élu Président(e) de la République. Nous publierons dès 20 heures une synthèse des résultats que nous améliorerons au cours de la soirée au fur et à mesure de la publication de résultats officiels

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18:44:00, Catégories: Les candidats, 98 mots
Le record du taux de participation sera battu
Les électeurs se sont déplacés massivement pour aller voter, et déja à 17 heures le taux de participation atteignait 73.87%, alors que de nombreux électeurs des grandes villes n'étaient pas encore allé voter. Le trafic routier vers la région parisienne et la périphérie des grandes villes françaises est d'ailleurs supérieur à la normale actuellement. Le taux de participation de ce jour est le meilleur depuis plus de 25 ans ( 1981) et risque d'être le record absolu de la 5ème république.
Nous vous informerons des résultats au fur et à mesure de leur publication.

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16.04.07
10:57:04, Catégories: Les candidats, 172 mots
François Bayrou exclut tout accord avec le PS avant le 1er tour
Ce matin sur France Inter, le candidat UDF François Bayrou a exclu tout accord d'alliance avec le Parti Socialiste avant le premier tour de l'élection présdentielle qui aura lieu Dimanche prochain 22 Avril.


Lire la suite!

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11.04.07
21:06:51, Catégories: Les candidats, 140 mots
Le Canard Enchainé évoque un pacte Chirac-Sarkozy
Le Canard Enchainé se déchaine dans cette campagne présidentielle, et après avoir déja soulevé des questions embarassantes pour certains candidats, il révèle qu'un pacte aurait été passé entre le Président Jacques Chirac et le candidat Nicolas Sarkozy.


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6 commentaires
09.04.07
11:07:34, Catégories: Les candidats, 73 mots
La campagne officielle débute ce lundi
La campagne officielle pour le premier tour de l'élection présidentielle ( commence ce lundi 9 Avril pour se terminer le vendredi 20 Avril. Les affiches des candidats vont être collées sur les panneaux prévus à cet effet et les spots publicitaires des candidats vont être diffusés en quantité égale sur les chaines de radio et de télévision du service public, soit France 2, France 3, France 4, France 5, RFI, RFO et France Inter.

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03.04.07
20:20:05, Catégories: Les candidats, 27 mots
Un débat sur internet ?
François Bayrou propose aux autres candidats un débat sur internet. Pourquoi pas ? Comment organiser ce débat ou y participer ?
Vos commentaires sont les bienvenus !

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02.04.07
22:52:24, Catégories: Les candidats, 178 mots
Jean Marie Le Pen veut revoir le code de la route
Les dernières déclarations de Jean-marie Le Pen peuvent le rendre sympathique aux yeux des Français, puisque le candidat du Front National propose de revoir la limitation de vitesse sur les autoroutes et de remonter le taux d'alcoolémie, jugé éxagérément bas par JMLP.


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22:28:46, Catégories: Les candidats, 31 mots
Rappel : Les dates de l'élection présidentielle 2007
Les dates des Élections Présidentielles 2007
La date du premier tour des élections présidentielles de 2007 a été fixé au 22 Avril 2007 et le 2eme tour des élections aura lieu le 6 Mai 2007.


20:17:58, Catégories: Les candidats, 151 mots
L'égalité du temps de parole profite aux petits candidats
Depuis l'annonce des candidats officiels à l'Élection présidentielle, les 12 prétendants à la succession de Jacques Chirac bénéficient d'un temps de parole identique à la radio et à la télévision. Alors que François Bayrou, Jean-Marie Le Pen, Ségolène Royal et Nicolas Sarkozy avaient largement eu la possibilité d'exposer leurs programmes et leurs convictions, les 9 autres candidats avaient eu très peu l'occasion de se faire connaitre. Depuis, tous les candidats ont pu s'exprimer et se faire connaitre de la population. Un sondage LH2 RMC,BFM TV et 20 minutes paru aujourd'hui montre ainsi la montée de Olivier Besancenot (LCR), qui dépasse désormais 5% (+2%)d'intentions de vote. Marie George Buffet (PC), gagne 1% à 3% (+1%), tout comme José Bové, avec 2% (+0,5%) tandis qu'Arlette Laguiller (LO) perd des voix avec 1.5%. Gérard Schivardi (PT), Dominique Voynet (Verts), Philippe de Villiers (MPF) Frédéric Nihous (CPNT) n'arrivent pas à dépasser le 1%.


26.03.07
22:07:36, Catégories: Nouvelles, 312 mots
Les Québécois ont voté aujourd'hui pour leur prochain gouvernement
Au Québec, il n'est pas facile d'être un homme politique car il faut être bon au niveau provincial et au niveau fédéral, c'est a dire dans tout le Canada. Après le référendum perdu sur l'indépendance du Québec, le Parti Québécois avait quand même repris la direction du Québec, mais Jean Charest et le Parti Libéral ont regagné la faveur des électeurs et le poste de Premier Ministre du Québec en 2003 avant de déclencher des élections en ces premiers jours du printemps 2007.


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24.03.07
11:09:41, Catégories: Les candidats, 86 mots
La France présidente : nouveau slogan de Ségolène Royal
Nouveau tournant dans la campagne électorale de Ségolène Royal (PS) . La candidate socialiste veut développer le sentiment national et souhaite que chaque français possède un drapeau tricolore et l'expose à sa fenêtre lors des grandes manifestations nationales comme le 14 Juillet. Ségolène Royal aimerait aussi que les français et notamment les sportifs connaissent par coeur notre hymne national, la Marseillaise.
Enfin, à partir de la semaine prochaine nouvelle affiche et nouveau slogan pour la candidate PS : La France présidente !


20.03.07
10:50:56, Catégories: Les candidats, 188 mots
Les 12 candidats auront un temps de parole strictement identique
Les 12 candidats à la Présidence de la République bénéficieront d'un temps de parole strictement identique sur les chaines de radio et de télévision françaises. Plus question d'émissions politiques entièrement consacrées à Nicolas Sarkozy ou Ségolène Royal alors que les autres candidats devaient se partager le même temps de parole. Cette disposition oblige les stations de radio et de télévision à mesurer précisément chaque intervention diffusée sur les ondes.Le CSA ( Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel) est chargé de controler l'ensemble et publie sur son site un relevé des temps de parole disponible ici


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18.03.07
10:58:45, Catégories: Les candidats, 89 mots
Ils seront 11 ou 12 candidats à la Présidence
11 candidats ont déposé plus de 500 signatures au Conseil Constitutionnel avant vendredi 18 heures. José Bové est incertain sur le nombre de parrainages qu'il a obtenu et qui seront validés par les membres du Conseil Constitutionnel.
Les candidats ayant déposé plus de 500 signatures sont : Marie-Georges Buffet (PC), Arlette Laguiller ( LCR), (Ségolène Royal (PS), Dominique Voynet ( Verts) et Olivier Besancenot (LCR), Frédéric Nihoux (CPNT) , Philippe de Villiers (MPF), Gérard Schivardi (Parti des Travailleurs), François Bayrou ( UDF), Nicolas Sarkozy (UMP), Jean-Marie Le Pen (FN).
ALEMANHA GerhardSchröder
Gerhard Schröder - Wikipedia
Über das Leben, die Arbeit als Bundeskanzler, die Schirmherrschaften und die Ehrungen wird informiert.Gerhard Schröder
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Dieser Artikel beschreibt den ehemaligen deutschen Bundeskanzler Gerhard Schröder. Weitere Personen gleichen Namens sind auf Gerhard Schröder (Begriffsklärung) aufgeführt.

Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schröder (* 7. April 1944 in Mossenberg, heute Stadtteil von Blomberg, Kreis Lippe), genannt Gerhard Schröder oder auch Gerd Schröder, ist ein deutscher SPD-Politiker. Er war von 1998 bis 2005 Bundeskanzler der Bundesrepublik Deutschland sowie zuvor von 1990 bis 1998 Ministerpräsident des Bundeslandes Niedersachsen. Nach seiner politischen Karriere wechselte Schröder in die Wirtschaft, wo er bis heute verschiedene Positionen bekleidet.


Gerhard SchröderInhaltsverzeichnis [Verbergen]
1 Sein Leben
1.1 Jugend und Ausbildung
1.2 Berufliche Entwicklung
1.3 Karriere in der SPD
1.4 Privat
1.5 Familiäres Umfeld
2 Arbeit als Bundeskanzler
2.1 Die rot-grüne Koalition
2.2 Berater und Kommissionen
2.3 Außenpolitik
3 Schröder als „Medienkanzler“
3.1 Schröder als Gegenstand von Parodie
4 Schirmherrschaften
5 Ehrungen
6 Siehe auch
7 Werke
8 Literatur
9 Weblinks
10 Quellen



Sein Leben

Jugend und Ausbildung
Gerhard Schröder wuchs als Sohn einer Kriegswitwe auf. Sein Vater Fritz Schröder (* 12. September 1912 in Leipzig), ein reisender Kirmesarbeiter, fiel als 32-jähriger Obergefreiter nur wenige Monate nach der Geburt seines Sohnes am 4. Oktober 1944 in Rumänien.

Schröder besuchte von 1951 bis 1958 die Volksschule und machte anschließend bis 1961 eine Lehre zum Einzelhandelskaufmann in einem Eisenwarengeschäft in Lemgo.


Berufliche Entwicklung
Von 1961 bis 1963 war Schröder Bauhilfsarbeiter und kaufmännischer Angestellter in Göttingen. Von der Wehrpflicht war er als einziger Sohn eines im Krieg Gefallenen befreit. Er holte zwischen 1962 und 1964 in der Abendschule (Siegerlandkolleg in Siegen) die mittlere Reife nach. Das Abitur machte er in den Jahren 1964 bis 1966 an einem Kolleg des zweiten Bildungswegs in Bielefeld.

Von 1966 bis 1971 studierte Gerhard Schröder Jura in Göttingen und schloss das Studium 1971 mit dem ersten Staatsexamen ab. 1976 folgte das zweite Staatsexamen. Noch im Jahre 1976 wurde er als Rechtsanwalt zugelassen und übte diesen Beruf von 1978 bis 1990 aus. In dieser Eigenschaft vertrat er u. a. auch den damalig als RAF-Terrorist inhaftierten Horst Mahler.

Von 1980 bis 1986 war Schröder Mitglied des Deutschen Bundestags. Nach den Landtagswahlen im Jahr 1986 wurde er Oppositionsführer im niedersächsischen Landtag, dem er bis 1998 angehörte.

1990 wählte eine rot-grüne Parlamentsmehrheit Schröder zum Ministerpräsidenten Niedersachsens. In den Jahren 1994 und 1998 wurde er jeweils in diesem Amt bestätigt. Bis 1994 führte Schröder eine rot-grüne Koalition, danach regierte die SPD mit absoluter Mehrheit. In seiner Tätigkeit als Ministerpräsident war er vom 1. November 1997 bis 27. Oktober 1998 Präsident des Bundesrats.

Nach der Bundestagswahl am 27. September 1998 zog Schröder wieder in den Deutschen Bundestag ein und wurde zum 7. Bundeskanzler der Bundesrepublik Deutschland gewählt. Im Jahre 2002 wurde er in diesem Amt bestätigt. Nach der Wahl von Angela Merkel zur Bundeskanzlerin am 22. November 2005 legte Schröder sein bei den Bundestagswahlen 2005 erlangtes Bundestagsmandat nieder.

Seitdem ist Gerhard Schröder wieder in seinem Beruf als Rechtsanwalt und als freiberuflicher Berater in einer eigenen Kanzlei in Berlin tätig.


Gerhard Schröder in München 2002Seit Januar 2006 ist Schröder für den Schweizer Ringier-Verlag und dessen Verwaltungsratspräsidenten Michael Ringier als Berater tätig. Ebenfalls seit 2006 ist Schröder bei der New Yorker (USA) Redner-Agentur Harry Walker als Vortragsredner unter Vertrag.

Am 30. März 2006 wurde Schröder Vorsitzender des Rats der Aktionäre (Aufsichtsrat) des Pipeline-Konsortiums NEGP Company, einer Gesellschaft nach schweizerischem Recht, gebildet von dem russischen Gaskonzern Gazprom, bzw. Russian Andrew Marino-Pipelines (51 % Anteil) und den deutschen Konzernen BASF (24,5 %) und E.ON (24,5 %), das die Ostsee-Pipeline von Russland nach Deutschland projektieren und betreiben wird. Dieses Projekt hatten sowohl er als Bundeskanzler als auch Russlands Präsident Wladimir Putin unterstützt. Da Schröder in seiner Position als Kanzler die Wege für die Ostseepipeline geebnet hatte, regte sich Kritik[1] daran, dass er nach Ablauf seiner Amtszeit eine profitable Position als Aufsichtsratschef des Konsortiums erhielt, zudem wurde der Sitz des neu gegründeten Unternehmens in der steuerlich günstigeren Schweiz kritisiert.

Weiterhin wird Schröder Mitglied im Europa-Beirat der Rothschild - Investmentbank mit Sitz in der Schweiz.

Der Europaabgeordnete Daniel Cohn-Bendit hat Gerhard Schröder im März 2006 als Sondergesandten der EU für Weißrussland vorgeschlagen.


Karriere in der SPD

Franz Müntefering, Peter Kunz und Gerhard Schröder bei einer SPD-Veranstaltung 2005 in Frankfurt am MainBereits 1963 trat Schröder in die SPD ein, 1971 wurde er Vorsitzender der Jungsozialisten (Jusos) im Bezirk Hannover und 1973 Mitglied der ÖTV. Von 1978 bis 1980 war er Bundesvorsitzender der Jusos. Im Jahre 1983 wurde Schröder Vorsitzender des SPD-Bezirks Hannover und war von 1986 bis 1998 Spitzenkandidat seiner Partei für die Landtagswahl in Niedersachsen. Vom 16. Juli 1994 bis zum 29. September 1998 war er Landesvorsitzender der Sozialdemokraten in Niedersachsen. Nach dem Rücktritt Oskar Lafontaines im März 1999 wurde er Parteivorsitzender der SPD. In dieses Amt wurde er im Herbst der Jahre 1999, 2001 und 2003 wiedergewählt. Im Jahre 2004 trat er vom Parteivorsitz zurück, Franz Müntefering wurde sein Nachfolger.


Privat
Schröder war mit Eva Schubach (von 1968 bis 1971), Anne Taschenmacher (von 1972 bis 1984) und Hiltrud „Hillu“ Hensen (von 1984 bis 1997) verheiratet. Im Jahre 1997 heiratete Schröder in vierter Ehe die 19 Jahre jüngere Journalistin Doris Köpf, welche eine Tochter, Klara, mit in die Beziehung brachte. Schröder selbst hat keine leiblichen Kinder. Im Jahre 2004 adoptierten Gerhard Schröder und seine Frau ein damals dreijähriges Mädchen aus Sankt Petersburg namens Viktoria, im Jahre 2006 adoptierte das Paar einen Jungen namens Gregor.


Familiäres Umfeld
Gerhard Schröder hat eine Schwester, Gunhild Schröder-Kamp und, aus der zweiten Ehe seiner Mutter, drei Halbgeschwister, darunter seinen Halbbruder Lothar Vosseler.


Arbeit als Bundeskanzler

Die rot-grüne Koalition
Nach dem Wahlerfolg der SPD bei der Bundestagswahl 1998 wurde Gerhard Schröder am 27. Oktober 1998 zum 7. Bundeskanzler der Bundesrepublik Deutschland gewählt. Er war bisher der einzige deutsche Bundeskanzler, der von der Möglichkeit gebrauch machte, die Vereidigung ohne religiöse Beteuerung zu leisten. Die Regierung wurde von einer Koalition aus SPD und Bündnis 90/Die Grünen gestellt. Schröder war damit der dritte sozialdemokratische Kanzler der Bundesrepublik. Sein Regierungsstil wurde, je nach politischer Einstellung, als pragmatisch oder populistisch, als sachorientiert oder visionslos eingestuft. Kennzeichnend für ihn waren seine darstellerischen Fähigkeiten bei Auftritten in den Medien.

Mit Gerhard Schröder wurde das erste Mal seit 16 Jahren wieder ein Sozialdemokrat zum Bundeskanzler gewählt. Zum ersten und bislang einzigen Mal bekam ein deutscher Bundeskanzler bei seiner Wahl im Deutschen Bundestag mehr Stimmen, als seine Koalition Abgeordnete im Bundestag stellte. Unter anderem aufgrund der Tatsache, dass zum ersten Mal Vertreter der neuen sozialen Bewegungen an die Regierung gelangten, bürgerte es sich schnell ein, vom Projekt Rot-Grün zu sprechen, das einen Wandel in der politischen Kultur Deutschlands verkörpern sollte.

Zu Anfang der Legislaturperiode erwies es sich als Problem der Regierungsarbeit, dass Schröder und sein Bundesfinanzminister Oskar Lafontaine unterschiedliche Ansichten zu substanziellen wirtschafts- und finanzpolitischen Fragen hatten. Die gegensätzlichen Auffassungen gipfelten in einem Machtkampf, auf dessen Höhepunkt Lafontaine bereits im März 1999 die Regierung verließ und sein Amt als SPD-Vorsitzender aufgab. Daraufhin wurde Schröder Bundesvorsitzender seiner Partei und Hans Eichel Finanzminister.

Die rot-grüne Koalition beschloss den Atomausstieg sowie die Ökosteuer. Differenzen zwischen den Koalitionspartnern gab es bei den Themen Asylbewerber, Waffenexporte und Kosovo-Krieg. Innenpolitisch setzte die Regierung Schröder ihr so genanntes Wahlprogramm von „Innovation und Gerechtigkeit“ um: Modernisierung des Staatsbürgerschaftsrechts, Green-Card-Initiative, Haushaltskonsolidierung, Steuerreform, Rentenreform, verschiedene Initiativen für Bildung und Ausbildung (Jump, Schulen ans Netz, Dienstrechtsreform für Hochschullehrer), Umsteuern in der Landwirtschaftspolitik.

Nachdem das erste Regierungsjahr für die rot-grüne Koalition mit mehreren Niederlagen bei Landtags- beziehungsweise Europawahlen 1999 geendet hatte, konnte sich das Kabinett Schröder im Zuge der CDU-Spendenaffäre konsolidieren. Die vom Kanzler Schröder verkörperten Reformprojekte wurden nicht nur von der CDU, sondern wiederholt auch von parteiinternen Kritikern aus SPD und Grünen in Frage gestellt, denen die Reformen zu weit gingen. Schröder konnte den Zusammenhalt der Koalition mehrmals durch offene und versteckte Rücktrittsdrohungen erhalten.

Gerhard Schröder erklärte es als sein persönliches Anliegen, die Arbeitslosigkeit zu senken. Diese stieg aber weiter an. Daraufhin setzte die Bundesregierung am 22. Februar 2002 die Kommission „Moderne Dienstleistungen am Arbeitsmarkt“ unter dem Vorsitz von Peter Hartz ein. Deren Aufgabe war die Entwicklung eines schlüssigen Gesamtkonzeptes zur Reform des deutschen Arbeitsmarktes.

Am 22. September 2002 errangen SPD und Grüne bei der Bundestagswahl 2002 eine knappe Mandatsmehrheit und setzten die Koalition unter Gerhard Schröder fort. Einige Monate vor der Wahl lagen CDU/CSU zusammen mit der FDP in Meinungsumfragen noch vor Rot-Grün. Als letztendlich wahlentscheidend wurden von Beobachtern vor allem zwei Faktoren herausgestellt: Einerseits die Flutkatastrophe, die kurz zuvor Ostdeutschland heimgesucht hatte und in deren Rahmen Gerhard Schröder und anderen Regierungspolitiker Kompetenz in der Bewältigung von Krisen zugeschrieben wurde, andererseits der von der Bundesregierung abgelehnte Irak-Krieg, der von den USA geplant wurde.

Nach der Wiederwahl zum Bundeskanzler am 22. Oktober 2002 folgte eine Zeit, in der Schröder erneut konfliktreiche Reformvorhaben anstieß, etwa zur Gesundheitsreform. Am 6. Februar 2004 gab Schröder bekannt, dass er auf dem Sonderparteitag der SPD Ende März vom Parteivorsitz zurücktreten würde. Der bisherige Vorsitzende der SPD-Fraktion, Franz Müntefering, wurde zum neuen Vorsitzenden der SPD gewählt. Schröder rechtfertigte seine Entscheidung auf einer Pressekonferenz damit, sich „nun noch intensiver um Regierungsangelegenheiten kümmern“ zu können. Viele Beobachter sahen darin den Versuch, den mit den Reformvorhaben einhergehenden Popularitätsverlust aufzuhalten.

Die Gestaltungsfreiheit der Regierung Schröder war durch eine Stimmenmehrheit von CDU und FDP im Bundesrat eingeschränkt. Wiederholt konnte Schröder durch Zugeständnisse erreichen, dass einzelne Länder, an deren Regierung die CDU beteiligt war, seine Regierungspolitik im Bundesrat unterstützten.

Nach der Niederlage der SPD bei den Landtagswahlen in Nordrhein-Westfalen am 22. Mai 2005 erklärte Gerhard Schröder, er wolle so bald wie möglich Neuwahlen auf Bundesebene erreichen, da er die Grundlage für seine Politik in Frage gestellt sehe. Am 1. Juli 2005 stellte er im Bundestag die Vertrauensfrage: 151 Ja-Stimmen, 296 Nein, 148 Enthaltungen, damit war die notwendige Kanzlermehrheit nicht erreicht. In der Öffentlichkeit wurde es als in rechtlicher Hinsicht problematisch diskutiert, dass der Kanzler - ähnlich wie Helmut Kohl bei der Wende von 1982 - absichtlich in der Abstimmung unterliegen wollte. Gerhard Schröder beantragte nach der Abstimmung bei Bundespräsident Horst Köhler die Auflösung des 15. Deutschen Bundestages. Köhler entsprach am 21. Juli dem Antrag und setzte Neuwahlen für den 18. September 2005 an. Am 25. August 2005 wies das Bundesverfassungsgericht in Karlsruhe die Klagen zweier Bundestagsabgeordneter gegen die vorzeitige Auflösung des Bundestags und die Anberaumung von Neuwahlen am 18. September zurück.

Am 9. Juli 2005 wählte eine Landesdelegiertenkonferenz der niedersächsischen SPD Gerhard Schröder mit 99,5 Prozent der Stimmen (191 von 192) zum Spitzenkandidaten der SPD Landesliste für die vorgezogenen Bundestagswahl. In dieser Wahl erreichte die SPD 34,2 % der Stimmen und damit 222 von 614 Sitzen. Sie ging damit aus den Wahlen als stärkste Partei hervor, ist aber auf Grund der Fraktionsgemeinschaft von CDU und CSU nur zweitstärkste Fraktion im 16. Deutschen Bundestag. Die Grünen errangen 51 Sitze. Für den Fall einer möglichen großen Koalition zwischen CDU/CSU und SPD beanspruchte Schröder zunächst entgegen der Tradition, nach der immer die stärkere Fraktion einer Koalition den Regierungschef stellt, das Amt des Bundeskanzlers weiterhin für sich, erklärte aber später indirekt seine Bereitschaft zum Verzicht auf eine Führungsrolle in einer neuen Regierung.

Schröder führte auch nach der konstituierenden Sitzung des 16. Deutschen Bundestages am 18. Oktober 2005 das Amt des Bundeskanzlers auf Ersuchen des Bundespräsidenten weiter, bis der Bundestag am 22. November 2005 Angela Merkel zur neuen Bundeskanzlerin gewählt hatte. Am 23. November 2005 legte Schröder sein Bundestagsmandat nieder; sein Nachrücker ist Clemens Bollen. In ihrer Regierungserklärung vom 29. November 2005 erklärte Schröders Nachfolgerin Angela Merkel, sie wolle Kanzler Schröder ganz persönlich dafür danken, dass er mit der Agenda 2010 mutig und entschlossen eine Tür aufgestoßen habe, um die Sozialsysteme Deutschlands an die neue Zeit anzupassen.


Berater und Kommissionen
Der Regierungsstil Schröders zeichnete sich dadurch aus, dass er, insbesondere für seine Reformprojekte, auf eine Vielzahl von beratenden Gremien und Kommissionen neben im Grundgesetz dafür vorgesehenen Institutionen zurückgriff. Diese Kommissionen arbeiten meist sehr öffentlichkeitswirksam. Laut Schröder sollten sie dazu dienen, einen breiten Konsens der Experten bei den angestrebten Reformen sicherzustellen. Kritiker werfen ihm vor, damit grundlegende Mechanismen der Demokratie auszuhebeln. Befürworter hingegen stellen fest, dass diese Gremien und Kommissionen lediglich im Vorfeld von Gesetzesinitiativen aktiv sind und keinerlei Auswirkung auf den späteren Gesetzgebungsprozess haben, der genau wie bei allen anderen Gesetzen auch abläuft.

Zu den Kommissionen gehören das Bündnis für Arbeit, Ausbildung und Wettbewerbsfähigkeit, der nationale Ethikrat, die Weizsäcker-Kommission zur Zukunft der Bundeswehr, die Süssmuth-Kommission zur Zuwanderung nach Deutschland, die Kommission Moderne Dienstleistungen am Arbeitsmarkt (Hartz-Kommission) und die Rürup-Kommission zur Zukunft der Sozialsysteme. Am 27. Juli 2005 kam eine weitere Kommission unter Vorsitz von Kurt Biedenkopf hinzu. Sie soll Vorschläge für eine Reform der Unternehmensmitbestimmung unterbreiten. Bemerkenswert ist, dass Schröder bevorzugt Mitglieder der CDU als Vorsitzende dieser Kommissionen bestellte, vermutlich um eine möglichst breite Akzeptanz der Ergebnisse im damaligem Bundestag zu erreichen.

Am 14. März 2003 stellte Schröder sein Reformprojekt Agenda 2010 vor, das angesichts der Globalisierung wirtschaftlichem Wachstum und damit einem höheren Beschäftigungsstand dienen sollte. Befürworter, unter anderem aus den Industrieverbänden, betrachten dies als Schritt in die richtige Richtung und loben den Mut zu unpopulären Maßnahmen. Kritiker bemängelten unter anderem eine zögerliche Umsetzung der Vorschläge, für die sie die Opposition im Vermittlungsausschuss mitverantwortlich machten. So würden keine „echten Reformen“ durchgeführt und die notwendigen Strukturmaßnahmen fehlten. Kritik am Projekt kam nicht nur von CDU und FDP, sondern auch von den Gewerkschaften und vom linken Flügel der SPD, der von massivem Sozialabbau sprach, bei entscheidenden Abstimmungen jedoch deutlich in der Minderheit blieb.


Außenpolitik
Zu Schröders außenpolitischen Aktivitäten gehörten die Unterstützung der Errichtung des Internationalen Strafgerichtshofs, die Verabschiedung des nationalen Aktionsplans Menschenrechte, die Entschuldungsinitiative, begonnen auf dem G7-Gipfel 1999 in Köln, die weltweite Aufstockung der Entwicklungshilfe (Einigung auf dem G8-Gipfel in London: Erhöhung der Entwicklungshilfe um 50 Milliarden US-Dollar jährlich bis 2010).

Unter Schröder beteiligte sich Deutschland am Kampf gegen Terrorismus und gegen Menschenrechtsverletzungen. Dies geschah z. B. in Form mehrerer NATO-Einsätze der Bundeswehr, welche die ersten Kampfeinsätze unter deutscher Beteiligung nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg darstellten. Einheiten der Luftwaffe wurden im Kosovo-Krieg gegen Jugoslawien (heute: Serbien und Montenegro) eingesetzt; Heereseinheiten waren an Aktionen in Afghanistan beteiligt. Die Koalitionsregierung begründete dies mit dem Ende des Kalten Krieges, welches eine Neuausrichtung deutscher Außenpolitik notwendig mache. Die Position Deutschlands in der Welt müsse sich „normalisieren“, auch Deutschland müsse für die Sicherheit in der Welt „Verantwortung tragen“. Der Kosovo-Krieg führte zu Protesten in der Bevölkerung und wurde von Protestierenden als völkerrechtswidrig und als die entsprechenden Artikel des Grundgesetzes verletzend betrachtet (Verbot des Angriffskrieges).

Unmittelbar nach dem Terroranschlag des 11. September 2001, der erstmals in der Geschichte der NATO zur Ausrufung des „Bündnisfalls“ führte, hatte Schröder seine „uneingeschränkte Solidarität“ mit den USA erklärt. Kritiker halten diese Erklärung entweder für zu weitgehend oder für reine Rhetorik. Befürworter meinen, dass Schröder die gemeinsame internationale Betroffenheit in den Vordergrund stellte und das Gefühl der Deutschen zum Ausdruck brachte.

Einen Einsatz der Bundeswehr gegen die Taliban in Afghanistan und einen der Einsatz Marine am Horn von Afrika lehnten jedoch Teile der rot-grünen Regierungsfraktionen im Bundestag ab. Obwohl sich Schröder der Zustimmung der Opposition sicher sein konnte, wählte er den Weg der Vertrauensfrage, um eine eigene Mehrheit für eine Teilnahme der Bundeswehr bei der internationalen Operation Enduring Freedom zu erhalten. Die Vertrauensfrage wurde damit in der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland zum vierten Mal von einem Bundeskanzler gestellt.


Schröder und US-Präsident Bush am 9. Oktober 2001Einen möglichen Angriff auf den Irak im 3. Golfkrieg lehnte die Regierung, auch im Falle eines möglichen Beschlusses der Vereinten Nationen (UN), jedoch strikt ab. Die Nichtbeteiligung am Krieg wurde begründet mit dem fehlenden Mandat der Vereinten Nationen und dem fehlenden Zusammenhang mit den Terroranschlägen vom 11. September 2001. Angesichts des in diesen Zeitraum fallenden Wahlkampfes zur Bundestagswahl 2002 wurde Schröder diese Maßnahme jedoch von Kritikern als populistisches Wahlkampfmanöver vorgehalten, insbesondere, weil Rot-Grün zu diesem Zeitpunkt in Meinungsumfragen hinter Schwarz-Gelb zurücklag. Schröders Antikriegspolitik, verbunden mit unzureichender Information der NATO-Bündnispartner, führte zu großen Spannungen mit der US-Regierung und Kritik an Deutschland in großen Teilen der amerikanischen Öffentlichkeit. Deutschland kam jedoch weiter seinen NATO-Verpflichtungen nach und zog das deutsche Personal, das ständig in AWACS-Flugzeugen der NATO Luftraumsicherung durchführt, nicht ab. Die Position der Bundesregierung im 3. Golfkrieg wurde von einer eindeutigen Mehrheit der deutschen Bevölkerung gestützt, was auch in zahlreichen Demonstrationen zum Ausdruck kam.


Schröder mit dem russischen Präsidenten Wladimir Putin.In Schröders Amtszeit als Bundeskanzler intensivierte und verbesserte sich das Verhältnis zwischen Deutschland und Russland, was dadurch gefördert wurde, dass Schröder sich persönlich gut mit dem russischen Präsidenten Wladimir Putin versteht.

Desgleichen verbesserte sich das Verhältnis zwischen Deutschland und Frankreich während Schröders Amtszeit nicht zuletzt wegen des guten persönlichen Verhältnisses zum französischen Präsidenten Jacques Chirac enorm. So ließ sich Schröder sogar beim EU-Gipfel in Brüssel am 20. November 2003 durch Chirac vertreten, um bei Abstimmungen über seine Reformvorhaben im Bundestag anwesend sein zu können. Diese in der Geschichte der Europäischen Union bis dahin einmalige Geste unterstrich die Übereinstimmung der politischen Führung beider Länder und steht im diametralen Gegensatz zu der „Erbfeindschaft“, die das politische Verhältnis zwischen Deutschland und Frankreich noch in der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts prägte.

Weitere außenpolitische Maßnahmen waren die Erhöhung der Mittel im Kampf gegen AIDS von 20 Millionen Euro im Jahr 1998 auf 300 Millionen Euro im Jahr 2004 sowie die Bewilligung einer 500-Millionen-Euro-Hilfe nach der Tsunami-Katastrophe 2005.


Schröder als „Medienkanzler“

Gerhard Schröder (SPD) bei einer Wahlkampfrede zur Bundestagswahl 2005
Bei einem seiner letzten Wahlkampfauftritte einen Tag vor der Bundestagswahl 2005Von Gerhard Schröder wird behauptet, er habe zu Beginn seiner ersten Amtszeit im Februar 1999 gesagt, dass er zum Regieren nur „BILD, BamS und Glotze“ brauche. Wie kein Kanzler vor ihm verlasse sich Schröder also auf seine Wirkung in den Medien und seine große Popularität, die in Meinungsumfragen immer weit vor der seiner Partei lag.

Schon als Ministerpräsident Niedersachsens hatte Schröder einen Gastauftritt in der RTL-Serie GZSZ.

Während viele seine Ausstrahlung als besonders charismatisch empfanden, hielten ihm seine Kritiker vor, er versuche durch gezielte Schlagwortbildung wie Neue Mitte, Aussagen wie Basta! oder die sogenannte Politik der ruhigen Hand, sein Bild in der Öffentlichkeit zu beeinflussen.

Kurz nach der Wahl zum Bundeskanzler 1998 fiel Schröder durch die für sozialdemokratische Politiker bis dahin eher unübliche Zurschaustellung von Luxus (teure Brioni-Anzüge und Cohiba-Zigarren[2]) auf. Auch trat er in der populären ZDF-Unterhaltungssendung Wetten dass..? (20. Februar 1999) auf. Wegen seines guten Verhältnisses zur Wirtschaft wurde er vor allem in seiner ersten Amtsperiode z.B. von den Medien gern als der „Genosse der Bosse“ bezeichnet, gegen Ende seiner 2. Amtszeit wurde diese Bezeichnung in den Medien eher unüblich.

Schröder erhielt den Deutschen Medienpreis 2000 in Baden-Baden.

Im Jahre 2002 erwirkte Schröder eine einstweilige Verfügung gegen die Behauptung der Presseagentur ddp, er töne seine Haare.

Im März 2004 belegte Schröder die Bild-Zeitung und andere Erzeugnisse des Axel-Springer-Verlags mit einem Interview-Boykott, weil sie seiner Ansicht nach zu einseitig über die Regierungsarbeit berichteten. Von dieser Seite aus wurde der Boykott als Einschränkung der Pressefreiheit beschrieben.

Nach der vorgezogenen Bundestagswahl 2005 äußerte Schröder offensiv Kritik an der Berichterstattung der Medien vor der Wahl, insbesondere in der „Berliner Runde nach der Bundestagswahl 2005“. Für diese Äußerungen wurde er unter anderem vom Deutschen Journalistenverband kritisiert.

Im Oktober 2006 druckten die BILD sowie Der Spiegel vorab Auszüge aus seiner Biographie Entscheidungen – Mein Leben in der Politik und Gerhard Schröder trat in einem TV-Werbespot für die BILD auf, um den Vorab-Druck zu bewerben.


Schröder als Gegenstand von Parodie
Während Schröders Amtszeit als Bundeskanzler wurde seine Person verschiedentlich zum Zwecke der Satire parodiert. Besondere Bekanntheit erlangte die Gerd Show (Eins Live) von Schröder-Imitator Elmar Brandt, der Schröder auch sonst wiederholt in Radio und Fernsehen parodierte. Bekannt wurde auch die im September 2000 produzierte Single von Stefan Raab (Ho Mir Ma Ne Flasche Bier), die einen Sprachausschnitt Schröders von einer Festveranstaltung im gleichnamigen Song enthält und in Deutschland Ende 2000 für acht Wochen Platz 2 der Musikcharts besetzte. Die Toten Hosen veröffentlichten auf dem Album Auswärtsspiel aus dem Jahr 2002 das Lied Kanzler sein, in dem die Aufgaben von Schröder als Belastung karikiert werden. So heißt es im Refrain: „Seid bloß froh, dass ihr nicht nicht Kanzler seid.“ Dort werden auch sein Tragen von Brioni-Anzügen und die Beziehung zu seiner Verwandtschaft in Ostdeuschland[3] thematisiert.


Schirmherrschaften
Als Prominenter stellt sich Gerhard Schröder des Öfteren auch als Schirmherr zur Verfügung. Für die vom 26. August bis zum 17. September 2006 in Deutschland stattfindende Fußball-Weltmeisterschaft 2006 der Menschen mit geistiger Behinderung hatte er die Schirmherrschaft übernommen.


