10 Most Inspirational Political Leaders

Winston Churchill

Who are today’s most inspiring political leaders? What if you were asked to make a list of the ten who have inspired you most? Ask any two people and you’ll get a wildly varied list.

So, who belongs on the list? Alas, it’s really tough to make a case for anybody currently in politics. Even going back a decade, we find ourselves scratching our heads. Even extending the search across the globe, we find ourselves looking nostalgically back almost a generation.

Winston Churchill

Humiliated early in his political life, given to stuttering as a boy, ignored as a cabinet member when he warned the world in the strongest terms against Hitler, it is a wonder that Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, (Nov. 30, 1874-Jan. 24, 1965) had any interest at all in politics.

However, as Britain’s World War II leader, Prime Minister Churchill led the British Empire to its greatest victory against impossible odds – daring to defy the Nazis when the British alone in Europe had not surrendered to the Third Reich.

With wave after wave of Luftwaffe bombers leveling England’s cities and industries, he proclaimed to the British public cowering in bomb shelters: “We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills … we shall never surrender.” And they did not, gazing admiringly into the sky at the wasp-like Spitfire fighters rising to meet the German air force, as Churchill proclaimed of the pilots, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few." Even when things looked darkest during the war, he thundered over the radio waves: “Let us so bear ourselves, that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour.’”

"Rhetorical power," he wrote in his memoirs, "is neither wholly bestowed, nor wholly acquired, but cultivated." He also possessed incredible wit. Once a female detractor insulted him publicly, saying, “If I were your wife, I would put poison in your tea.” Calmly, he answered: “Madam, if you were my wife, I would drink it.”

John Paul II

Pope John Paul II

If Winston Churchill won World War II, then a case can be made that a Polish priest named Karol Józef Wojtyła (May 18, 1920-April 2, 2005) won the Cold War. For decades, the Soviet Union had held Eastern Europe in captivity. In 1956, Hungary had attempted to revolt; in 1968, the Czechs. Each time, Russian tanks rolled in and crushed all resistance. So, in 1980 when a shipyard electrician named Lech Walesa dared Poland to stand up to their occupiers, the whole world knew it was only a matter of time until they, too, would be crushed. But as the tanks readied to roll, Moscow received a message from the Vatican. John Paul warned the Kremlin that if the tanks crossed the Polish border, he would fly to Warsaw and armed only with his papal walking staff would personally march out to meet them. Was it just a bluff? If so, the Russians blinked. The tanks did not roll. Within months, too, Hungary defied the Russians. The Czechs followed, then Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Bulgaria and Romania, even Albania. The Soviet Union itself began to crumble – with Ukraine, Belorus, Kazakstan, Uzbekistan and all of the other non-Russian “Soviet republics” defying Moscow. The Russians knew exactly who to blame – and attempted to take their revenge, sending in an assassin who failed. After recuperating from the gunshot wounds, John Paul visited his attacker in prison … and forgave him. This pope was unlike any other before him -- and truly one of the most inspirational political leaders of our time.

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan

A movie actor in the White House? It can be said the 40th President of the United States, Ronald Wilson Reagan (Feb. 6, 1911-June 5, 2004), also won the Cold War. As president, he instituted sweeping political and economic initiatives that resulted in a decade of prosperity. His supply-side economic policies, dubbed "Reaganomics," reduced tax rates to spur economic growth, controlled the money supply to reduce inflation, deregulated key sectors of the economy and dramatically reduced government spending. He was re-elected in a landslide in 1984, proclaiming that contrary to those certain that America was in decline that it was "morning in America!" He proven wrong foreign relations advisers who had advocated coexistence with the Soviets by launching one of the largest military build-ups in history – matching the might of capitalism against the impotence of socialism. With such programs as the Strategic Defense Initiative – dubbed “StarWars,” he bankrupted the Soviet “Evil Empire.” Seldom given his due during his lifetime, Reagan was portrayed in the media as a tottering old ideologue who napped through Cabinet meetings and masterfully memorized lines written by others. Only after his death were volumes of his speeches and radio talks – all in his handwriting – made public, showing him to be not only a great orator, but perhaps one of the wisest and most principled men ever to occupy the Oval Office.

Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Hilda Roberts Thatcher (Oct. 13, 1925-) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990. Her strict conservative policies, her hard line against trade unions and her tough rhetoric in opposition to the Soviet Union earned her the nickname, the "Iron Lady." Trained as a research chemist, she returned to college to study law and was elected to Parliament in 1959. In 1975 she became the first woman to head a major British political party and the UK's first (and thus far, only) female Prime Minister. In office she set out to reverse Britain’s national decline by loosening government regulations, removing the unions’ grip on industry, denationalizing major industries and withdrawing subsidies to those that could not stand on their own. Faced with an attack on British citizens in the distant Falkland Islands off of the coast of Argentina, she mobilized British forces – destroying the Argentine navy and air forces and defeating its army as she won back the tiny islands and offered the citizens there a choice of whether to be British or Argentina. Recently Prime Minister David Cameron shared his experience of having dinner with her in February 2009, saying she advised him: "You have got to do the right thing even if it is painful. Don't trim or track all over the place. Set your course and take the difficult decisions – because that is what needs to be done.”

Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King

The youngest person ever to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (January 15, 1929-April 4, 1968), led non-violent resistance against the inequities of a “separate-but-equal” society that denied African-Americans voting, housing, education and employment rights a full century after their freedom had been won in the U.S. Civil War. A Baptist preacher, he became the symbol of the civil rights movement – responding to violent resistance with quiet civil disobedience. He took the ideals for his movement from Jesus Christ, but its tactics from Gandhi. Seeking civil rights, he traveled over six million miles and spoke over 2,500 times against injustice. He wrote five books. He led a massive protest in Birmingham, Alabama, that caught the attention of the entire world, providing what he called a “coalition of conscience” and inspiring his classic "Letter from a Birmingham Jail." He organized voting drives in Alabama and directed a march on Washington, D.C., where he delivered his memorable address, "l Have a Dream" on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. He was arrested at least 20 times and beaten by police at least four. He was named Man of the Year by Time magazine in 1963. On the evening of April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of a motel room in Memphis, Tennessee, he was struck down by an assassin’s bullet. Today, his bust is on permanent display in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol and he is honored by a memorial near Lincoln’s in the shadow of Washington Monument.

Mohandas Gandhi

Gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Oct. 2, 1869-Jan. 30, 1948) used non-violent civil disobedience to lead the second most populous nation in the world, India, to independence from the occupying British. Giving up any personal gain or appearance of wealth, the Oxford-educated lawyer began wearing the loincloth of India’s least-respected “Untouchables” – and challenged Indians to refuse to purchase anything from their British occupiers, indeed to spin their own thread and weave their own cloth rather than wear anything made by the British. "There are many causes that I am prepared to die for,” he declared in the middle of the struggle, “but no causes that I am prepared to kill for." On another occasion, after hundreds of unarmed followers had been slain by British gunfire, he wrote: "When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall." When his own followers rioted in the streets among themselves, he went on long fasts – refusing to eat until they reconciled. Controversial until the end, he did not live to see a free India, but was cut down by an assassin’s bullet. Over two million people lined the route of his funeral procession. American journalist Edward R. Murrow observed: “The object of this massive tribute died as he had always lived - a private man without wealth, without property, without official title or office. Mahatma Gandhi was not a commander of great armies nor ruler of vast lands. He could boast no scientific achievements or artistic gift. Yet men, governments and dignitaries from all over the world have joined hands today to pay homage to this little brown man in the loincloth who led his country to freedom. Pope Pius, the Archbishop of Canterbury, President Truman, Chiang Kai-shek, The Foreign Minister of Russia, the President of France are among the millions here and abroad who have lamented his passing. In the words of General George C. Marshall, the American Secretary of State, "Mahatma Gandhi had become the spokesman for the conscience of mankind, a man who made humility and simple truth more powerful than empires." And Albert Einstein added, "Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth."

