Le Beau, (Jacques) Georges (b. March 11, 1879, Gien, Loiret, France - d. March 9, 1962, Ch穰eauroux, Indre, France), governor-general of Algeria (1935-40). He was also prefect of the French d駱artements of Creuse (1921-24), Vienne (1924), Oise (1926-34), and Seine-Inf駻ieure (1934-35).
Le Boucher, Adolphe (Ernest Auguste) (b. Oct. 8, 1837, Caen, Calvados, France - d. [suicide] Feb. 1, 1896, Toulouse, France), acting governor of Senegal (1883) and governor of New Caledonia (1884-86) and Guadeloupe (1886-91).
Le Bourdon, Raymond (Joseph Marie) (b. March 18, 1861 - d. Sept. 22, 1937), minister of state of Monaco (1919-23). He was also prefect of the French d駱artements of Manche (1911-13), Indre-et-Loire (1913-19), and Marne (1919).
Le Breton, David (Francis Battye) (b. March 2, 1931, London, England - d. Jan. 18, 2023), commissioner of Anguilla (1974-78). He was also British high commissioner to The Gambia (1981-84).
Le Breton (Ibarguren), Tom疽 Alberto (b. March 20, 1868, Buenos Aires, Argentina - d. Feb. 17, 1959, Buenos Aires), acting foreign minister of Argentina (1922). He was also minister to the United States (1919-22), agriculture minister (1922-25), and ambassador to France (1930-38) and the United Kingdom (1938-42).
Le Cardinal, L駮nce Pierre Henri (b. March 9, 1830, Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe - d. ...), governor of French Guiana (1885-87).
Le Cheminant, Sir Peter (de Lacey) (b. June 17, 1920, Guernsey - d. April 8, 2018, Guernsey), lieutenant governor of Guernsey (1980-85); knighted 1972.
Le Clos, Alexandre Marie (b. Aug. 15, 1828, Saint-Andr?, ホle Bourbon [now R騏nion] - d. ...), interim commandant of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon (1868-69) and commandant of Nossi-B? (1872-73).
Le Cocq, Sir Timothy (John) (b. Dec. 9, 1956, Jersey), bailiff of Jersey (2019- ); knighted 2022.
Le Cornec, Jacques (Jean Louis) (b. Nov. 29, 1927, Fleury-sur-Andelle, Eure, France - d. Sept. 1, 2022, Quimper, Finist鑽e, France), prefect of Guadeloupe (1973-75). He was also prefect of Orne d駱artement (1975-79).
Le Couriault du Quilio, Antoine Louis (Marie) (b. May 29, 1815, Quimper, Finist鑽e, France - d. Sept. 9, 1877), commandant of the Naval Division of the Western Coasts of Africa (1872-74).
Le Despencer, Francis Dashwood, (11th) Baron (b. December 1708, London, England - d. Dec. 11, 1781, West Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England), British chancellor of the exchequer (1762-63). He succeeded as (2nd) Baronet in 1724 and as Baron Le Despencer in 1763.
Le Direach, Jean (Julien ノmile) (b. June 25, 1924, Choisy-le-Roi, Seine [now in Val-de-Marne], France - d. Nov. 10, 2003, Marseille, France), prefect of French Guiana (1977-80).
Le Divellec, Jean-Marie (b. Jan. 19, 1853, Vannes, Morbihan, France - d. Dec. 13, 1896, Vannes), acting commissioner-general of French Congo (1894).
Le Fl?, Adolphe Charles (Emmanuel) (b. Nov. 2, 1804, Lesneven, Finist鑽e, France - d. Nov. 16, 1887, Nec'hoat castle, near Morlaix, Finist鑽e), war minister of France (1870-71). He was also minister (1848-49) and ambassador (1871-79) to Russia.
Le Fol, Aristide (b. Dec. 31, 1838, Quimperl?, Finist鑽e, France - d. 1923), interim commandant (1886) and interim governor (1887-88) of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon and acting governor of New Caledonia (1896-97).