Ehrungen
Die Tongji-Universität in Shanghai hat am 30. Dezember 2002 Gerhard Schröder den Ehrendoktortitel verliehen, im Juni 2003 nahm er die Ehrendoktorwürde in Jura der Sankt Petersburger Universität an. Am 4. April 2005 wurde ihm der gleiche Titel der juristischen Fakultät der Marmara-Universität Istanbul und am 14. Juni 2005 die Ehrendoktorwürde der mathematisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Fakultäten der Universität Göttingen verliehen.

Am 9. Dezember 2005 wurde Gerhard Schröder, wegen seiner Verdienste um den deutschen Fußball sowie bei der Bewerbung um die WM 2006 in Deutschland, zum Ehrenmitglied des Deutschen Fußball-Bundes ernannt.

Seit 24. Februar 2006 ist er Ehrenbürger seiner Heimatstadt Hannover.


Siehe auch
Kabinett Schröder I (Niedersachsen)
Kabinett Schröder II (Niedersachsen)
Kabinett Schröder III (Niedersachsen)
Kabinett Schröder I
Kabinett Schröder II

Werke
Der Herausforderer. Kindler, München 1986, ISBN 3-463-40036-7
Reifeprüfung – Reformpolitik am Ende des Jahrhunderts. Kiepenheuer und Witsch, Köln 1993, ISBN 3-462-02251-2
Und weil wir unser Land verbessern ... 26 Briefe für ein modernes Deutschland. Hoffmann und Campe, Hamburg 1998, ISBN 3-455-11244-7
Das deutsch-französische Verhältnis in einem erweiterten Europa. Rombach, Freiburg im Breisgau 2002, ISBN 3-7930-9335-2
Entscheidungen – Mein Leben in der Politik. Hoffmann und Campe, Hamburg 2006, ISBN 3455500145

Literatur
Literatur von und über Gerhard Schröder im Katalog der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek
Béla Anda/Rolf Kleine: Gerhard Schröder - Eine Biographie. München 2002, ISBN 3-548-36387-3

Weblinks
Wikinews: Gerhard Schröder im Themenportal Deutscher Bundeskanzler – Nachrichten

Commons: Gerhard Schröder – Bilder, Videos und/oder Audiodateien

Gerhard Schröder in der Internet Movie Database
Heribert Prantl: „Adieu, Kanzler! – Er war Deutschland“ (Süddeutsche Zeitung, 21. November 2005)
Schröder legt Bundestagsmandat nieder (FAZ.NET, 21. November 2005)
Schröders Biografie bei www.whoswho.de

Quellen
↑ Albrecht Müller - Machtwahn. Wie eine mittelmäßige Führungselite uns zugrunde richtet - ISBN 3426273861
↑ http://www.cicero.de/97.php?ress_id=4&item=719
↑ http://www.tagesspiegel.de/meinung/archiv/10.05.2001/ak-mn-559905.html
AusklappenBundeskanzler der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
Konrad Adenauer | Ludwig Erhard | Kurt Georg Kiesinger | Willy Brandt | Helmut Schmidt | Helmut Kohl | Gerhard Schröder | Angela Merkel


AusklappenParteivorsitzende der SPD
Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (1890–1933):
Paul Singer/Alwin Gerisch | August Bebel/Paul Singer | August Bebel/Hugo Haase | Hugo Haase/Friedrich Ebert | Friedrich Ebert | Friedrich Ebert/Philipp Scheidemann | Otto Wels/Hermann Müller | Arthur Crispien/Otto Wels/Hermann Müller | Arthur Crispien/Otto Wels | Arthur Crispien/Otto Wels/Hans Vogel

Exil-SPD (1933–1945):
Otto Wels/Hans Vogel | Hans Vogel

Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (ab 1946):
Kurt Schumacher | Erich Ollenhauer | Willy Brandt | Hans-Jochen Vogel | Björn Engholm | Johannes Rau | Rudolf Scharping | Oskar Lafontaine | Gerhard Schröder | Franz Müntefering | Matthias Platzeck | Kurt Beck


AusklappenMinisterpräsidenten des Landes Niedersachsen
Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf | Heinrich Hellwege | Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf | Georg Diederichs | Alfred Kubel | Ernst Albrecht | Gerhard Schröder | Gerhard Glogowski | Sigmar Gabriel | Christian Wulff


AusklappenBundesvorsitzende der Jusos
Hans-Jürgen Wischnewski (1959–1962) | Holger Börner (1962–1963) | Günther Müller (1963–1967) | Peter Corterier (1967–1969) | Karsten Voigt (1969–1972) | Wolfgang Roth (1972–1974) | Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul (1974–1977) | Klaus Uwe Benneter (1977) | Gerhard Schröder (1978–1980) | Willi Piecyk (1980–1982) | Rudolf Hartung (1982–1984) | Ulf Skirke (1984–1986) | Michael Guggemos (1986–1988) | Susi Möbbeck (1988–1991) | Ralf Ludwig (1991–1993) | Thomas Westphal (1993–1995) | Andrea Nahles (1995–1999) | Benjamin Mikfeld (1999–2001) | Niels Annen (2001–2004) | Björn Böhning (Seit 2004)


Personendaten
NAME Schröder, Gerhard
ALTERNATIVNAMEN Schröder, Gerhard Fritz Kurt
KURZBESCHREIBUNG Ehemaliger Bundeskanzler der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
GEBURTSDATUM 7. April 1944
GEBURTSORT Mossenberg-Wöhren, heute Stadtteil von Blomberg, Kreis Lippe

Von „http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_Schr%C3%B6der“
Kategorien: Mann | Deutscher | Ministerpräsident (Niedersachsen) | Bundeskanzler (Deutschland) | Bundestagsabgeordneter | SPD-Mitglied | Bundesvorsitzender der SPD | Geboren 1944 | Rechtsanwalt | Person (Hannover)

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Angela Merkel enfrentou o Chanceler Gerhard Schröder nas eleições legislativas alemãs de 18 de Setembro de 2005. A CDU obteve mais votos que o SPD de ...

Angela Merkel
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Angela Merkel
Chanceler da Alemanha
Mandato: 22 de Novembro de 2005
Precedido por: Gerhard Schröder
Data de nascimento: 17 de Julho de 1954
Local de nascimento: Hamburgo
Partido político: CDU
[[WP:PPO#{{{projecto}}}|...]]
Angela Dorothea Merkel (Hamburgo, 17 de Julho de 1954) é uma política alemã, líder do partido democrata cristão (CDU) desde 2000 e em 2005 tornou-se a primeira mulher a presidir a um governo da Alemanha.

Angela Merkel enfrentou o Chanceler Gerhard Schröder nas eleições legislativas alemãs de 18 de Setembro de 2005. A CDU obteve mais votos que o SPD de Schröder, mas não conseguiu uma maioria para formar um governo. Uma grande coligação entre a CDU e o SPD foi formada, tendo Angela Merkel assumido o cargo de Chanceler.

Nascida Angela Dorothea Kasner, filha de um pastor luterano, acompanha o pai na sua ida para a Alemanha do Leste, quando a este lhe foi atribuída a paróquia da pequena cidade de Templin, onde Angela cresceu. Estudou Física na Universidade de Leipzig e doutorou-se na mesma área. Trabalhou como química num instituto científico de Berlim oriental. Viveu na Alemanha de Leste até à queda do Muro de Berlim em 1989.

Na CDU foi apadrinhada por Helmut Kohl, em cujos governos participou, primeiro como ministra da Mulher e da Juventude (logo após a reunificação alemã de 1990), e depois como Ministra do Ambiente. De início desvalorizada enquanto figura política, conquista progressivamente destaque na CDU. Na sequência do escândalo de corrupção que atingiu a CDU e Helmut Kohl no final dos anos 90, surge como única figura capaz de assumir a liderança do partido. Porém, nas eleições legislativas de 2002 foi obrigada a ceder a candidatura a Chanceler a Edmund Stoiber, líder da CSU (democratas-cristãos da Baviera).

Considerada uma centrista em questões sociais como o aborto e a homossexualidade, Merkel é partidária de reformas na economia, que incluem a flexibilização dos contratos de trabalho. Opõe-se à entrada da Turquia na União Europeia, advogando uma parceria privilegiada entre a União e aquele país. Foi uma partidária da invasão anglo-americana do Iraque de 2003.

O apelido de família de Merkel foi recebido do seu ex-marido Ulrich Merkel, que é também um físico. Casou-se em seguida com o químico Joachim Sauer, de quem não assumiu o sobrenome. Não tem filhos.


[editar] Ministros do seu governo

Parlamento Europeu, EstrasburgoFranz Müntefering - (SPD) - (Vice Chanceler) e Ministro do Trabalho e da Solidariadade Social
Michael Glos - (CSU) Economia e tecnologia
Peer Steinbrück - (SPD) Finanças
Wolfgang Schäuble - (CDU) - Ministro do Interior
Frank-Walter Steinmeier - (SPD) - Negócios externos
Ulla Schmidt - (SPD) - Saúde
Franz Josef Jung - (CDU) - Defesa
Ursula von der Leyen - (CDU) - Família
Horst Seehofer - (CSU) - Agricultura
Annette Schavan - (CDU) - Educação e pesquisa
Brigitte Zypries - (SPD) - Justiça
Thomas de Maizière - (CDU) - Ministro da Chancelaria
Wolfgang Tiefensee - (SPD) - Transportes
Sigmar Gabriel - (SPD) - Ambiente
Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul - (SPD) - Ministra para a ajuda aos países em desenvolvimento




[editar] Ligações externas
Página pessoal de Angela Merkel (em alemão)
Perfil de Angela Merkel - BBCBrasil.com

[editar] Declarações
Merkel acredita que a UE não tem conseguido estabelecer alguns interesses comuns para as guerras comerciais do futuro, agora que se tem como objetivo manter a paz e a liberdade durante a Guerra Fria.

E quanto aos assuntos internos, Merkel quer acelerar as reformas dos sistemas alemães: Na Alemanha estamos sempre enfrentando o perigo da nossa própria lentidão. Temos que acelerar as reformas.




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Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin
Борис Николаевич Ельцин



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1st President of the Russian Federation
In office
July 10, 1991 – December 31, 1999
Vice President(s) Aleksandr Rutskoy
(1991-1993)
Office abolished
Preceded by None
Succeeded by Vladimir Putin

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Prime Minister of Russia
In office
November 6, 1991 – June 15, 1992
Preceded by Oleg Lobov
Succeeded by Yegor Gaidar

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Born February 1, 1931
Butka, Sverdlovsk Oblast,
Soviet Union
Died April 23, 2007 (aged 76)
Moscow, Russia
Spouse Naina Yeltsina
Signature
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (Russian: Бори́с Никола́евич Е́льцин (help·info)) (February 1, 1931 – April 23, 2007[1]) was the first president of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999.

Yeltsin came to power on a wave of high expectations. On 12 June 1991 he was elected president of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic with 57% of the vote, becoming the first popularly elected president in Russian history. But Yeltsin never recovered his popularity after a series of economic and political crises in Russia in the 1990s. The Yeltsin era was a traumatic period in Russian history; a period marked by widespread corruption, economic collapse, and enormous political and social problems. By the time he left office, Yeltsin was a deeply unpopular figure in Russia, with an approval rating as low as two percent by some estimates. [2]

Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991, Yeltsin, vowing to transform Russia's Communist planned economy into a capitalist market economy, endorsed a programme of "shock therapy," cutting Soviet-era price controls and introducing drastic cuts in state spending. The reforms immediately devastated the living standards of much of the population, especially the groups dependent on Soviet-era state subsidies and welfare entitlement programs.[3] Through the 1990s, Russia's GDP fell by 50 percent, vast sectors of the economy were wiped out, inequality and unemployment grew dramatically, while incomes fell. Hyperinflation wiped out a lot of personal savings, and tens of millions of Russians were plunged into poverty.[4]

In August 1991, Yeltsin won international plaudits for casting himself as a democrat and defying the August coup attempt of 1991 by hard-line Communists. But he left office widely despised as a desperate, ailing autocrat among the Russian population.[5] As president, Yeltsin's conception of the presidency was highly autocratic. Yeltsin either acted as his own prime minister (until June 1992) or appointed men of his choice, regardless of parliament. His confrontations with parliament climaxed in the October 1993 Russian constitutional crisis, when Yeltsin called up tanks to shell the Russian White House, blasting out his opponents in parliament. Later in 1993, Yeltsin imposed a new constitution with strong presidential powers, which was approved by referendum in December.

Following the 1998 Russian financial crisis, Yeltsin was at the end of his political career. Just hours before the first day of 2000, Yeltsin made a surprise announcement of his resignation, leaving the presidency in the hands of Vladimir Putin.

Contents [hide]
1 Early life
2 CPSU member
3 President of the RSFSR
4 President of the Russian Federation
4.1 Yeltsin's first term
4.1.1 Radical reforms
4.1.2 Confrontation with parliament
4.1.3 Chechnya
4.1.4 Privatization and the rise of "the oligarchs"
4.1.5 1996 presidential election
4.1.6 See also
5 Yeltsin's second term
5.1 Resignation
6 Yeltsin's alcoholism
7 Life after resignation
8 Death
9 Funeral
10 International reaction
11 References
12 External links



Early life
Boris Yeltsin was born in the village of Butka, in Talitsky District of Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia. His father, Nikolay Yeltsin, was convicted of anti-Soviet agitation in 1934 and sentenced to hard labour in a gulag for three years.[6] Following his release he remained unemployed for a period of time and then worked in construction. His mother, Klavdiya Vasilyevna Yeltsina, worked as a seamstress.

Boris Yeltsin studied at Pushkin High School in Berezniki in Perm Krai. He was fond of sports (in particular skiing, gymnastics, volleyball, track and field, boxing and wrestling) despite losing two fingers when he and some friends sneaked into a Red Army supply depot, stole several grenades, and tried to dissect them.

Yeltsin received his higher education at the Ural Polytechnic Institute in Sverdlovsk, majoring in construction, and graduated in 1955. The subject of his degree paper was "Television Tower".

From 1955 to 1957 he worked as a foreman with the building trust Uraltyazhtrubstroi and from 1957 to 1963 he worked in Sverdlovsk, and was promoted from construction site superintendent to chief of the Construction Directorate with the Yuzhgorstroi Trust. In 1963 he became chief engineer, and in 1965 head of the Sverdlovsk House-Building Combine. He joined the ranks of the CPSU nomenklatura in 1968 when he was appointed head of construction with the Sverdlovsk Regional Party Committee. In 1975 he became secretary of the regional committee in charge of the region's industrial development. In 1976 the Politburo of the CPSU promoted him to the post of the first secretary of the CPSU Committee of Sverdlovsk Oblast (effectively he became the head of one of the most important industrial regions in the USSR), he remained in this position till 1985.


CPSU member

Boris Yeltsin (right) and his old rival and last Soviet president, Mikhail Gorbachev (left) after the Soviet coup attempt of 1991Yeltsin was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) from 1961 to July 1990, and began working in the Communist administration in 1968. He later commented on his communist views:

"I sincerely believed in the ideals of justice propagated by the party, and just as sincerely joined the party, made a thorough study of the charter, the programme and the classics, re-reading the works of Lenin, Marx and Engels."
In 1977 as party boss in Sverdlovsk, Yeltsin--on orders from Moscow--ordered the destruction of the Ipatiev House where the last Russian tsar had been killed by Bolshevik troops. The Ipatiev House was demolished in one night, July 27, 1977. [11] Also during Yeltsin's stay in Sverdlovsk, a CPSU palace was built which was named "White Tooth" by the residents. During the 30 years of his activities as a communist, Yeltsin developed connections with key people in the Soviet power structure.

He was appointed to the Politburo, and was also "Mayor" of Moscow (First Secretary of the CPSU Moscow City Committee) from December 24, 1985 to 1987. He was promoted to these high rank positions by Mikhail Gorbachev and Yegor Ligachev, who presumed that Yeltsin would be their man. Yeltsin was also given a country house (dacha) previously occupied by Gorbachev. During this period Yeltsin portrayed himself as a reformer and populist (for example, he took a trolleybus to work), firing and reshuffling his staff several times. His initiatives became popular among Moscow residents.

In 1987, after a confrontation with hardliner Yegor Ligachev and Mikhail Gorbachev about Gorbachev's wife, Raisa, meddling in affairs of the state, Yeltsin was sacked from his high ranking party positions. On October 21, 1987 at the plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Yeltsin, without prior approval from Gorbachev, lashed out at the Politburo. He expressed his discontent with both the slow pace of reform in society and the servility shown to the General Secretary, then asked to resign from the Politburo, adding that the City Committee would decide whether he should resign from the post of first secretary of the Moscow City Party Committee. In his reply, Gorbachev accused Yeltsin of "political immaturity" and "absolute irresponsibility", and at the plenary meeting of the Moscow City Party Committee proposed relieving Yeltsin of his post of first secretary. Nobody backed Yeltsin. Criticism of Yeltsin continued on November 11, 1987 at the meeting of the Moscow City Party Committee. After Yeltsin admitted that his speech had been a mistake, he was fired from the post of first secretary of the Moscow City Committee. He was demoted to the position of first deputy commissioner for the State Committee for Construction. After being fired, Yeltsin was hospitalized and later (confirmed by Nikolai Ryzhkov) attempted suicide. He was perturbed and humiliated but began plotting his revenge.[7] His opportunity came with Gorbachev's establishment of the Congress of People's Deputies.[8] He recovered, and started intensively criticizing Gorbachev, highlighting the slow pace of reform in the Soviet Union as his major argument.

Yeltsin's criticism of the Politburo and Gorbachev led to a smear campaign against him, in which examples of Yeltsin's awkward behavior were used against him. An article published in Pravda described him as being drunk at a lecture during his visit to the United States, an allegation which appeared to be confirmed by a TV account of his speech. However, popular dissatisfaction with the regime was very strong, and these attempts to smear Yeltsin only added to his popularity. In another incident, Yeltsin fell from a bridge. Commenting on this event, Yeltsin hinted that he was helped to fall from the bridge by the enemies of perestroika, but his opponents suggested that he was simply drunk.


President of the RSFSR

Yeltsin (far left) with his personal bodyguard Alexander Korzhakov stands on a tank to defy the August coup in 1991In March 1989, Yeltsin was elected to the Congress of People's Deputies as the delegate from Moscow district and gained a seat on the Supreme Soviet. In May 1990, he was elected chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR (RSFSR). He was supported by both democratic and conservative members of the Supreme Soviet, which sought power in the developing political situation in the country. A part of this power struggle was the opposition between power structures of the Soviet Union and the RSFSR. In an attempt to gain more power, on 12 June 1990, the Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR adopted a declaration of sovereignty and Yeltsin quit the CPSU in July 1990.

On 12 June 1991, Yeltsin won 57% of the popular vote in the democratic presidential elections for the Russian republic, defeating Gorbachev's preferred candidate, Nikolai Ryzhkov. In his election campaign, Yeltsin criticized the "dictatorship of the center", but did not suggest the introduction of a market economy. Instead, he said that he would put his head on the railtrack in the event of increased prices. Yeltsin took office on July 10.

On August 18, 1991, a coup against Gorbachev was launched by hardline communists headed by Vladimir Kryuchkov. Gorbachev was held in Crimea while Yeltsin raced to the White House of Russia (residence of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR) in Moscow to defy the coup. The White House was surrounded by the military but the troops defected in the face of mass popular demonstrations. Yeltsin responded to the coup by making a memorable speech from the turret of a tank. By August 21 most of the coup leaders had fled Moscow and Gorbachev was "rescued" from Crimea and then returned to Moscow. Yeltsin was subsequently hailed by his supporters around the world for rallying mass opposition to the coup.

Although restored to his position, Gorbachev's powers were now fatally compromised. Neither union nor Russian power structures heeded his commands as support had swung over to Yeltsin. Through the fall of 1991, the Russian government took over the union government, ministry by ministry. In November 1991, Yeltsin issued a decree banning the Communist Party throughout the RSFSR.

In early December 1991, Ukraine voted for independence from the Soviet Union. A week later, on December 8, Yeltsin met with Ukrainian president Leonid Kravchuk and the leader of Belarus, Stanislau Shushkevich, in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, where the three presidents announced the dissolution of the Soviet Union and that they would establish a voluntary Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in its place. According to Mikhail Gorbachev, the president of the Soviet Union at that time, Yeltsin kept the plans of the Belovezhskaya meeting in strict secrecy and the main goal of the dissolution of the Soviet Union was to get rid of Gorbachev, who by that time had started to recover his position after the events of August. Mikhail Gorbachev has also accused Yeltsin of violating the people's will expressed in the referendum in which the majority voted to keep the Soviet Union.

On December 24, the Russian Federation took the Soviet Union's seat in the United Nations. The next day, President Gorbachev resigned and the Soviet Union ceased to exist (see Collapse of the Soviet Union), thereby ending the world's largest and most influential communist regime. Economic relations between the former Soviet republics were severely compromised. Millions of native Russians found themselves in the newly formed "foreign" countries.


President of the Russian Federation

Yeltsin's first term

Radical reforms

Yeltsin and Yegor Gaidar (left), architect of Yeltsin's 1992 economic reforms, at the 1992 meeting of prime ministers of the newly independent former Soviet states in Tashkent, UzbekistanJust days after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Boris Yeltsin resolved to embark on a program of radical economic reform, with the aim of restructuring Russia's economic system—converting the world's largest socialist planned economy into a market-oriented capitalist one. During early discussions of this transition, Yeltsin's advisers debated issues of speed and sequencing, with an apparent division between those favoring a rapid approach and those favoring a gradual or slower approach.

In late 1991 Yeltsin turned to the advice of Western economists, and Western institutions such as the IMF, the World Bank, and the U.S. Treasury Department, who had developed a standard policy recipe for transition economies in the late 1980s. This policy recipe came to be known as the "Washington Consensus" or "shock therapy," a combination of measures intended to liberalize prices and stabilize the state's budget. Such measures had been attempted in Poland, and advocates of "shock therapy" felt the same could be done in Russia. Some Russian policymakers were skeptical that this was the way to go, but the approach was favored by Yeltsin's deputy, Yegor Gaidar, a 35-year-old Russian economist inclined toward radical reform.

In January 1992, Gaidar convinced Yeltsin to introduce a program of "shock therapy" in Russia. On January 2, Yeltsin, acting as his own prime minister, ordered the liberalization of foreign trade, prices, and currency. At the same time, Yeltsin followed a policy of 'macroeconomic stabilization,' a harsh austerity regime designed to control inflation. Under Yeltsin's stabilization program, interest rates were raised to extremely high levels to tighten money and restrict credit. To bring state spending and revenues into balance, Yeltsin raised new taxes heavily, cut back sharply on government subsidies to industry and construction, and made steep cuts to state welfare spending.

In early 1992, prices skyrocketed throughout Russia, and deep credit crunch shut down many industries and brought about a protracted depression. Many state enterprises shut down as they found themselves without orders or financing. The living standards of much of the population were devastated. In the 1990s Russia suffered an economic downturn more severe than the United States or Germany had undergone six decades earlier in the Great Depression.[9] Russian commentators and even some Western economists, such as Marshall Goldman, widely blamed Yeltsin's Western-backed economic program for the country's disastrous economic performance in the 1990s. Many politicians began to quickly distance themselves from the program. In February 1992, Russia's vice president, Aleksandr Rutskoy denounced the Yeltsin program as "economic genocide."[10] By 1993 conflict over the reform direction escalated between Yeltsin on the one side, and the opposition to radical economic reform in Russia's parliament on the other.


Confrontation with parliament

Tanks shell the Russian Parliament building on October 3, 1993 on Yeltsin's ordersAlso throughout 1992, Yeltsin wrestled with the Supreme Soviet and the Congress of People's Deputies for control over government, government policy, government banking and property. In the course of 1992, the speaker of the Russian Supreme Soviet, Ruslan Khasbulatov, came out in opposition to the reforms, despite claiming to support Yeltsin's overall goals. In December 1992, the 7th Congress of People's Deputies succeeded in turning down the Yeltsin-backed candidacy of Yegor Gaidar for the position of Russian prime minister.

The conflict escalated on 20 March 1993 when Yeltsin, in a televised address to the nation, announced that he was going to assume certain "special powers" in order to implement his program of reforms. In response, the hastily-called 9th Congress of People's Deputies attempted to remove Yeltsin from presidency through impeachment on 26 March 1993. Yeltsin's opponents gathered more than 600 votes for impeachment, but fell 72 votes short of the required two-thirds majority.[11] On 21 September 1993 Yeltsin announced in a televised address his decision to disband the Supreme Soviet and Congress of People's Deputies by decree.

In his address Yeltsin declared his intent to rule by decree until the election of the new parliament and a referendum on a new constitution, triggering the constitutional crisis of October 1993. On the night after Yeltsin's televised address, the Supreme Soviet declared Yeltsin removed from presidency, by virtue of his breaching the constitution, and Vice-President Aleksandr Rutskoy was sworn in as the acting president.

Between September 21-24, Yeltsin was confronted by significant popular unrest, encouraging the defenders of the parliament. Moscow saw what amounted to a spontaneous mass uprising of anti-Yeltsin demonstrators numbering in the tens of thousands marching in the streets resolutely seeking to aid forces defending the parliament building. The demonstrators were protesting the new and terrible living conditions under Yeltsin. Since 1989 GDP had declined by half. Corruption was rampant, violent crime was skyrocketing, medical services were collapsing, food and fuel were increasingly scarce and life expectancy was falling for all but a tiny handful of the population; moreover, Yeltsin was increasingly getting the blame.

By early October, Yeltsin had secured the support of Russia's army and ministry of interior forces. In a massive show of force, Yeltsin called up tanks to shell the Russian White House, Russia's parliament building, blasting out his opponents.

Candidates identified with Yeltsin's economic policies were overwhelmed by a huge anti-Yeltsin vote, the bulk of which was divided between the Communist Party and ultra-nationalists. The referendum, however, held at the same time, approved the new constitution, which significantly expanded the powers of the president, giving Yeltsin a right to appoint the members of the government, to dismiss the prime minister and, in some cases, to dissolve the Duma.[12]


Chechnya
In December 1994, Yeltsin ordered the military invasion of Chechnya in an attempt to restore Moscow's control over the separatist republic. Yeltsin later withdrew federal forces from Chechnya under a 1996 peace agreement brokered by Aleksandr Lebed, then Yeltsin's security chief. The deal allowed Chechnya greater autonomy but not full independence (see First Chechen War).


Privatization and the rise of "the oligarchs"

A number of prominent oligarchs, including Mikhail Khodorkovsky (far right), pictured with Boris Yeltsin in the mid-1990sFollowing the collapse of the Soviet Union, Yeltsin promoted privatization as a way of spreading ownership of shares in former state enterprises as widely as possible to create political support for his economic reforms. In the West, privatization was viewed as the key to the transition from communism in Eastern Europe, ensuring a quick dismantling of the Soviet-era planned economy to make way for 'free market reforms.' In the early 1990s, Anatoly Chubais, Yeltsin's deputy for economic policy, emerged as a leading advocate of privatization in Russia.

In late 1992, Yeltsin launched a program of free vouchers as a way to give mass privatization a jump-start. Under the program, all Russian citizens were issued vouchers, each with a nominal value of around 10,000 rubles, for purchase of shares of select state enterprises. Although each citizen initially received a voucher of equal face value, within months most of them converged in the hands of intermediaries who were ready to buy them for cash right away.

In 1995, as Yeltsin struggled to finance Russia's growing foreign debt and gain support from the Russian business elite for his bid in the spring 1996 presidential elections, the Russian president prepared for a new wave of privatization offering stock shares in some of Russia's most valuable state enterprises in exchange for bank loans. The program was promoted as a way of simultaneously speeding up privatization and ensuring the government a much-needed infusion of cash for its operating needs.

However, the deals were effectively giveaways of valuable state assets to a small group of tycoons in finance, industry, energy, telecommunications, and the media who came to be known as the "Russian oligarchs" in the mid-1990s. By summer 1996, substantial ownership shares over major firms were acquired at very low prices by the "oligarchs." Boris Berezovsky, who controlled major stakes in several banks and the national media, emerged as one of Yeltsin's most prominent backers. Along with Berezovsky, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Roman Abramovich, Vladimir Potanin, Vladimir Bogdanov, Rem Viakhirev, Vagit Alekperov, Viktor Chernomyrdin, Victor Vekselberg, and Mikhail Fridman emerged as Russia's most powerful and prominent oligarchs.


1996 presidential election
In February 1996 Yeltsin announced that he would seek a second term in the spring 1996 Russian presidential election. The announcement followed weeks of speculation that Yeltsin was at the end of his political career because of his health problems and growing unpopularity in Russia. At the time Yeltsin was recuperating from a series of heart attacks. Domestic and international observers also noted his occasional erratic behaviour. When campaigning opened at the beginning of 1996, Yeltsin's popularity was close to zero. [13] Meanwhile, the opposition Communist Party of the Russian Federation had already gained ground in parliamentary voting on 17 December 1995, and its candidate, Gennady Zyuganov, had a strong grass roots organization, especially in the rural areas and small towns, and appealed effectively to memories of the old days of Soviet prestige on the international stage and the socialist domestic order. [14]

Panic struck the Yeltsin team when opinion polls suggested that the ailing president could not win; some members of his entourage urged him to cancel presidential elections and effectively rule as dictator from then on. Instead, Yeltsin changed his campaign team, assigning a key role to his daughter, Tatyana Dyachenko, and appointing Chubais as campaign manager. [12] Chubais, acting as both Yeltsin's campaign manager and adviser on Russia's privatisation programme, used his control of the privatisation programme as an instrument of Yeltsin's reelection campaign.

In the spring of 1996, Chubais and Yeltsin recruited a team of a handful of financial and media oligarchs to bankroll the Yeltsin campaign and guaranteed favorable media coverage the president on national television and in leading newspapers.[15] In return, Chubais allowed well-connected Russian business leaders to acquire majority stakes in some of Russia's most valuable state-owned assets.[16] The media painted a picture of a fateful choice for Russia, between Yeltsin and a "return to totalitarianism." The oligarchs even played up the threat of civil war if a Communist were elected president.

Yeltsin campaigned energetically, dispelling concerns about his health, and maintained a high media profile. To boost his popularity, Yeltsin promised to abandon some his more unpopular economic reforms, boost welfare spending, end the war in Chechnya, and pay wage and pension arrears. Yeltsin's campaign also got a boost from the announcement of a $10 billion loan to the Russian government from the International Monetary Fund. [17]

Zyuganov, who lacked Yeltsin's resources and financial backing, saw his strong initial lead whittle away. In the run-off on July 3, with a turnout of 68.9%, Yeltsin won 53.8% of the vote and Zyuganov 40.3%, with the rest (5.9%) voting "against all". [18]

In his second term, Yeltsin was unable to follow through on most of his campaign promises, except for ending the Chechen war, which was halted for most of the period.


See also
Alexander Korzhakov

Yeltsin's second term
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Boris Yeltsin and Bill Clinton in 1999In July 1996, Yeltsin was re-elected as president with financial support from influential business oligarchs who owed their wealth to their connections with Yeltsin's administration. Despite only gaining 35% of the first round vote in the 1996 elections, Yeltsin successfully defeated his communist rival Gennady Zyuganov in the runoff election. Later that year, Yeltsin underwent heart bypass surgery and remained in the hospital for months.

During Yeltsin's presidency, he received US$ 40 billion in funds from the IMF and other international lending organizations which were supposed to support him politically and help Russia's economy. However, his opponents allege that most of these funds were stolen by people from Yeltsin's circle and placed in foreign banks.[19][20][21]

In 1998, a political and economic crisis emerged when Yeltsin's government defaulted on its debts, causing financial markets to panic and the ruble, to collapse in the 1998 financial crisis.

During the 1999 Kosovo war, Yeltsin strongly opposed the NATO military campaign against Yugoslavia, and warned of possible Russian intervention if NATO deployed ground troops to Kosovo. In televised comments he stated: "I told NATO, the Americans, the Germans: Don't push us toward military action. Otherwise there will be a European war for sure and possibly world war."[22]

On May 15, 1999, Yeltsin survived yet another attempt of impeachment, this time by the democratic and communist opposition in the State Duma. He was charged with several unconstitutional activities—most importantly, the signing of the Belavezha Accords, dissolving the Soviet Union in December 1991, the coup-d'état in October 1993, and initiating the war in Chechnya in 1994. None of these charges received the two-thirds majority of the Duma which was required to initiate the process of impeachment of the president.

On August 9, 1999 Yeltsin fired his prime minister, Sergei Stepashin, and for the fourth time, fired his entire cabinet. In Stepashin's place he appointed Vladimir Putin, relatively unknown at that time, and announced his wish to see Putin as his successor.

During November and December of 1999 Yeltsin and President Clinton escalated sparring over Russia’s occupation of Chechnya. Speaking before a November meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Clinton pointed his finger at Yeltsin and demanded he halt bombing attacks that had resulted in many civilian casualties. Yeltsin immediately left the conference.[23]

In December while visiting China to seek support on Chechnya, Yeltsin replied to Clinton’s criticism of a Russian ultimatum to citizens of Grozney. He bluntly pronounced: "Yesterday, Clinton permitted himself to put pressure on Russia. It seems he has for a minute, for a second, for half a minute, forgotten that Russia has a full arsenal of nuclear weapons. He has forgotten about that." Clinton dismissed Yeltsin's comments stating: "I didn't think he'd forgotten that America was a great power when he disagreed with what I did in Kosovo." It fell to Vladimir Putin to downplay Yeltsin's comments and present reassurances about U.S. and Russian relations.[24]


Resignation

Yeltsin (right) resigned in favor of Vladimir Putin (left) on 31 December 1999On 31 December 1999, in a surprise announcement made live on Russian television, Yeltsin said Prime Minister Vladimir Putin would take over as acting president, with elections due to take place on 26 March 2000. Yeltsin asked for forgiveness for what he acknowledged were errors of his rule, and said Russia needed to enter the new century with new political leaders. Yeltsin said: "I want to beg forgiveness for your dreams that never came true. And also I would like to beg forgiveness not to have justified your hopes."


Yeltsin's alcoholism
According to numerous reports, Yeltsin struggled with alcoholism.

In 1989, Yeltsin went to the USA to give a series of speeches on social and political life in the Soviet Union. That trip was described by a scandalous publication in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica. The article reported that Yeltsin often appeared drunk in public. The article was reprinted by Pravda.
According to U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, President Bill Clinton was exposed to Yeltsin's alcoholism in their first phone call when Yeltsin called to congratulate him on Inauguration Day in 1993. Yeltsin was drunk. He was drunk again during the first summit meeting they had with Clinton in Vancouver. Talbott recalls that Yeltsin was so drunk when he arrived in the airport in September 1994 that he could barely get off the plane. The same night Yeltsin was staggering around in his underpants shouting for pizza. According to Talbott, that was a huge problem, and they did their best not to add to the public embarrassment. Phone calls to Yeltsin had to be timed to increase the probability to get him sober. During the Kosovo bombing, Yeltsin, who was obviously drunk, suggested that he and Clinton meet on a submarine.
On 30 September 1994, he was supposed to be meeting Taoiseach Albert Reynolds, Ireland's leader. He failed to get off the aircraft, leaving his Irish hosts standing there. Officially he was tired and ill. BBC report
Gwynne Dyer, a London-based independent journalist, commented in the Moscow Times on April 13, 1999:
"I have seen President Boris Yeltsin drunk and I'm pretty sure I have seen him sober, but unless he does something obvious like singing or falling over, it takes a while to decide: both his body language and his speech patterns tend to blur the issue."
Russian journalist Yelena Tregubova claimed that bizarre behavior of Yeltsin was produced by drugs given him by doctors in a combination with small amount of alcohol. She hinted that Yeltsin was intentionally drugged to discredit him. [25]


Life after resignation
Yeltsin's personal and health problems received a great deal of attention in the global press. As the years went on, he was often viewed as an increasingly unstable leader, rather than the inspiring figure he was once seen as. The possibility that he might die in office was often discussed.