Anwar Sadat

Anwar Sadat

Muhammad Anwar al-Sadat (Dec. 25, 1918 –Oct. 6, 1981) was the third President of Egypt, serving from Oct. 15, 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers. In his eleven years as president, he led Egypt in the October War of 1973 to re-acquire Egyptian territory lost to Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. Afterwards he was the first Arab leader who dared to sign a treat with Israel, which won him the Nobel Peace Prize but also made him unpopular among some Arab extremists. His childhood hero was Kemal Ataturk, the leader of contemporary Turkey. Sadat admired his ability to overthrow the foreign influence and establish a secular Islamic government. On 6 October 1981, Sadat was assassinated during the annual victory parade held in Cairo to celebrate Egypt's crossing of the Suez Canal. However, he set a precedent – demonstrating that a Muslim leader could engage Israel in peace, then put his nation on a course of prosperity without constant war with its Jewish neighbor.

Stand Watie

Stand Watie

Stand Watie (December 12, 1806 – September 9, 1871), was born Degataga, Cherokee for “Stand Firm,” the son of a successful Georgia plantation and Cherokee, Uwatie. When the family converted to Christianity, the boy took the name Isaac Standhope Watie. He became a writer for his brother’s Cherokee Phoenix newspaper and together they fought against Georgia’s discriminatory laws against Native Americans, but in 1838 saw their family’s holdings in and around Calhoun, Georgia, confiscated when the entire Cherokee Nation was deported to Oklahoma Territory from Georgia on the notorious Trail of Tears – on which 4,000 died. At the outbreak of the War Between the States, bitter against the U.S. government, Watie – who was serving as Principal Chief after Cherokee leader John Ross was captured by Union troops -- was given the rank of brigadier general in the Confederate Army. His Cherokee riflemen fought in more battles west of the Mississippi River than any other force and distinguished themselves at the Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas, as well as the major Confederate victory at Cabin Creek in 1864, capturing a Federal wagon train and $1 million worth of wagons, mules, commissary supplies and ammunition. On June 23, 1865, following the Battle of Doaksville, the undefeated Watie signed a cease-fire agreement, making him the last Confederate general to lay down his arms. He returned home, tried to stay out of politics and died six years later in 1871 – but is remembered as one of the greatest Cherokees ever.

Alexander Dubček

Alexander Dubček

Alexander Dubček (Nov. 27, 1921 – Nov. 7, 1992) was briefly leader of Czechoslovakia (1968-1969). He is famous for his attempt to reform the Communist regime during what is known as the “Prague Spring of 1968.” He was deposed when the Soviet Union sent in tanks to ensure there would be no deviation from party line – and no independent actions on the part of the Czech puppet government. Dubček was born in Czechoslovakia, months after his family returned from living in Chicago, Illinois. During World War II, he was a leader in the anti-Nazi underground resistance then after the war rose through the ranks in Soviet-occupied Czechoslovakia. He became the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia on Jan. 5, 1968, but sought to create "socialism with a human face," loosening the party's grip and trying to eliminate its most repressive features. He mistakenly thought the Kremlin would allow him a free hand as long as Czechoslovakia remained a faithful Soviet ally. However, on August 1968, Soviet tanks seized control and Dubček was taken into Soviet custody. He was forced to resign and was expelled from the Communist party. In 1989 when the Soviets were finally expelled, Dubček appeared with President Václav Havel on a balcony overlooking Prague’s Wenceslas Square and was greeted with uproarious applause. He may have failed in 1968, but he ignited a desire for freedom that the Czechoslovakian people never surrendered to the Soviet occupiers.

Aung San Suu Kyi

Aung San Suu Kyi

Aung San Suu Kyi, (June 19, 1945-) is a Burmese opposition politician, the 1991 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and the daughter of Aung San, considered to be the father of modern-day Burma. He negotiated the nation's independence from the British Empire in 1947. Since the 1980s, she has led a non-violent resistance against Burma’s repressive military regime – and as a result has spent years under house arrest. In the 1990 general election, her National League for Democracy party won 59 percent of the national vote and 81 percent of the seats in Parliament – but Burma’s military dictators chose to ignore the elections. Although she has remained out of public sight for years, she has led a quiet democratic resistance. She received the Andre Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 1990 and the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding by the government of India in 1992. One of her most famous speeches is the "Freedom From Fear" speech, which begins: "It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it." She also believes fear spurs many world leaders to lose sight of their purpose. "Government leaders are amazing", she once said. "So often it seems they are the last to know what the people want."