Le Franc, Louis (b. Oct. 15, 1960, Loud饌c, C?tes-du-Nord [now C?tes-d'Armor], France), high commissioner of New Caledonia (2005 [acting], 2023- ; secretary-general of New Caledonia 2004-06). He was also prefect of the French d駱artements of Haute-Corse (2011-13), Aude (2013-15), Indre-et-Loire (2015-17), Oise (2017-20), and Pas-de-Calais (2020-22).
Le Gallen, Maurice (Joseph) (b. Nov. 20, 1873, Tr馮uier, C?tes-du-Nord, France - d. Jan. 28, 1955), acting resident-superior of Cambodia (1914), resident-superior of Tonkin (1915-16), and governor of Cochinchina (1916-21).
le Grange, Louis (b. Aug. 16, 1928, Ladybrand, Orange Free State [now Free State], South Africa - d. Oct. 26, 1991, Potchefstroom, North West, South Africa), South African politician. He was minister of public works and tourism (1978-79), police (1979-82), and law and order (1982-86) and speaker of the House of Assembly (1987-91).
Le Hoai Trung (b. April 27, 1961, Hanoi, North Vietnam), Vietnamese diplomat. He was permanent representative to the United Nations (2011-14).
Le Hunte, Sir George Ruthven (b. Aug. 20, 1852, Artramont, County Wexford, Ireland - d. Jan. 29, 1925, Crowborough, Sussex, England), president of Dominica (1887-94), lieutenant governor of British New Guinea (1899-1903), and governor of South Australia (1903-09) and Trinidad and Tobago (1909-16); knighted 1903.
Le Jeune, Jules (Ange Ladislas) (b. May 5, 1828, Luxembourg, Luxembourg - d. Feb. 18, 1911, Brussels, Belgium), justice minister of Belgium (1887-94).
Le Kha Phieu (b. Dec. 27, 1931, Dong Khe, Dong Son district, Thanh Hoa province, Annam [now in Vietnam] - d. Aug. 7, 2020, Hanoi, Vietnam), general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (1997-2001). He joined the army in 1948. During the war against the French in the early 1950s and during the 1960s he held a series of political posts in the North Vietnamese army. In 1974, near the end of the Vietnam War, he was appointed the head of the political office of the second Army Corps. He was deputy commander of Vietnam's forces in 1984-88 during the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia. His appointment in 1991 as head of the army's general political section was viewed as a move to keep firm ideological control over a Communist country undergoing rapid economic and social reforms. He was also tasked with helping the military adapt to financial cutbacks and a depletion of manpower from the million-strong army of the late 1980s to around 570,000 people. In a tough 1993 commentary in the Quan Doi Nhan Dan army daily he urged soldiers to be on guard against efforts by "imperialists" to foment unrest, destroy socialism, and depoliticize the army. He was elected to the powerful Politburo in January 1994 and was then running the day-to-day affairs of the party. At a Communist Party congress in 1996 he was one of only two people from outside the leadership troika to be appointed to the politburo's inner Standing Board - an elite grouping of the country's most powerful individuals. In the months that followed that meeting he succeeded in consolidating his power and his hopes of elevation to the country's leadership. When he became general secretary in 1997, he was seen as the most conservative member of the new troika. He failed to be reelected in 2001, ostensibly because of his age.Le Layec, Paul (Hippolyte Julien Marie) (b. Jan. 19, 1901, S駭?, Morbihan, France - d. Aug. 26, 1965, S駭?), acting governor of Chad (1949) and governor of Middle Congo (1950-52).
Le Luong Minh (b. Sept. 1, 1952, Thanh Hoa, North Vietnam [now in Vietnam]), secretary-general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (2013-18). He was also Vietnamese permanent representative to the United Nations (2004-11).
Le Maire, Bruno (Marie Maurice) (b. April 15, 1969, Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France), economy minister of France (2017-24). He was also minister of agriculture, food, and fish (2009-12) and rurality and regional planning (2010-12).