Yeltsin maintained a low profile after his resignation, making almost no public statements or appearances. However, on 13 September 2004, following the Beslan school hostage crisis and nearly-concurrent terrorist attacks in Moscow, Putin launched an initiative to replace the election of regional governors with a system whereby they would be directly appointed by the president and approved by regional legislatures. Yeltsin, together with Mikhail Gorbachev, publicly criticized Putin's plan as a step away from democracy in Russia and a return to the centrally-run political apparatus of the Soviet era.[26]

In September 2005, Yeltsin underwent a hip operation in Moscow after breaking his femur in a fall while vacationing on the Italian island of Sardinia.[27]

On February 1, 2006, Yeltsin celebrated his 75th birthday. He used this occasion as an opportunity to criticize a "monopolistic" U.S. foreign policy, and to state that Vladimir Putin was the right choice for Russia.[28] He also disputed accusations of corruption and the term "Family."


Death
See Wikinews article:
Boris Yeltsin, former president of Russia, dies at 76Kremlin spokesperson Alexander Smirnov confirmed Boris Yeltsin's death on 23 April 2007 at the age of 76.[29][1][30]. Komsomolskaya Pravda[31] and Lenta.ru[32] report that he died of congestive heart failure. He died at 3:45pm. According to experts quoted by Komsomolskaya Pravda, recent outbreak of Yeltsin's disease was due to his visit to Jordan from 25 March to 2 April.[31] He was buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery on 25 April 2007, [33], next to the grave of Russia’s former Security Council Secretary and Yeltsin’s one time ally, General Aleksandr Lebed,[34] following a period during which his body lied in state in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, Moscow.[35] Yelsin is the first Russian statesan in 113 years to be buried in a church ceremony, after Emperor Alexander III[36].

April 25 was declared by President Putin to be a national day of mourning with flags flown at half-staff and all entertainment programs suspended for the day.[37]

Yeltsin is survived by his wife, Naina Iosifovna Yeltsina, whom he married in 1956, and their two daughters Yelena and Tatyana, born in 1957 and 1959, respectively.


Funeral
Boris Yeltsin's funeral will be the first sanctioned by the Russian Orthodox Church for a head of state since the funeral of Tsar Alexander III in 1894.[38]

It's scheduled to proceed as follows:

08.00 to 12.30 Coffin open to public at Christ the Saviour cathedral
13.30 Religious service at cathedral
About 14.30 Cortege carries coffin to Novodevichy cemetery
After 15.00 Burial ceremony
(All times Moscow Standard / GMT +4)


International reaction
Main article: International reactions to the death of Boris Yeltsin
Russia—Russian president Vladimir Putin said, declaring April 25, 2007, a day of national mourning, that:

Yeltsin's "presidency has inscribed him forever in Russian and in world history." ... "A new democratic Russia was born during his time: a free, open and peaceful country. A state in which the power truly does belong to the people." ... "the first President of Russia’s strength consisted in the mass support of Russian citizens for his ideas and aspirations. Thanks to the will and direct initiative of President Boris Yeltsin a new constitution, one which declared human rights a supreme value, was adopted. It gave people the opportunity to freely express their thoughts, to freely choose power in Russia, to realise their creative and entrepreneurial plans. This Constitution permitted us to begin building a truly effective Federation." ... "We knew (Yeltsin) as a brave and a warm-hearted, spiritual person. He was an upstanding and courageous national leader. And he was always very honest and frank while defending his position." ... "(Yeltsin) assumed full responsibility for everything he called for, for everything he aspired to. For everything he tried to do and did do for the sake of Russia, for the sake of millions of Russians. And he invariably took upon himself, let it in his heart, all the trials and tribulations of Russia, peoples’ difficulties and problems."[39]

Russia—Shortly after the news broke, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev issued a statement, saying:

"I offer my deepest condolences to the family of a man on whose shoulders rested many great deeds for the good of the country and serious mistakes—a tragic fate".[40]


References
^ a b "Former Russian leader Yeltsin dead", CNN, 2007-04-23. Retrieved on 2007-04-23.
^ CNN, October 7, 2002. [1]
^ Peter Nolan, China's Rise, Russia's Fall. Macmillan Press, 1995. pp. 17–18.
^ Daniel Treisman, "Why Yeltsin Won: A Russian Tammany Hall," Foreign Affairs, September/October 1996. [2]
^ Paul J. Saunders, "U.S. Must Ease Away From Yeltsin," Newsday, May 14, 1999. [3]
^ Timeline of a Leader. CBC (October 1998). Retrieved on 2007-04-17.
^ The Strange Death of the Soviet Empire, page 86; ISBN 0-8050-4154-0
^ The Strange Death of the Soviet Empire, page 90; ISBN 0-8050-4154-0
^ Peter Nolan, China's Rise, Russia's Fall. Macmillan Press, 1995. pp. 17–18.
^ Celestine Bohlen, "Yeltsin Deputy Calls Reforms 'Economic Genocide,'" New York Times, February 9, 1992.
^ http://www.acs.brockport.edu/~dgusev/Russian/bybio.html
^ http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/const/ch4.html
^ CNN, Russian presidential candidate profiles, 1906.[4]
^ CNN, Gennady Zyuganov candidate profile, 1996. [5]
^ Daniel Treisman, "Blaming Russia First," Foreign Affairs, November/December 2000. [6]
^ See, e.g., Pekka Sutela, "Insider Privatization in Russia: Speculations on Systemic Changes," Europe-Asia Studies 46:3 (1994), p. 420-21.
^ CNN Interactive : Pivotal Elections : Russian Elections ; Candidates : Boris Yeltsin [7]
^ Lee Hockstader, Washington Post Foreign Service, Friday, July 5, 1996 [8]
^ Stanislav Lunev (1999-07-27). Where Is the IMF Money to Russia Really Going?. NewsMax.com. Retrieved on 2007-04-17.
^ the-spark.net (2003-07-19). Yeltsin, "The Family" and the Bureaucratic Mafia. Retrieved on 2007-04-17.
^ Asia Times Online (1999-09-10). Checkmate nears for Yeltsin. Retrieved on 2007-04-17.
^ "Yeltsin Warns Of European War Over Kosovo", Reuters, April 9, 1999. Also, "Yeltsin warns of possible world war over Kosovo", CNN, April 9, 1999. Retrieved on 2007-04-23.
^ Babington, Charles. "Clinton Spars With Yeltsin On Chechnya, President Denounces Killing of Civilians", Washington Post, November 19, 1999, pp. A01.
^ Laris, Michael. "In China, Yeltsin Lashes Out at Clinton Criticisms of Chechen War Are Met With Blunt Reminder of Russian Nuclear Power", Washington Post, December 10, 1999, p. A35.
^ Елена Трегубова. Байки кремлевского диггера. (Tales of a Kremlin Digger) Mосква., Ad Marginem, 2003 ISBN 5-93321-073-0 Full text in Russian. German translation Tregubova barely escaped an assassination attempt after publishing her book [9], and she is looking for political asylum in the United Kingdom
^ Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin Speak out Against Putin’s Reforms. MosNews.com (2004-09-16). Retrieved on 2007-04-17.
^ Yulia Osipova (2005-09-19). Boris Yeltsin Leaves Ward. Kommersant. Retrieved on 2007-04-17.
^ Putin Was Right Choice for Russia—Boris Yeltsin. MosNews.com (2006-01-30). Retrieved on 2007-04-17.
^ Russian ex-president Yeltsin dies. BBC (2007-04-23).
^ Former Russian President Yeltsin dies. Sky News (2007-04-23).
^ a b У первого президента не выдержало сердце. Komsomolskaya Pravda (2007-04-24). Retrieved on 2007-04-24. (Russian)
^ Ельцин умер от остановки сердца. Lenta.ru (2007-04-23). Retrieved on 2007-04-24. (Russian)
^ Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who helped bring demise of Soviet Union, dead at 76. FoxNews (2007-04-23).
^ Последняя встреча с народом, Kommersant, April 25, 2007. Retrieved: 2007-04-25
^ BBC News Yeltsin to lie in state in Moscow retrieved on April 24, 2007
^ [10]
^ President's decree of mourning day (2007-04-23). Retrieved on 2007-04-24. (Russian)
^ Russia prepares to bury Yeltsin. BBC (2007-04-25). Retrieved on 2007-04-25.
^ Vladimir Putin`s Address on the Occasion of Boris Yelstin’s Passing Kremlin, April 23, 2007. Retrieved: 2007-04-24
^ In quotes: Reactions to Yeltsin death April 23, 2007.

External links
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
Boris YeltsinWikimedia Commons has media related to:
Boris YeltsinCNN Cold War — Profile: Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin
Boris Yeltsin Memorial at Find A Grave
Preceded by
Oleg Lobov Prime Minister of Russia
1991–1992 Succeeded by
Yegor Gaidar
Preceded by
None President of Russia
1991–1999 Succeeded by
Vladimir Putin




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Boris Yeltsin • Vladimir Putin

v • d • ePrime Ministers of Russia since 1990[show]
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v • d • eRussian-Chechen Conflict[show]
Main Events Specific articles Participants in operations Separatists
Wars

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Dagestan War
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Key People:

Boris Yeltsin †
Vladimir Putin
Akhmad Kadyrov †
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Aslan Maskhadov †
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Abdul Halim Sadulayev †
Doku Umarov


Persondata
NAME Yeltsin, Boris Nikolayevich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ельцин, Борис Николаевич (Russian); Eltsin.
SHORT DESCRIPTION Political leader, President of Russia.
DATE OF BIRTH February 1, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH Butka, Sverdlovsk, Soviet Union
DATE OF DEATH April 23, 2007
PLACE OF DEATH Moscow, Russia

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Yeltsin"
Categories: Semi-protected | Current events | Cleanup from April 2007 | All pages needing cleanup | Presidents of the Russian Federation | Russian politicians | Soviet politicians | Cold War leaders | People of the Chechen wars | Russian Orthodox Christians | Deaths from cardiovascular disease | 1931 births | 2007 deaths | First times

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Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers President of South Africa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia- [ Traduzir esta página ]The President of South Africa, in full, the President of the Republic of South Africa is the head of state and head of government under South Africa's
Your continued donations keep Wikipedia running! State President of South Africa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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From 1961 to 1994, South Africa's head of state was called the State President or Staatspresident in Afrikaans. The office was established when the country became a republic in 1961, and Queen Elizabeth II ceased to be head of state. The position of Governor-General of the Union of South Africa was accordingly abolished.

Contents [hide]
1 Ceremonial post
2 Executive post
3 End of white minority rule
4 List of State Presidents



[edit] Ceremonial post

State President's Flag 1961-1985The Republic of South Africa was proclaimed on May 31, 1961. Charles Robberts Swart, the last Governor-General, was sworn in as the first State President. Like Paul Kruger, and other presidents of Boer republics, the State President wore a sash with the Republic's coat of arms, but performed mainly ceremonial duties. The ruling National Party decided against having an executive presidency, instead adopting a minimalist approach, as a conciliatory gesture to English-speaking whites who were opposed to a republic. Like Governors-General before them, State Presidents were retired National Party ministers, and consequently, white, Afrikaner, and male.


[edit] Executive post

State President's Flag 1985-1994Following constitutional reforms, in 1984, the office of State President became an executive post, as in the United States, and the office of Prime Minister of South Africa was abolished. P. W. Botha became the new State President, until his resignation in 1989, when he was replaced by F. W. de Klerk, who oversaw the transition to majority rule in 1994.


[edit] End of white minority rule
Under South Africa's first non-racial Constitution, adopted in 1994, the head of state (and of government) was known simply as the President. Nelson Mandela, leader of the African National Congress, was sworn in as President on May 11, 1994.


[edit] List of State Presidents
Ceremonial:

Charles Robberts Swart 1961-1967
T.E. Donges 1967 (Elected, but never inaugurated due to ill-health.)
Jozua François Naudé (acting) 1967-1968
Jacobus Johannes Fouché 1968-1975
Nicolaas Johannes Diederichs 1975-1978
Marais Viljoen (acting) 1978
Balthazar Johannes Vorster 1978-1979
Marais Viljoen 1979-1984
Executive:

Pieter Willem Botha 1984-1989
Frederik Willem de Klerk 1989-1994
See also:

Governor-General of the Union of South Africa
President of South Africa
List of Prime Ministers of South Africa
Vice State President of South Africa
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_President_of_South_Africa"
Categories: State Presidents of South Africa | Politics of South Africa | Lists of office-holders | Apartheid government

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Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers Response of the President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, to the ...- [ Traduzir esta página ]South Africa today reminds us all of the remarkable African capacity for forgiveness ... "In his speech to the World Summit last September, President Mbeki ...
www.dfa.gov.za/docs/speeches/2006/mbek0608
●ÁFRICAsudãoDARFUR●
Sudão - Wikipédia

Liste der sudanesischen Bundesstaaten - Wikipedia
Die Provinz Darfur wurde in Nord-Darfur und Süd-Darfur aufgeteilt. ... Diese

Die Ende Mai 2004 unterzeichneten Protokolle könnten dem Bürgerkrieg ein Ende setzen und der Beginn eines langen und schwierigen Prozesses des Wiederaufbaus und der Versöhnung sein. Diese Vereinbarung schließt jedoch nicht die Provinz Darfur im westlichen Sudan ein, wo bisher ca. eine Million Menschen durch die Kämpfe zwischen den Aufständischen und den von der Regierung unterstützten Milizen vertrieben worden sind.

Die Republik Sudan ist ein Staat in Nordost-Afrika mit Zugang zum Roten Meer und grenzt im Norden an Ägypten und Libyen, im Westen an Tschad und die Zentralafrikanische Republik, im Süden an die Demokratische Republik Kongo, Uganda und Kenia und im Osten an Äthiopien und Eritrea. Mit einer Fläche von über 2,5 Millionen Quadratkilometern ist das Land etwa siebenmal so groß wie Deutschland und größter Flächenstaat des Kontinents
Dschumhūriyyat as-Sūdān (Umschrift)
Republik Sudan



(Details)
(Details)


Wahlspruch: النصر لنا
an-nasr lanā
(Arab. für „Der Sieg ist unser“)

Amtssprache
Arabisch

Hauptstadt
Khartum

Staatsform
Präsidialrepublik

Staatsoberhaupt und Regierungschef
Präsident Umar Hasan Ahmad al-Baschir

Fläche
2.505.810 km²

Einwohnerzahl
36 bis 41 Millionen (Stand 2006)(*)

Bevölkerungsdichte
14 bis 16 Einwohner pro km²
BIP/Einwohner
718 US-Dollar (Stand 2005[1])

Währung
Sudanesischer Dinar (sD)

Unabhängigkeit
1. Januar 1956 (ehemals britisch-ägyptisches Kondominium)

Nationalhymne
Nahnu dschund Allah dschund al-watan

Zeitzone
UTC+3
MEZ+2

Kfz-Kennzeichen
SUD
Internet-TLD
.sd
Telefonvorwahl
+249
Aktuelle Situation [Bearbeiten]
Am 14. Februar 1994 reorganisierte sich Sudan und schuf 26 Bundesstaaten. Jeder neue Bundesstaat bildet einen Teil eines Bundesstaates von vor 1994. So bilden zum Beispiel Nord-Darfur, West-Darfur und Süd-Darfur den alten Bundesstaat Darfur. Die Verwaltungsebene der Provinzen wurde abgeschafft und die Anzahl der Distrikte von 281 auf 133 reduziert.
•-•ÉlectionPrésidentielleFrançaise2007●


Présidentielle 2007



Imprimez | Réagissez

Résultats de l'élection présidentielle 2007
07/05/2007 - ©

Résultats du 2ème tour de l’élection présidentielle 2007 :

Score
SARKOZY Nicolas 53 %
ROYAL Ségolène 47 %

Taux d’abstention* : 16 %

Résultats du 1er tour de l’élection présidentielle 2007 :

Score
SARKOZY Nicolas 31.18 %
ROYAL Ségolène 25.87 %
BAYROU François 18.57 %
LE PEN Jean-Marie 10.44 %
BESANCENOT Olivier 4.08 %
DE VILLIERS Philippe 2.23 %
BUFFET Marie-George 1.93 %
VOYNET Dominique 1.57 %
LAGUILLER Arlette 1.33 %
BOVE José 1.32 %
NIHOUS Frédéric 1.15 %
SCHIVARDI Gérard 0.34 %




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Cet article fait partie de la série sur la
Politique de la France,
sous-série sur la Politique


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Parlement :
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Portail politique

L’élection présidentielle française de 2007 pourvoit au remplacement de Jacques Chirac à la fonction de président de la République française. Le président investi par les Français aura un mandat de cinq ans.

Un nombre exceptionnellement élevé de Français se sont inscrits sur les listes électorales, pour atteindre un total de 43 973 024 inscrits sur le territoire français, et 535 000 Français de l’étranger, inscrits sur les listes consulaires[1]. Cela représente 1,8 million d’inscrits supplémentaires sur un an[2], et 3,3 millions d’électeurs supplémentaires par rapport à 2002[3]. La source de cette nouvelle participation à la vie politique se trouve dans la croissance démographique[4],[5], mais également dans un regain d’intérêt de la vie politique française[3]. Cette élection est également marquée par le développement du vote électronique : 1,5 millions d’électeurs voteront par le moyen d'un ordinateur de vote[6].

Le premier tour de scrutin a eu lieu le dimanche 22 avril 2007 de 8 h à 18 h[7]. En raison du décalage horaire, l’élection a également eu lieu le samedi 21 avril 2007 en dehors de la France métropolitaine : Guadeloupe, Guyane, Martinique, Polynésie française, Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon et dans les bureaux de vote ouverts par les ambassades et postes consulaires situés sur le continent américain[8].

Le premier tour a permis de sélectionner Ségolène Royal et Nicolas Sarkozy. Aucun candidat n’ayant recueilli la majorité absolue des suffrages exprimés[9], le second tour de scrutin avait lieu le dimanche 6 mai 2007[10].

Le mandat de Jacques Chirac, l’actuel président de la République prendra fin le 16 mai à minuit.

Le 7 mai, les chiffres du Ministère de l'Intérieur portent le candidat de l'UMP Nicolas Sarkozy vainqueur avec 53,06 % des voix.

Sommaire [masquer]
1 Déroulement
1.1 Dates du scrutin
1.2 Premier tour
1.3 Second tour
2 Les Candidats
2.1 Partis
3 Péripéties
3.1 La gauche antilibérale dans la tourmente
3.2 Débats de l'entre-deux tours
3.3 Internet
3.4 Vote électronique
3.5 International
3.6 Incidents divers
4 Campagne
5 Autres considérations sur l'élection
5.1 Égalité
5.2 Considérations légales
5.3 Controverse autour des 500 signatures
6 Les sondages
6.1 Sondages préalables au premier tour
6.2 Sondages entre les deux tours
6.3 Étude du report des voix entre les deux tours
7 Résultats
7.1 Analyse géographique
7.2 Analyse socioprofessionnelle
8 Notes et références
9 Voir aussi
9.1 Liens internes
9.2 Liens externes



Déroulement [modifier]

Affiches électorales officielles pour le premier tour de la présidentielle 2007,
21 et 22 avril 2007.
Dates du scrutin [modifier]

Camembert indiquant les résultats du premier tour de scrutin.Les dates du scrutin, confirmées par décret, ont été rendues publiques par une communication du ministre de l’Intérieur au Conseil des ministres du 24 octobre 2006[11].

dimanche 22 avril : premier tour.
dimanche 6 mai : second tour.
Pour la première fois lors d'une élection présidentielle (cela avait déjà été le cas pour le référendum sur le traité constitutionnel en 2005), les Français des départements, collectivités ou territoires d'outre-mer ainsi que certains des 821 600 Français inscrits à l'étranger[12] se situant à l'ouest de la métropole et au delà de l'Atlantique ont voté avant la date officielle. Ainsi en Guadeloupe, en Guyane, en Martinique, à Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, en Polynésie française, et dans les ambassades et les postes consulaires situés sur le continent américain, le scrutin a été avancé d’un jour. Ceci afin de permettre aux électeurs de ces régions de voter sans connaître les estimations des résultats nationaux. En effet, avec le décalage horaire, des estimations valant quasiment résultats sont diffusées à 20h00, heure de Paris, à la fermeture des derniers bureaux de votes métropolitains alors que ces bureaux de vote d'outre-mer étaient encore ouverts voire venaient d'ouvrir pour ceux de la Polynésie, ce qui favorisait l'abstention. Dans ces régions, le premier tour y a donc eu lieu le samedi 21 avril 2007, et le second tour y aura lieu le samedi 5 mai[13]. Les premiers bureaux de vote français à ouvrir pour l'élection présidentielle sont donc ceux de Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon. Les derniers à voter seront les Français inscrits dans l'archipel du Cap-Vert.


Les médias étrangers couvrent l'élection
Premier tour [modifier]
Le premier tour de l'élection présidentielle 2007 a été marqué par une participation exceptionnelle avec un score de 83,77 %[14][15] des inscrits. Ce chiffre est comparable au premier tour de l’élection présidentielle de 1965 qui était de 84,8 %[15] et celle de 1974 qui était de 84,23 %. Nicolas Sarkozy et Ségolène Royal arrivent en tête pour le premier tour de l'élection devant François Bayrou et Jean-Marie Le Pen. Aucun candidat n'ayant recueilli la majorité absolue des suffrages exprimés, un second tour a eu lieu le dimanche 6 mai entre Ségolène Royal et Nicolas Sarkozy.


Second tour [modifier]

Les partisans de Nicolas Sarkozy ont fait la fête Place de la Concorde à Paris le 7 mai au soirNicolas Sarkozy est élu Président de la République française, en battant Ségolène Royal 53,06 % à 46,94 %. Des résultats similaires, basés sur des sondages sortie des urnes, avaient été annoncés dès la fin d'après-midi par les médias belges et suisses puisqu'il est interdit de diffuser de tels sondages en France avant la fermeture des bureaux de vote à 20 heures.


Les Candidats [modifier]
Article détaillé : Candidats à l'élection présidentielle française de 2007.
Les différentes personnes citées dans ce paragraphe sont celles qui sont officiellement candidates à l’élection présidentielle de 2007.

La liste officielle des candidats a été publiée par le Conseil constitutionnel le 19 mars 2007 à 17 heures 30[16].

Candidats à l’élection présidentielle française de 2007
Photo /
Affiche Candidat Parti(s) Prés.
1974 Prés.
1981 Prés.
1988 Prés.
1995 Prés.
2002 Prés.
2007 Position au second tour
Nicolas Sarkozy Union pour la majorité présidentielle 31,18% Admissible
Ségolène Royal Parti socialiste (soutenue par le Parti radical de gauche et le Mouvement républicain et citoyen) 25,87% Admissible
François Bayrou Union pour la démocratie française (soutenu par le Parti fédéraliste, Alternative libérale, Cap 21, Mouvement écologiste indépendant et le Rassemblement des contribuables français) 6,84 % 18,57% Pas de consigne de vote
Ne votera pas Nicolas Sarkozy
(à titre personnel)

Jean-Marie Le Pen Front national (soutenu par le Mouvement national républicain et le Parti populiste) 0,75 % 14,38% 15,00% 16,86%
(1er)
17,79%
(2e) 10,44% Abstention ou vote blanc
Olivier Besancenot Ligue communiste révolutionnaire 4,25 % 4,08 % Ségolène Royal
Philippe de Villiers Mouvement pour la France 4,74 % 2,23 % Nicolas Sarkozy
Marie-George Buffet Gauche populaire et antilibérale (soutenue par le Parti communiste français) 1,93 % Ségolène Royal
Dominique Voynet Les Verts (soutenue par la Fédération régions & peuples solidaires) 3,32 % 1,57 % Ségolène Royal
Arlette Laguiller Lutte ouvrière 2,33 % 2,30 % 1,99 % 5,30 % 5,72 % 1,33 % Ségolène Royal
José Bové Sans étiquette, soutenu par une partie des Collectifs unitaires 1,32 % Ségolène Royal
Frédéric Nihous CPNT 1,15 % Pas de consigne de vote
Gérard Schivardi Comité national pour la reconquête des services publics (soutenu par le Parti des travailleurs)[17] 0,34 % Pas de consigne de vote
Vote blanc à titre personnel


Partis [modifier]
Cet article est en réécriture ou restructuration importante. Une version de qualité supérieure sera disponible prochainement. Discutez-en et participez !

L'histoire des partis et de leur soutien est compliquée par les alliances, associations (car un parti peut être composés de plusieurs autres partis, qui selon les circonstance reprendront ou abandonneront leur autonomie), scission et fusions, ainsi que par les mouvements personnels d'hommes politiques influents. Le tableau qui suit est en construction.

Soutien des partis aux élections présidentielle françaises de 1965 à 2007
(Les scores en italiques sont ceux obtenus par un candidat différent mais de la même formation que celui présenté en 2007. Le tableau est présenté dans l'ordre alphabétique des noms des candidats.) Parti Prés.
1965 Prés.
1974 Prés.
1981 Prés.
1988 Prés.
1995 Prés.
2002 Prés.
2007 Candidat 2007
UDF 15,57 %
32,60 %
50,81 % 28,32 %
48,24 % 16,54 %
[18]
6,84 %
18,57 %
François Bayrou
DL 3,91 %
Parti ayant fusionné avec l'UMP en 2002
LCR 0,37 % 2,10%[19] 4,25 % 4,08 % Olivier Besancenot
Sans étiquette[20] 1,32 % José Bové
PCF

15,35 % 6,76 % 8,65 % 3,37 % 1,93 % Marie-George Buffet
LO 2,33 % 2,30 % 1,99 % 5,30 % 5,72 % 1,33 % Arlette Laguiller
FN 5,20 % 0,75 %
14,38 %
15,00 %
16,86 %
17,79 % 10,44 %
Jean-Marie Le Pen
CPNT 4,23 % 1,15 % Frédéric Nihous
PS 31,72 %
44,80 % 43,25 %
49,20 % 25,85 %
51,76 % 34,11 %
54,02 % 23,30 %
47,36 % 16,18 %
25,87 %
Ségolène Royal
PRG 2,21 %
2,32 %
Pas de candidat (Soutien à la candidature de Ségolène Royal)
MRC 5,33 %
Pas de candidat (Soutien à la candidature de Ségolène Royal)
UMP[22]

17,99 % 19,96 %
45,98 % 20,84 %
52,64 % 19,88 %
82,21 % 31,18 %
Nicolas Sarkozy
PT [17] 0,38 % 0,47 % 0,34 % Gérard Schivardi
MPF 4,74 % 2,23 % Philippe de Villiers
Verts 1,32 %[23] 3,88 %[24] 3,78 %[25] 3,32 % 5,25 % 1,57 % Dominique Voynet
MNR 2,34 % Pas de candidat (soutien à Jean-Marie Le Pen)
Cap 21 1,88 %" Pas de candidat (soutient à François Bayrou)


Péripéties [modifier]

La gauche antilibérale dans la tourmente [modifier]
Un débat traverse la gauche « antilibérale » (PCF, LCR, Les Alternatifs, MARS, CNGR/AGR, PRS, une partie des Verts, militants sans étiquette issus du syndicalisme ou de l’altermondialisme, etc.) sur la possibilité de candidatures unitaires antilibérales, tant à la présidentielle qu’aux législatives qui suivront.

Un appel en ce sens a été lancé en mai 2006 par des personnalités, membres ou non de partis politiques et souvent proches des Collectifs du 29 mai (anciens Comités pour le non de gauche au référendum). Cet appel, intitulé « Pour un rassemblement anti-libéral de gauche et des candidatures communes, il y a urgence ![26] » a recueilli plus de 7 000 signataires ainsi que les signatures du Parti communiste français, du MARS, de la Gauche républicaine ou des Alternatifs[27]).

Suite à cet appel, de nombreux collectifs sont créés, pour une partie issus des collectifs du 29 mai, au niveau local, ainsi qu'un Collectif national d’initiative pour un rassemblement anti-libéral de gauche et des candidatures communes.

Le PCF, favorable au principe d’une candidature unitaire. Il a lancé, par la voix de sa secrétaire nationale un appel en ce sens intitulé Pour un rassemblement antilibéral[28], le 1er mai 2006. Son congrès a décidé de s'engager pleinement dans le processus unitaire, en proposant Marie-George Buffet comme candidate potentielle pour ce rassemblement, décision réitérée lors de sa conférence nationale, les 21 et 22 octobre 2006[29] et approuvée lors d’un vote interne (à 96,43 %)[30]. La direction du parti a proposé qu’elle soit entourée d’un collectif unitaire de porte-paroles, et elle-même a offert de se mettre en congé du PCF temporairement, afin d’éviter toute incompatibilité entre sa fonction et sa capacité à représenter toutes les forces du rassemblement[31].

La LCR, plus réservée, a choisi lors de sa conférence nationale des 24-25 juin d’annoncer la candidature d’Olivier Besancenot. Cependant, ce dernier avait alors indiqué que la LCR était ouverte à la perspective d’une candidature unitaire et qu’il retirerait sa candidature dans cette éventualité[32]. Cette possibilité a cependant été éloignée à l'automne, la LCR mettant en avant ses désaccords politiques avec les textes adoptés par les collectifs.

D’autres, au sein de la LCR (Christian Picquet), du PCF (certains refondateurs dont Patrick Braouezec ou Roger Martelli) et particulièrement dans les autres organisations, souhaiteraient plutôt la candidature d’autres personnalités, non attachées à un parti ou une organisation[33], notamment celles de José Bové, Clémentine Autain, ou Yves Salesse qui se sont déclarés prêts à être candidats.

Parmi eux, Les Alternatifs, Alter Ekolo (tendance interne des Verts), une grosse partie du réseau Convergence citoyenne[réf. nécessaire] et d'autres ont pris position pour la candidature de José Bové[34][35].

Parmi les points de désaccord, outre la question du candidat, on trouve les relations avec le Parti socialiste : là où le PCF souhaite rassembler toute la gauche « sur une base antilibérale », en n’excluant pas le PS, la LCR pose comme préalable non négociable le refus de toute alliance, électorale, gouvernementale ou parlementaire avec ce dernier, quel que soit son programme. Ainsi, José Bové comme la LCR parlent d’une « candidature unitaire à la gauche du PS » tandis que le PCF parle de « rassemblement antilibéral ». De même, la majorité de la LCR juge que le fait d’appeler à voter pour le candidat socialiste, s’il atteint le second tour, n’est « pas de principe », bien que la question la divise.

Pourtant le texte Ambition, stratégie, candidature adopté par les collectifs le 10 septembre à Saint-Denis stipule que les membres du collectif « ne serons pas d’un gouvernement dominé par le social-libéralisme qui, dans sa composition comme dans son projet, ne se donnerait pas les moyens de rompre enfin avec le libéralisme » et que : « Le Parti socialiste, notamment, a adopté un programme qui tourne le dos à une rupture franche avec le libéralisme. Il est hors de question, pour nous, de négocier sur cette base un contrat de gouvernement dont l’action, décevant une nouvelle fois, déboucherait inéluctablement sur le retour d’une droite plus dure encore. De même, il est hors de question d’accepter l’idée proposée par le PS d’une « fédération de la gauche » autour d’une telle orientation.[36] » Ce texte n'est pourtant pas jugé satisfaisant par la LCR, dès lors qu'il ne rompt pas définitivement avec le PS mais conditionne la rupture à ses choix programmatiques.

Lors de la réunion nationale des collectifs unitaires pour une alternative antilibérale, le 10 septembre 2006, les délégués des collectifs avaient décidé d'un calendrier, prévoyant le choix du candidat par consensus à la mi-novembre[37] (l'échéance a ensuite été repoussée au 9 et 10 décembre).

Les 14 et 15 octobre, à Nanterre, une nouvelle rencontre nationale des collectifs a adopté un document programmatique intitulé « Ce que nous voulons »[38].

Neuf candidats se sont proposés pour l'investiture par les collectifs[39] :

Clémentine Autain (maire-adjointe apparentée PCF de Paris)
José Bové (ancien porte-parole de la Confédération paysanne)
Marie-George Buffet (secrétaire nationale du PCF)
Patrick Braouezec (député PCF de la Seine-Saint-Denis)
Julien Faessel
Michel Feuillebois
Patrick Guillot
Jack Harmand
Yves Salesse (président de la Fondation Copernic, conseiller d'État).
Le 24 novembre, José Bové annonce le retrait « provisoire » de sa candidature, estimant que « le Parti communiste et la LCR ont pris la responsabilité de casser la dynamique unitaire et, par voie de conséquence, de renoncer à répondre aux attentes des couches populaires les plus frappées par les dégâts de la mondialisation libérale[40] ».

La réunion du 9 et 10 décembre à l'île-Saint-Denis a été houleuse et n'a pas réussi à établir un consensus. La direction du PCF estimait que la candidature de Marie-George Buffet (majoritaire dans les votes indicatifs des collectifs) était la meilleure et appelait à respecter le choix de ces collectifs. L'essentiel des autres organisations voulait une candidature qui puisse rassembler plus largement, sans toutefois avoir d'accord sur un nom. La décision a été de consulter à nouveau les collectifs dans les semaines à venir, sur les noms déjà proposés (Marie-George Buffet, Clémentine Autain, Yves Salesse) et sur d'autres noms évoqués les 9 et 10 (Claude Debons, Jean-Luc Mélenchon…). Le PCF a, lui, décidé, de consulter à nouveau ses adhérents le 20 décembre pour confirmer ou infirmer la proposition de candidature de Marie-George Buffet.

Les militants communistes ont choisi à 81,05 % (41 533 votes) de confirmer cette candidature[41]. Le choix du retrait n'a obtenu que 18,90 % (9 683 votes), avec 2,02 % de votes blancs (1058 votes). La participation a été de 56,4 %, soit 52 302 votants. Les autres candidats et organisations ont dénoncé ce vote comme la signature de la fin de la dynamique unitaire. La rencontre prévue le 21 décembre entre les différentes organisations du rassemblement a conclu qu'il n'y aura pas de candidature du rassemblement antilibéral à la présidentielle de 2007. Néanmoins, Claude Debons, animateur du collectif national, a appelé les militants à poursuivre le mouvement, notamment lors d'une réunion nationale programmée les 20 et 21 janvier, malgré l'opposition du PCF à cette réunion.

En réaction à cette réunion, Olivier Besancenot, candidat de la LCR, a appelé la gauche antilibérale à se rassembler autour de sa candidature suite à la candidature de Marie-George Buffet [42].


José BovéLors de la réunion des collectifs des 20 et 21 janvier, des délégués de 300 d'entre eux ont applaudi la déclaration de candidature de José Bové[43], qui prévoit de l'annoncer officiellement le 1er février. Yves Salesse, Claude Debons et Clémentine Autain ont exprimé leur réticence face à une division supplémentaire, tandis que le PCF a dénoncé cette désignation par une minorité de collectifs (lors de la réunion du 9 et 10 décembre, près de 800 collectifs étaient représentés). Le PCF a également rappelé qu'un grand nombre de collectifs s'était rallié à la candidature de Marie-George Buffet[44]. Le collectif unitaire national a estimé que la légitimité de la réunion de Montreuil était « celle des présents », montrant que certains délégués l'étaient parfois sans avoir été validés par leur collectif, ou uniquement validé par une minorité[45].

Le 1er février 2007, lors d'une conférence de presse à Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis), José Bové a confirmé officiellement sa candidature. Il cherche ainsi à se positionner au-dessus des autres candidats antilibéraux, puisqu'il fait partie des nombreuses personnalités sans parti politique mais cherchant à peser sur le scrutin. Le collectif unitaire national a cependant rappelé que José Bové n'était pas le candidat des collectifs et du rassemblement antilibéral, pas plus que Marie-George Buffet[45].

Deux candidats issus des collectifs antilibéraux (et signataires de l'appel du 10 mai) sont donc représentés : José Bové et Marie-George Buffet. Cependant, aucun des deux n'a été investi par les collectifs.

Le résultat final au premier tour fut très faible avec un score total des deux candidats inférieur à celui de 2002 du seul PCF.


Débats de l'entre-deux tours [modifier]
Incongruité de cette élection, un débat s'est tenu le samedi 28 avril au matin entre Ségolène Royal et François Bayrou, retransmis par BFMTV ; le CSA n'avait pas prévu une telle situation.

Le traditionnel débat télévisé de l'entre deux tours (qui n'avait pas eu lieu en 2002) s'est tenu le mercredi 2 mai 2007 à 21 h. Il a été animé par Patrick Poivre d'Arvor (TF1) et Arlette Chabot (France 2) et réalisé par Jérôme Revon. Il a été relayé sur d'autres chaînes de télévision et de radio ainsi que sur internet. Prévu pour durer 2 heures, il a duré 2 heures 39[46].

