Famous Political Leaders a to z

Tom Hayden is a political activist and writer who served in the California State Assembly and State Senate. He is also the former husband of actress Jane Fonda.

Rutherford B. Hayes was the 19th president of the United States and oversaw the end of the rebuilding efforts of the Reconstruction.

Republican, Jesse Helms was a United States Senator from North Carolina who served for five terms (1973-2003). He was known for his right-wing politics and opposition to civil rights legislation.

Henry VII became the first House of Luxembourg member to serve as king of Germany in 1308. In 1312, he became the House of Luxembourg's first Holy Roman Emperor.

Henry VIII, king of England, was famously married six times and played a critical role in the English Reformation, turning his country into a Protestant nation.

Adolf Hitler appointed Rudolf Hess deputy of the Nazi party in 1939. Following World War II, Hess was convicted at the Nuremberg Trials and sentenced to life in prison.

German Communist Erich Honecker oversaw the building of the Berlin Wall, then watched it be torn down. He was forced to resign as head of East Germany in 1989.

Crazy Horse was an Oglala Sioux Indian chief who fought against removal to an Indian reservation. He took part in the Battle of Little Big Horn.

Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, was an influential English noble and politician during the early 1500s. He was accused of treason in 1546, but narrowly escaped execution due to the death of King Henry VIII.

Anne Hutchinson was a Puritan woman who spread her own interpretations of the Bible, leading to the Antinomian Controversy in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Roy Innis is an American Civil Rights Activist best known as the former National Chairman of Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).

James Weldon Johnson was an African-American writer, politician, educator and lawyer. He was also an early civil rights activist and leader of the NAACP.

Kim Jong-un became the leader of North Korea in 2011, having inherited his position from his father Kim Jong-il.

Holy Roman emperor Joseph II tried to strengthen the Habsburg empire with his enlightened reforms, but the changes he made were met with fierce opposition.

William Joyce is best known for his involvement in the British Fascist Party during World War II and immigrating to Nazi Germany.

Paul Kagame is a Rwandan military leader and politician who is best known for defeating Hutu extremist forces to end the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

First female politician,attorney to serve as solicitor general of the United States of America.

Democrat Tim Kaine served as governor of Virginia from 2006 to 2010, and is currently a member of the U.S. Senate.

Imran Khan is a champion cricketer and a Pakistani politician.

Mongolian general and statesman Kublai Khan was the grandson of Genghis Khan. He conquered China, founding and becoming the first emperor of the country's Yuan Dynasty.

Ayatollah Khomeini became the supreme religious leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979, following many years of resistance to Shah Pahlavi.

Henry Kissinger is an American political scientist and diplomat who won the Nobel Peace Prize for efforts to broker a peaceful settlement of the Vietnam War.

The foremost leader of the Scottish Reformation, John Knox set the moral tone of the Church of Scotland and shaped the democratic form of government it adopted.

Helmut Kohl served as chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1988, during which time he oversaw the reunification of East and West Germany.

Dalai Lama, Tibet's political leader, has strived to make Tibet an independent and democratic state from China. He and his followers are exiled to India.

Tom Lantos was a 14-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives from the state of California, as well as the first and only Holocaust survivor to serve in Congress.

Vladimir Lenin was founder of the Russian Communist Party, leader of the Bolshevik Revolution and architect and first head of the Soviet state.

Robert Todd Lincoln was an American lawyer and secretary of war best known as the first-born son of President Abraham Lincoln.

Activist and lawyer Belva Lockwood was the first woman to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Henry Cabot Lodge was an American politician from Massachusetts and the first U.S. Senate majority leader.

James Longstreet was the principle general of the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, serving under Robert E. Lee.

King Louis XIV of France led an absolute monarchy during France’s classical age. He revoked the Edict of Nantes and is known for his aggressive foreign policy.

William Lyon Mackenzie was a journalist and political agitator who led an unsuccessful revolt against the Canadian government in 1837.

Wilma Mankiller worked for several years as a leading advocate for the Cherokee people, and became the first woman to serve as their principal chief in 1985.

Imelda Marcos spent more than 20 years as the first lady of the Philippines. She became infamous for her spending habits and enormous shoe collection.

John Marshall became the fourth chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1801. He is largely responsible for establishing the Supreme Court's role in federal government.

Maximilian I was the first king of Bavaria (1806–25), a member of the house of Wittelsbach.

Cindy McCain is an Arizona businesswoman, a philanthropist who works with international nonprofit organizations, and the wife of U.S. Senator John McCain.

Stanley A. McChrystal led the Joint Special Operations Command in Iraq during the Persian Gulf Wars and was top Commander of American forces in Afghanistan.

Dmitry Medvedev served under Vladimir Putin and succeeded him as president of Russia in 2008.

Angela Merkel is a German politician best known as the first female chancellor of Germany and one of the architects of the European Union.

Harvey Milk became one of the first openly gay officials in the United States in 1977, when he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Tragically, he was killed the following year.

Mahathir Mohamad was the fourth prime minister of Malaysia, holding office from 1981 to 2003. He improved the economy and was a champion of developing nations.

Mohammed was the founder of the religion of Islam, accepted by Muslims throughout the world as the last of the prophets of God.

Thomas H. Moorer was a U.S. Navy admiral and naval aviator who later served as chief of naval operations (1967-70), and then as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1970-4).

Thomas More is known for his 1516 book Utopia and for his untimely death in 1535, after refusing to acknowledge King Henry VIII as head of the Church of England. He was canonized by the Catholic Church as a saint in 1935.

Luis Muñoz Marín was Puerto Rico's first governor, serving four terms.

Sarojini Naidu was an India political leader best known as the first female President of the India National Congress.

Janet Napolitano was the Democratic governor of Arizona before becoming Secretary of Homeland Security under Barack Obama in 2009.

U Ne Win was a Burmese military general who staged a coup and ruled his country from 1962 until 1988.

An Egyptian queen renowned for her beauty, Nefertiti ruled alongside her husband, Pharaoh Akhenaten, during the mid-1300s B.C.

As Roman emperor, Nero’s reign was lavish and tyrannical. He killed his mother, persecuted Christians and is said to have "fiddled while Rome burned."

Pat Nixon was the wife of Richard Nixon, the 37th president of the United States. As first lady, she traveled extensively and championed volunteerism.

Manuel Noriega was the military ruler of Panama who ran a corrupt puppet government there until the United States drove him out in 1990.

Antonia C. Novello is a former U.S. surgeon general who was the first woman and first person of Latin descent to hold the position.

Daniel O'Connell was a 19th century Irish political leader. He worked to repeal of the Act of Union which combined Ireland and Great Britain.

Bernardo O'Higgins is best known for being the leader of Chilean independence from Spain and its first leader.

James Otis was a lawyer in colonial Massachusetts who is best remembered for the phrase, "Taxation without representation is tyranny."

Robert Dale Owen, son of the Welsh social reformer Robert Owen, is best known for being integral to the founding of the Smithsonian Institution.

Manny Pacquiao has won world boxing titles in eight different weight divisions, and is considered one of the world's best boxers.

Ignacy Paderewski was a world famous concert pianist who also became Poland’s first prime minister in 1919.