Le Maitre, Alexandre (Charles) (b. Dec. 11, 1836, Locmin?, Morbihan, France - d. ...), commandant of Nossi-B? (1883-86).
Le Marchant, Sir John Gaspard (b. 1803, England - d. Feb. 6, 1874, London, England), governor of Newfoundland (1847-52), Nova Scotia (1852-58), and Malta (1858-64); knighted 1838.
Le Masurier, Sir Robert Hugh (b. Dec. 29, 1913, St. Helier, Jersey - d. July 30, 1996, Oaklands Manor, Jersey), bailiff of Jersey (1962-74); knighted 1966.
Le Mesurier, Sir Havilland (b. June 22, 1866 - d. April 7, 1931), acting governor of Bihar and Orissa (1921-22); knighted 1922.
Le Minh Khai (b. Dec. 10, 1964, Bac Lieu province, South Vietnam [now in Vietnam]), a deputy prime minister of Vietnam (2021- ). He was also secretary of the party committee of Bac Lieu province (2015-17) and inspector-general of the government (2017-21).
Le Myre de Vilers, Charles (Marie) (b. Feb. 17, 1833, Vend?me, Loir-et-Cher, France - d. March 9, 1918, Paris, France), governor of Cochinchina (1879-82) and resident-general of Madagascar (1886-88, 1894-95). He was also prefect of the d駱artements of Alger (1869-70) and Haute-Vienne (1873-77) and minister to Siam (1893-94).
Le Pelletier, Fran輟is (Louis ノmile) (b. Dec. 22, 1826, Villedieu [now part of Villedieu-les-Po麝es-Rouffigny], Manche, France - d. Aug. 13, 1900, Paris, France), justice minister of France (1877).
Le Pen, Jean-Marie (Louis) (b. June 20, 1928, La Trinit?-sur-Mer, Morbihan, France - d. Jan. 7, 2025, Garches, Hauts-de-Seine, France), French politician. His political career began at the end of 1955. A volunteer in the parachute regiment, he had just returned from Indochina when he met Pierre Poujade, who needed associates to help lead his far right-wing movement of tradesmen and skilled workers. Le Pen, at the age of 27, was selected as a "Poujadist" candidate and in January 1956 was elected in Paris to become the youngest member of the National Assembly. A born activist, Le Pen was not averse to a brawl at a public meeting and never missed an uproar in the Assembly. He re-enlisted in Algeria and took part in military operations there in 1956 and 1957 before being expelled from Algiers because he was considered a liability by those who planned to establish an "Alg駻ie fran軋ise." In 1972 he formed the National Front (FN), which was launched to the fore of the French political scene by the European Parliament elections on June 17, 1984, unfurling anew the banner of the neofascist right at a time when all other French parties were losing ground. The FN made no secret of its xenophobia and added a racist odour to its neo-Poujadist slant. It gained 11% of the vote overall; in Paris, which had for some time been shifting to the right, the party got more than 15%; and in Lyon it reached 17%. Legislative elections in 1986 and the presidential elections of 1988 and 1995 confirmed his hold, Le Pen's party consistently getting some 15% of the vote. In 1987 he called Nazi gas chambers "a detail of World War II history," a remark for which he was fined in court. His biggest success came in the 2002 presidential election, when he came in second with 17%, edging out Socialist Lionel Jospin; however, he could not improve on this result in the runoff against Jacques Chirac. In 2007 he polled only 10%. He retired from the party leadership in 2011 and was succeeded by his daughter Marine.Le Pen, Marine, original name Marion Anne Perrine Le Pen (b. Aug. 5, 1968, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France), French politician; daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen. She took over leadership of the National Front from her father in 2011, but sharply broke with him in 2015 after she moved the party somewhat away from its extreme-right position, particularly as far as anti-Semitism was concerned, and successfully made it an option to wider sections of the electorate. In the 2012 presidential elections she won only 18% of the vote, coming third, but in 2017 she placed second with 21%, then lost to centrist Emmanuel Macron in the runoff, winning 34%. Though this was the expected outcome, there had been serious worries about the possibility of another right-populist upset following the U.K. "Brexit" vote and Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. in 2016. In 2015 she had won 42% in the second-round vote as candidate for president of the Regional Council of Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie. In the 2017 parliamentary election, she won a seat for herself, and her party took a total of 8 seats, an improvement on the 2 seats at most that it previously won under the present (non-proportional) electoral system. In 2018 she renamed the party National Rally (RN) in a further attempt to shed the baggage associated with her father. In the 2022 presidential election, she again came second to Macron, with 23% (despite the presence in the race of another prominent far-right candidate, ノric Zemmour), and again lost the runoff, but this time won 41.5% of the vote. Some polls had put her even higher, so that there was much relief at the result in the West, where her victory would have shaken the united front against Russia in the Ukraine war, given that she had previously supported (and been supported by) Russian president Vladimir Putin. Later in 2022 she gave up the RN leadership to focus on leading the party's group in parliament.