Sujets abordés :
Travail
Finance publique
Sécurité
Logement
Immigration
Retraite
Énergie nucléaire
Éducation
Europe (référendum, entrée de la Turquie dans l'UE)

Internet [modifier]
L'Internet joue désormais un rôle de premier plan dans le cadre de l’élection présidentielle : relais de l’information publiée par les médias traditionnels (télévision, radio, presse écrite) et réceptacle des réactions et des intentions des électeurs. Ceux-ci sont donc maintenant dotés d’une plateforme médiatique aux pouvoirs d’attraction étonnants comme le démontre la multiplication des blogs de campagne. Un sondage réalisé pour RTL par Novatris/Harris mentionne que près du quart des français croit que l’Internet aura une influence sur le résultat du scrutin d’avril.

De nouvelles formes d’expression apparaissent. À l’instar des hommes politiques américains, les candidats ont la possibilité d’avoir une chaîne sur YouTube, une page sur Skyblog, sur MySpace et des groupes de soutien à l’intérieur des sites de social networking. Les sites Web permettent d’individualiser le message à l’utilisateur en fournissant des vidéos qui permettent de pénétrer l’intimité d’une campagne et de la vie des candidats.

Cependant le rôle de l'Internet ne peut pas être mesuré. Aux États-Unis, l'Internet a joué un rôle important pour les campagnes de 2004 et 2006 en permettant à des vidéos amateurs de circuler rapidement sur le Web en discréditant un candidat (voir l'affaire Macaca, où un candidat proférant une insulte raciale a été pris en délit par une vidéo amateur : il a perdu son siège).

De la même façon en France, depuis plusieurs mois, la vidéo Le Vrai Sarkozy fait partie des cinq vidéos en français les plus vues sur Youtube et Dailymotion, et la vidéo de Ségolène Royal apostrophant les professeurs sur les 35 heures est aussi beaucoup vue. Récemment, Rachida Dati a été filmée déclarant, en boutade, qu'elle serait « ministre de la rénovation urbaine à coup de Kärcher » faisant ainsi réference à une déclaration antérieure de Nicolas Sarkozy[47].

L'Internet est également le centre d'un autre débat, qui est l'heure de publication des estimations. C'est le journaliste Jean-Marc Morandini qui le premier, soulève cette question. Il a menacé publiquement de diffuser des "rumeurs vérifiées" du premier tour dès dix-huit heures, avant de se rétracter le 21 avril 2007 dans la soirée. Bien qu'une publication d'estimations soit interdite en France, plusieurs sites étrangers ont déclaré qu'ils publieraient ces estimations dès 18h00. Morandini a donc voulu montrer qu'il était absurde que la localisation du serveur influe sur la légalité de l'action entreprise. Un site français devrait être prioritaire dans la divulgation des premières estimations des résultats d'une élection française. Bien que cette action n'ait pu aller jusqu'au bout, elle a permis de montrer l'importance qu'a pu prendre internet dans la vie politique. Certains sites internet d'information étrangers francophones tout comme certains blogs étaient hors-ligne la journée du premier tour (coupures ou saturés). En revanche, les télévisions étrangères d'information étaient toujours disponibles en France et beaucoup d'entre-elles ont annoncé les premières estimations vers 18h30.


Vote électronique [modifier]
Lors de cette élection, les médias ont accordé une grande importance à la progression du vote électronique. Le vote électronique avait déjà été largement utilisé lors du référendum de 2005[48] - mais c'était sa première utilisation à une aussi grande échelle pour ce type de scrutin. Des critiques sont apparues dans les médias quelques mois avant le scrutin[49] ; ces critiques s'inscrivent dans un débat plus large sur le vote électronique en France (voir Vote électronique).

Les critiques suite au scrutin ont rapidement trouvé un large écho dans la presse. Ainsi dans l'après-midi du scrutin, le journal 20 minutes rapportait des incidents[50], quelques heures plus tard le site du Figaro rapportait la saisine du Conseil Constitutionnel par un conseiller régional francilien[51], le soir du scrutin le site de la chaine d'information LCI[52] rapportait les soucis techniques dont se plaignaient certains électeurs et l'émoi et les doutes provoqués chez certains élus ; le lendemain, le Parisien titrait le 23 avril 2007 en page 9 « L'urne électronique passe mal auprès des électeurs. »

Divers citoyens ont déposé devant les tribunaux administratifs des référés-libertés tendant à exiger le rétablissement du votre traditionnel dans leur commune, qui ont tous été rejetés[53]. D'autre part, des dysfonctionnements ont été constatés (pannes, files d'attente)[54] et des problèmes inhérents à l'utilisation des machines ont été rapportés par différents journaux

Certaines machines ne satisfaisaient pas au règlement technique qui leur vaut leur agrément d'après le journal Le monde[55].
Des modifications effectuées sur des machines à voter ont entraîné leur remplacement en dernière minute - les machines modifiées n'ayant pu recevoir d'agrément[56]
Cependant, le conseil constitutionnel a tenu à souligner en commentant aux Cahiers sa décision de déclaration des résultats du premier tour que «Il est intéressant de relever que l'utilisation de machines à voter n'a, de ce point de vue, eu aucune incidence : aucune annulation de résultats ne concerne des bureaux de vote dans lesquelles de telles machines ont été utilisées.»[57]


International [modifier]
Avant les élections, deux otages francais ont été capturés par les Talibans le 3 avril 2007. L'expiration de l'ultimatum d'abord prévue pour vendredi 27 avril a été reportée au dimanche 6 mai pour tenir compte de l'échéance de la période électorale francaise[58].

Les élections présidentielles de 2007 ont fait l'objet d'une couverture médiatique considérable dans la presse internationale, du fait du poids du pays en tant que membre de l'Union européenne comme des nations du G8. À titre d'exemple, le 22 avril 2007, CNN International a retransmis en direct le discours de Ségolène Royal donné à l'issue du premier tour. La journaliste de CNN Hala Gorani a par la suite mené une émission d'analyses avec des bloggers français et des hommes politiques à l'issue de cette prise de parole.


Incidents divers [modifier]

Près de la place de la Bastille, certains ont brûlé des véhicules ou attaqué les forces de l'ordre.
Place de la Bastille, des jeunes soutenant Ségolène Royal protestent contre Nicolas Sarkozy le 6 mai au soir
Des gendarmes mobiles en tenue de maintien de l'ordre étaient déployés à divers endroits de Paris le 6 mai au soir, en prévision d'éventuelles échauffouréesAu soir du premier tour
Le 22 avril au soir, des jeunes avaient mis le feu à une soixantaine de véhicules dans le nord-est de Paris.

(source : lefigaro.fr)

Lors du second tour
Avant les résultats
Une trentaine de voitures ont été brûlées à Paris la veille au soir du dimanche du second tour des élections dans les 3e, 9e, 10e, 13e et 18e arrondissements. La capitale française est généralement épargnées par ces exactions, comme durant les Émeutes d'automne 2005.

(source : lefigaro.fr)

Après les résultats
Des incidents ont été relevés à la Bastille à Paris, à Bordeaux, à Lille sur la place centrale, à Clermont-ferrand, à Toulouse, à Nantes, à Lyon, à la Courneuve, à Dugny, à Rennes et à Brest (liste non exhaustive). Il s'agit pour la plupart d'altercations entre manifestants violents et CRS ou gendarmes mobiles. De nombreuses voitures (367 selon les chiffres officiels du Ministère de l'Intérieur) ont aussi été brulées de même que des locaux, en particulier une permanence de l'UMP.


Campagne [modifier]

Affiches électorales lors des élections présidentielles françaises de 2007. Article détaillé : Campagne présidentielle française de 2007.
Le dimanche 11 mars 2007, Jacques Chirac annonce qu'il « ne sollicitera pas les suffrages pour un nouveau mandat ».

Dans un entretien avec Michel Drucker diffusé le 11 février 2007 dans une émission sur sa femme, Jacques Chirac, à la question « Qu'est-ce que vous allez faire le jour où vous quitterez l'Elysée, que ce soit dans quelques mois ou dans cinq ans ? », avait répondu qu'« il y a une vie après la politique, il y a une vie jusqu'à la mort ». Certains observateurs y avaient déjà vu un indice du fait que Jacques Chirac ne se représenterait pas.


Autres considérations sur l'élection [modifier]

Égalité [modifier]
En plus des autres considérations légales, certaines considérations visent à l'égalité entre les candidats. Par exemple, l'entreprise Clear channel a été chargée de l'affichage électoral pour les élections présidentielles françaises de 2007. Toutefois, ce travail d'affichage n'a pas été fait dans certaines communes, notamment en Guadeloupe[59].


Considérations légales [modifier]

Procédures électorales françaises : pour les votes papiers, des urnes transparentes sont obligatoires depuis 1988.
Pour les votes électroniques, la transparence du code source n'est pas obligatoire en 2007. Ici, une machine IVotronic.Au delà de la problématique du temps de parole traitée par le CSA, d'autres problèmes légaux liés à la liberté d'expression des candidats ont été soulevés, dans le mois précédant le premier tour.

Le candidat Gérard Schivardi a dénoncé[60] les décisions, prises sous la pression du Parti socialiste[61] via l'Association des maires de France (AMF), par la Commission nationale de contrôle de la campagne en vue de l’élection présidentielle le 29 mars, et par le Tribunal de grande instance de Paris le 2 avril, lui interdisant l'utilisation du slogan « candidat des maires » dans toute déclaration et tout document électoral ; ces décisions l'obligeraient à refaire ses 25 millions de professions de foi et toutes les affiches. Selon Gérard Schivardi cette sanction lui coûterait 320 000 euros environ[62].
Pour Ségolène Royal, l'utilisation des couleurs bleu-blanc-rouge est jugée incompatible avec un « outil de propagande ». « Le code électoral, pour garantir la sécurité du scrutin et l'égalité entre les candidats, a institué un interdit majeur sur l'usage des trois couleurs », affirme une note du PS qui cite l'article R. 27 dudit code. Le code indique notamment : « Affiches et circulaires ayant un but ou un caractère électoral qui comprennent la combinaison des trois couleurs, bleu, blanc, rouge à l'exception de la reproduction de l'emblème d'un parti ou groupement politique, sont interdites ». Cet article a été modifié par décret le 11 octobre 2006, pour élargir la sphère des interdits, seules les affiches étant jusque-là concernées. La note poursuit : « Certes, le livre de Nicolas Sarkozy n'est ni une affiche, ni un tract mais l'utilisation qui en est faite [...] le place clairement dans la catégorie du document électoral[63]. » Toutefois, le ministre de l'intérieur n'a pas été sanctionné. D'un autre côté, certaines affiches de campagne de Ségolène Royal existent en deux versions, l'une bleu et blanc et l'autre rouge et blanc, et l'on a pu voir ces affiches posées côte à côte évoquer sans ambiguïté le drapeau tricolore.
François Bayrou a proposé l'organisation d'un débat sur Internet. Toutefois, Nicolas Sarkozy a indiqué son opposition à l'organisation d'un tel débat sur internet, média « hors la loi » selon lui[64].
Des polémiques quant à la fiabilité des machines à voter ayant fait l'objet de l'attention des médias, le Conseil constitutionnel a publié le 29 mars un communiqué rappelant « que l'utilisation des machines à voter pour les élections, notamment présidentielles, est autorisée par le législateur depuis 1969 » et que « ce recours aux machines à voter dans les conditions fixées par l'article L. 57-1 du code électoral a été déclaré conforme à la Constitution ». Divers citoyens ont déposé devant les tribunaux administratifs des référés-libertés tendant à exiger le rétablissement du votre traditionnel dans leur commune, qui ont tous été rejetés[65]. Bien que des dysfonctionnements (pannes, files d'attente de longueur inhabituelle) aient pu être constatés ça et là[66], le conseil constitutionnel a tenu à souligner en commentant aux Cahiers sa décision de déclaration des résultats du premier tour que «Il est intéressant de relever que l'utilisation de machines à voter n'a, de ce point de vue, eu aucune incidence : aucune annulation de résultats ne concerne des bureaux de vote dans lesquelles de telles machines ont été utilisées.»[67]

Controverse autour des 500 signatures [modifier]
Pour être officiellement désigné comme candidat, il faut obtenir 500 signatures d'élus : députés, sénateurs, maires, maires délégués des communes associées, maires des arrondissements de Lyon et de Marseille ou membres élus de l'Assemblée des Français de l'étranger, conseillers généraux des départements, de Mayotte, de Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon ou du conseil de Paris, conseillers régionaux, élus de l'Assemblée de Corse, de l'Assemblée de la Polynésie française, du Congrès et des assemblées de province de la Nouvelle-Calédonie, de l'Assemblée territoriale des îles Wallis-et-Futuna, représentants français au parlement européen.

Ces parrainages, dans un réservoir d'environ 45 000 dont 36 000 de maires, doivent venir d'au moins trente départements ou collectivités d'outre-mer différents sans que plus d'un dixième d'entre eux soit issu du même département ou de la même collectivité d'outre-mer.

L'obtention des 500 signatures nécessaires pour pouvoir se présenter à l'élection présidentielle est toujours sujette à controverse, notamment autour de Jean-Marie Le Pen. Pour 2007, la controverse touche tous les petits partis. L'appel de François Hollande aux élus du Parti socialiste à réserver leurs signatures au candidat socialiste a conduit à une rumeur au sein des petits partis qui dit que le PS, l'UMP et parfois l'UDF feraient barrage face à leurs candidats et exerceraient des pressions sur les maires de petites communes pour qu'ils ne donnent pas leur signature. Des futurs candidats aussi opposés qu'Olivier Besancenot, José Bové et Corinne Lepage en font publiquement état.

Un amendement déposé au nom du groupe socialiste en vue d'étendre la publication au Journal officiel à toutes les présentations reçues ayant été repoussé[68], le Conseil constitutionnel a fait savoir qu'il renonçait à la pratique initiée en 1988 consistant à publier dans ses locaux l'ensemble des parrainages valides[69]. Seuls 500 noms de présentateurs par candidat admis à concourir, déterminés par tirage au sort, seront donc publiés cette fois.

Les formulaires de parrainage signés par les élus sont à retourner au Conseil constitutionnel pour le 16 mars 2007 à 18 heures au plus tard (heure locale du territoire d'où provient la signature du formulaire de parrainage).

Gérard Schivardi a dénoncé[70] le chantage aux subventions, sur les maires qui souhaitent le parrainer, par des dirigeants politiques de régions ou départements.

Pour aider les finances de sa commune de Noron-la-Poterie (Calvados), André Garrec, maire, a placé sa signature sur un site de vente aux enchères. L'enchère a été remportée à 1550 € par Rachid Nekkaz. L'échange a eu lieu le 12 Mars 2007 sur la chaîne LCI, le candidat a immédiatement déchiré le document[71].

Le 9 mars, l'ancien ministre de la culture Jean-Jacques Aillagon (UMP) donne sa signature par tirage au sort à Olivier Besancenot. Un maire d'une commune d'Ille-et-Vilaine a fait de même et le sort a désigné Arlette Laguiller. Jugeant ce procédé « incompatible avec la dignité qui sied aux opérations concourant à toute élection et que la présentation doit résulter d'un acte volontaire du présentateur [72] », le Conseil constitutionnel a indiqué que les parrainages ainsi attribués ne seront pas pris en compte tout comme les parrainages ayant donné lieu à contrepartie financière au sujet du Conseil Constitutionnel.


Les sondages [modifier]
Article détaillé : Sondages sur l'élection présidentielle française de 2007.

Sondages préalables au premier tour [modifier]
Tableau non-exhaustif visant à observer les évolutions des 4 premiers candidats.

Sarkozy Royal Bayrou Le Pen
13 décembre - BVA 32 % 35 % 8 % 9 %
18 janvier - CSA 30 % 29 % 9 % 15 %
26 janvier - IFOP 32,5 % 28 % 12,5 % 11 %
29 janvier - LH2 31 % 29 % 14 % 10 %
13 février - IFOP 33,5 % 26 % 14 % 10 %
26 février - IPSOS 31 % 26 % 17,5 % 13 %
6 mars - LH2 28 % 27 % 20 % 14 %
19 mars - TNS-Sofres 31 % 24 % 22 % 12 %
27 mars - LH2 27 % 27 % 20 % 12 %
6 avril - CSA 26 % 23,5 % 21 % 16 %
8 avril - IFOP 29,5 % 22 % 19 % 14 %
17 avril - CSA 27 % 25 % 19 % 15,5 %
19 avril - TNS-Sofres 28,5 % 25 % 19 % 14 %
20 avril - CSA 27 % 26 % 17 % 16 %
20 avril - IFOP 28 % 22,5 % 20 % 13 %
20 avril - CSA 26,5 % 25,5 % 16 % 16,5 %
Résultats du premier tour 31,2 % 25,9 % 18,6 % 10,4 %


Sondages entre les deux tours [modifier]
Article détaillé : Sondages sur l'élection présidentielle française de 2007#2nd tour.
Sarkozy Royal
22 avril - BVA 52 % 48 %
25 avril - IFOP 53 % 47 %
26 avril - TNS-Sofres 51 % 49 %
26 avril - CSA 52 % 48 %
30 avril - LH2 52 % 48 %
30 avril - IFOP 53 % 47 %
3 mai - OpinionWay 54 % 46 %
3 mai - CSA 53 % 47 %
4 mai - TNS-Sofres 54,5 % 45,5 %
4 mai - IFOP 53 % 47 %
4 mai - IPSOS 55 % 45 %
4 mai - BVA 55 % 45 %
Résultats du second tour 53,1 % 46,9 %


Étude du report des voix entre les deux tours [modifier]
Électeurs de Bayrou Électeurs de Le Pen Électeurs de la gauche non socialiste
Report sur Sarkozy 40 % 66 % 10 %
Report sur Royal 40 % 15 % 70 %
Abstention, blanc, nul 20 % 19 % 20 %

source : [73]

Résultats [modifier]
Résultats de l'élection présidentielle française du 22 avril et du 6 mai 2007 Candidat Parti 1er tour 2e tour
Voix % Voix %
Nicolas Sarkozy Union pour un mouvement populaire 11 448 663 31,18 18 983 408 53,06
Ségolène Royal Parti socialiste, soutenue par le PRG et le MRC 9 500 112 25,87 16 790 611 46,94
François Bayrou Union pour la démocratie française, soutenu par Cap 21 6 820 119 18,57
Jean-Marie Le Pen Front national, soutenu par le MNR 3 834 530 10,44
Olivier Besancenot Ligue communiste révolutionnaire 1 498 581 4,08
Philippe de Villiers Mouvement pour la France 818 407 2,23
Marie-George Buffet Parti communiste français, soutenue par une partie des collectifs unitaires 707 268 1,93
Dominique Voynet Les Verts 576 666 1,57
Arlette Laguiller Lutte ouvrière 487 857 1,33
José Bové Sans étiquette, soutenu par une partie des collectifs unitaires 483 008 1,32
Frédéric Nihous Chasse, pêche, nature, traditions 420 645 1,15
Gérard Schivardi Comité national pour la reconquête des services publics (soutenu par le PT) 123 540 0,34

Suffrages exprimés 36 719 396 98,56 35 774 019 95,80
Blancs ou nuls 534 846 1,44 1 569 450 4,20
Votants 37 254 242 83,77 37 343 469 83,97
Abstentions 7 218 592 16,23 7 128 894 16,03
Inscrits 44 472 834 44 472 363
Sources :
Premier tour : Conseil constitutionnel (Déclaration du 25 avril 2007 - Résultats du premier tour de scrutin de l'élection du Président de la République : chiffres officiels)
Second tour : Ministère de l'intérieur (Chiffres bruts, avant examen des requêtes par le Conseil constitutionnel)



Analyse géographique [modifier]

Candidat arrivé en tête dans chaque département au 1er tour
Les résultats du second tour en France

Article détaillé : Structure départementale des votes à la présidentielle de 2007‎.

Analyse socioprofessionnelle [modifier]
Sarkozy Royal
Commerçants et artisans 82 % 18 %
Agriculteurs 67 % 33 %
Professions libérales et cadres supérieurs 52 % 48 %
Professions intermédiaires 49 % 51 %
Employés 49 % 51 %
Ouvriers 46 % 54 %




Sarkozy Royal
Plus de 70 ans 68 % 32 %
Entre 60 et 69 ans 61 % 39 %
Entre 45 et 59 ans 45 % 55 %
Entre 35 et 44 ans 50 % 50 %
Entre 25 et 34 ans 57 % 43 %
Entre 18 et 24 ans 42 % 58 %
Sarkozy Royal
Femmes 52 % 48 %
Hommes 54 % 46 %


Source : [74]
Notes et références [modifier]
↑ Inscriptions sur les listes électorales, Ministère de l'intérieur, Communiqué, 27 mars 2007 [lire en ligne]
↑ « 44 508 024 voix prêtes à se faire entendre », Jean-Dominique Merchet, Libération, 28 mars 2007 [lire en ligne]
↑ 3,0  3,1  « 3,3 millions d'électeurs inscrits en plus par rapport à 2002 », Luc Bronner, Le Monde 21 avril 2007 [lire en ligne]
↑ Notamment, la plus haute augmentation de la participation se trouve en région parisienne (+9,6 % d'inscrits)
↑ Tableau d’évolution du nombre d’inscrits par département 2006/2007, Ministère de l’intérieur, 27 mars 2007 [lire en ligne]
↑ Christophe Guillemin, « 1,5 million d'électeurs français inaugureront le vote électronique le 22 avril », ZDNet France, 10 avril 2007.
↑ Dans certaines grandes villes, un arrêté préfectoral a pu être pris pour que la consultation soit prolongée jusqu’à 20 heures (Code électoral, art. R41 ).
↑ Article 1 du Décret no2007-227 du 21 février 2007 portant convocation des électeurs pour l’élection du président de la République
↑ Conseil constitutionnel, Décision du 26 avril 2007 relative à la liste des candidats habilités à se présenter au second tour de l'élection du Président de la République
↑ Article 4 du Décret no2007-227 du 21 février 2007 portant convocation des électeurs pour l’élection du président de la République
↑ Communication du ministre d’État, ministre de l’Intérieur et de l’Aménagement du territoire, sur le site du premier ministre
↑ L’exercice du droit de vote par les Français établis hors de France (Ministère des Affaires étrangères)
↑ Élection du président de la République 2007 : Calendrier électoral, sur le site officiel du Ministère des Affaires étrangères
↑ estimation
↑ 15,0  15,1  http://www.conseil-constitutionnel.fr/general/decision.htm
↑ « Décision du 19 mars 2007 arrêtant la liste des candidats à l'élection présidentielle », Conseil constitutionnel (France), 19 mars 2007 : lire en ligne sur le site officiel du Conseil constitutionnel; lire en ligne sur légifrance; publiée au Journal officiel du 20 mars 2007
↑ 17,0  17,1  Gérard Schivardi est officiellement candidat du Comité national pour la reconquête des services publics. initié par le PT
↑ Lors de l'élection de 1995, l'UDF ne présenta pas de candidat mais soutint officiellement Edouard Balladur, issu du RPR
↑ Lors de l'élection de 1988, la LCR était impliquée dans la candidature de Pierre Juquin, dissident communiste soutenu par le PSU
↑ Lors de l'élection de 2007, soutenu par une partie des Collectifs unitaires
↑ Lors de l'élection de 1974, le PCF soutenait officiellement François Mitterrand, candidat du PS soutenu par le MRG
↑ L’UMP a été créée en avril 2002, entre les deux tours de la présidentielle, à partir du RPR, de DL et d’une partie de l’UDF. Les meilleurs scores de 1974, 1981, 1988, 1995 et 2002 sont rappelés pour mémoire bien que ce fussent alors l’UDR en 1974 et le RPR les quatre autres élections. En 1995, Édouard Balladur, aussi du RPR et soutenu par l’UDF, s’était présenté et avait obtenu 18,58% des voix. En 2002, au premier tour, les candidats de l’« avant-UMP » ont obtenu 19,88 % (Jacques Chirac du RPR) et 3,91 % (Alain Madelin de DL).
↑ Premier candidat écologiste les verts n'existaient pas encore
↑ Autre candidat écologiste avant la création du parti les verts
↑ Le candidat des Verts, en 1988, était Antoine Waechter, dont la candidature a été en 2007 soutenue par le MEI.
↑ Appel « pour un rassemblement anti-libéral de gauche et des candidatures communes, il y a urgence ! »
↑ Signataires de l’appel « Il y a urgence ! »
↑ Pour un rassemblement antilibéral, appel de Marie-George Buffet
↑ Décision de la Conférence nationale du PCF, les 21 et 22 octobre 2006
↑ Communiqué de presse du PCF sur le vote interne sur la candidature
↑ Lettre de Marie-George Buffet aux collectifs
↑ Déclaration de la conférence nationale de la LCR des 24 et 25 juin 2006
↑ Premier gros meeting de la gauche de la gauche, article de Libération
↑ Foire aux questions d’Alter Ekolo
↑ Communiqué des Alternatifs, 11 juillet 2006
↑ Texte Ambition - Stratégie - Candidatures, adopté par la réunion nationale des collectifs unitaires et populaires, le 10 septembre 2006, à Saint-Denis.
↑ Synthèse de la réunion nationale des collectifs unitaires et populaires du 10 novembre 2006
↑ « Ce que nous voulons : Programme des collectifs unitaires pour une alternative anti-libérale »
↑ Méthode de discussion de la candidature commune à l’élection présidentielle des collectifs unitaires pour une alternative anti-libérale
↑ José Bové annonce le retrait « provisoire » de sa candidature à la candidature antilibérale
↑ Résultats de la consultation des communistes du 20 décembre 2006
↑ Besancenot appelle les électeurs de la gauche radicale à voter pour lui, dépêche AFP.
↑ Les « Collectifs unitaires » appellent José Bové à être leur candidat, sur Bellaciao
↑ Comme l'attestent les PV et comptes rendus de nombreux collectifs, dont ceux de Perpignan centre ville, d'Orange ou de Paris 20e
↑ 45,0  45,1  Compte-rendu de la réunion du Collectif national unitaire du 30 janvier 2007
↑ Une transcription est disponible ici
↑ « Exclusif : La "bonne blague" au karcher de Rachida Dati », LaTéléLibre, 5 avril 2007
↑ le site du Conseil constitutionnel rappelle que 837 bureaux de vote (un peu plus d'un million d'électeurs) ont utilisé de telles machines au référendum de 2005
↑ Libération du 29 mars 2007
↑ Protestations contre le vote électronique dans le journal 20 minutes
↑ Article du Figaro du 4 avril 2007 sur la contestation du vote électronique
↑ critiques sur les machines à voter indiqués sur le site de la chaîne d'informations LCI
↑ Voir la page « Contentieux des machines à voter » sur le site du conseil constitutionnel
↑ Voir le commentaire du service de presse du conseil constitutionnel selon lequel «L'usage des machines à voter a pu poser un certain nombre de problèmes et provoquer, notamment, des durées d'attente excessives.».
↑ Les machines à voter de marque Nedap, agréées le 14 avril, soit neuf jours avant le premier tour de la présidentielle, ne satisfont pas complètement au règlement technique "fixant les conditions d'agrément des machines à voter" dans Le Monde du 28 avril 2007 qui signale des machines de marque Nedap dont l'horloge n'est pas réglable.
↑ Le site news.fr indique que c'est le cas des machines de la société E&S Europe utilisées lors de ce scrutin.
↑ L'article aux Cahiers du conseil constitutionnel est disponible en ligne.
↑ Otages : les talibans reportent l'ultimatum "à la fin de l'élection française" sur lemonde.fr
↑ source
↑ Memorandum par le candidat sur cette affaire
↑ Article du Nouvel Observateur du 5 avril 2007
↑ « Gérard Schivardi dénonce la "censure" sur son slogan », Le Monde, 2 avril 2007.
↑ « Nicolas Sarkozy et Mme Royal se rendent coup pour coup », Le Monde, 4 avril 2007.
↑ « Nicolas Sarkozy juge qu'il est difficile d'attaquer son bilan », Le Monde, 5 avril 2007.
↑ Voir la page « Contentieux des machines à voter » sur le site du conseil constitutionnel
↑ Voir le commentaire du service de presse du conseil constitutionnel selon lequel «L'usage des machines à voter a pu poser un certain nombre de problèmes et provoquer, notamment, des durées d'attente excessives.».
↑ L'article aux Cahiers du conseil constitutionnel est disponible en ligne.
↑ http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/12/cri/2005-2006/20060178.asp : amendement présenté par René Dosière lors des débats à l'Assemblée nationale en vue de l'adoption de la loi organique 2006-404.
↑ Histoire de la publication des parrainages sur le site Web du Conseil constitutionnel.
↑ Europe1 le 01 mars 2007
↑ Vidéo sur Dailymotion
↑ Conseil constitutionnel, Communiqué du 15 mars 2007 : "Tirage au sort d'une présentation", lire en ligne
↑ étude menée par la Sofres
↑ article Yahoo sur l'institut Ipsos
Voir aussi [modifier]
Wikimedia Commons propose des documents multimédia libres sur l'élection présidentielle française de 2007.

Wikinews propose des actualités concernant l'élection présidentielle française de 2007.




Liens internes [modifier]
Candidats à l'élection présidentielle française de 2007
Élection présidentielle en France
Élections présidentielles sous la Cinquième République
Affichage électoral
Structure départementale des votes à la présidentielle de 2007
Liens externes [modifier]
Vidéo de l'estimation du premier tour (TF1)
Vidéo de l'estimation du deuxieme tour (TF1)
Comprendre le vote des Français IPSOS 1er tour
Comprendre le vote des Français IPSOS 2eme tour

Liens officiels :

Résultats au niveau de la France entière
« Dossier spécial élection présidentielle de 2007 », Conseil constitutionnel.
Nicolas Sarkozy: A Grand Entrance
Thursday, Sep. 06, 2007 By BRUCE CRUMLEY SOLE AUTHORITY: Sarkozy has been criticized for concentrating power in the President's office
PAUL DELORT / LE FIGARO
Article ToolsPrintEmailReprintsSphereAddThisRSS Since taking office on May 16, French President Nicolas Sarkozy's pace has wowed almost everyone. At home, he rammed through reform legislation aimed at encouraging work, cutting taxes, fighting crime and clamping down on immigration. Abroad, he helped break the logjam over the European Union's institutional setup, negotiated the freedom of six Bulgarian medics imprisoned in Libya and strengthened Franco-American relations over a vacation lunch with U.S. President George W. Bush.

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But can he keep it up? As summer ends, the fast-moving "Sarko Show" has begun drawing criticism. Opponents complain that Sarkozy's sunny-day successes don't all bear up under scrutiny: was the Libyan triumph linked to troubling nuclear and military contracts? Does Sarkozy's penchant for economic interventionism, visible in Sept. 3's megamerger between utility giants Gaz de France and Suez, mock his free-market rhetoric? Time asked a group of French and international experts to evaluate the spectacular start to the Sarkozy era and how — or whether — he can meet that promise in the months and years to come.

ALAIN DUHAMEL, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR FOR RTL RADIO THE DAILY LIBÉRATION AND SEVERAL OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Nicolas Sarkozy had a successful summer in the Elysée, but it will be difficult for him to perform as well in the crisper air of autumn. The reason is simple: until now, he was responsible for nearly everything that happened, while from now on events will be driven by many other people and circumstances.

Sarkozy has demonstrated incontestable virtuosity in taking up the French presidency. Opinion polls ranked his popularity nearly as high as General de Gaulle's three months after De Gaulle's return to power, and ahead of all other French Presidents. Sarkozy even seemed to break with the past — quite a feat for someone from the same political family as outgoing President Jacques Chirac. Thanks to his policy of "opening" to rival forces, Sarkozy has attracted Socialist stars to his team, forging a cooperation that is uncommon in France.

So far, with his phenomenal hyperactivity, Sarkozy seems to have the four arms of the god Vishnu. It is not by accident that he has won over French voters. Sarkozy has skillfully used the media to trumpet the fulfillment of campaign promises such as tax reform, a tougher tack on crime and a more supple stance on the official 35-hour workweek. He has reacted to every tragic headline with the energy and compassion of a national psychotherapist. Never before under the Fifth Republic has a President personally taken and stood behind so many decisions in such little time. Even if Articles 20 and 21 of the French constitution stipulate that the Prime Minister and his government set policy, for now, French voters are fine with his all-consuming presidency.

But those same French voters are famous for rapid political mood changes. Once the novelty of a situation has worn off, the French quickly readopt their famously corrosive spirit. His backers most want to see unemployment lowered (it's officially at 8% today) and purchasing power increased. But French economic growth, unlikely to exceed 2% in 2007, is too weak for that, and public deficits are still too high. Sarkozy's economic margin for maneuver is therefore much more limited than he would have liked.

Sarkozy also wants to reform pensions and liberalize the labor market — always explosive issues. His objectives for the next 100 days on hot topics like immigration, justice and education are popular, but the social context he'll be facing won't be favorable. His first major electoral test will be French municipal elections next March, when the Socialists could recapture strategic cities like Toulouse, Bordeaux, Reims, Rouen and Caen. Before then, Sarkozy counts on demonstrating the left's weakness, which he can do only as the young General Bonaparte did upon becoming First Consul: by portraying each new battle as both epic and victorious.

Page 1 of 4 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Next >>
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REINOunido - SAItonyBLAIRentrBROWN

Today's Hot Topics: Farewell, Tony Blair - Fig1
Britain Without Blair: In the WSJ, Matthew D'Ancona sums up Britain's conflicted feelings for outgoing Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is expected to announce his resignation today: "However deep their grievances about Britain's antiquated public services and scandalous transport infrastructure, however profound their contempt for this government's addiction to spin and its alleged lies about the case for war in Iraq, however sharp their sense of dashed expectations and unfulfilled hopes, voters believe they've been reasonably well served by the economic policy of the Blair era" ... in the LAT, Timothy Garton Ash spells out the three lessons any Blair successor should take away from his term in office: "First, never again must the flag of liberal interventionism be so abused ... Second, only a strong Europe, speaking with one voice, can be the strategic partner that the U.S. badly needs. Third, in order to get that strong Europe, the British prime minister must face down the unelected media barons who currently dictate Britain's European policy" ... in the NYT, A. N. Wilson writes that while Blair leaves office "a figure vilified and loathed by his own party and disliked by people in Britain at large," there is "one good legacy" that Blair leaves the United Kingdom: peace in Ireland ... the WSJ calls Gordon Brown, Blair's likely successor, "a man whose convictions remain a mystery." With "one foot in the door of 10 Downing for months," the editors argue, Brown "has failed to explain how he would deal with foreign policy as well as such domestic issues as rising crime and Islamic extremism, immigration, health and other failing public services"

Gun Control: In the wake of the Virginia Tech massacre, the NYT urges Congress to "put political survival on hold" and shut two loopholes in U.S. gun control, one that bars police from obtaining information on illegal gun sales, and another that has allowed individuals who are on terrorism watch lists to purchase firearms ... the WaPo encourages District of Columbia Mayor Adrian Fenty to appeal a case overturning the city's ban on handguns to the U.S. Supreme Court. Although the case could have negative impacts on gun-control laws across the nation, the editors argue that "Mr. Fenty has to think of what is best for his city, which has nothing to lose by going to the Supreme Court."
BROWN - BROWNprimeMINISTER
Blair endorses Brown as successor
A day after he announced he was stepping down in June, British Prime Minister Tony Blair has formally endorsed Finance Minister Gordon Brown as his successor.Blair endorses Brown as successor
Last Updated: Friday, May 11, 2007 | 1:43 PM ET
CBC News
A day after he announced he would step down in June, British Prime Minister Tony Blair formally endorsed Finance Minister Gordon Brown as his successor.

"I am absolutely delighted to give my full support to Gordon as the next leader of the Labour party and prime minister and to endorse him fully," Blair told reporters on Friday.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair waves goodbye to Iraqi President Jalal Talabani at Downing Street in London on Friday.
(Kirsty Wigglesworth/Associated Press) Friday's announcement marked the first time he directly supported Brown's bid.

"I think he has got what it takes to lead the Labour party and indeed the country with distinction. He's an extraordinary and rare talent and it is tremendous if it is put at the service of the nation as it now can be."

Blair spoke after meeting with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani at 10 Downing St.

On Thursday, he officially announced he would resign as prime minister on June 27.