Le Quang Dao, original name (until 1941) Nguyen Duc Nguyen (b. Aug. 8, 1921, Dinh Bang commune, Tien Son district [now part of Tu Son town], Bac Ninh province, Tonkin [now in Vietnam] - d. July 24, 1999, Hanoi, Vietnam), a vice chairman of the State Council of Vietnam (1987-92). He was also chairman of the National Assembly (1987-92).
Le Rougetel, Sir John (Helier) (b. June 19, 1894 - d. Jan. 3, 1975), high commissioner for Southern Africa (1951-55); knighted 1946. He was also British ambassador to Iran (1946-50) and Belgium (1950-51).
Le Roux, Bruno (b. May 2, 1965, Gennevilliers, Seine [now in Hauts-de-Seine], France), interior minister of France (2016-17).
Le Roux, Pieter Mattheus Kruger (b. Nov. 11, 1904, Doornkraal farm, near De Rust, Cape Colony [now in Western Cape, South Africa] - d. June 23, 1985, Wilderness, Cape province [now in Western Cape], South Africa), interior minister of South Africa (1966-68). He was also minister of agricultural technical services and water affairs (1958-66).
Le Royer, Philippe (ノlie) (b. June 27, 1816, Geneva, Switzerland - d. Feb. 22, 1897, Paris, France), justice minister of France (1879). He was also president of the Senate (1882-93).
Le Thanh Long (b. Sept. 23, 1963, Quang Xuong district [in present Sam Son city], Thanh Hoa province, North Vietnam [now in Vietnam]), justice minister of Vietnam (2016- ).
Le Thanh Nghi, original name Nguyen Khac Xung (b. March 6, 1911, Thuong Coc village, Gia Loc district, Hai Hung province, Tonkin [now in Hai Duong province, Vietnam] - d. Aug. 16, 1989, Hanoi, Vietnam), a deputy premier of (North) Vietnam (1960-81). He was also chairman of the State Committee for Construction (1963-64) and the State Planning Committee (1974-80) and a vice chairman of the State Council (1981-86).
Le Theule, Jo?l (b. March 22, 1930, Sabl?-sur-Sarthe, Sarthe, France - d. Dec. 14, 1980, Saint-Brice, Mayenne, France), French defense minister (1980). He was also minister of overseas departments and territories (1968) and transports (1978-80).
Le Tocq, Jonathan (Paul) (b. March 1964), chief minister (2014-16) and external affairs minister (2016- ) of Guernsey.
Le Troquer, Andr? (Lucien Alexandre) (b. Oct. 27, 1884, Paris, France - d. Nov. 11, 1963, Andilly, Seine-et-Oise [now in Val-d'Oise], France), Free French commissioner for war and air (1943-44) and French interior minister (1946) and defense minister (1946-47). He was also president of the National Assembly (1954-55, 1956-58).
Le Van Bang (b. June 30, 1947, Ninh Binh province, North Vietnam [now in Vietnam]), Vietnamese diplomat. He was acting permanent representative to the United Nations (1993-95) and charg? d'affaires (1995-97) and ambassador (1997-2001) to the United States.