Continue
MAJORprimeMINISTER



British Politics Page - John Major 1990-1997- [ Traduzir esta página ]Welcome to our web-site about John Major, and the 1990-1997 Conservative ... This site contains facts and resources about the former Prime Minister and his ...
Welcome to the 1990-1997 Conservative administration web-site.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Welcome

Welcome to our web-site about John Major, and the 1990-1997 Conservative administration. This site contains facts and resources about the former Prime Minister and his Government. You can access the links on this site from the menu on the left of this page.

This is not the official web-site of John Major, as it is an independent resource produced by the UKPOL magazine, but we would like to thank John Major for his help in the project and for providing valuable information.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I want to see us build a country that is at ease with itself, a country that is confident, and a country that is prepared and willing to make the changes necessary to provide a better quality of life for all our citizens" - 1990

"I want changes to produce across the whole of this country a genuinely classless society so people can rise to whatever level from whatever level they started" - 1990

"I believe in opportunity for all" - 1992

"It is time to get back to basics: to self-discipline and respect for the law, to consideration for others, to accepting responsibility for yourself and your family, and not shuffling it off on the state" - 1993

"The new Government inherits a sparkling economy and unemployment below 6 per cent and falling rapidly. No Government have ever had such an inheritance" - 1997

"When I talked of a classless society I wanted to say that the people who pushed wheelbarrows when I mixed cement for a living were human beings worthy of respect. Class distinction is to me exactly the same as racial discrimination". - 1999
John Major - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia- [ Traduzir esta página ]As Prime Minister, Major and his government were also responsible for the ... Following his resignation as Prime Minister, Major briefly became Leader of ...
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PMtONYblairVaiseEmbora




WELT ONLINE - Blair reicht bei der Queen den Rücktritt ein ...
Mittwoch, 27. Juni 2007
Blair reicht bei der Queen den Rücktritt ein
Der britische Premierminister Tony Blair ist zurückgetreten. Er wurde dazu von Königin Elizabeth II. im Buckingham-Palast empfangen. Nach zehn Jahren im Amt hatte er zuvor bei seiner letzten Fragestunde im Parlament die Entscheidung verteidigt, britische Truppen in den Irak geschickt zu haben.

Blair hatte seinen Rücktritt zum 27. Juni bereits im Mai angekündigt. Die Monarchin wird am Nachmittag Blairs Nachfolger Gordon Brown mit der Regierungsbildung beauftragen. Blair schloss die Sitzung im Parlament mit den Worten: „Lebt wohl, das war’s, das ist nun das Ende.“
Die Fragestunde wurde von wiederholten Vorwürfen und kritischen Fragen der Opposition zum Irak-Krieg überschattet. Blair sagte, er bedauere, dass Briten dort ihr Leben verloren hätten. Ihm sei klar, dass einige der Meinung seien, die Soldaten würden im Irak sinnlos großen Gefahren ausgesetzt. „Ich glaube jedoch, sie kämpfen für Sicherheit in diesem Land und in der Welt gegen Menschen, die unsere Lebensweise zerstören wollen“, betonte Blair.
Zugleich nahm er Bezug auf seine mögliche neue Rolle als Nahost- Sondergesandter. Er glaube, es gebe eine Lösung in der Region. Dafür sei aber „immense Arbeit“ nötig, betonte Blair. Der neue Job im Nahost-Quartett, dem die USA, die UN, die EU und Russland angehören, sollte im Laufe des Tages verkündet werden.
Abgeordnete und der Vorsitzende der Konservativen, David Cameron, würdigten Blairs „außergewöhnliche Errungenschaften“ als Regierungschef. Unter anderem würden seine Erfolge im Friedensprozess in Nordirland jedem in Erinnerung bleiben, sagte Cameron.
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JohnKennedy




John Kennedy

On November 22, 1963, when he was hardly past his first thousand days in office, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was killed by an assassin's bullets as his motorcade wound through Dallas, Texas. Kennedy was the youngest man elected President; he was the youngest to die.

Of Irish descent, he was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, on May 29, 1917. Graduating from Harvard in 1940, he entered the Navy. In 1943, when his PT boat was rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer, Kennedy, despite grave injuries, led the survivors through perilous waters to safety.

Back from the war, he became a Democratic Congressman from the Boston area, advancing in 1953 to the Senate. He married Jacqueline Bouvier on September 12, 1953. In 1955, while recuperating from a back operation, he wrote Profiles in Courage, which won the Pulitzer Prize in history.





President Bush Biography
Vice President Cheney Biography
Laura Bush Biography
Lynne Cheney Biography



In 1956 Kennedy almost gained the Democratic nomination for Vice President, and four years later was a first-ballot nominee for President. Millions watched his television debates with the Republican candidate, Richard M. Nixon. Winning by a narrow margin in the popular vote, Kennedy became the first Roman Catholic President.

His Inaugural Address offered the memorable injunction: "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country." As President, he set out to redeem his campaign pledge to get America moving again. His economic programs launched the country on its longest sustained expansion since World War II; before his death, he laid plans for a massive assault on persisting pockets of privation and poverty.

Responding to ever more urgent demands, he took vigorous action in the cause of equal rights, calling for new civil rights legislation. His vision of America extended to the quality of the national culture and the central role of the arts in a vital society.

He wished America to resume its old mission as the first nation dedicated to the revolution of human rights. With the Alliance for Progress and the Peace Corps, he brought American idealism to the aid of developing nations. But the hard reality of the Communist challenge remained.

Shortly after his inauguration, Kennedy permitted a band of Cuban exiles, already armed and trained, to invade their homeland. The attempt to overthrow the regime of Fidel Castro was a failure. Soon thereafter, the Soviet Union renewed its campaign against West Berlin. Kennedy replied by reinforcing the Berlin garrison and increasing the Nation's military strength, including new efforts in outer space. Confronted by this reaction, Moscow, after the erection of the Berlin Wall, relaxed its pressure in central Europe.

Instead, the Russians now sought to install nuclear missiles in Cuba. When this was discovered by air reconnaissance in October 1962, Kennedy imposed a quarantine on all offensive weapons bound for Cuba. While the world trembled on the brink of nuclear war, the Russians backed down and agreed to take the missiles away. The American response to the Cuban crisis evidently persuaded Moscow of the futility of nuclear blackmail.

Kennedy now contended that both sides had a vital interest in stopping the spread of nuclear weapons and slowing the arms race--a contention which led to the test ban treaty of 1963. The months after the Cuban crisis showed significant progress toward his goal of "a world of law and free choice, banishing the world of war and coercion." His administration thus saw the beginning of new hope for both the equal rights of Americans and the peace of the world.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For more information about President Kennedy, please visit
The John F. Kennedy Library and Museum

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...
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June 27th, 2007 at 3:54 pm
Gordon Brown - Prime Minister
» by Team Mole in: 24 Plus News, World News, European News, UK News, Politics - UK, Politics - World, Business
GORDONbrownPrimeMinister -

07out2007 - Para inglês ver?
Será que algum destes sorridentes militares vai integrar o grupo que deverá regressar a casa ainda este ano? O anúncio da retirada de mais cerca de mil homens do Iraque até ao Natal vem alimentar a especulação de que Gordon Brown poderá estar a ponderar a hipótese de convocar eleições antecipadas




Gordon Brown - Prime Minister

The Queen has officially asked Gordon Brown to form a new Government for the UK, thereby formalising his appointment as Prime Minister.

After years of frustrated waiting the world now awaits his announcements for Ministerial appointments for his new team. The jury is out and waiting to see if the new PM will change the face of UK politics and move away from sleaze and spin and concentrate on the substance of sound listening government.

Early indications suggest that many are doubting that any substantial changes of policy direction will result and New Labour will continue to tax and “spin” before substance.

Many hope that a fundamental policy change could bring our armed forces out of the inferno’s of Iraq and Afghanistan and a welcome home return. Realistically, friend George Bush is likely to bring every pressure into play to keep a supportive UK armed forces commitment in place in these areas of extreme conflict.

Gordon Brown’s career to date:

Gordon Brown was appointed as Chancellor of the Exchequer on 2 May 1997. He has been the MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath since 2005 and was the MP for Dunfermline East from 1983 to 2005. He was Opposition spokesperson on Treasury and Economic Affairs (Shadow Chancellor) from 1992.

Mr Brown was born in 1951 and educated at Kirkcaldy High School and Edinburgh University where he gained 1st Class Honours and then a Doctorate. He was Rector of Edinburgh University and Chairman of the University Court between 1972 and 1975. From 1976 to 1980, Mr Brown lectured at Edinburgh University and then Caledonian University before taking up a post at Scottish TV (1980 - 1983).

After becoming an MP, Mr Brown was the Chair of the Labour Party Scottish Council (1983 - 1984). Before becoming Shadow Chancellor he held two other senior posts on the Opposition front bench - Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury (1987 - 1989) and Shadow Trade and Industry Secretary (1989 -1992).

Mr Brown has had a number of works published including Maxton, The Politics of Nationalism and Devolution and Where There is Greed. He has edited a number of books including John Smith: Life and Soul of the Party and Values, Visions and Voices.

Outside of work, Mr Brown`s interests include football, tennis and film.

Modest wedding surprise:

His relationship with Sarah Macauley had been reluctantly dragged into the light, at Charlie Whelan’s prompting, on the eve of his first Budget in 1997, when the couple agreed to be photographed dining together by The News of the World.

But it was another three years before they finally tied the knot, in a modest ceremony in the living room of Mr Brown’s North Queensferry home, witnessed by their families and a few close friends.


Gordon and Sarah Brown with their two sons

They honeymooned in Cape Cod, Mr Brown’s favourite summer holiday destination, their typically frugal economy class seat being upgraded courtesy of Virgin Atlantic.

BBC - The Gordon Brown Background Story

gordon brown prime minister uk government politics appointment
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RonaldReagan -
Ronald Reagan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
“Reagan” redirects here. For other uses, see Reagan (disambiguation).
Ronald Wilson Reagan



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

40th President of the United States
In office
January 20, 1981 – January 20, 1989
Vice President(s) George H. W. Bush
Preceded by Jimmy Carter
Succeeded by George H. W. Bush

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

33rd Governor of California
In office
January 3, 1967 – January 7, 1975
Lieutenant(s) Robert Finch
(1967–1969)
Ed Reinecke
(1969–1974)
John L. Harmer
(1974–1975)
Preceded by Edmund G. "Pat" Brown, Sr.
Succeeded by Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown, Jr.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Born February 6, 1911
Tampico, Illinois, USA
Died June 05, 2004 (aged 93)
Bel Air, California, USA
Nationality American
Political party Republican
Spouse (1) Jane Wyman (married 1940, divorced 1948)
(2) Nancy Davis Reagan (married 1952)
Alma mater Eureka College
Occupation Actor
Religion Presbyterian
Signature
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 was born in Illinois, but moved to Hollywood in the 1930s, where he starred in numerous "B" movies and became President of the Screen Actors Guild. He was a prominent Democrat who supported the New Deal Coalition in the 1940s, and was a leading opponent of Communism in Hollywood. Reagan moved to the right in the early 1960s; he became a Republican in 1962 and supported Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential election. After Goldwater's defeat many conservatives supported Reagan, who, after delivering his famous "Time for Choosing" speech, was persuaded to seek the California Governorship. He defeated the liberal governor of California in 1966; Reagan was re-elected in 1970 after firing the president of the state university and sending in armed force to confront student demonstrators tring to shut the university. Defeated for the Republican presidential nomination in 1968 and 1976, he easily won the nomination in 1980. Incumbent President Jimmy Carter attacked Reagan as a dangerous radical who would unleash nuclear war, but Reagan won a landslide victory in the 1980 election by denouncing what he called Carter's failures: runaway inflation, soaring interest rates, persistent unemployment, a series of humilations abroad, and a weakened military in the face of growing Soviet power. His long coattails brought in the first Republican Senate in years, but the Democrats still controlled the House.

Reagan began his presidency by introducing fiscally-expansive economic policies, dubbed "Reaganomics." After surviving an assassination attempt in his first term, experiencing a period of economic growth,[1] and ordering a military operation in Grenada, Reagan was reelected in a landslide in 1984. His administration soon saw a number of scandals, most notably the Iran-Contra Affair.

Reagan instituted his policy of "peace through strength" in an arms race with the Soviet Union. He rejected détente and confronted Communism, famously portraying the USSR as an "Evil Empire" and supporting anti-Communist movements worldwide.[2] Reagan negotiated with Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev to shrink both countries' nuclear arsenals and help bring a peaceful end to the Cold War.[3]

After leaving office in 1989, Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, and died in 2004 at the age of ninety-three.

Contents [hide]
1 Early life
2 Entertainment career
2.1 Radio and film
2.2 Military service
2.3 Television and SAG President
3 Marriages and children
4 Early political career
5 Governor of California, 1967–1975
5.1 1976 presidential campaign
5.2 1980 presidential campaign
6 Presidency, 1981–1989
6.1 First term, 1981–1985
6.1.1 Assassination attempt
6.1.2 Air traffic controllers' strike
6.1.3 "Reaganomics" and the economy
6.1.4 War on Drugs
6.1.5 Judiciary
6.1.6 Lebanon and Grenada, 1983
6.2 1984 presidential campaign
6.3 Second term, 1985–1989
6.3.1 Immigration
6.3.2 Iran-Contra Affair
6.3.3 Cold War
6.3.4 End of the Cold War
6.3.5 Close of the Reagan Era
7 Post-presidential years, 1989–2004
7.1 Presidential Library and Museum
7.2 Alzheimer's disease
7.3 Religious beliefs and philosophy
8 Death
9 Legacy
9.1 Popular opinion
9.2 Honors
10 Footnotes
11 References
12 Further reading
13 External links



[edit] Early life

Ronald Reagan as a teenager in Dixon, Illinois.Reagan was born in a flat above the local bank building in Tampico, Illinois on February 6, 1911 to John "Jack" Reagan and Nelle Wilson Reagan. As a boy, Reagan's father nicknamed his son "Dutch," due to his "fat little Dutchman" like appearance, and his "Dutchboy" haircut.[4] The nickname stuck with him throughout his youth. Reagan's family briefly lived in several Illinois towns, including Chicago, until 1920, when his family settled in Dixon, Illinois.[5] The Midwestern "small universe" made a lasting impression on Reagan: "I learned standards and values that would guide me the rest of my life...I learned that hard work is an essential part of life – that by and large, you don't get something for nothing – and that America was a place that offered unlimited opportunity to those who did work hard."[6]

Reagan attended Dixon High School, where he developed interests in acting and storytelling. His first job was that of a lifeguard at the Rock River in Lowell Park, near Dixon in 1926. He said he saved 77 lives during the seven summers that he worked there.[7] After high school, Reagan attended Eureka College, where he was a member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity, majored in economics and sociology, and was very active in sports.[8]


[edit] Entertainment career

[edit] Radio and film

Reagan starred in Cowboy From Brooklyn in 1938.After graduating from Eureka in 1932, Reagan worked at radio stations WOC in Davenport, Iowa, and then WHO in Des Moines as an announcer for Chicago Cubs baseball games.[9] While traveling with the Cubs in California, Reagan took a screen test 1937 that led to a seven-year contract with the Warner Brothers studio.

His first screen credit was the starring role in the 1937 movie Love Is on the Air, and by the end of 1939, he had appeared in nineteen films.[10] Before Santa Fe Trail in 1940, he played the role of George "The Gipper" Gipp in the film Knute Rockne, All American. From this role he acquired the nickname the Gipper, which he retained the rest of his life.[11] Reagan's favorite acting role was in 1942's Kings Row,[12] but his performance did not meet with universal approval; one reviewer felt that Reagan had made "only casual acquaintance with the [character]".[13] Reagan also played in Tennessee's Partner, Hellcats of the Navy, This Is the Army, Bedtime for Bonzo, Cattle Queen of Montana, and The Killers in a 1964 remake.


[edit] Military service
Reagan enrolled in a series of home-study Army Extension Courses on March 18, 1935. After completing 14 of them, he enlisted in the Army Enlisted Reserve on April 29, 1937, as a Private assigned to Troop B, 322nd Cavalry at Des Moines, Iowa.[14] He was appointed Second Lieutenant in the Officers Reserve Corps of the Cavalry on May 25, 1937. On June 18 of that year Reagan, who had recently moved to Los Angeles to begin his film career, was assigned to the 323rd Cavalry.[15]

Having served for about five years in the Army Reserve, Reagan was ordered to active duty for the first time on April 18, 1942. Due to his nearsightedness, he was classified for limited service only, which excluded him from serving overseas.[16] His first assignment was at the San Francisco Port of Embarkation at Fort Mason, California, as liaison officer of the Port and Transportation Office. Upon the request of the Army Air Forces (AAF), he applied for a transfer from the Cavalry to the AAF on May 15, 1942, and was assigned to AAF Public Relations and subsequently to the 1st Motion Picture Unit in Culver City, California. Reagan was promoted to First Lieutenant on January 14, 1943 and was sent to the Provisional Task Force Show Unit of This Is The Army at Burbank, California. Following this duty, he returned to the 1st Motion Picture Unit, and on July 22, 1943 was promoted to Captain.[14]

In January 1944, Captain Reagan was ordered to temporary duty in New York City to participate in the opening of the sixth War Loan Drive. He was assigned to the 18th AAF Base Unit, Culver City, California on November 14, 1944, where he remained until the end of the war. He was recommended for promotion to Major on February 2, 1945, but this recommendation was disapproved on July 17 of that year. On September 8, 1945, he was ordered to report to Fort MacArthur, California, where he was separated from active duty on December 9, 1945.[14] By the end of the war, his units had produced some 400 training films for the Army Air Forces.[14]


[edit] Television and SAG President

Television star Ronald Reagan advertising borax.Reagan landed fewer film roles in the late 1950s and moved to television as the host and a frequent performer for General Electric Theater, earning approximately $125,000 per year ($800,000 in 2006 dollars), up to the time that he was fired by General Electric in 1964 in response to Reagan (as co-chairman of California Citizens for Goldwater) giving his televised speech "A Time For Choosing." His final work as a professional actor was as host and performer from 1964 to 1965 on the television series Death Valley Days.

Reagan was first elected to the Board of Directors of the Screen Actors Guild in 1941, serving as an alternate. Following World War II, he resumed service and became 3rd Vice President in 1946.[17] The adoption of conflict–of–interest bylaws in 1947 led the SAG president and six board members to resign; Reagan was nominated in a special election for the position of president by fellow board member Gene Kelly and was elected. He would subsequently be elected by the membership to seven additional one-year terms, from 1947 to 1952 and in 1959. Reagan led SAG through eventful years that were marked by labor-management disputes, the Taft-Hartley Act, House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) hearings and the Hollywood blacklist era.[17]

In 1947, as SAG President, Reagan testified before HUAC regarding the influence of Communists in the motion picture industry. Strongly opposed to communism, Reagan reaffirmed his commitment to democratic principles, stating, "As a citizen, I would hesitate to see any political party outlawed on the basis of its political ideology. However, if it is proven that an organization is an agent of foreign power, or in any way not a legitimate political party–and I think the government is capable of proving that–then that is another matter...but at the same time I never as a citizen want to see our country become urged, by either fear or resentment of this group, that we ever compromise with any of our democratic principles through that fear or resentment"[18]


[edit] Marriages and children

Ronald and Nancy Reagan aboard a boat in California in 1964.In 1938, Reagan co-starred in the film Brother Rat with actress Jane Wyman. They were engaged at the Chicago Theatre,[19] and married on January 26, 1940, at the Week Kirk O'Heather Church in Forest Lawn, California.[20] Together they had two children, Maureen Reagan (1941 – 2001) and Christine Reagan (born and died June 26, 1947), and adopted a third, Michael Reagan (born 1945). Reagan and Wyman divorced on June 28, 1948 following arguments about Reagan's political ambitions,[11] making Reagan the only American President to have been divorced.[21]

Reagan met actress Nancy Davis in 1949 after Davis contacted then-President of the Screen Actors Guild Reagan to help her with issues regarding her name appearing on a communist blacklist in Hollywood (Davis was mistaken for another Nancy Davis). Nancy described their meeting by saying, "I don't know if it was exactly love at first sight, but it was pretty close."[20] They were engaged at Chasen's restaurant in Los Angeles and were married on March 4, 1952 at the Little Brown Church in the San Fernando Valley.[22] Ronald and Nancy Reagan had two children: Patti (born 1952) and Ron (born 1958).

Observers described Ronald and Nancy Reagan's relationship as close, real, and intimate.[23] While President and First Lady, the Reagans were reported to frequently display their affection for each other with one press secretary noting, "They never took each other for granted. They never stopped courting."[20][24] He often called her "Mommy"; she called him "Ronnie."[24] When the President was recuperating in the hospital after the assassination attempt in 1981, Nancy Reagan slept with one of his shirts to be comforted by the scent;[25] in a letter to Mrs. Reagan, President Reagan wrote, "whatever I treasure and enjoy...all would be without meaning if I didn’t have you."[26] In 1994, President Reagan wrote "I have recently been told that I am one of the millions of Americans who will be afflicted with Alzheimer's disease...I only wish there was some way I could spare Nancy from this painful experience,"[20] and in 1998, while her husband was severely affected by Alzheimer's, Nancy told Vanity Fair, "Our relationship is very special. We were very much in love and still are. When I say my life began with Ronnie, well, it's true. It did. I can't imagine life without him."[27]


[edit] Early political career
An admirer of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Reagan supported the New Deal as well as the presidential candidacies of Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956, and that of Richard Nixon in 1960, as a registered Democrat. His political loyalties soon shifted to the Republican Party, however, for he thought that the Democrats had repudiated Thomas Jefferson's beliefs and created a larger government.[28] Following the election of John F. Kennedy, Reagan formally switched parties in 1962, saying "I didn't leave the Democratic Party. The party left me."[29]

Two years after switching parties, Reagan joined the campaign of conservative Presidential contender Barry Goldwater. Speaking on Goldwater's behalf, Reagan revealed his ideological motivation in a famed speech given on October 27, 1964: "The Founding Fathers knew a government can't control the economy without controlling people. And they knew when a government set out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose. So we have come to a time for choosing."[30] The address soon became known as the "Time for Choosing" speech, and is considered the speech that launched Reagan's political career.[31]


[edit] Governor of California, 1967–1975

Ronald and Nancy Reagan celebrate Reagan's gubernatorial victory at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California.After Reagan's "Time for Choosing" speech, California Republicans became impressed with his political views and charisma,[32] nominating him for Governor of California in 1966. In Reagan's campaign, he emphasized two main themes: "to send the welfare bums back to work," and in reference to burgeoning anti-war and anti-establishement student protests at the University of California at Berkeley, "to clean up the mess at Berkeley."[33] He was elected, defeating two-term governor Edmund G. "Pat" Brown, and was sworn in on January 3, 1967. In his first term, he froze government hiring and approved tax hikes to balance the budget.[34]

Shortly after the beginning of his term, Reagan tested the Presidential waters in 1968 as part of a "Stop Nixon" movement which included those from the party's far right. Reagan managed to win the pledges of some 600 delegates, but Richard Nixon quickly steamrolled to the nomination.


The Reagans meet with then-President Richard Nixon and First Lady Pat Nixon in July of 1970.Reagan was involved in high-profile conflicts with the protest movements of the era. In 1969, during the People's Park protests at UC Berkeley, Reagan met with Regent Edwin Pauley to try to cease the unrest, and sent California Highway Patrol officers onto the campus to quell the riots.[35] On May 15 of that year, the riots increased, and the officers resorted to using firearms, shooting and killing a 25 year old San Jose man and injuring many others.[35] Reagan then called out 2,200 state National Guard troops to the university to crack down on the anti-war protesters and rioters.[35]

Early in 1967, the national debate on abortion was beginning. Democratic California state senator Anthony Beilenson introduced the "Therapeutic Abortion Act," in an effort to reduce the number of "back-room abortions" performed in California.[35] The State Legislature sent the bill to Reagan's desk where, after many days of indecision, he signed it.[36] About two million abortions would be performed as a result, most because of a provision in the bill allowing abortions for the well-being of the mother.[36] Reagan had been in office for only four months when he signed the bill, and stated that had he been more experienced as governor, it would not have been signed. After he recognized what he called the "consequences" of the bill, he announced that he was pro-life.[36] He maintained that position later in his political career, writing extensively about abortion.[37]

Reagan was re-elected in 1970, defeating "Big Daddy" Jesse Unruh, but chose not to seek a third term. One of Reagan's greatest frustrations in office concerned capital punishment, which he strongly supported.[12] His efforts to enforce the state's laws in this area were thwarted when the Supreme Court of California issued its People v. Anderson decision, which invalidated all death sentences issued in California prior to 1972, though the decision was later overturned by a constitutional amendment. The only execution during Reagan's governorship was on April 12, 1967, when Aaron Mitchell's sentence was carried out by the state in San Quentin's gas chamber.


[edit] 1976 presidential campaign

Ronald Reagan on the podium with Gerald Ford at the 1976 Republican National Convention, after Reagan narrowly lost the Presidential nomination. First row, left to right: Senator Bob Dole, Nancy Reagan, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, Nelson Rockefeller, Susan Ford, and Betty Ford.In 1976, Reagan challenged incumbent President Gerald Ford in a bid to become the Republican Party's candidate for president. Reagan soon established himself as the conservative candidate; like-minded organizations such as the American Conservative Union became the key components of his political base, while President Ford was considered a more moderate Republican.[38] The ACU benefited from early knowledge of the changes in rules permitting PACs to contribute to campaigns, and "undertook one of the first independent, non-party campaigns on behalf of a presidential candidate," sponsoring hundreds of radio and newspaper ads contrasting Reagan's conservative views with Ford's.[39] He relied on a strategy crafted by campaign manager John Sears of winning a few primaries early to seriously damage the lift-off of Ford's campaign, such as his victories in North Carolina, Texas, and California, but the strategy disintegrated. Poor management of the campaign and other financial problems caused Reagan to lose New Hampshire and later Florida.[40]

As the party's convention in Kansas City neared, Ford appeared close to victory, in thanks partly to New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania delegates ostensibly under the control of Ford's liberal Republican Vice President Nelson Rockefeller. Acknowledging the strength of his party's moderate wing, Reagan chose moderate Republican Senator Richard Schweiker of Pennsylvania as his running mate. Nonetheless, Ford narrowly won, with 1,187 delegates to Reagan's 1,070.

Reagan's concession speech emphasized the dangers of nuclear war and the threat posed by the Soviet Union. Although he lost the nomination, he received 307 write-in votes in New Hampshire, 388 votes as an Independent on Wyoming's ballot, and a single electoral vote from a Washington State "faithless elector" in the November election.[41] Ford went on to lose the 1976 presidential election to the Democratic challenger Jimmy Carter.


[edit] 1980 presidential campaign
Main article: United States presidential election, 1980

Reagan campaigns with Nancy in South Carolina, 1980.The 1980 presidential campaign, led by William J. Casey, was conducted in the shadow of the Iran hostage crisis. Every day during the campaign, the networks reported on Carter's unavailing efforts to free the hostages. On the domestic front, Reagan attacked Carter's inability to deal with double-digit inflation, soaring interest rates and high unemployment, plus lackluster economic growth. Reagan hammered away at the theme that America's military had fallen behind the Soviet Union, and that detente was a failure. With respect to the economy, Reagan quipped, "I'm told I can't use the word depression. Well, I'll tell you the definition. A recession is when your neighbor loses his job; depression is when you lose your job. Recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his!"[42]

Reagan's showing in the televised debates boosted his campaign. He seemed more at ease, deflecting President Carter's criticisms with remarks like "there you go again," and a closing question to the audience in which he asked, "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?" (a phrase he would successfully reuse in the 1984 campaign).[43] During the Republican National Convention, Reagan unsuccessfully attempted to negotiate an unusual power-sharing arrangement that would entice former President Gerald Ford to be the Vice Presidential nominee. Instead, Reagan selected his opponent in the primaries, George H. W. Bush, who had extensive international experience.[44]

Reagan swept to a landslide, carrying 44 states with 489 electoral votes to 49 electoral votes for Carter (representing 6 states and the District of Columbia). Reagan won 50.7% of the popular vote while Carter took 41%. Independent John B. Anderson (a liberal Republican) received 6.7%.[45] Reagan Democrats were blue collar Democrats who voted for Reagan, helping him carry historic Democratic strongholds like Michigan, New York and Massachusetts. Thanks in large part to the enthusiastic Republican campaign and Reagan's coattails, twelve Democrats were defeated in Senate races, which the GOP captured for the first time since 1952; the margin was 54-46. The GOP United States House elections, 1980 gained 34 House seats, but the Democrats retained a majority, 242-192. The question was whether Reagan could appeal to enough conservative Democrats to pass legislatition in the House.


[edit] Presidency, 1981–1989
Main article: Presidency of Ronald Reagan
During his Presidency, Ronald Reagan pursued policies that reflected his optimism in individual freedom, expanded the American economy, and contributed to the end of the Cold War.[46] The "Reagan Revolution", as it came to be known, aimed to reinvigorate American morale, and reduce the people's reliance upon government.[46] As President, Reagan kept a series of leather bound diaries, in which he talked about daily occurrences of his presidency, commented on current issues around the world (expressing his point of view on most of them), and frequently mentioned his wife, Nancy. The diaries were recently published into the bestselling book, The Reagan Diaries.[47]

The Reagan Cabinet
OFFICE NAME TERM

President Ronald Reagan 1981–1989
Vice President George H. W. Bush 1981–1989

State Alexander M. Haig 1981–1982
George P. Shultz 1982–1989
Treasury Donald Regan 1981–1985
James A. Baker III 1985–1988
Nicholas F. Brady 1988–1989
Defense Caspar Weinberger 1981–1987
Frank C. Carlucci 1987–1989
Justice William F. Smith 1981–1985
Edwin A. Meese III 1985–1988
Richard L. Thornburgh 1988–1989
Interior James G. Watt 1981–1983
William P. Clark, Jr. 1983–1985
Donald P. Hodel 1985–1989
Commerce Malcolm Baldrige 1981–1987
C. William Verity, Jr. 1987–1989
Labor Raymond J. Donovan 1981–1985
William E. Brock 1985–1987
Ann Dore McLaughlin 1987–1989
Agriculture John Rusling Block 1981–1986
Richard E. Lyng 1986–1989
HHS Richard S. Schweiker 1981–1983
Margaret Heckler 1983–1985
Otis R. Bowen 1985–1989
Education Terrell H. Bell 1981–1984
William J. Bennett 1985–1988
Lauro Cavazos 1988–1989
HUD Samuel R. Pierce, Jr. 1981–1989
Transportation Drew Lewis 1981–1982
Elizabeth Hanford Dole 1983–1987
James H. Burnley IV 1987–1989
Energy James B. Edwards 1981–1982
John S. Herrington 1985–1989



[edit] First term, 1981–1985

The Reagans wave from the limousine taking them down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House, right after the President's inauguration.In his inaugural address, Reagan addressed the economic malaise he inherited, arguing: "Government is not the solution to our problems; Government is the problem." The Reagan Presidency began in a historic manner. On January 20, 1981 while Reagan was delivering his inaugural address, just 30 minutes into his term, 52 American hostages, held by Iran for 444 days were set free.[48]


[edit] Assassination attempt
Main article: Reagan assassination attempt
On March 30, 1981, only 69 days into the new administration, Reagan, his press secretary James Brady, and two others were struck by gunfire from a deranged would-be assassin, John Hinckley, Jr.. Missing Reagan’s heart by less than an inch, the bullet instead pierced his left lung, which likely saved his life. In the operating room, Reagan joked to the surgeons, "I hope you're all Republicans!"[49] Though they were not, Dr. Joseph Giordano replied, "Today, Mr. President, we're all Republicans." Reagan famously told his wife, "Honey, I forgot to duck" (using defeated boxer Jack Dempsey's quip). On April 12, Nancy Reagan and their daughter, Patti, escorted the President home from the hospital.


[edit] Air traffic controllers' strike
Main article: Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization
Only a short time into his administration, Federal air traffic controllers went on strike, violating a regulation prohibiting Government unions from striking.[50] Declaring the situation an emergency as described in the 1947 Taft Hartley Act, Reagan held a press conference in the White House Rose Garden, where he stated that if the air traffic controllers "do not report for work within 48 hours, they have forfeited their jobs and will be terminated."[51] On August 5, 1981, Reagan fired 11,359 striking air traffic controllers who had ignored his order to return to work.


[edit] "Reaganomics" and the economy
Main article: Reaganomics

Ronald Reagan's Official Portrait that hangs in the White House.When Ronald Reagan entered office, the American economy faced the highest rate of inflation since 1947 (11.83% in January of 1981), as well an unemployment rate of 7.1%. Those, along with high interest rates, were considered the nation's principal economic problems. Reagan focused on reviving the economy through his economic policies, partially based on supply-side economics. The policies sought to stimulate the economy with large, across-the-board tax cuts[52][53] and aimed to reduce the growth of domestic government spending, regulation, and inflation.[54] In attempting to reduce or eliminate decades-long social programs and to significantly increase defense spending, while at the same time lowering taxes, Reagan's approach was a departure from his immediate predecessors, soon becoming known as "Reaganomics."[54]

During Reagan's tenure, income tax rates were lowered significantly, with the top personal tax bracket dropping from 70% to 28% in 7 years,[55] however payroll taxes increased during Reagan's terms as well as the effective tax rates on the lower two income quintiles.[56][57] Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth recovered strongly after the 1982 recession and grew during Reagan's eight years in office at an annual rate of 3.4% per year,[58] slightly lower than the post-World War II average of 3.6%.[59] Unemployment peaked at over 9.7% percent in 1982 then dropped during the rest of Reagan's terms,[53] and inflation significantly decreased.[60] A net job increase of about 16 million occurred under Reagan.

He reappointed Fed Chairman Paul Volcker, as well as the monetarist Alan Greenspan to succeed him. While preserving the core New Deal safeguards, such as the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the GI Bill and Social Security, Reagan rolled back what he viewed as the excesses of 1960s and 1970s liberal policies.


Reagan gives a televised address from the Oval Office, outlining his plan for Tax Reduction Legislation in July of 1981.Many critics charged that Reagan was unconcerned with income inequality and its effects, and derided his economic policies as "Trickle-down economics."[61] They also pointed out that the combination of significant tax cuts and a massive increase in Cold War related defense spending caused large budget deficits,[62] the U.S. trade deficit expansion,[62] contributed to the Savings and Loan crisis,[63] and the stock market crash of 1987, known as "Black Monday." In order to cover new federal budget deficits, the United States borrowed heavily both domestically and abroad, raising the national debt from $700 billion to $3 trillion,[64] and the United States moved from being the world's largest international creditor to the world's largest debtor nation.[65] Reagan described the new debt as the "greatest disappointment" of his presidency.[64]

Ronald Reagan himself was criticized for his supposed lack of understanding of economics. Donald Regan, the President's former Secretary of the Treasury, and later Chief of Staff, stated, "In the four years that I served as Secretary of the Treasury, I never saw President Reagan alone and never discussed economic philosophy or fiscal and monetary policy with him one–on–one....The President never told me what he believed or what he wanted to accomplish in the field of economics.”[66]

It can be argued that Reagan's tax policies invigorated America's economy, however there is some speculation about deficits from Reaganomics being a contributory factor to the economic recession of 1990 – 1991,[67] and being the reason that Reagan's successor, George H.W. Bush, reneged on a campaign promise and raised taxes. Although under Ronald Reagan real GDP grew, government spending was partially cut, unemployment decreased and inflation was lowered, the American economy in the 1980s did not perform as well as that of the 1990s, but Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman wrote that the Reagan tax cuts were "one of the most important factors in the boom of the 1990s." Similarly, fellow Nobel Prize winning economist Robert A. Mundell wrote that the tax cuts "made the U.S. economy the motor for the world economy in the 1990s, on which the great revolution in information technology was able to feed."[68]


[edit] War on Drugs
Not long after being sworn into office, Reagan declared more militant policies in the "War on Drugs".[69] He promised a "planned, concerted campaign" against all drugs,[70]leading to decreases in adolescent drug use in America.[71]

On October 27, 1986, President Reagan signed a drug enforcement bill into law, which granted $1.7 billion dollars to fight the crisis, and ensured a mandatory minimum penalty for drug offenses.[72] The Bill was criticized for promoting significant racial disparities in the prison population, because of the differences in sentencing for crack versus powder cocaine.[72]

Many critics also charged that the administration's policies did little to actually reduce the availability of drugs or crime on the street, while resulting in a great financial and human cost for American society.[73] Many critics regarded Reagan as indifferent to the needs of poor and minority citizens.