Le Van Hien (b. Sept. 15, 1904, Phuoc Ninh commune [now part of Da Nang city], Annam [now in Vietnam] - d. Nov. 15, 1997, Hanoi, Vietnam), finance minister of North Vietnam (1946-58). He was also minister of labour (1945-46) and ambassador to Laos (1962-76).
Le Van Thanh (b. Oct. 20, 1962, Haiphong, North Vietnam [now in Vietnam] - d. Aug. 22, 2023, Haiphong), a deputy prime minister of Vietnam (2021-23). He was also mayor (2014-16) and secretary of the party committee (2015-21) of Haiphong.
Le V駘y, Cyrille (b. Nov. 14, 1964, Port-Gentil, Gabon), prefect of Saint-Barth駘emy and Saint-Martin (2025- ).
Le Vinh Tan (b. July 2, 1958, Vinh Long province [in present Dong Thap province], South Vietnam [now in Vietnam]), interior minister of Vietnam (2016-21). He was also chairman of the People's Committee (2010) and secretary of the party committee (2010-14) of Dong Thap province.
Lea, Albert M(iller) (b. July 23, 1808, Richland, Tenn. - d. Jan. 15, 1891, Corsicana, Texas), acting U.S. secretary of war (1841). The town of Albert Lea, Minn., is named after him.
Lea, Preston (b. Nov. 12, 1841, Wilmington, Del. - d. Dec. 4, 1916, New Castle, Del.), governor of Delaware (1905-09).
Leader, George M(ichael) (b. Jan. 17, 1918, near York, Pa. - d. May 9, 2013, Hershey, Pa.), governor of Pennsylvania (1955-59).
Leahy, William D(aniel) (b. May 6, 1875, Hampton, Iowa - d. July 20, 1959, Bethesda, Md.), U.S. chief of naval operations (1937-39) and chief of staff to the commander in chief (1942-49) and governor of Puerto Rico (1939-40). He was also ambassador to France (1940-42).
Leake, Walter (b. May 25, 1762, Albemarle county, Va. - d. Nov. 17, 1825, Mt. Salus [now Clinton], Miss.), governor of Mississippi (1822-25).
Leakin, Sheppard C(hurch) (b. 1790 - d. Nov. 20, 1867), mayor of Baltimore (1838-40).
Leal, Aurelino de Ara?jo (b. Aug. 4, 1877, Rio de Contas, Bahia, Brazil - d. June 8, 1924, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), federal interventor in Rio de Janeiro (1923).
Leal, Felippe Jos? Pereira (b. Aug. 27, 1812, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - d. Aug. 13, 1880, S縊 Salvador da Bahia [now Salvador], Brazil), president of Esp?rito Santo (1849-51). He was also Brazilian charg? d'affaires in the United States (1847-49), Paraguay (1852-55), Venezuela, New Granada, and Ecuador (1855-59), Spain (1859-61), Chile (1861-62), and Italy (1862-63) and minister to Argentina (1863-67), Venezuela (1867-69), Peru (1869-75), Paraguay (1875-76), and Chile (1876-78).
Leal, Francisco Adalberto de Oliveira Barros (b. Jan. 23, 1925, Baturit?, Cear?, Brazil - d. Dec. 22, 1995), acting governor of Cear? (1994).
Leal, Francisco Pinto da Cunha (b. Aug. 22, 1888, Pedr?g縊, Penamacor concelho, Castelo Branco district, Portugal - d. April 26, 1970, Lisbon, Portugal), finance minister (1920-21, 1923) and prime minister and interior minister (1921-22) of Portugal.
Leal, Jo縊 da Silva (b. Sept. 10, 1879, Juc疽, Cear?, Brazil - d. Jan. 29, 1963, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), acting federal interventor in Cear? (1931).
Leal, Jo縊 de Deus Pires (b. Jan. 22, 1890, S縊 Bernardo, Maranh縊, Brazil - d. May 24, 1975, Teresina, Piau?, Brazil), governor of Piau? (1928-30).
Leal, Luiz Francisco da Camara (b. July 27, 1822, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - d. Dec. 6, 1878, Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, Brazil), acting president of Paran? (1859).
Leal, Newton Estillac (b. Aug. 6, 1893, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - d. May 1, 1955, Rio de Janeiro), war minister of Brazil (1951-52).
Leal, Paulo Nunes (b. July 1, 1916, Carangola, Minas Gerais, Brazil - d. April 27, 2003, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), governor of Guapor?/Rond?nia (1954-55, 1958-61).
Leal, Walfredo Soares dos Santos (b. Feb. 21, 1855, Areia, Para?ba, Brazil - d. June 30, 1942, Jo縊 Pessoa, Para?ba), acting president of Para?ba (1905-08).
Leal Labr?n, Antonio (b. Jan. 10, 1950, Santiago, Chile - d. Nov. 17, 2021, Santiago), Chilean politician. He was secretary-general of the Democratic Participation of the Left (1991-94) and president of the Chamber of Deputies (2006-07).
Leal Puche, Bernardo (Alfonso) (b. Aug. 30, 1932), defense minister of Venezuela (1981-82).
Leal Torres, Homero (Ignacio) (b. Feb. 1, 1923, Los Teques, Miranda, Venezuela), defense minister of Venezuela (1974-76). He was also general commander of the army (1971-73).
Lealofi, Tupua Tamasese, IV (b. May 8, 1922, Apia, Samoa - d. July 1, 1983), prime minister and foreign minister of Western Samoa (1970-73, 1975-76). He was also minister of justice (1973-75) and internal affairs, district affairs, labour, and police and prisons (1975-76).
Leandro, Jos? (Eduardo Martinho) Garcia (b. 1940?, Luanda, Angola), governor of Macau (1974-79).
Leandro Mora, Reinaldo (b. May 23, 1920, La Guaira, Venezuela - d. Nov. 4, 2013, Caracas, Venezuela), interior minister of Venezuela (1966-69). He was also education minister (1961-64), ambassador to the Vatican (1964-66), and president of Congress (1984-89).
Leane, Edwin Thomas (b. Aug. 25, 1867, Prospect, Adelaide, South Australia - d. Aug. 27, 1928, Camberwell, Melbourne, Vic.), administrator of Norfolk Island (1924-26).
Leanza, Vincenzo (b. Dec. 3, 1932, Cesar?, Sicilia, Italy - d. April 7, 2004, Palermo, Sicilia), president of Sicilia (1991-92, 2000-01).
Le縊, Agostinho Ermelino de (b. March 25, 1834, Paranagu?, S縊 Paulo [now in Paran畩, Brazil - d. June 28, 1901, Curitiba, Paran?), acting president of Paran? (1866, 1869, 1870, 1875).
Le縊, Antonio da Rocha Fernandes (b. 1840 - d. June 16?, 1909, Sapucaia, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), president of Rio de Janeiro (1886-88).
Le縊, Humberto de Areia (b. May 30, 1890, Piau?, Brazil - d. 1957), federal interventor in Piau? (1930-31); son of Raymundo de Ar鸞 Le縊; brother-in-law of Matias Ol?mpio de Melo.
Le縊, Joaquim Ant縊 Fernandes (b. Jan. 17, 1809, Queluz [now Conselheiro Lafaiete], Minas Gerais, Brazil - d. April 11, 1887), president of Rio Grande do Sul (1859-61) and Bahia (1861-62). He was also Brazilian minister of navy (1848) and agriculture, commerce, and public works (1868-70).
Le縊, Manoel do Rego Barros Souza (b. June 7, 1840, Pernambuco province [now state], Brazil - d. July 31, 1882, Recife, Pernambuco), president of Piau? (1870-72).