Reagan's First Lady, Nancy, even took on the War on Drugs as her main cause, by founding the "Just Say No" anti-drug association, which aimed to discourage children and teenagers from engaging in recreational drug use by offering various ways of saying "no." Mrs. Reagan traveled to 65 cities in 33 states, raising awareness about the dangers of drugs and alcohol.[74]


[edit] Judiciary
During his 1980 campaign, Reagan pledged that, if given the opportunity, he would appoint the first female Supreme Court Justice.[75] That opportunity came in his first year in office when he nominated Sandra Day O'Connor to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Potter Stewart. In his second term, Reagan elevated William Rehnquist to succeed Warren Burger as Chief Justice, and named Antonin Scalia to fill the vacant seat. However, in 1987, Reagan lost a significant political battle when the Senate rejected the nomination of Robert Bork, but Anthony Kennedy was eventually confirmed in his place.


[edit] Lebanon and Grenada, 1983
Main article: Invasion of Grenada

Reagan meets with Prime Minister Eugenia Charles of Dominica in the Oval Office about ongoing events in Grenada.American peacekeeping forces in Beirut, a part of a multinational force during the Lebanese Civil War, were attacked on October 22, 1983. The Beirut barracks bombing, in which 241 American servicemen were killed by suicide bombers, was the deadliest single-day death toll for the United States Marine Corps since the Battle of Iwo Jima, and the deadliest single-day death toll for the United States military since the first day of the Tet offensive. Reagan called the attack "despicable," pledged to keep a military force in Lebanon, and planned to target the Sheik Abdullah barracks in Baalbek, Lebanon, which housed Iranian Revolutionary Guards believed to be training Hezbollah fighters.[76][77] Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger aborted the mission, however, reportedly because of his concerns that it would harm U.S. relations with other Arab nations. Besides a few shellings, there was no serious American retaliation, and the Marines were moved offshore where they could not be targeted. On February 7, 1984, President Reagan ordered the Marines to begin withdrawal from Lebanon. This was completed on February 26: the rest of the MNF was withdrawn by April.

Three days later, U.S. forces invaded Grenada, where a 1979 coup d’état had established a Marxist-Leninist government aligned with the Soviet Union and Cuba. The Grenadan government began military expansion and construction of an international airport with Cuban assistance. On October 13, 1983, a faction led by Deputy Prime Minister Bernard Coard seized power. A formal appeal from the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) led to the intervention of U.S. forces; President Reagan also cited the regional threat posed by a Soviet-Cuban military build-up in the Caribbean and concern for the safety of several hundred American medical students at St. George's University as adequate reasons to invade. On October 25, 1983, in the first major operation conducted by the U.S. military since the Vietnam War, several days of fighting commenced, and led to U.S. victory,[78] with 19 American fatalities and 116 wounded American soldiers.[79] In mid-December, after a new government was appointed by the Governor-General, U.S. forces withdrew.[78]


[edit] 1984 presidential campaign
Main article: United States presidential election, 1984

1984 Presidential electoral votes by state. Reagan (red) won every state, with the exception of Minnesota and Washington, D.C.Reagan accepted the Republican nomination in Dallas, Texas, on a wave of positive feeling bolstered by the recovering economy and the dominating performance by the U.S. athletes at the Los Angeles Olympics that summer. He became the first American president to open a summer Olympic Games held in the United States.[80]

Reagan's opponent in the 1984 presidential election was former Vice President Walter Mondale. With questions about Reagan's age, and a weak performance in the first presidential debate, many wondered if he was up to the task of being president for another term.[81] Reagan rebounded in the second debate, and confronted questions about his age, stating, "I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience," which generated applause and laughter from members of the audience.[82]

In the 1984 presidential election, Reagan was re-elected over Mondale, winning 49 of 50 states. The president's landslide victory saw Mondale carry only his home state of Minnesota (by 3800 votes) and the District of Columbia. Reagan won a record 525 electoral votes total (of 538 possible), and received 58.8% of the popular vote to Mondale's 40.6%.[83]


[edit] Second term, 1985–1989

Ronald Reagan is sworn in for a second term as President in the Capitol Rotunda.Reagan was sworn in as President for the second time on January 20, 1985, in a private swearing in at the White House. He was sworn in publicly in the Capitol Rotunda the next day, because January 20 fell on a Sunday, and thus no public celebration was held. January 21 was one of the coldest days on record in Washington, D.C., thus due to the low temperatures, inaugural celebrations were held inside the Capitol.

On July 13, 1985, Reagan underwent surgery to remove polyps from his colon, causing the first-ever invocation of the Acting President clause of the 25th Amendment,[84] and on January 5, 1987, Reagan underwent surgery for prostate cancer which caused further worries about his health. At this time, the President was 76 years old.

In 1985, Ronald and Nancy Reagan visited a cemetery in Bitburg, Germany, where Reagan was to lay a wreath. Some Jewish leaders criticized him for deciding to visit the cemetery, after they discovered that 47 Waffen SS men were buried there.[85] Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel pleaded with Reagan not to go, stating, "May I, Mr. President, if it is possible at all, implore you to do something else, to find a way, to find another way, another site."[86] Reagan argued that it would be wrong to back down on a promise he had made to Chancellor Helmut Kohl, and in the end, two retired generals laid the wreath in the cemetery with Reagan present.[87] In 1983, and again in 1984, Reagan told prominent Israelis and American Jews — notably Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir of Israel, Simon Wiesenthal, and Rabbi Martin Hier of Los Angeles — of his personal experience vis-à-vis the Holocaust, saying "I was there" and that that he himself had assisted personally at the liberation of Nazi death camps; in fact, he was in a film unit in Hollywood that processed raw footage it received from Europe for newsreels, but Reagan was not in Europe during the war.[88]

Reagan's administration was criticized for its slow response to the HIV-AIDS epidemic, until the illness of movie star and national icon Rock Hudson became public news in July 1985, by which time over 10,000 Americans had been diagnosed with AIDS, and over 6,000 had died.[89]


[edit] Immigration
In 1986, Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA). The Act made it illegal to knowingly hire or recruit illegal immigrants, required employers to attest to their employees' immigration status, and granted amnesty to approximately 3 million illegal immigrants who entered the United States prior to January 1, 1982 and resided there continuously. Critics of the Act claim that its laws subjecting employers to sanctions were without teeth and that the Act failed to stem illegal immigration.[90] Upon signing the Act at a ceremony held beside the newly refurbished Statue of Liberty, Reagan said, "The legalization provisions in this act will go far to improve the lives of a class of individuals who now must hide in the shadows, without access to many of the benefits of a free and open society. Very soon many of these men and women will be able to step into the sunlight and, ultimately, if they choose, they may become Americans."[91]


[edit] Iran-Contra Affair
Main articles: Iran-Contra Affair and Reagan administration scandals

President Reagan receives the Tower Report in the Cabinet Room of the White House in 1987.In 1986, the Reagan Administration was found to have illegally sold arms to Iran to fund the anti-communist Contras in Nicaragua. The Iran-Contra Affair was the largest political scandal in the United States during the 1980s.[92] President Reagan professed ignorance of the plot's existence and quickly called for an Independent Counsel to investigate. Reagan's denial of awareness of the scandal belied his signing a secret presidential "finding" describing the deal as "arms-for-hostages." The International Court of Justice, in its ruling on Nicaragua v. United States, found that the U.S. had been involved in the "unlawful use of force" in Nicaragua due to its treaty obligations and the customary obligations of international law not to intervene in the affairs of other states.

John Tower, Edmund Muskie and Brent Scowcroft made up the non-partisan, three-man "Tower Commission," appointed by Reagan, to review the scandal. In the end, ten officials in the Reagan Administration were convicted, and others were forced to resign.[93] Secretary of Defense Casper Weinberger was indicted for perjury and later received a presidential pardon from George H.W. Bush. In 2006, historians ranked the Iran-Contra affair as one of the ten worst mistakes by a U.S. president.[94]

Today, many Central Americans criticize Reagan for his support of the Contras.[95] Daniel Ortega, Sandinistan leader of Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990, said that he hoped God would forgive Reagan for his "dirty war against Nicaragua."[95]


[edit] Cold War
Further information: Cold War

Reagan addresses the British Parliament in London. In this speech, he famously predicted communism would collapse.Reagan escalated the Cold War, accelerating a reversal from the policy of détente which began in 1979 following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.[96]The Reagan Administration implemented new policies towards the Soviet Union: reviving the B-1 bomber program that had been canceled by the Carter administration, and producing the MX "Peacekeeper" missile.[97] In response to Soviet deployment of the SS-20, Reagan oversaw NATO's deployment of the Pershing II missile in West Germany.[98]

One of Reagan's more controversial proposals was the Strategic Defense Initiative, or SDI, a defense project.[99] The program would use ground- and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles.[100] Reagan believed that this defense shield could make nuclear war impossible,[99][101] but the unlikelihood that the technology could ever work led opponents to dub SDI "Star Wars," and argue that the technological objective was unattainable.[99]The Soviets became concerned about the possible effects SDI would have,[102] and leader Yuri Andropov considered the possibility that Reagan was pushing to win the Cold War,[103] saying it put "the entire world in jeopardy."[103]

In a famous address on June 8, 1982 to the British Parliament, Reagan called the Soviet Union an "Evil Empire" that would be consigned to the "ash heap of history." On March 3, 1983, Reagan predicted that Communism would collapse, stating, "communism is another sad, bizarre chapter in human history whose last pages even now are being written."[29] After Soviet fighters downed Korean Airlines Flight 007 on September 1, 1983, Reagan labeled the act a "massacre" and declared that the Soviets had turned "against the world and the moral precepts which guide human relations among people everywhere."[104] The Reagan administration responded to the incident by suspending all Soviet passenger air service to the United States, and dropped several agreements being negotiated with the Soviets, hurting them financially.[104]

Reagan's foreign policies were criticized variously as aggressive, imperialistic, and were derided as "warmongering".[102] All this was before a reformer, Mikhail Gorbachev, rose to power in the Soviet Union in 1985. To confront the Soviet Union's serious economic problems, Gorbachev implemented bold new policies for openness and reform called glasnost and perestroika.


[edit] End of the Cold War
By the early 1980s, Moscow had built up a military which surpassed that of the United States.[105] In the past, the United States had relied on the qualitative superiority of its weapons to essentially frighten the Soviets, but with Soviet technological advances in the 1980s, the gap between the two nations was narrowed.[105] Ronald Reagan started a major military buildup knowing full well that the United States could easily outspend the Soviet Union. This would eventually help end the Cold War. As the Soviets tried to keep up with the United States in building up their military, they began to have large budget deficits, and as a result, Gorbachev offered major concessions to the United States on the levels of conventional forces, nuclear weapons, and policy in Eastern Europe.[106]


Ronald Reagan speaks at the Berlin Wall, and challenges Mikhail Gorbachev to "Tear Down This Wall!"Ronald Reagan recognized the change in the direction of the Soviet leadership with Gorbachev, and shifted to diplomacy, with a view to encourage the Soviet Leader to go further with his reforms. Gorbachev agreed to meet Reagan in four summit conferences around the world: the first in Geneva, Switzerland, the second in Reykjavík, Iceland, the third held in Washington, D.C., along with the fourth summit in Moscow, Russia.[107] Reagan believed that if he could persuade the Soviets to look at the prosperous American economy, they would embrace free markets and a free society. Gorbachev, facing severe economic problems at home, was swayed.[106]

Speaking at the Berlin Wall, on June 12, 1987, Reagan challenged Gorbachev to go further:

“ General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall! ”

When Gorbachev visited Washington, D.C. for the third summit in 1987, he and Reagan signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty at the White House (they finalized it a year later), which eliminated an entire class of nuclear weapons.[108]


Reagan and Gorbachev sign the INF Treaty at the White House in 1987.When Reagan visited Moscow for the fourth summit in 1988, he was viewed as a celebrity by Russians. A journalist asked the president if he still considered the Soviet Union the evil empire. "No," he replied, "I was talking about another time, another era."[109] At Gorbachev’s request, Reagan gave a speech on free markets at Moscow University.[110]

In his autobiography An American Life, Reagan expressed his optimism about the new direction that they charted, his warm feelings for Gorbachev, and his concern for Gorbachev's safety because Gorbachev pushed reforms so hard: "I was concerned for his safety," Reagan wrote. "I've still worried about him. How hard and fast can he push reforms without risking his life?"[111] Events would unravel far beyond what Gorbachev originally intended. In 1990, the Berlin Wall was torn down. A year later, the Soviet Union officially collapsed.


[edit] Close of the Reagan Era
In 1988, Reagan's Vice President, George H. W. Bush, was elected President of the United States. On January 11, 1989, Reagan addressed the nation for the last time on television from the Oval Office, nine days before handing over the presidency to George H. W. Bush. On the morning of January 20, 1989, Ronald and Nancy Reagan escorted the Bushes to the Capitol Building, where Bush took the Oath of Office. The Reagans then boarded a Presidential helicopter, and flew to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. There, they boarded the Presidential Jet and flew home to California – to their new home in the wealthy suburb of Bel Air in Los Angeles. Reagan was the oldest president to have served (at 77), surpassing Dwight Eisenhower, who was 70 when he left office in 1961.


[edit] Post-presidential years, 1989–2004

Ronald Reagan awards Mikhail Gorbachev the first ever Ronald Reagan Freedom Award at the Reagan Library in 1992.Ronald and Nancy Reagan would enjoy the private life for the next five years, traveling from their Bel-Air, California home to the Reagan Ranch in Santa Barbara, California every few months. Reagan made occasional appearances on behalf of the Republican Party, including a well-received speech at the 1992 Republican National Convention.[112]

He publicly spoke in favor of a line-item veto, a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget, and repealing the 22nd Amendment, which prohibits a President from serving more than two terms.[113]Reagan's final public speech was on February 3, 1994, during a tribute in Washington, D.C., and his last major public appearance was at the funeral of fellow Republican President Richard Nixon on April 27, 1994.

In 1992, President Reagan established the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award with the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. The award, the highest given by the Reagan Foundation, is presented on a regular basis to one person in the world who has "made monumental and lasting contributions to the cause of freedom worldwide," and who "embodies President Reagan's lifelong belief that one man or woman truly can make a difference."[114] The first recipient was former leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, and the most recent was former United States President George H.W. Bush.[115] When President Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease, Nancy Reagan took on the role of presenting the award on behalf of her husband.[114]


[edit] Presidential Library and Museum
Main article: Ronald Reagan Presidential Library

Reagan sitting in his Century City, California office on July 3, 1996, during a visit from Bob and Elizabeth Dole.On November 4, 1991, The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library was dedicated and opened to the public. At the dedication ceremonies, four former presidents, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Reagan, and the current president, George H. W. Bush, were all in attendance, as well as five former first ladies, Lady Bird Johnson, Pat Nixon, Betty Ford, Rosalynn Carter, and Nancy Reagan, plus the current First Lady, Barbara Bush. Currently, the library is the largest of all of the Presidential Libraries. Notable exhibits include ones on the Reagan's Ranch; a full-scale replica of the Oval Office; the limousine that President and Mrs. Reagan used while in the White House; and the actual Boeing 707, Air Force One, that served President Reagan during his eight years in office. On June 11, 2004, after a state funeral in Washington, D.C., President Reagan was interred on the property. On May 3, 2007, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation hosted the first 2008 Republican Presidential Candidates debate in the Air Force One Pavilion at the Library, with Mrs. Reagan in attendance.[116]


[edit] Alzheimer's disease
On November 5, 1994, Reagan informed the nation via a hand-written letter that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. With his trademark optimism, he stated: "I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead. Thank you, my friends. May God always bless you."[117]

As the years went on, the disease slowly destroyed his mental capacity, and he and Nancy decided that he would live in quiet isolation. On February 6, 2001, Reagan reached the age of 90, becoming the third former President to do so – the other two being John Adams and Herbert Hoover. Just three weeks before, Reagan had undergone hip-replacement surgery; because of this and his Alzheimer's disease, his 90th birthday was a low-key celebration with his family at his home in Bel-Air. With the progression of the disease, Reagan's public apparences became much less frequent, and Nancy Reagan told CNN's Larry King that very few visitors were allowed access to her husband because she felt that "Ronnie would want people to remember him as he was."[118] Since his diagnosis and his death, Mrs. Reagan has become a stem-cell research advocate, urging Congress and President George W. Bush to support embryonic stem-cell research, something he adamantly opposes. Mrs. Reagan has said that she believes that it could lead to a cure for Alzheimer's.[119]


[edit] Religious beliefs and philosophy

Ronald and Nancy Reagan share a kiss as she prepares to feed him a piece of birthday cake in 2000. Reagan was diagnosed with having Alzheimer's Disease six years earlier.Reagan was a Christian, raised in the Disciples of Christ faith and attending Bel Air Presbyterian Church in his later years.[120] His burial site is inscribed with the words he delivered at the opening of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library:

“ I know in my heart that man is good. That what is right will always eventually triumph. And there’s purpose and worth to each and every life.[121] ”

According to Paul Kengor, author of God and Ronald Reagan, Reagan had a strong faith in the goodness of people and a strong sense of individual responsibility, stemming from the teachings of his mother Nelle's optimistic Disciples of Christ faith.[122] The young Ronald Reagan learned Christian tolerance, a strong sense of personal responsibility, sobriety, and faith in the goodness of God's creation.[123] Reagan was taught that discrimination was one of the worst sins, recalling a time in Dixon when the local inn would not allow black people to stay there. Reagan brought them back to his house, where his mother invited them to stay the night and have breakfast the next morning.[124]


[edit] Death
Main article: Death and state funeral of Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan's casket, on a horse-drawn caisson, being pulled down Constitution Avenue to the Capitol Building.Reagan died at his home in Bel Air, California, at 1:00 PM PDT on June 5, 2004. A short time after his death, Nancy Reagan released a statement saying: "My family and I would like the world to know that President Ronald Reagan has passed away after 10 years of Alzheimer's Disease at 93 years of age. We appreciate everyone's prayers." Reagan's body was taken to the Kingsley and Gates Funeral Home in Santa Monica later in the day, where well-wishers paid tribute by laying flowers and American Flags in the grass.[125] On June 7, Reagan's body was removed and taken to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, where a brief family funeral service was held. His body lay in repose in the Library lobby until June 9. In that amount of time, 108,000 people viewed the coffin.

Later that day, Reagan's casket was flown to Washington D.C. where he became the 10th United States President to lie in state in the Capitol. In the thirty-four hours that it lay there, 105,000 people filed past the coffin.

On June 11, a state funeral was conducted in the Washington National Cathedral, and presided over by President George W. Bush. Eulogies were given by former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, and both Presidents Bush. Also in attendance were Mikhail Gorbachev, and many of the leaders who had been in the U.S. for the G-8 Summit in Sea Island, Georgia, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and interim presidents Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, and Ghazi al-Yawer of Iraq, among other family, friends and dignitaries.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Death and state funeral of Ronald ReaganAfter the funeral service, the Reagan entourage was flown back to California, to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, where another service was held, and President Reagan was interred. He is the second longest-lived president in U.S. history, 45 days behind Gerald Ford, and was the first United States president to die in the 21st century. His was the first state funeral in the United States since that of President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1973.


[edit] Legacy

Ronald Reagan at a rally for Senator David Durenberger in Bloomington, Minnesota on February 8, 1982.Reagan's supporters believe that much of America's success today can be attributed to Ronald Reagan, including a more efficient and more prosperous economy;[60][126] a peaceful end to the Cold War; and a world safer from the threat of nuclear war.[127] Critics argue that his economic policies caused huge budget deficits, tripling the United States national debt, and hostility towards the disadvantaged, and that the internal disintegration of the Soviet Union had many contributing factors.[128][129]

When Ronald Reagan died in June 2004, President George W. Bush, who presided over the state funeral, called Reagan "a modest son of America" and said "Ronald Reagan always told us the best was yet to come.... We know that's true for him, too. His work is done."[130] Vice President Dick Cheney said at Reagan's memorial service, "In this national vigil of mourning, we show how much America loved this good man, and how greatly we will miss him."[131] President Bill Clinton stated, "it is fitting that a piece of the Berlin Wall adorns the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington," and Senator Ted Kennedy said that the 40th President "will be honored as the president who won the Cold War."[132]


[edit] Popular opinion
Ronald Reagan's Approval Ratings
Date Event Approval (%) Disapproval (%)
March 30, 1981 Shot by Hinckley 73 19
January 22, 1983 High unemployment 42 54
April 26, 1986 Libya bombing 70 26
February 26, 1987 Iran-Contra affair 44 51
January 20, 1989 End of presidency –
n/a Career Average 57 39
July 30, 2001 (Retrospective)[133] 64 27

Ronald Reagan approval ratings (Gallup 1981-89)Today, Ronald Reagan is one of America's most popular presidents. In several recent ratings of American presidents, Ronald Reagan ranked high. The Gallup Organization took a poll in February 2007 asking respondents to name the greatest president in U.S. history; Reagan came in second, capturing 16% of the vote, after Abraham Lincoln.[134] Reagan ranked fifth in an ABC poll of the public in 2000 and ninth in a Rasmussen Reports poll of Americans in 2007. In a 1999 C-SPAN project on the American Presidents, Reagan ranked sixth in a poll of viewers and 11th in a poll of historians.[135]


[edit] Honors
Further information: List of things named after Ronald Reagan
A very popular former president, Reagan is honored by many monuments and objects named in his likeness. On February 6, 1998, Washington National Airport was renamed Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport by a bill signed into law by President Clinton. Three years later, the USS Ronald Reagan was christened by Nancy Reagan and the United States Navy. It is one of few ships christened in honor of a living person, and the first to be named in honor of a living former President.[136]

On May 5, 1998, President Bill Clinton dedicated the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C.'s Federal Triangle. The building hosts large events in the Washington, D.C. area.[137]

In 1999, in San Antonio, Texas, a new high school was named after him, Ronald Reagan High School, and in 2002, Congress authorized the creation of Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home National Historic Site in Dixon, Illinois, pending federal purchase of the property. In 2004, the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority voted to rename Interstate 88, which was formerly called the East-West Tollway, in his memory. In 2006, a new high school in Doral, Florida was named after him, and highway 469 in Fort Wayne, Indianawas renamed the Ronald Reagan Expressway.


Former President Ronald Reagan returns to the White House to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George H.W. Bush in 1993.In 2005, Reagan was given three posthumous honors. The President Ronald Reagan commemorative postage stamp was made available on February 9, and issued by the United States Postal Service. An unveiling of the stamp's image had taken place in a ceremony at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library four months earlier, with Nancy Reagan in attendance.[138] On May 14, CNN, along with the editors of TIME magazine, named him the "most fascinating person" of the network's first 25 years.[139] TIME also named Reagan one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century.[140] In Gallup's List of Widely Admired People, Reagan was ranked the 15th most admired person in the 20th century. On December 6, 2006, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver inducted Ronald Reagan into the California Hall of Fame located at The California Museum for History, Women, and the Arts.

On June 26, 2005, the Discovery Channel asked Americans to vote for The Greatest American and Reagan received the honorary title.[141]

Reagan received a number of awards, both in his pre and post presidential years. After he was elected president, Reagan received a lifetime "Gold" membership in the Screen Actors Guild, as well as the United States Military Academy's Sylvanus Thayer Award.[142] In 1989, Reagan received an honorary British knighthood, The Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath. This entitled him to the use of the post-nominal letters GCB, but did not entitle him to be known as "Sir Ronald Reagan". He, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and George H.W. Bush are the only American Presidents to have received the honor.[143] While in England, he was named an honorary Fellow of Keble College, Oxford. Also in 1989, the nation of Japan awarded Reagan the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysanthemum, Reagan being the only American President to receive such an award.[144] The highest honor that the United States can give, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, was awarded to Ronald Reagan in 1993, by then-President George H.W. Bush.[145] Reagan was also awarded the Republican Senatorial Medal of Freedom, which is the highest honor bestowed by the Republican members of the Senate.[146] On May 16, 2002, Nancy Reagan accepted the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor bestowed by Congress, on behalf of the President and herself.[147] On July 17, 2007, Ronald Reagan was posthumously awarded with the highest Polish distinction, the Order of the White Eagle, by Polish President Lech Kaczyński.[148]


[edit] Footnotes
^ Taxes and Long-Term Economic Growth. United States Congress (February 1997). Retrieved on 2007-06-26.
^ Carpenter, Ted Galen (June 24, 1986). U.S. Aid to Anti-Communist Rebels: The 'Reagan Doctrine' and Its Pitfalls. Cato Institute. Retrieved on 2007-03-29.
^ Appleby, Joyce; Alan Brinkley, James M. McPherson (2003). The American Journey. Woodland Hills, California: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 924-926.
^ Ronald Reagan Facts. Reagan Foundation. Retrieved on 2007-06-09.
^ Cannon (2001), p. 2
^ Reagan, Ronald (1990), p. 27
^ American Dreamer. MSNBC. Retrieved on 2007-06-28.
^ Cannon (2001), p. 9
^ Wills, Garry [1987]. Reagan's America: Innocents at Home. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 109-110.
^ Ronald Reagan Hollywood Years. The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. Retrieved on 2007-03-28.
^ a b Cannon, Lou (2001), p. 15
^ a b Reagan, Ronald (1965). Where's the Rest of Me?. New York: Duell, Sloan, and Pearce.
^ Crowther, Bosley. "THE SCREEN; 'Kings Row,' With Ann Sheridan and Claude Rains, a Heavy, Rambling Film, Has Its First Showing Here at the Astor", The New York Times, February 3, 1942. Retrieved on 2007-03-29.
^ a b c d MILITARY SERVICE OF RONALD REAGAN. Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Retrieved on 2007-06-22.
^ History of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. Retrieved on 2007-03-07.
^ USS Ronald Reagan: Significance of Horse and Rider. U.S. Navy. Retrieved on 2007-03-07.
^ a b Screen Actors Guild Presidents: Ronald Reagan. Screen Actors Guild. Retrieved on 2007-04-04.
^ House Un-American Activities Committee Testimony Ronald Reagan. Tennessee Wesleyan College, (October 23, 1947) Retrieved on 2007-04-09
^ "Dispute Over Theatre Splits Chicago City Council", New York Times, May 8, 1984. Retrieved on May 17.
^ a b c d Ronald Reagan and Nancy Davis Reagan Marriage Profile. About, Inc.. Retrieved on 2007-06-09.
^ Borgna Brunner. Presidential Trivia. Information Please Database, Pearson Education. Retrieved on 2007-05-02.
^ Noteworthy places in Reagan's life. The Baltimore Sun (June 5, 2004). Retrieved on 2007-04-11.
^ Beschloss, Michael (2007), p. 296
^ a b "By Reagan's side, but her own person." "By Reagan's Side, but her own person". Retrieved on 2007-03-07.
^ Beschloss, Michael (2007), p. 284
^ "Reagan Love Story". NBC News (June 9, 2004). Retrieved on 2007-05-25.
^ End of a Love Story. BBC News (June 5, 2004). Retrieved on 2007-03-21.
^ Reagan, Ronald (1990), p. 132
^ a b "Former President Reagan Dies at 93", Los Angeles Times Obituaries, June 6, 2004. Retrieved on 2007-03-07.
^ PBS. A Time for Choosing. Press release. Retrieved on 2007-04-17.
^ Cannon, Lou (2001), p. 36
^ Governor Ronald Reagan. Governors of California. Retrieved on 2007-03-21.
^ Kahn, Jeffery (8 June 2004). Ronald Reagan launched political career using the Berkeley campus as a target. UC Berkeley News. Retrieved on 2007-03-30.
^ Cannon, Lou (2001), p. 47
^ a b c d Cannon, Lou (2001), p. 50
^ a b c Cannon, Lou (2001), p. 51
^ Reagan, Ronald. Abortion and the conscience of the nation (1984).
^ Biography of Gerald R. Ford. The White House. Retrieved on 2007-03-29. at White House.gov. Ford considered himself a "a moderate in domestic affairs, a conservative in fiscal affairs, and a dyed-in-the-wool internationalist in foreign affairs."
^ The American Conservative Union: A History. The American Conservative Union. Retrieved on 2007-03-29.
^ 1976 New Hampshire Presidential Primary, February 24, 1976 Republican Results. New Hampshire Political Library. Retrieved on 2007-03-30.
^ Electoral College Box Scores 1789-1996. U.S. National Archives and Records Admin.. Retrieved on 2007-04-30.
^ Famous Ronald Reagan Quotes. UTN Enterprises Inc. (2007). Retrieved on 2007-04-02. “"A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his!"”
^ Reagan, Ronald (1990), p. 221
^ Reagan, Ronald (1990), p. 216
^ 1980 Presidential Election Results. Dave Liep's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved on 2007-03-28.
^ a b Freidel, Frank (1995), p. 84
^ The Reagan Diaries. Harper Collins. Retrieved on 2007-06-05.
^ Iran Hostage Crisis: November 4, 1979 to January 20, 1981. Online Highways (2005). Retrieved on 2007-05-11.
^ March 30, 1981. Techsure LLC. Retrieved on 2007-03-29.
^ Rebecca Pels (1995). The Pressures of PATCO: Strikes and Stress in the 1980s. Corcoran Department of History at the University of Virginia. Retrieved on 2007-04-30.
^ Remarks and a Question-and-Answer Session With Reporters on the Air Traffic Controllers Strike. Ronald Reagan Foundation (1981). Retrieved on 2007-05-13.
^ Cannon, Lou (2001) p. 99
^ a b Appleby, Joyce (2003), pp. 923–924
^ a b William A. Niskanen. Reaganomics. The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics. Retrieved on 2007-05-22.
^ Daniel J. Mitchell, Ph.D. (July 19, 1996). The Historical Lessons of Lower Tax Rates. The Heritage Foundation. Retrieved on 2007-05-22.
^ Social Security and Medicare Tax Rates. Social Security Administration (Jul 10, 2007).
^ Effective Federal Tax Rates: 1979-2001. Bureau of Economic Analysis (Jul 10, 2007).
^ Gross Domestic Product. Bureau of Economic Analysis (May 31, 2007).
^ John Miller (July/August 2004). Ronald Reagan's Legacy. Dollars and Sense. Retrieved on 2007-06-26.
^ a b Niskanen, William A. and Stephen Moore (October 22, 1996). Supply Tax Cuts and the Truth About the Reagan Economic Record. Cato Institute. Retrieved on 2007-03-31.
^ Danziger, S.H.; D.H. Weinburg (1994). "The Historical Record: Trends in Family Income, Inequality, and Poverty" in Confronting Poverty: Prescriptions for Change.
^ a b Etebari, Mehrun (July 17, 2003). Trickle-Down Economics: Four Reasons why it Just Doesn't Work. faireconomy.org. Retrieved on 2007-03-31.
^ The S&L Crisis: A Chrono-Bibliography. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Retrieved on 2007-04-08.
^ a b Cannon, Lou (2001) p. 128
^ Reagan Policies Gave Green Light to Red Ink. The Washington Post. Retrieved on 2007-05-25.
^ Regan, Donald T. (1988), p. 142
^ Taxing our way to prosperity: The Democrats' strange version of fiscal responsibility. www.mormon.org. Retrieved on 2007-06-02.
^ Reagan's Economic Legacy. Business Week. Retrieved on 2007-07-01.
^ NIDA InfoFacts: High School and Youth Trends. National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH. Retrieved on 2007-04-04.
^ Randall, Vernellia R (April 18, 2006). The Drug War as Race War. The University of Dayton School of Law. Retrieved on 2007-04-11.
^ Interview: Dr. Herbert Kleber. PBS. Retrieved on 2007-06-12. “The politics of the Reagan years and the Bush years probably made it somewhat harder to get treatment expanded, but at the same time, it probably had a good effect in terms of decreasing initiation and use. For example, marijuana went from thirty-three percent of high-school seniors in 1980 to twelve percent in 1991.”
^ a b Thirty Years of America's Drug War. pbs.org. Retrieved on 2007-04-04.
^ The Reagan-Era Drug War Legacy. stopthedrugwar.org (2004-06-11). Retrieved on 2007-04-04.
^ The 'just say no' first lady. MSNBC. Retrieved on 2007-06-24.
^ Reagan, Ronald (1990), p. 280
^ Bates, John D. (Presiding) (September 2003). "Anne Dammarell et al. v. Islamic Republic of Iran" (PDF). The United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Retrieved on 2006-09-21.
^ Report on the DoD Commission on Beirut International Airport Terrorist Act, October 23, 1983. ibiblio.org. Retrieved on 2007-04-02.
^ a b Operation Agent Fury (PDF). Defense Technical Information Center. Retrieved on 2007-03-09.
^ Cooper, Tom (September 1, 2003). Grenada, 1983: Operation 'Urgent Fury'. Air Combat Information Group. Retrieved on 2007-04-08.
^ Los Angeles 1984. Swedish Olympic Committee. Retrieved on 2007-03-07.
^ The Debate. National Review Online. Retrieved on 2007-05-25.
^ 1984 Presidential Debates. CNN. Retrieved on 2007-05-25.
^ 1984 Presidential Election Results. David Leip. Retrieved on 2007-05-25.
^ What is the 25th Amendment and When Has It Been Invoked?. History News Network. Retrieved on 2007-06-06.
^ Reeves, Richard (2005), p. 249
^ Reeves, Richard (2005) p. 250
^ Reeves, Richard (2005) p. 255
^ Morris (1999), p. 113
^ Epidemiology of HIV/AIDS in the United States. The University of California. Retrieved on 2007-05-26.
^ Graham, Otis (January 27, 2003) "Ronald Reagan's Big Mistake." Writings of Otis L. Graham.
^ Reagan, Ronald (November 6, 1986) "Statement on Signing the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986." Collected Speeches.
^ Parry, Robert (2004-06-02). NYT's apologies miss the point. consortiumnews.com. Retrieved on 2007-04-01.
^ Rockwell, Kara (2005-03-10). A Tale of Three Countries: The Iran Contra Affair. answerpoint.org. Retrieved on 2007-03-09.
^ "U.S. historians pick top 10 presidential errors", Associated Press, ctv.ca, February 18, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
^ a b "In Central America, Reagan Remains A Polarizing Figure", The Washington Post, June 9, 2004. Retrieved on 2007-06-18.
^ Towards an International History of the War in Afghanistan, 1979-89. The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (2002). Retrieved on 2007-05-16.
^ LGM-118A Peacekeeper. Federation of American Scientists (August 15, 2000). Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
^ Cold War Generals: The Warsaw Pact Committee of Defense Ministers, 1969-90, by Christian Nünlist. Parallel History Project on Cooperative Security (PHP) (2000-2007). Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
^ a b c Deploy or Perish: SDI and Domestic Politics. Scholarship Editions. Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
^ Adelman, Ken (July 8, 2003). SDI:The Next Generation. Fox News. Retrieved on 2007-03-15.
^ Beschloss, Michael (2007), p. 293
^ a b Foreign Affairs: Ronald Reagan. PBS. Retrieved on 2007-06-06.
^ a b Beschloss, Michael (2007), p. 294
^ a b 1983:Korean Airlines flight shot down by Soviet Union. A&E Television Networks. Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
^ a b Manfred R. Hamm (23). New Evidence of Moscow's Military Threat. The Herritage Foundation. Retrieved on 2007-05-13.
^ a b Michael Beschloss (2007). The Thawing of the Cold War. MSNBC. Retrieved on 2007-05-14.
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^ Martin, Lawrence (10/06/04). Gorby Had the Lead Role, Not Gipper. globeandmail.com. Retrieved on 2004-06-10.
^ Reagan, Ronald (1990), p. 713
^ Reagan, Ronald (1990), p. 720
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^ Nancy Reagan plea on stem cells. BBC. Retrieved on 2007-06-06.
^ Netburn, Deborah (24), "Agenting for God", Los Angeles Times
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^ Kengor, Paul (2004), p. 16
^ Kengor, Paul (2004), p. 10
^ Kengor, Paul (2004), p. 15
^ Leigh, Andrew. "Saying Goodbye in Santa Monica", National Review, June 07, 2004. Retrieved on 2007-03-09.
^ Appleby, Joyce; Alan Brinkley, James M. McPherson (2003). The American Journey. Woodland Hills, California: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 924. 0078241294.
^ Beschloss, Michael (2007), p. 324
^ von Mises, Ludwig (2007). Supply-Side Gold Standard: A Critique. Vronsky and Westerman. Retrieved on 2007-03-21.
^ Mann, James (2007). Tear Down That Myth. New York Times. Retrieved on 2007-06-19.
^ Reagan Laid to Rest. Fox News (June 12, 2004). Retrieved on 2007-03-24.
^ Reagan Eulogy - Dick Cheney, "A Providential Man":Dick Cheney on Ronald Reagan. Reagan2020.us (June 10, 2004). Retrieved on 2007-03-19.
^ Kengor, Paul (2004) pp. 337–338
^ Sussman, Dalia (2001-08-06). Improving With Age: Reagan Approval Grows Better in Retrospect. ABCNEWS.com. Retrieved on 2007-04-08.
^ Presidents and History. pollingreport.com. Retrieved on 2007-03-18.
^ Historical rankings of United States Presidents. wikipedia.org. Retrieved on 2007-06-19.
^ USS Ronald Reagan Official Site. U.S. Navy. Retrieved on 2007-03-20.
^ Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. U.S. General Services Administration. Retrieved on 2007-03-22.
^ POSTMASTER GENERAL, NANCY REAGAN UNVEIL RONALD REAGAN STAMP IMAGE, STAMP AVAILABLE NEXT YEAR. USPS (November 9, 2004). Retrieved on 2007-05-13.
^ Top 25: Fascinating People. CNN (June 19, 2005). Retrieved on 2005-06-19.
^ Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century. Time Magazine. Retrieved on 2007-03-07.
^ Greatest American. Discovery Channel. Retrieved on 2007-03-21.
^ Association of Graduates USMA: Sylvanus Thayer Award Recipients. Association of Graduates, West Point, NY. Retrieved on 2007-03-22.
^ Order of the Bath. The Official Website of the British Monarchy. Retrieved on 2007-03-22.
^ Supreme Orders of the Crysanthemum. Cabinet Office, Government of Japan. Retrieved on 2007-03-22.
^ 1993 Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipients. medaloffreedom.com. Retrieved on 2007-03-22.
^ Republican Senatorial Medal of Freedom. www.nrsc.org. Retrieved on 2007-03-22.
^ Congressional Gold Medal Recipients 1776 to present. Office of the Clerk: US House of Representatives. Retrieved on 2007-03-22.
^ President of Poland Lech Kaczynski to present Poland's highest award posthumously to president Reagan. www.reaganfoundation.org. Retrieved on 2007-07-17.

[edit] References

The Reagans attend a PBS Special Broadcasting Play in Santa Ynez, California.Appleby, Joyce; Alan Brinkley, James M. McPherson (2003). The American Journey. Woodland Hills, California: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill. 0078241294.
Bennett, James. (1987) Control of Information in the United States. Westport, Connecticut: Meckler Corporation.
Beschloss, Michael (2007). Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How they Changed America 1789-1989. Simon & Schuster.
Cannon, Lou (2000). President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime. New York: Public Affairs. ISBN 1891620916.
Cannon, Lou; Michael Beschloss (2001). Ronald Reagan: The Presidential Portfolio: A History Illustrated from the Collection of the Ronald Reagan Library and Museum. PublicAffairs. ISBN 1891620843.
Curry, Richard. (1992) Thought Control and Repression in the Reagan-Bush Era. Los Angeles, California: First Amendment Foundation.
Diggins, John Patrick (2007). Ronald Reagan: Fate, Freedom, and the Making of History. New York: W. W. Norton.
Freidel, Frank; Hugh Sidey (1995). The Presidents of the United States of America. Washington, D.C.: White House Historical Association. ISBN 0912308575.
Gaddis, John Lewis (2005). The Cold War: A New History. The Penguin Press.
LaFeber, Walter (2002). America, Russia, and the Cold War, 1945-1971. New York: Wiley.
Matlock, Jack (2004). Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended. New York: Random House. ISBN 0679463232.
Morris, Edmund (1999). Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan. Random House. includes fictional material
Reagan, Nancy (1989). My Turn: The Memoirs of Nancy Reagan. New York: Harper Collins.
Reagan, Ronald (1990). An American Life. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0743400259.
Reeves, Richard (2005). President Reagan: The Triumph of Imagination. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0743230221.
Regan, Donald (1988). For the Record: From Wall Street to Washington. New York: Harcourt. ISBN 0151639663.
Walsh, Kenneth (1997). Ronald Reagan. New York: Random House Value Publishing, Inc.. ISBN 0517200783.

[edit] Further reading
Further information: Ronald Reagan Bibliography

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NAME Reagan, Ronald Wilson
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ronald Reagan
SHORT DESCRIPTION American actor and politician, 33rd Governor of California, 40th President of the United States
DATE OF BIRTH 6 February 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Tampico, Illinois, United States
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PLACE OF DEATH Bel-Air, Los Angeles, California, United States


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*************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
TOURdeFrane2007
*********
FIGURA10

FIGURA9

FIGURA8

Tour: Contador campeão em Paris
DANIELE BENNATI VENCEU A ÚLTIMA ETAPA
Alberto Contador (Discovery Channel) confirmou o que já se esperava e venceu a prova, juntando também o título de prémio da juventude.

Na última etapa, que ligou Marcoussis a Paris numa extensão total de 146 quilómetros, Daniele Bennati (Lampre) venceu ao sprint.

Sérgio Paulinho (Discovery Channel), que ficou na 107.ª posição na tirada, a 15 segundos de Bennati, também vai subir ao pódio, já que os norte-americanos venceram a classificação por equipas.

A distância entre Contador e o terceiro classificado, Levi Leipheimer (Discovery Channel), é a mais pequena de sempre. A anterior era de 2'02'' entre Aimar e Poulidor.

Alberto Contador, com 24 anos, é o sétimo vencedor mais novo desde 1947. (FIGURA8, FIGURA9)

Tom Boonen venceu a classificação por pontos, enquanto o colombiano Juan Mauricio Soler Hernández venceu a camisola da montanha.

20.ª Etapa
1. Daniele Benatti (Itália/Lampre), 3:51'03''
2. Thor Hushovd (Noruega/Credit Agricole), m.t.
3. Erik Zabel (Alemanha/Milram), m.t.
4. Robert Hunter (África do Sul/Barloworld), m.t.
5. Tom Boonen (Bélgica/Quick Step), m.t.
6. Sébastien Chavanel (França/Française des Jeux), m.t.
7. Fabian Cancellara (Suíça/CSC), m.t.
8. David Millar (Grã-Bretanha/Saunier Duval), m.t.
9. Robert Förster (Alemanha/Gersolsteiner), m.t.
10. Manuel Quinziato (Itália/Liquigas), m.t.
107. Sérgio Paulinho (Portugal/Discovery Channel), a 15 segundos


Classificação geral

1. Alberto Contador (Espanha/Discovery Channel ), 91.00,26 h
2. Cadel Evans (Austrália/Predictor - Lotto), a 23 s
3. Levi Leipheimer (EUA/Discovery Channel), a 31 s
4. Carlos Sastre (Espanha/Team CSC), a 7.08 minutos
5. Haimar Zubeldia (ESpanha/Euskaltel), a 8.17 m
6. Alejandro Valverde (Espanha/Caisse d'Epargne), a 11.37 m
7. Kim Kirchen (Luxemburgo/T-Mobile), a 12.18 m
8. Yaroslav Popovych (Ucrânia/Discovery Channel), a 12.25 m
9. Mikel Astarloza (Espanha/Euskaltel), a 14.14 m
10. Oscar Pereiro (Espanha/Caisse d'Epargne), a 14.25 m
65.Sergio Paulinho (Portugal/Discovery Channel), a 2.23,31 m

Data: Domingo, 29 Julho de 2007 - 16:46
********************************************************************************************************
TOURdeFranceHistoial
****************************
Tour: Historial
FRANÇA É O PAÍS COM MAIS VITÓRIAS

A França é o país com mais triunfos no Tour (36), cuja 94.ª edição terminou hoje com a vitória do ciclista espanhol, Alberto Contador (Discovery Channel).

Palmarés

1903 - Maurice Garin (FRA)
1904 - Henri Cornet (FRA) (sobre tapete verde)
1905 - Louis Trousselier (FRA)
1906 - René Pottier (FRA)
1907 - Lucien Petit-Breton (FRA)
1908 - Lucien Petit-Breton (FRA)
1909 - François Faber (LUX)
1910 - Octave Lapize (FRA)
1911 - Gustave Garrigou (FRA)
1912 - Odile Defraye (BEL)
1913 - Philippe Thys (BEL)
1914 - Philippe Thys (BEL)
1919 - Firmin Lambot (BEL)
1920 - Philippe Thys (BEL)
1921 - Léon Scieur (BEL)
1922 - Firmin Lambot (BEL)
1923 - Henri Pélissier (FRA)
1924 - Ottavio Bottecchia (ITA)
1925 - Ottavio Bottecchia (ITA)
1926 - Lucien Buysse (BEL)
1927 - Nicolas Frantz (LUX)
1928 - Nicolas Frantz (LUX)
1929 - Maurice De Waele (BEL)
1930 - André Leducq (FRA)
1931 - Antonin Magne (FRA)
1932 - André Leducq (FRA)
1933 - Georges Speicher (FRA)
1934 - Antonin Magne (FRA)
1935 - Romain Maes (BEL)
1936 - Sylvsre Maes (BEL)
1937 - Roger Lapébie (FRA)
1938 - Gino Bartali (ITA)
1939 - Sylvsre Maes (BEL)
1947 - Jean Robic (FRA)
1948 - Gino Bartali (ITA)
1949 - Fausto Coppi (ITA)
1950 - Ferdi Kubler (SUI)
1951 - Hugo Koblet (SUI)
1952 - Fausto Coppi (ITA)
1953 - Louison Bobet (FRA)
1954 - Louison Bobet (FRA)
1955 - Louison Bobet (FRA)
1956 - Roger Walkowiak (FRA)
1957 - Jacques Anquetil (FRA)
1958 - Charly Gaul (LUX)
1959 - Federico Bahamontes (ESP)
1960 - Gastone Nencini (ITA)
1961 - Jacques Anquetil (FRA)
1962 - Jacques Anquetil (FRA)
1963 - Jacques Anquetil (FRA)
1964 - Jacques Anquetil (FRA)
1965 - Felice Gimondi (ITA)
1966 - Lucien Aimar (FRA)
1967 - Roger Pingeon (FRA)
1968 - Jan Janssen (HOL)
1969 - Eddy Merckx (BEL)
1970 - Eddy Merckx (BEL)
1971 - Eddy Merckx (BEL)
1972 - Eddy Merckx (BEL)
1973 - Luis Ocana (ESP)
1974 - Eddy Merckx (BEL)
1975 - Bernard Thévenet (FRA)
1976 - Lucien Van Impe (BEL)
1977 - Bernard Thévenet (FRA)
1978 - Bernard Hinault (FRA)
1979 - Bernard Hinault (FRA)
1980 - Joop Zoetemelk (HOL)
1981 - Bernard Hinault (FRA)
1982 - Bernard Hinault (FRA)
1983 - Laurent Fignon (FRA)
1984 - Laurent Fignon (FRA)
1985 - Bernard Hinault (FRA)
1986 - Greg LeMond (USA)
1987 - Stephen Roche (IRL)
1988 - Pedro Delgado (ESP)
1989 - Greg LeMond (USA)
1990 - Greg LeMond (USA)
1991 - Miguel Indurain (ESP)
1992 - Miguel Indurain (ESP)
1993 - Miguel Indurain (ESP)
1994 - Miguel Indurain (ESP)
1995 - Miguel Indurain (ESP)
1996 - Bjarne Riis (DIN) (1)
1997 - Jan Ullrich (ALE)
1998 - Marco Pantani (ITA)
1999 - Lance Armstrong (USA)
2000 - Lance Armstrong (USA)
2001 - Lance Armstrong (USA)
2002 - Lance Armstrong (USA)
2003 - Lance Armstrong (USA)
2004 - Lance Armstrong (USA)
2005 - Lance Armstrong (USA)
2006 - A aguardar homologação (Floyd Landis, EUA, foi alvo de um controlo antidoping positivo).
2007 Alberto Contador (ESP)

(1): Riis reconheceu ter corrido dopado, mas os factos prescreveram e a vitória não lhe foi retirada.


Total de vitórias por país:

França (36)
Bélgica (18)
Estados Unidos (10)
Espanha e Itália (9)
Luxemburgo (4)
Holanda e Suíça (2)
Alemanha, Dinamarca e Irlanda (1)

Data: Domingo, 29 Julho de 2007 - 17:26
*********************************************************************************************************************************************
MADREtERESAdeCALCUTÁ
FIGURA11


********************************************
Mother Teresa in a Calcutta orphanage, 1979.
Bettmann / Corbis
Article ToolsPrintEmailReprintsSphereAddThisRSS Jesus has a very special love for you. As for me, the silence and the emptiness is so great that I look and do not see, listen and do not hear.
— Mother Teresa to the Rev. Michael Van Der Peet, September 1979


Related Articles
Photos: The Saint of the Gutters
Celebrating the life and work of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta



On Dec. 11, 1979, Mother Teresa, the "Saint of the Gutters," went to Oslo. Dressed in her signature blue-bordered sari and shod in sandals despite below-zero temperatures, the former Agnes Bojaxhiu received that ultimate worldly accolade, the Nobel Peace Prize. In her acceptance lecture, Teresa, whose Missionaries of Charity had grown from a one-woman folly in Calcutta in 1948 into a global beacon of self-abnegating care, delivered the kind of message the world had come to expect from her. "It is not enough for us to say, 'I love God, but I do not love my neighbor,'" she said, since in dying on the Cross, God had "[made] himself the hungry one — the naked one — the homeless one." Jesus' hunger, she said, is what "you and I must find" and alleviate. She condemned abortion and bemoaned youthful drug addiction in the West. Finally, she suggested that the upcoming Christmas holiday should remind the world "that radiating joy is real" because Christ is everywhere — "Christ in our hearts, Christ in the poor we meet, Christ in the smile we give and in the smile that we receive."

Yet less than three months earlier, in a letter to a spiritual confidant, the Rev. Michael van der Peet, that is only now being made public, she wrote with weary familiarity of a different Christ, an absent one. "Jesus has a very special love for you," she assured Van der Peet. "[But] as for me, the silence and the emptiness is so great, that I look and do not see, — Listen and do not hear — the tongue moves [in prayer] but does not speak ... I want you to pray for me — that I let Him have [a] free hand."

The two statements, 11 weeks apart, are extravagantly dissonant. The first is typical of the woman the world thought it knew. The second sounds as though it had wandered in from some 1950s existentialist drama. Together they suggest a startling portrait in self-contradiction — that one of the great human icons of the past 100 years, whose remarkable deeds seemed inextricably connected to her closeness to God and who was routinely observed in silent and seemingly peaceful prayer by her associates as well as the television camera, was living out a very different spiritual reality privately, an arid landscape from which the deity had disappeared.

And in fact, that appears to be the case. A new, innocuously titled book, Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light (Doubleday), consisting primarily of correspondence between Teresa and her confessors and superiors over a period of 66 years, provides the spiritual counterpoint to a life known mostly through its works. The letters, many of them preserved against her wishes (she had requested that they be destroyed but was overruled by her church), reveal that for the last nearly half-century of her life she felt no presence of God whatsoever — or, as the book's compiler and editor, the Rev. Brian Kolodiejchuk, writes, "neither in her heart or in the eucharist."

That absence seems to have started at almost precisely the time she began tending the poor and dying in Calcutta, and — except for a five-week break in 1959 — never abated. Although perpetually cheery in public, the Teresa of the letters lived in a state of deep and abiding spiritual pain. In more than 40 communications, many of which have never before been published, she bemoans the "dryness," "darkness," "loneliness" and "torture" she is undergoing. She compares the experience to hell and at one point says it has driven her to doubt the existence of heaven and even of God. She is acutely aware of the discrepancy between her inner state and her public demeanor. "The smile," she writes, is "a mask" or "a cloak that covers everything." Similarly, she wonders whether she is engaged in verbal deception. "I spoke as if my very heart was in love with God — tender, personal love," she remarks to an adviser. "If you were [there], you would have said, 'What hypocrisy.'" Says the Rev. James Martin, an editor at the Jesuit magazine America and the author of My Life with the Saints, a book that dealt with far briefer reports in 2003 of Teresa's doubts: "I've never read a saint's life where the saint has such an intense spiritual darkness. No one knew she was that tormented." Recalls Kolodiejchuk, Come Be My Light's editor: "I read one letter to the Sisters [of Teresa's Missionaries of Charity], and their mouths just dropped open. It will give a whole new dimension to the way people understand her."

The book is hardly the work of some antireligious investigative reporter who Dumpster-dived for Teresa's correspondence. Kolodiejchuk, a senior Missionaries of Charity member, is her postulator, responsible for petitioning for her sainthood and collecting the supporting materials. (Thus far she has been beatified; the next step is canonization.) The letters in the book were gathered as part of that process.

The church anticipates spiritually fallow periods. Indeed, the Spanish mystic St. John of the Cross in the 16th century coined the term the "dark night" of the soul to describe a characteristic stage in the growth of some spiritual masters. Teresa's may be the most extensive such case on record. (The "dark night" of the 18th century mystic St. Paul of the Cross lasted 45 years; he ultimately recovered.) Yet Kolodiejchuk sees it in St. John's context, as darkness within faith. Teresa found ways, starting in the early 1960s, to live with it and abandoned neither her belief nor her work. Kolodiejchuk produced the book as proof of the faith-filled perseverance that he sees as her most spiritually heroic act.

Two very different Catholics predict that the book will be a landmark. The Rev. Matthew Lamb, chairman of the theology department at the conservative Ave Maria University in Florida, thinks Come Be My Light will eventually rank with St. Augustine's Confessions and Thomas Merton's The Seven Storey Mountain as an autobiography of spiritual ascent. Martin of America, a much more liberal institution, calls the book "a new ministry for Mother Teresa, a written ministry of her interior life," and says, "It may be remembered as just as important as her ministry to the poor. It would be a ministry to people who had experienced some doubt, some absence of God in their lives. And you know who that is? Everybody. Atheists, doubters, seekers, believers, everyone."

Not all atheists and doubters will agree. Both Kolodiejchuk and Martin assume that Teresa's inability to perceive Christ in her life did not mean he wasn't there. In fact, they see his absence as part of the divine gift that enabled her to do great work. But to the U.S.'s increasingly assertive cadre of atheists, that argument will seem absurd. They will see the book's Teresa more like the woman in the archetypal country-and-western song who holds a torch for her husband 30 years after he left to buy a pack of cigarettes and never returned. Says Christopher Hitchens, author of The Missionary Position, a scathing polemic on Teresa, and more recently of the atheist manifesto God Is Not Great: "She was no more exempt from the realization that religion is a human fabrication than any other person, and that her attempted cure was more and more professions of faith could only have deepened the pit that she had dug for herself." Meanwhile, some familiar with the smiling mother's extraordinary drive may diagnose her condition less as a gift of God than as a subconscious attempt at the most radical kind of humility: she punished herself with a crippling failure to counterbalance her great successes.

Come Be My Light is that rare thing, a posthumous autobiography that could cause a wholesale reconsideration of a major public figure — one way or another. It raises questions about God and faith, the engine behind great achievement, and the persistence of love, divine and human. That it does so not in any organized, intentional form but as a hodgepodge of desperate notes not intended for daylight should leave readers only more convinced that it is authentic — and that they are, somewhat shockingly, touching the true inner life of a modern saint.

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DIANAdePOITIERS











LOOKING ON: A visitor views the work by Hiroshi Sugimoto of Diana, Princess of Wales on display at Sotheby's auction rooms in London






















DIANAdePOITIERStexto

The British have always been good at silence — at family meals spent wordlessly; intense emotions expressed through a hand on the shoulder — but on Sept. 6, 1997, they surpassed themselves. London, the big, braying capital, was stilled as over a million mourners of Diana, Princess of Wales, kept vigil along the route to Westminster Abbey. The hush amplified the sounds of the cortège as it set out from Kensington Palace: the rumble of wheels on tarmac, the clopping of horses' hooves, and a bell that tolled at listless intervals. But as the procession came into view, turning out of the palace gates onto the public road, a shriek pierced the morning air: "Diana, my Diana!" and then a despairing wail: "We love you, Diana!" Britain's customary stoicism had been overwhelmed by raw, unbridled grief.

It has become commonplace in the decade since Diana's death on Aug. 31, 1997, to say that the festival of mourning which culminated in her extraordinary funeral marked a transformation — the moment when the old British virtues of reserve and silent suffering, of "mustn't grumble" and "could be worse," gave way to publicly expressed catharsis. The People's Princess had unlocked hearts, reordered values, presided at the triumph of emotional intelligence over cold intellect, of compassion over tradition.

The truth is harder to pin down, as tricky as the Princess herself could be. If Diana mattered, her significance rests in a series of interlocking social and political revolutions in a nation with a disproportionate impact on global culture, high and low — revolutions in which she participated, part unwitting catalyst, part canny activist.

This October will see the resumption of the inquest into her death by the British courts, the third inquiry to examine her fatal car crash in Paris. But even before these proceedings are concluded, there is little real doubt that Diana's death was precisely what it seemed to be at the time: a tragic accident.

Ten years on, Diana is still the world's most famous Briton, but many of her own compatriots don't seem sure if she did much more than wear designer dresses and shift a lot of tabloids. So here are a few incontrovertible facts. Diana shook up the British monarchy and speeded its modernization. She helped to tear down prejudices about AIDS. She raised awareness of eating disorders. She coalesced opposition to land mines. These are pretty hefty achievements for a woman of little education who mocked herself for being "thick as a plank." Add to these a more dubious accomplishment — her skillful manipulation of media images — and it's clear why, a decade after her death, Diana remains an inescapable presence in British life: mostly, but not always, benign; a restless and seductive ghost. It's time to peer into the many corners she still haunts.

Modernizing the Monarchy
When 19-year-old Diana asked Charles if he loved her, her churlish fiancé replied "whatever that means." Yet the Windsors thought they knew about love. It looked like patriotism. It was respectful and waved flags. It didn't sob on the streets or scream like a teenage girl glimpsing her rock idol. The quiet affection of the British people for Queen Elizabeth II has barely wavered during her 54-year reign. There was a low ebb early in 1998 — Diana's legacy — but even then the monarch's popularity rating dipped no lower than 66%. It's now 85%.

Of course, there has always been dissent: some 18% of Britons have called for the abolition of the monarchy since MORI, a polling firm, first began gathering opinions on the royals in 1969. That figure seemed as impervious to change as the Queen's fashion sense. Then Diana died and, for one week, republican numbers swelled.

The Queen never gives interviews — a wise policy that has helped to preserve the fraying mystique of royalty. But as her subjects wept on the streets and dying flowers carpeted the sidewalks, Elizabeth's Trappist vow looked either boneheaded or stone-hearted. Dickie Arbiter, a former press secretary to the Queen, Charles and Diana who was responsible for the media arrangements for Diana's funeral, says it was neither. "The Queen was always going to pay tribute to Diana," he says, but she planned from the outset to make her broadcast shortly before the funeral. "There was a furor because she was at [the Scottish castle] Balmoral and not down with the sniveling mobs in London. [But] William and Harry needed her more than hundreds and thousands of people keeping Kleenex in business."
Yet while the Queen and her immediate family kept their grief to themselves, there was a whiff of revolution beyond the palace gates. The U.S. academic Camille Paglia, speaking two days after the Paris car crash, foretold the fall of the house of Windsor. "With its acquisition of Diana, the monarchy had restored its modernity," she told Salon.com. "Instead its treatment — its mistreatment — of her ... may mean the end of the monarchy." Not so. As soon as the Queen walked among the mourners, support for ditching her plunged to historic lows. It was as if Britons had peered into the abyss of republicanism and drawn back in horror. The royals had learned a lesson too, says Robert Worcester, MORI's founder: "The monarchy realized that it stands or falls on public opinion." That realization has informed a program of stealthy reform that has made the monarchy, by almost imperceptible degrees, more professional. The Queen agreed to change the rules on primogeniture to allow her female descendants equal rights in the succession to the throne. Her children took stock and decided they had better justify their existence to the outside world.

Granted, their options for doing so are limited. In her charitable work, Diana set a standard that's hard to equal. She ignored the prevailing prejudices and fears about AIDS to clasp the hands of sufferers, and embraced leprosy patients in Indonesia. Arbiter remembers a visit to a home for the blind where Diana noticed that an old resident was crying: "She asked what was the matter and he said, 'I can't see you.' So she took his hand and put it on her face." Charles still doesn't wear his heart on his sleeve, but it's increasingly evident that it's in the right place. His Prince's Trust organization raises a good deal of money for charities helping young people, and he's gaining respect for his stance on environmental issues, as mainstream thought catches up with views he's propagated for years.

In other ways, too, Diana lives on in her family. Charles has visibly stepped up to the task of rearing their boys, not in the model of his own upbringing, but just as the Princess would have wanted. William and Harry see how much happier their father has become. Charles' visible contentment has also helped to turn around public opinion, once set firmly against Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, his second wife and longtime lover. Just before Diana died, MORI asked in a poll if Camilla should become Queen; only 15% supported the idea. By April of last year, that figure had grown to 38%. Voices in the British press have fulminated at plans for the Duchess to attend a memorial service for Diana later this month; there's some sympathy with this view, but little sign of a real backlash. With no small irony, the ideas the Princess popularized — the pursuit of personal happiness, compassion for human weaknesses — have helped the cause of a woman she detested.

Unbuttoning Britain
Diana had been brought up in about as old-fashioned an environment as was possible in the last quarter of the 20th century, but nothing could have prepared her for the antiquity of palace life. Britain had been postimperial for more than a generation, which meant that the values associated with empire (or with its rulers) had long lost their edge. By the time she married it was already — and especially in London — a place less homogeneous, more multicolored than it had ever been, and far less deferential to the Victorian virtues that the royal family represented. Yet in the royal household, those virtues — and that deference — held sway. The new Princess could not fit in. Her rebellion, inchoate and self-destructive at first, reverberated far beyond the palace walls. Tina Brown, the latest of Diana's biographers, relates asking former Prime Minister Tony Blair if Diana had found a new way to be royal. "No," Blair replied. "Diana taught us a new way to be British."

Blair's party, New Labour, had been given power by electors who were reviewing their values. After the brash, moneymaking 1980s came the hangover of the early 1990s. Britons were searching for spiritual and emotional succor. That didn't make them deep. They set increasing store by celebrity. Success was measured by the ability to find fulfillment. It was a confessional age. Even before the country convulsed in grief for its lost Princess, Brits were eager to let it all hang out — at least by comparison with their grandparents and great-grandparents. If you doubt that, consider this passage in The Ascent of Everest, the account of the first conquest of the mountain in 1953, by John Hunt, who led the expedition. Hunt is describing the return of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay to camp after summiting. "Everyone was pouring out of the tents, there were shouts of exclamation and joy. The next moment I was with them: handshakes — even, I blush to say, hugs — for the triumphant pair."

Diana led the charge for emotion and the unembarrassed displays that now routinely go with it: from hugs and kisses to public tears. Unlike her remote royal in-laws, she touched the people she met, literally touched them, and bought their trust with a coinage she had in endless supply: her most personal thoughts and feelings. That's partly because her unhappiness drove her humanitarian impulses. Arbiter says, "She always championed the downtrodden" because she was attracted to their suffering. "She was a bit of an ambulance chaser, with the best of intentions." She also experimented with different therapies that encouraged her to unburden, if not necessarily in public. The comedian David Baddiel, whose novel Whatever Love Means begins on the day of Diana's funeral, sees her as an exponent of "a degraded version of therapy culture," a self-help addict who couldn't stop spilling her guts. She "didn't know who she was but gained an identity through her messiness, through her lack of identity, by splattering her lack of identity on the walls of our culture," he says. "People chimed with that."
After her separation and divorce, Diana's efforts to redefine herself took on an edge of urgency. She had given up her patronage of most of the charities she once represented. She fantasized about becoming the wife of one of her boyfriends, a heart surgeon called Hasnat Khan, and living in anonymity. Yet she could never hope to become normal. Instead she became a celebrity. Then came Dodi Fayed.

Though friends say he was just a distraction, her choice of two Muslim boyfriends looked set to test how deep the tolerance of New Labour's Britain would go. This much is plain: she had long since escaped or shed the attitudes of many white Britons. After her death, Trevor Phillips, a black Labour politician who now chairs Britain's Commission for Equality and Human Rights, told Newsweek Diana "embraced the modern, multicultural, multi-ethnic Britain without reservation." Unlike most Europeans, she had "no flinch, no anxiety about race ... for nonwhite Britons, she was like a beacon in the darkness."

Wayne Sleep, a ballet dancer and media personality, got to know Diana well and remembers her "poking fun at aristocracy." In her final years, she mingled less and less with her own class, preferring instead the company of the self-made aristocracy of entertainment and fashion. The members of this élite were from different countries and cultures — gay, straight, black, white and united by fame. In Blair's Britain, they could expect invitations to 10 Downing Street, not always because of their talent. (Britain may have shrugged off its forelock-tugging subservience to the ruling classes, but in Cool Britannia money and celebrity counted.) Diana fitted into this new world perfectly. She wasn't seen as posh. She was one of the people. By example, she reassured them that anyone could be a star. All you needed, she seemed to imply, was the chance to display yourself to the world. After all, she'd done that more than once herself. In 1985, at a gala evening to celebrate Charles' 37th birthday, she left the royal box and appeared on stage, shimmying with Sleep. Charles was appalled. Diana's scheme to please him may have come undone, but she had helped Britain to unbutton.

From Fairy Tale to PostFeminist
Imagine this: Diana is still alive. She's a well-preserved 46, with a new boyfriend and an apartment in Manhattan. Is she popular? Maybe. A legend? No way. By dying young, Diana ensured her immortality. Better dead than wrinkled.

Celebrity culture is cruel, but especially to women. "One of the characteristics of celebrity culture is that you first build someone up and then you write about their downfall," says German writer Tom Levine, the author of a book on Britain's first family. "If Diana had lived she would have been going on that up-and-down train." Her last summer was already something of a downward ride. A slight weight gain set the press speculating she might be pregnant. She wasn't, and such close attention could not have been easy for a bulimic. But her public admission of her eating disorder in a 1995 interview with Martin Bashir for the BBC had encouraged hidden sufferers to seek help. Her life reflected many of the concerns of ordinary women — their weight, their relationship troubles — and by talking openly she also eroded the stigma attached to failure. Even a Princess battled the bulge, even a beauty lost her husband. Diana was criticized for her "American style of emotionalism," says feminist writer Naomi Wolf, but her approach actually represented a liberation theology in hidebound Britain. "It was very radical. She didn't just talk the talk, she walked the walk."

That was not the fate feminists predicted when the news of her engagement to Charles broke. The feminist magazine Spare Rib ran an article headed "DON'T DO IT DI". This slogan, rendered as a lapel button, became a fashionable accessory for the thinking woman. "On 29 July 1981," wrote the British journalist Beatrix Campbell of the fairy-tale wedding in St. Paul's Cathedral, "the deceitful and depressed engagement ended when this thin, wan, whiter-than-white woman walked down the aisle, propping up the aged patriarch who had got her into all this ... Her ivory silk wedding dress was a shroud."

By the time Diana died, however, many feminists had read her struggle against a sclerotic system as a parable of empowerment. Paglia dubbed her an "incredible superstar." That she was, but she would never have located herself in the feminist firmament. She wasn't interested in gender equality. She fought against a patriarchy because it was old-fashioned and restrictive, not because she repudiated its male values. The Princess was one of the first and most potent symbols of the "girl power" celebrated by the Spice Girls with their mildly predatory allure and celebration of girly friendship. It was a neat fit for Diana, with her close women friends and her troubled search for a mate. What Royal Spice really, really wanted was not at all radical: to love and be loved.
The Political Princess
Diana's body was transported to Westminster Abbey on a gun carriage. Arbiter says that's a detail of Diana's funeral that troubled Blair's communications chief, Alastair Campbell, and his team. The vehicle had been chosen because, unlike a hearse, it would be open to the crowds. To the palace it also seemed appropriate: Diana had, after all, been the honorary Colonel-in-Chief of six regiments.

Yet Diana's last, passionate campaign was distinctly unmilitary: she called for the abolition of land mines. She had visited Angola with the British Red Cross in January 1997, angering some Conservative MPs, who thought she was showboating. Peter Viggers, a Tory member of the Commons Defence Select Committee, said: "This is an important, sophisticated argument. It doesn't help simply to point at the amputees and say how terrible it is." Undaunted, Diana spoke at a conference on land mines and made a second fact-finding trip, to Bosnia.

Few would have predicted such engagement from the plummy girl who emerged onto the public stage in 1980 as Charles' latest squeeze. The royal wedding in 1981 — with Diana's endless train, the pages and flower girls, the choirs and coaches — was widely seen at the time as a reaffirmation of tradition in Britain, a throwback to an age when nobility and pomp held the nation in thrall. That it should have taken place during Margaret Thatcher's first term only added to the idea that Britain was becoming a more conservative society, and that Diana, the girl from the old aristocracy who had married into royalty, epitomized it.

Yet the Princess was never in tune with the Iron Lady. "Who is society? There is no such thing," Thatcher told Woman's Own magazine in 1987. "There are individual men and women and there are families." Thatcher's bracing doctrine of personal responsibility was always at odds with Diana's faith in the power of redemptive understanding, of allowing the weak to be weak. Her belief system very much included an entity called society, which rejected and marginalized people. "Someone has got to go out there and love people and show it," she said in her BBC interview.

By the time the Princess died, Thatcher was long gone, her pallid successor John Major was vanquished and Blair was in 10 Downing Street, with a huge popular mandate to build a more inclusive, caring Britain. That agenda echoed Diana's. The Princess had two secret meetings with Blair before his election. According to Alastair Campbell's recently published diaries, she told the intermediary who set up the meetings that "she would like to help [Labour] if she could." Diana had certainly made her mark on Campbell, who recorded that the Princess "had perfect skin and her whole face lit up when she spoke and there were moments when I had to fight to hear the words because I'm just lost in the beauty." Today Campbell has a more sober assessment: "She was very small-p political. I have no idea if she would have ended up taking some kind of unofficial role with a Labour government, but I am sure she would have found a way of harnessing her own skills and popularity to the sense of Britain as a more modern and compassionate country."

We will never know if she would have achieved such a dispensation. But the fact that she was — undeniably — on occasion manipulative, deceitful and self-centered should not blind us to the fact that, during her 17 years in the limelight, she had grown as Britain had grown, changed as Britain had changed, and that by the time she died she had something increasingly vital to offer. Arbiter recalls a strange, muted, mournful night after the Princess died when he encountered a group of wheelchair users on their way to lay flowers at Kensington Palace. "They were saying, 'Who's going to speak for us, now?' They had a point. The disabled: who's going to speak for them? The AIDS patients: who's going to speak for them? The drug addicts, the down-and-outs, the homeless, the elderly? She was their voice and drew attention to their plight." Arbiter pauses. "She'd have made a good Queen, you know. But that's it. She's gone." Gone? As anyone who knows anything about the strains that make up modern Britain will tell you, that is very far from true.

Ten Years On: Why Diana MatteredTimeline: The Investigation

Security video frame grab of England's Princess Diana (R) leaving the Hotel Ritz from back entrance, minutes before she was killed in a car crash.
AP

1997

By BRENDAN LOWE Security video frame grab of England's Princess Diana (R) leaving the Hotel Ritz from back entrance, minutes before she was killed in a car crash.
AP
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Aug. 31
Just after midnight, as it is chased by paparazzi on motorcyles, a black Mercedes carrying Princess Diana speeds into a Paris tunnel and crashes into a pillar. Dodi Al Fayed, Diana's current boyfriend, is killed on impact, as is the driver, Henri Paul. Diana is cared for at the scene and eventually taken to a local hospital, where she dies at 4 a.m. due to internal bleeding caused by major chest and lung injuries. Paris police detain several photographers for questioning.

Sept. 1
Driver Henri Paul's blood-alcohol-content at the time of the crash was more than three times the legal limit in France, according to the Paris prosecutor's office. The car, it is eventually discovered, was traveling between 61 to 63 mph; the speed limit in the tunnel is 30 mph.

Sept. 2
Paris police open an investigation into the crash as they name the photographers as manslaughter suspects.

Sept. 19
Police investigators interview Trevor Rees-Jones, Dodi Al Fayed's bodyguard and the crash's lone survivor. After the crash, Rees-Jones had lost consciousness and was unable to speak for days. Apparently suffering from partial amnesia, he was unable to shed much light on the circumstances surrounding the crash.
1998By BRENDAN LOWE Paris, France: Police prepare to take away the car in which Diana, Princess of Wales, died in on August 31, 1997. The crash also killed her companion, Dodi Fayed, and the chauffeur.
Jerome Delay / AP
Article ToolsPrintEmailSphereAddThisRSS Feb. 11
Mohamed Al Fayed, Dodi's father, says in an interview with the British Mirror that he does not believe the car crash that killed his son was an accident. Said the multi-millionaire owner of London's poshest department store, Harrods: "There was a conspiracy and I will not rest until I have established exactly what happened."

Nov. 18
A medical report reveals Diana would most likely have died regardless of when she was brought to the hospital. A debate had emerged, after the accident, about whether Diana would have lived had she been rushed to the hospital sooner than the two hours medical officials waited. However, France's health minister said Diana's main injury — a torn pulmonary vein — would likely have killed her anyway.

Dec. 11
Mohamed Al Fayed claims the CIA had been tracking Diana and his son for three months and had compiled a 1,056-page file on the couple. The Egyptian-born millionaire meets with a French judge and asks him to pursue his claims of American surveillance.
Paris, France: Police prepare to take away the car in which Diana, Princess of Wales, died in on August 31, 1997. The crash also killed her companion, Dodi Fayed, and the chauffeur.
Jerome Delay / AP

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CARLOSpríncipeDEgales



Waiting to be King
By JEREMY PAXMAN

The originally published version of this story incorrectly identified Prince Charles' advisers as "Buckingham Palace." The Prince actually works and resides in Clarence House.

There is a point in Alan Bennett's witty and perceptive play The Madness of George III where a previous incumbent of Prince Charles' position wails, "To be heir to the throne is not a position; it is a predicament."

It is well said.

But, to judge by the standards of many of his predecessors, Charles Philip Arthur George Windsor has not handled his predicament that badly. When George III's heir died, the London Times marked his passing by describing a figure so fat, frivolous, selfish, vain, spendthrift, lecherous and generally grotesque that the world would be better off without him. In more recent times, the future Edward VII spent much of his apprenticeship for the throne shooting pheasants, playing cards and seducing other men's wives.

What both men share with the present Prince of Wales is the misfortune to have had to spend most of their adult life in the role. The predicament is simply that the Prince of Wales is born to only one task — that of being Head of State — and yet cannot assume it until his father or mother dies.

Most of us find some purpose to our existence by following a career or producing a family. The first option is not available to the Prince of Wales, and the second is overshadowed by the knowledge that the same sense of purpose (or purposelessness) attends the life of the next heir apparent.

On top of all of this existential uncertainty come the dangers of privilege. All doors are open to the heir to the throne, and he need never want for any material possession. "All the world and all the glory of it, whatever is most attractive, whatever is most seductive, has always been offered to the Prince of Wales of the day, and always will be," wrote the great Victorian constitutionalist, Walter Bagehot. "It is not rational to expect the best virtue where temptation is applied in the most trying form at the frailest time of human life."

The education of Prince Charles was designed to protect him from many of these temptations. But sending him away to Gordonstoun, the hale, hearty and hairshirted secondary school in the Scottish Highlands, was a catastrophe. The philistinism and bullying seem merely to have given him a sense of victimhood.

As time passed, the hurt mellowed. But it left him with an Eeyorish view of the world. The prevailing tone of many of the speeches of his middle years was: "I don't expect anyone will listen to me. But am I the only person to see that industrial agriculture/ modern architecture/the current schools curriculum/etc., etc. is a recipe for disaster?" He was characterized as a crank, and some of his preoccupations, like homeopathy, were crankish. But many others reflected anxieties among his people about the way that modern life is lived. These concerns were generally not reflected in the speeches or plans of politicians. But too often, when expressed by Charles, they were shrugged off as the witterings of an eccentric.

And then there was Diana. The marriage publicly yoked together the latest representative of an ancient, pre-Enlightenment belief system with an avatar of the media age. Each represented a form of mumbo-jumbo, but, instead of complementing each other, each merely showed the other up: New Age vs. Ancient History, trivial vs. pompous, apparently demotic vs. ancestrally privileged. Every relationship has its specific tensions and each separation its own causes. The misfortune of this couple was to have their divorce played out so publicly. Having cheered them up the aisle on a chorus of syrupy sentiment, the public took it out on them when it turned out that real life is not a fairy tale.

The Royal Household was utterly baffled by the hysteria which swept the nation when Diana died and had not the faintest idea how to react. This was a real low point for the House of Windsor, and a great deal of public opinion blamed Charles for the failure of the marriage, which unwittingly triggered the events that led to her death.
In the theology of kingship, in which legitimacy confers inheritance, it ought not to matter whether the heir to the throne is popular or not, as it ought not to matter whether he or she is an athlete or an intellectual. But in the 21st century, public opinion cannot be ignored: a presidential system exudes the aura of being much more in keeping with the mood of the times. (Already, Kevin Rudd, the man expected to be the next Prime Minister of Australia, is promising another referendum on whether that country should jettison the monarchy.)

In the years since Diana's death, the Prince's advisers have worked hard (sometimes too hard) to improve the Prince's standing. He has married the woman he should have married in the first place. His office has been taken out of the hands of tweedy "county" types and staffed by professionals: his public relations are currently managed by the man who once did the same job for Manchester United. The focus in repositioning the Prince has been to concentrate on his work for charity.

The emphasis is significant, because it suggests Charles has recognized that if he is to be remembered it may well be more for his many years as Prince of Wales than what is likely to be a shorter time as King. (If his mother lives as long as her own mother, he may not take the throne for another 20 years, by which time he would be almost 80.) Of course, he remains remarkably privileged. But, as his website points out — along with lots of stuff about his role in the military and how to make compost — his charities raise well over $200 million annually for causes he believes in, and he is patron or president of another 360 organizations.

Less noticed is the incessant stream of letters and messages to government ministers and senior military figures, taking up a campaign, arguing a point, pleading a cause. Ministers confess to finding them an irritation, but concede that he often makes a worthwhile point that has escaped the notice of bureaucrats and politicians.

It would be a distortion to say that all the damage done by the Diana disaster has been undone. Charles is still a long way from being the most popular member of his family. But he is building respect, and, while his ability to see the glass half empty continues to frustrate his supporters, few suggest he is a bad man.

It remains an unenviable role, in which any kind of tittle-tattle, whether true or not, is more or less guaranteed an airing, and in which any self-appointed "expert" feels free to criticize anything from his dress sense to his mental capacity. Periodically someone suggests that perhaps the crown will never sit upon his head, that the inheritance may skip a generation and pass to Prince William. It will not happen, for the very good reason that, once you ignore the heir apparent, why should anyone assume that William has any better a claim on the throne than any other Tom, Dick, not to mention Harry?

One of the lessons of history is that people tend to like their monarchs either young and vulnerable or old and venerable. The first option has not been available to Charles for decades. But the second is not a bad thing to aim for. And in monarchy, nothing succeeds like the succession.

It may sound paradoxical to say this of a man who may not take on his main job until he is well past the age at which almost everyone else has retired. But time is on his side.

Jeremy Paxman is a broadcaster and writer. His most recent book is On Royalty

The originally published version of this story incorrectly identified Prince Charles' advisers as "Buckingham Palace." The Prince actually works and resides in Clarence House.

FILHOSdeDIANA



HarryANDWilliamAndHarry: Like Mother, Like Sons

10 Years On3 of 14 William and Harry: Like Mother, Like Sons
By JUMANA FAROUKY

Anyone who was at Eton in the mid-'90s, when Prince William was a student at the élite English boarding school, would hardly have noticed there was a royal in their midst. There was the solitary uniformed policeman standing outside the boys' house where he lived (his plainclothes bodyguards were harder to spot). And there was the fact that, while teachers referred to most students by their last names, he was just William. Otherwise, he was treated like any other student — except on the rugby field. When the prince joined one of the school's junior rugby teams, "it suddenly became very easy for us to win games," says a former classmate. Not because the other teams were afraid to tackle the second in line to the throne — but because they wouldn't stop, and thus took their eye off other team members. "The opposition would take it in turns to try and smack him into the ground," says the former Etonian. "It was something fun for them to do while their mums were watching."

Despite the regular games of Pummel the Prince, William fit right in at Eton. "He was just a normal guy," says his ex-schoolmate. The word normal pops up over and over in conversations about William, 25, and his brother Harry, 22. For two young men whose lives and destinies are so extraordinary, the princes spend a lot of time chasing after ordinary, average, everyday. They date commoners; they do their own grocery shopping; they hate it when people call them Sir. The best thing about joining the military, Harry once said, "is being able to fit in as just a normal person." While William was at Scotland's St. Andrews University, he said he relished the fact that "people here just treat me like everyone else." And in a recent U.S. TV interview, Harry insisted: "We are slightly normal. We have a normal side to us."

It's like a birthday wish for world peace: no matter how many times they say it, they know it won't come true. William Arthur Philip Louis Wales and Henry Charles Albert David Wales will never be just two of the guys. But that they even try might be all that matters. Of all the things they inherited from their mother — from William's sad eyes to Harry's toothy grin — their determination to shrug off some of the restraints that tradition and pedigree impose on them could be what keeps the monarchy from becoming obsolete at a time when most of its subjects think it needs to modernize (and when almost half think it won't exist by the time William steps up to the plate). Their mother would surely have approved. "All Diana wanted to do was teach her children how to be real human beings, not to have the robotic childhood that Charles did," says Christopher Andersen, author of After Diana: William, Harry, Charles and the Royal House of Windsor. "She wanted to be relevant and she wanted her sons to be relevant."

So there were trips to Disney World, days out go-karting, lunches at McDonald's. With Dad, the boys rode horses; with Mom, they rode the London Underground. For a weekend with Charles, the dress code was blazers and pressed trousers; Diana dressed them in kids' clothes. After her death, it seemed the princes would become, in Andersen's words, "Windsorized," fully indoctrinated into the Firm for a life of polo, fox hunting and all things royal. Instead, they picked up where Diana left off — she dragged the monarchy into the 21st century, and her sons plan to keep it there. "Now we see that the seed she planted way back when they were little boys has blossomed," says Andersen. "They are her triumph over the royal family."

But there are hazards to a jeans-and-T-shirt monarchy. More freedom means less privacy, and William and Harry are the world's most famous brothers. If one of them stumbles out of a nightclub at 3 a.m., we inevitably hear about it. Harry, especially, has had a life written in hysterical headlines: HARRY'S DRUG SHAME (caught smoking pot), HARRY THE NAZI (an ill-considered outfit at a fancy-dress party), SKIRTY HARRY (canoodling with a barmaid). "Harry's had to put up with a lot," says Judy Wade, a royal watcher for Hello! magazine. "He's been labeled the playboy prince, the one who gets drunk all the time. William does exactly the same things, but the papers cover for William because he's the heir." Then again, many people like the fact that Harry and William have a bit of the rebel in them — just like their mother. "They do the kinds of things that other people's kids do," says Ingrid Seward, editor of Majesty magazine. "They go to nightclubs, they get drunk, they have girlfriends. It's because they're not in this ivory tower we can relate to them."

But William knows there's a fine line separating casual royal from national embarrassment, and the closer he gets to the throne, the more careful he gets. "William's more like Charles in the sense that he's more aloof and he thinks before he acts," says Wade. "He's cautious, whereas Harry plunges headlong into life. William's worried about making a mistake; Harry wears his heart on his sleeve." While Harry and his girlfriend Chelsy Davy take public displays of affection to a new level, William and Kate Middleton's off-again, on-again relationship can seem more like a game of chess than a romance.

With the monarchy's reputation on his shoulders, William can come off as a bit cold in public. But in private, he's very much his mother's son. "He has real empathy with people in general, but especially those his own age. Like his mother, he obviously cares and he's a good listener," says Anthony Lawton, CEO of Centrepoint, a charity for homeless youth that Diana supported and whose patron William became in 2005. Before committing, the prince spent three days volunteering at various Centrepoint hostels, and he still pops in now and then. "People feel of more value when they see that our future King wants to spend time with them," says Lawton. "Still, it can be a bit startling when you come into the kitchen all sleepy-eyed and find Prince William making your coffee."

Again, Diana's influence is unmistakable. She took William and Harry on visits to aids clinics and homeless shelters, and they have inherited her brand of compassion. In 2006, after a trip to Lesotho in South Africa, Harry and Lesotho's Prince Seeiso cofounded a charity called Sentebale to help the country's most disadvantaged children. "Harry does exactly what his mother used to do — he instinctively gets down to a child's level," says Sentebale's CEO Geoffrey Matthews. "The first thing he does is squat down on his haunches, and immediately he's won the child's heart."

Still, the burden of such responsibilities and expectations must at times seem overwhelming to the young princes. As the future King, William must move the monarchy forward without ripping it from its foundations, and must prove himself a suitable sovereign without losing his guy-next-door appeal. On top of all that, William, whom Diana called "my deep thinker," and Harry — "my little joker" — must figure out how to keep their mother's legacy alive as they build legacies of their own.

So far, so good. The brothers have already shown that they won't stay stuck in the past: when the nation was still giving the evil eye to Charles' then-girlfriend Camilla Parker Bowles, they welcomed her into the fold; while Mohamed al Fayed accuses the royal family of orchestrating the deaths of Diana and his son Dodi, the princes have invited his daughters to Diana's memorial service later this month. The British public has been won over: William is neck-and-neck with Charles as their favorite to succeed the Queen, while Harry's hopes (ultimately frustrated) of going to Iraq with the army won him a victory in the battle for British hearts and minds. All the princes have to do is keep this up for another 70 years or so. William and Harry will never be normal — but considering the pressures they face, it's a miracle that they even come close.1998By BRENDAN LOWE Paris, France: Police prepare to take away the car in which Diana, Princess of Wales, died in on August 31, 1997. The crash also killed her companion, Dodi Fayed, and the chauffeur.
Jerome Delay / AP
Article ToolsPrintEmailSphereAddThisRSS Feb. 11
Mohamed Al Fayed, Dodi's father, says in an interview with the British Mirror that he does not believe the car crash that killed his son was an accident. Said the multi-millionaire owner of London's poshest department store, Harrods: "There was a conspiracy and I will not rest until I have established exactly what happened."

Nov. 18
A medical report reveals Diana would most likely have died regardless of when she was brought to the hospital. A debate had emerged, after the accident, about whether Diana would have lived had she been rushed to the hospital sooner than the two hours medical officials waited. However, France's health minister said Diana's main injury — a torn pulmonary vein — would likely have killed her anyway.

Dec. 11
Mohamed Al Fayed claims the CIA had been tracking Diana and his son for three months and had compiled a 1,056-page file on the couple. The Egyptian-born millionaire meets with a French judge and asks him to pursue his claims of American surveillance.
...

ALfayedINVESTIGAmorteDEdianAeFILHO

London, UNITED KINGDOM: Harrods department store owner, Mohamed Al Fayed, arrives at the London High Court, 27 July 2007, for the preliminary hearing ahead of the coroner's inquest into the death of princess Diana.
Shaun Curry / AFP / Getty
Article ToolsPrintEmailSphereAddThisRSS Jan. 25
Mohamed Al Fayed offers $1.6 million for information about a mysterious white Fiat that police believe may have glanced against Diana and Dodi's Mercedes as it entered the tunnel. Al Fayed believes the British intelligence services orchestrated the crash because, he says, the monarchy would not want Diana to marry Dodi, a Muslim.

Aug. 17
French authorities drop their case against nine photographers and a motorcyclist. The police say there is not enough evidence to charge the group, which had been facing charges of involuntary manslaughter and failure to help crash victims.

Sept. 3
The full release of the French investigation concludes the crash was due to Paul driving at high speeds while drunk and on medication. The investigation cleared photographers of involvement and chastised the company that supplied the black Mercedes for not providing a licensed driver. The report said that Paul did not have the type of license needed to drive the car.

Dec. 1
Frances Shand Kydd, Diana's mother, reacts angrily to a British Ministry of Defence anti-drunk-driving ad that features a picture of Diana and the message: "Unfortunately, even a Princess isn't safe with a drunk driver." The MoD withdraws the ad and apologizes to Shand Kydd.


Next: 2000 >>
6 of 14
Diana: Life of a Princess
From a shy bride to a passionate campaigner, the Princess of Wales didn't just transform herself -- she changed a country.
Diana's Death: The Investigation Continues
Ten years after, questions still surround the accident that took the princess' life. A history of the aftermath
Video: A Tour of Kensington Palace
Take a look around the Palace as an exhibition showcases Diana's life
Music for the People's Princess
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One Year After Her Death
TIME looked back at the people whose lives were forever changed by Diana, Princess of Wales
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Ten years after her death, Diana still reigns as icon

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The Long Goodbye
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Special Report: Ten Years OnWaiting to be KingLike Mother, Like SonsThe Princess of SalesThe Princess is Dead. Long Live the Princess60 Years of Heroes: Princess DianaTIME Commemorative Issue 1997Time Archive









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President Nicolas Sarkozy's frenetic launching period has been globally positive, though the operative word is "globally." From Libya to Brussels by way of reforms at home, the relentless Sarkozy has given people the feeling France has finally awakened from a long sleep to become a vibrant, enthusiastic "new France." But now we're starting to see what I'd call a Hitchcockian "shadow of doubt": the public has started asking how much lasting result all this action is producing.

Virtually no one challenges the idea that Sarkozy has proved himself the most gifted and dynamic politician in France today. His initial presidential record has shown him to be a tireless leader who personally shapes policy on all fronts. But when you look at his accomplishments so far, you have to wonder whether his political genius may have overshadowed his effectiveness as a statesman: the solutions he is quick to offer often reflect the very problems they are meant to address.

That paradox is evident in foreign affairs. Sarkozy has declared European issues to be among his main diplomatic priorities, but he has approached them with nationalistic designs. Sarkozy played a central role in getting E.U. leaders to accept a simplified treaty in the place of a new constitution, for example, yet he has continually criticized the European Central Bank — and attacked its president, Jean-Claude Trichet — for not shaping policy to French economic considerations. Similarly, just how good a European was Sarkozy being when he preempted years of effort by Brussels to secure the freedom of Bulgarian medics held by Libya in order to cut a deal of his own with Tripoli? Sarkozy did a marvelous job restoring relations between Paris and Washington, but were the military and nuclear deals France signed with Libya really in the best interests of the Atlantic alliance?

At home, Sarkozy often says he wants to give greater freedom to markets, but his actions show he's no economic liberal at heart. The merger of Gaz de France and Suez is the perfect example of an interventionist state influencing companies and the market. Politically, Sarkozy has shown true genius in undermining the Socialist Party by attracting some of its leading lights to his team. But is mere political calculation also behind his backing of Socialist Dominique Strauss-Kahn to head the International Monetary Fund? Sarkozy's motives are often open to question — and differ from his stated objective.

For those reasons, Sarkozy will need to reconcile his words and acts if he wants his next three months to be as successful as his first three. He'll also need to place less emphasis on grand movements across a broad spectrum and more on nailing down clear, lasting results.

MARIELLE DE SARNEZ EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE CENTRIST UNION FOR FRENCH DEMOCRACY

Sarkozy's early days have succeeded in one important area: after years of passivity and even absence of leadership under former President Jacques Chirac, Sarkozy recognized that France needed a new leader who would put himself and the nation back on center stage. Beyond that, Sarkozy's record is far less brilliant than obsequious French media have suggested, and the coming season promises to be more complicated.

Few among the public and pundits struck by Sarkozy's omnipresence have stopped to look seriously at what all his activity has produced. Those who do see tax reform that will cost France $20 billion annually as of 2008, but will do nothing to stimulate stalled economic growth. For all his kinetics, Sarkozy has done nothing to reverse France's trade deficit or halt its growing debt; the small dip in the unemployment rate in recent months has masked the shrinking number of new jobs companies created. Sarkozy sends a terrible message to our European partners by refusing to undertake economic reform at home or to abide by the rules we expect all other euro-zone nations to respect. Sooner or later, Sarkozy will have to tighten the belt or pay heavy consequences.

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BIRMÂNIA VS MYANMAR







Burma Takes on the Generals
Thursday, Sep. 27, 2007 By HANNAH BEECH Enlarge Photo
Tear-gassing protesters on Sept. 26
National League for Democracy-Liberated Area / AP
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[NOTE: The junta that runs the country imposed a systematic name change several years ago, decreeing that Burma was to be called Myanmar and the capital Rangoon was to be Yangon. The opposition has never accepted these changes; neither has the U.S. government. TIME continues to use Burma and Rangoon.]

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The burgundy robes of Buddhist monks usually evoke a sense of spiritual calm. But for the repressive junta that has ruled Burma for 45 years, the recent sight of shaven-headed clerics marching the streets has been anything but soothing. For more than a week now, tens of thousands of Buddhist clerics have rallied across the country, their daily alms routes turned into paths of protest. Some walked quietly with their begging bowls overturned — an implied excommunication of the military leaders whose punitive fuel hikes provoked the first demonstrations back in August. Initially, Burma's generals tried to extinguish the protests by arresting dozens of pro-democracy activists who had kick started the civil disobedience. But with the Buddhist clergy quickly taking over leadership of the movement, on Wednesday Sept. 26 the regime unleashed a violent crackdown on the protesters — a potentially dangerous move in this deeply devout nation. "The monks are the only ones who really have the trust of the people," says Khin Omar, an exiled dissident now living in Thailand. "When they speak up, people listen."

And when they act, people follow. By Sept. 24, thousands of ordinary Burmese had overcome their fear of the regime and joined the demonstrations, their shoes slapping through the monsoon downpours alongside the monks' bare feet. While marching monks recited prayers in the commercial capital Rangoon, civilians raised their fists and chanted their own mantra: "Democracy, democracy." The participation of normal citizens has turned what had been a series of sporadic rallies into the largest sustained display of dissent in Burma in nearly two decades. "The people's only weapons are their hands," said an elderly teacher watching the procession of protestors with teary eyes. "The government wants to wipe them out, but the people are not afraid."

Could this be the start of a burgundy revolution, another rebellion that upends a long-standing dictatorship? Back in 1988, the Burmese military unleashed a brutal assault on student protestors, leaving thousands dead. This time, the junta at first avoided direct confrontation with the demonstrating monks — after all, this is a country where the 300,000-plus clergy is second in numbers only to the 450,000-strong military. But this is not a regime given to restraint. With the monks' protests showing little sign of abating and civilians joining the movement in large numbers, Burma's top brass reverted to their old ways. On Monday Sept. 24, the nation's Religious Affairs Minister was quoted on state television ordering the monks back to their monasteries. The following morning, trucks mounted with loudspeakers patrolled Rangoon, threatening to arrest anyone who dared join the protesting clerics. The junta then announced a nighttime curfew and said they would enforce an already-present ban on any assembly of more than five people. By Wednesday, riot police and soldiers were stationed around pagodas in Rangoon, and hundreds of marchers had been detained.
Then the violence began, with at least two monks reported killed. As an eyewitness at Rangoon's best-known landmark, the golden Shwedagon Pagoda, tells it, the authorities had locked the famous monument's gates to prevent the monks from gathering. Security forces guarded the entrances. A little after noon, hundreds of monks, students and other Rangoon residents approached the police, sat on the road and began to pray. The troops responded quickly, pulling monks from the crowd and striking both clerics and ordinary citizens with canes. Several smoke bombs exploded, and the riot police charged. Some protestors fought back with sticks and rocks. A car was set alight — by the soldiers, claim the demonstrators — and then the air filled with the unmistakable crack of live ammunition. Soldiers were shooting volleys of bullets into the air. "They are not Buddhists," cried Thurein, a 24-year-old student, clutching half a brick and fleeing from the smoke. "They are not humans. Tell the world. We were praying peacefully and they beat us. They beat the monks, even the old ones." An elderly monk stood with him, bleeding from a baton gash on his shaven head.

The protesters regrouped, though, and surged forward again. Minutes later, a tear-gas canister arced through the air toward the pagoda's eastern entrance. The monks retreated, many still armed with clubs of scavenged wood, one brandishing a riot shield he had snatched from the police. Suddenly, there was an enormous explosion: a clap of thunder. The demonstrators applauded this sign of cosmic solidarity. One monk raised his hands to the heavens, shouting "The rain is coming! The soldiers will be struck by lightning!" Nearby, a woman responded, "Lightning is not enough. They deserve more." A cheer went up with each subsequent clap of thunder.

Eventually, the battle stopped. The clerics gathered at a nearby monastery to march downtown. But first came a chilling display of the people's anger — and the monks' moral influence. A man on a motorcycle rode up. Most motorcycles have been banned for years because, the story goes, the paranoid generals feared being shot by an assassin riding one of them. Those few people who can tool around on motorcycles are therefore assumed to be government spies. The mob pounced on the man, pulling him off his bike and raising their wooden sticks. "Beat him," they cried. "Kill him." Quickly, the monks intervened and hustled the man to the safety of a monastery. The crowd was forced to take out their ire on the motorbike, smashing it to bits with clubs and rocks. "If the monks had not saved him," said a Burmese cameraman filming the scene, "he would be dead for sure." In 1988, some lynchings of government agents were stopped by monks and students; far more were not.

Despite the clash at Shwedagon, the monks continued on, their fervor broadcast over loudspeakers: "Let us overthrow the government." By early afternoon, the demonstrators had marched the two miles to the Sule Pagoda, another holy site. Again, the path to the pagoda itself was blocked by hundreds of security forces, many with bayonets fixed. The protestors sat and prayed in front of them. More soldiers armed with rifles arrived, though, and most of the crowd stood up and walked away. Twenty minutes later, the troops opened fire — a 10-second burst above the heads of those marchers who had dared to stay. People fled, but not for long. Another column of ralliers, at least a mile long, wound through the streets to join them. But as dusk approached, the crowds dispersed again. Shops in the Sule area had been shuttered all afternoon. In a city where the streets are vibrant and bustling until late, most residents had taken refuge at home. No one wanted to be out after dark.
Other nations, most of whom greeted the '88 crackdown with silence, are keeping a much closer watch this time on the unfolding drama in Burma. On Wednesday, the U.N. Security Council convened an emergency meeting to discuss the turmoil in the country. A day before in his address to the U.N General Assembly in New York City, U.S. President George W. Bush criticized the "reign of fear" in Burma; he unveiled further restrictions on the regime, including travel bans to the U.S. for members of the junta and their families, extending sanctions that have been in place for a decade. The same day, Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband spoke of how "brilliant" it was to see monks march on Saturday to the home of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of the independence hero who led Burma's struggle against the British. Suu Kyi has spent much of the past 18 years under house arrest. Her National League for Democracy (NLD) won elections back in 1990, but the generals refused to honor the results. "It will be a hundred times better," said Miliband, "when she takes her rightful place as the elected leader of a free and democratic Burma."

That sentiment echoes the wishes of many in the Buddhist clergy, who through the newly formed All-Burma Monks Alliance, have called for Suu Kyi's release and, even more dramatically, the junta's expulsion "from Burmese soil forever." "We must not retreat," vows a 23-year-old monk in Rangoon. "If we retreat, we fail." Historically, Buddhist clerics have been a key element of resistance in Burma, from British colonial days through the democracy rallies in 1988. But this time, the monks are not simply adding their moral authority to the movement; they are leading the protests. The shift is significant, particularly for a junta that has tried to burnish its influence by linking itself to Buddhism. Burma's government-run newspapers regularly display generals lavishing money on building new pagodas and monasteries. "The junta has bent over backwards to show how good Buddhists they are," says Josef Silverstein, a Burma expert at Rutgers University in New Jersey. "For them to legitimize a crackdown, they will have to prove that the protests are being led by misguided monks who are actually misusing Buddhism."

Burma's generals will have a tough time convincing the public they hold more spiritual suasion than the monks. Holed up in Naypyidaw, a city that was constructed out of jungle in 2005 to replace Rangoon as the national capital, the military leaders have virtually barricaded themselves from their subjects. While ordinary Burmese get ever poorer because of the junta's economic mismanagement, the generals live in swanky mansions and drive fancy cars. The government has signed lucrative gas-pipeline and timber deals with other nations, but little of the money trickles down to ordinary people. The steep fuel hikes in August only heightened the economic disparity, as some formerly white-collar workers could no longer afford to take the bus to the office. Buddhist clerics are experiencing privation, too, since their lives depend on offerings from the people. "The monks are an economic barometer in Burma," says Sunai Phasuk, a consultant for Human Rights Watch in Bangkok. "They feel the deterioration of the economy and the hardship of their followers."

The ruling class' isolation stands in contrast to the increased connectivity of the Burmese people. Technology has revolutionized dissent. Cell phones can now be rented for $50 a month, and a click of a button sends pictures of protests to the outside world. Aung Zaw, an exiled student activist who edits the Irrawaddy, a Thailand-based publication that covers Burmese affairs, recalls how it took nearly a month for word of student protests in the early 1990s to reach Thailand. "Now we get information about protests almost instantly," he says, "and it's then sent back to people in Burma so they know what's going on across the country." The flow of information has even spawned a group of Burmese bloggers, some of whom operate out of Rangoon's 200-plus Internet cafés. (Just four years ago, there were fewer than 30 such Web cafés.) On Sept. 1, as protests against the fuel hikes were gathering momentum, 600 people showed up at the inaugural meeting of the Myanmar Bloggers Society in Rangoon. One member, a computer instructor who later witnessed Suu Kyi's Saturday meeting with the monks, uploaded a grainy digital photo she took of the momentous event. A few hours later, the picture had traveled across the globe.
Such powerful images may hearten democracy advocates worldwide, but will they persuade Burma's soldiers to disobey orders to shoot directly at the protesters? For all its economic incompetence, Burma's junta has managed to hold together the military remarkably well. Most high-level government positions are held by army officers, and lowly grunts can work their way up the ranks. Junta leader General Than Shwe, for instance, started off as a rank-and-file soldier whose psychological-warfare expertise and loyalty to predecessor Ne Win won him promotions. Still, there may be some cracks in the military's façade. "Than Shwe or senior military leaders might not care about international opinion or the feelings of the people, but some middle- and lower-ranking officers surely do," says Win Min, a Burmese military analyst based in northern Thailand. "These younger officers don't want to be hated by the people for the next 30 years."

Key to the equation may be China, Burma's largest trading partner and ideological ally. But despite calls from the West for China to use economic leverage over Burma, it's not clear how much influence Beijing really has. "China will urge Myanmar to use peaceful means to solve the problem, [because] China would like to see a stable environment in Myanmar," says Zhai Kun, an expert on Southeast Asia at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations in Beijing. "But because Myanmar is a closed society, I don't think they listen to advice from the outside, including China."

That puts all the more pressure on Burma's monks, as the only force whose authority can challenge that of the military. Monks have urged the generals to avoid bloodshed by sitting down for reconciliation talks with Suu Kyi's NLD. The hope is that dialogue might lead to a power-sharing agreement that recognizes the 1990 election results. So far, the junta has pointedly ignored the 62-year-old democracy activist. Indeed, recently passed constitutional guidelines bar Suu Kyi from holding power because she lacks military experience and was married to a foreigner. But Suu Kyi clearly has the vote of some in the Buddhist clergy, as evidenced by their symbolic visit to her house. "Even if they are not political, the monks hear stories about the daily struggles of the Burmese people and the repression of the junta," says Aung Naing Oo, a Burmese political analyst based in Thailand. "They feel their pain, and they cannot just sit back idly." The NLD, even with its ranks ravaged by imprisonment and exile, may be the only political alternative Burma has — and many monks know it.

Of course, no amount of Buddhist mantras chanted in Suu Kyi's name are likely to convince Burma's generals to give up power quietly. They have ruled with an iron grip, and with impunity, for nearly half a century, and have already brutally crushed one major democracy movement. With the clashes on Sept. 26, the regime once again displayed its capacity for violence. Burma's burgundy revolutionaries can only pray that their robes will not be stained further — by the color of blood.

— with reporting by Robert Horn/Bangkok and Austin Ramzy/Beijing
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PUTIN (RÚSSIA)
PUTINDEZ2007
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1693765,00.htmlPutin's Picks
Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2007 By ROBERT SERVICE Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, speaks with First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev
Natalia Kolesnikova / AP
Article ToolsPrintEmailReprintsSphereAddThisRSS The campaign is over before it began: Dmitry Medvedev will be Russia's next President. Only two things can stop him. One would be a serious medical emergency. This is unlikely, since the man looks as fit as a flea; it has been centuries since any Kremlin ruler — except for the incumbent, Vladimir Putin — has looked in ruder health. The second snag would be any change of mind by Putin. Medvedev owes his projected elevation to the favor of just one man. Such is Putin's dominance that Medvedev has immediately begged him to serve as his Prime Minister after the elections in March 2008.

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Ostensibly, Putin has made a bold decision. Medvedev is known as an economic liberal. Since being appointed as First Deputy Prime Minister in November 2005, he has held the portfolio of "national programs." His job was to bring dynamism to the government's welfare initiatives in housing, pension payments, health care and agriculture. In the 1990s there was a shocking deterioration in the living conditions of most Russians, dragging nearly a third of them below the poverty level. The rise in prices on the world's petrochemical market gave ministers an opportunity to improve the situation, and Medvedev has impressed people with his performance.

His success was not guaranteed in advance. The Kremlin is a piranha tank of factions. In order to keep the money flowing into social welfare, Medvedev bared his teeth at predators in the security services and the military-industrial lobby — and, against the quoted odds, he survived and flourished.

This toughness is one of the reasons why Putin is anointing him. Another is their mutual trust. Like Putin, the next Russian President comes from St. Petersburg and has a law degree. At 42, he is even younger than Putin. For almost his entire career he has been working, whether directly or not, for Putin, and he ran Putin's presidential campaign in 2000. He has served, off and on, as the chairman of the board of Russia's gigantic energy corporation, Gazprom. He has also worked as Chief of Staff in the presidential administration. He has constantly been at the point where politics, administration and economics intersect.

Shadings of difference have come to light between Medvedev and Putin. In 2003, Medvedev was less than gushing in his approval of the arrest of oil billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky. This was when Putin's hunting down of the post-communist business "oligarchs" was in full spate. Medvedev has also frequently railed against corruption in Russian public life. He has made a point of saying repeatedly that the country badly needs to protect newly emerging small businesses. His career is apparently devoid of any postings in the Federal Security Service (FSB, the successor to the KGB), whereas several Kremlin leaders, including Putin himself, started their careers in the security agencies. He warmed the hearts of his audience at Davos this year: "We are well aware that there's one simple reason why no nondemocratic state has ever become prosperous: freedom is better than nonfreedom."

But Medvedev's divergences from Putin should not be overstated. Even his distancing himself from the Khodorkovsky affair cannot have been done without consulting Putin. Medvedev is not a politician who will move off the "patriotic" course plotted by his mentor. Putin is a wolf and has always enjoyed looking like one. Medvedev, despite covering himself in lamb's wool, will probably be just as menacing to the other inhabitants of the wood.

Some are likely to be easy meat. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has rushed to endorse his candidacy. When will Germany's politicians learn that such bursts of enthusiasm fail to win cheaper imports of energy? It was also at Davos that Medvedev stated: "There will no longer be any free gas for anyone." If and when he becomes Russian President, Medvedev will shake hands warmly with President Bush. It would be ill-advised for Washington, however, to believe Russia's perceptions of its foreign-policy interests will change regarding Kosovo, Iran or the U.S.-proposed "nuclear shield" installations in Poland and the Czech Republic. Even in internal policy there is no serious disagreement between Medvedev and Putin.

This is not to suggest that Putin has any intention of simply fading away: he clearly intends to watch over the doings of his protégé Medvedev. For the moment, there is rightly a sense of relief that Putin has not anointed yet another former member of the FSB to become President. The Russian stock exchange has applauded. The Russian Orthodox Patriarch has pitched in his blessing. Russian newspapers have exulted. Unfortunately, the basic reality of Russia's politics is likely to remain as unmeltable as Siberian permafrost.

Robert Service is a professor of Russian history at Oxford University

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