Le縊, Polycarpo Lopes de (b. Feb. 26, 1814, S縊 Salvador da Bahia [now Salvador], Bahia, Brazil - d. Sept. 4, 1882, S縊 Lu?s, Maranh縊, Brazil), president of S縊 Paulo (1860) and Rio de Janeiro (1863-64).
Le縊, Raymundo de Ar鸞 (b. May 7, 1846, Taboca [now part of Alto Long畩, Piau?, Brazil - d. Jan. 10, 1904, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), acting president of Piau? (1885).
Leary, Richard P(hillips) (b. Nov. 3, 1842, Baltimore, Md. - d. Dec. 27, 1901, Chelsea, Mass.), governor of Guam (1899-1900).
Leatham, Sir Ralph (b. March 3, 1886, Wakefield, Yorkshire, England - d. March 10, 1954, Lymington, Hampshire, England), governor of Bermuda (1946-49); knighted 1942.
Leather, Sir Edwin (Hartley Cameron), byname Ted Leather (b. May 22, 1919, Toronto, Ont. - d. April 5, 2005, Paget, Bermuda), governor of Bermuda (1973-77); knighted 1962.
Leavitt, Mike, byname of Michael Okerlund Leavitt (b. Feb. 11, 1951, Cedar City, Utah), governor of Utah (1993-2003). A Republican, he managed the campaigns of two-term governor Norman Bangerter and Sen. Jake Garn. Leavitt won the 1992 Republican convention and primary 56%-44% over Richard Eyre, who backed a 1,200ドル school choice voucher. Leavitt had his own Strategic Plan for Education reform plan and opposed vouchers. In the general, liberal Democrat Stewart Hanson ran third, with only 23%; second was explosives manufacturer and anti-tax crusader Merrill Cook, with 34%; Leavitt won with 42%. "The foundation of prosperity is goodness not government," Leavitt said in his 1995 State of the State address. He called for tax cuts, but also wanted to build new highways and spend money on schools in poor areas, to cope with Utah's growth and its small criminal underclass. He pushed activist programs with catchy labels, like the 1994 Healthprint insurance reforms and a 120ドル million, seven-year Technology 2000 initiative. Leavitt, chairman of the Republican Governors Association in 1995, was a strong partisan of balancing the federal budget and devolving powers to the states. With a healthy state economy and the state's Republican proclivities, Leavitt was reelected in 1996, defeating former Salt Lake City commissioner Jim Bradley 75%-23%. But as the 2000 election approached he was embroiled in controversy, often with members of his own party; his moderate gun-control measures infuriated conservatives and he also vetoed a bill substituting abstinence advocacy for sex education. He defeated Glen Davis in the Republican primary and then won 56%-42% over Democrat William H. Orton. In 2003-05 he was administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and in 2005-09 secretary of health and human services.Lebatt, Mohamed El Hacen Ould (b. July 25, 1953, Mauritania), foreign minister of Mauritania (1997-98). He was also ambassador to Ethiopia (2003-05) and South Africa (2005-07).
Lebeau, (Jean Louis) Joseph (b. Jan. 3, 1794, Huy, Bishopric of Li馮e [now in Li鑒e province, Belgium] - d. March 19, 1865, Huy), cabinet chief of Belgium (1832-34, 1840-41). He was also foreign minister (1831, 1840-41), justice minister (1832-34), governor of Namur (1834-40), and minister to the German Confederation (1839-40).
Lebed, Aleksandr (Ivanovich) (b. April 20, 1950, Novocherkassk, Rostov oblast, Russian S.F.S.R. - d. April 28, 2002, Abakan, Khakassia, Russia), Russian politician. In 1981-82 he commanded a paratroop battalion in Afghanistan, for which he was decorated as a Hero of the Soviet Union. He later became a critic of the Afghan war. In 1991, he refused to lead his troops against Russian president Boris Yeltsin during the attempted coup against Soviet Pres. Mikhail Gorbachev. In 1992 he was made commander of the Russian 14th Army, stationed in the Transdniester area of Moldova in support of ethnic Russians there. In 1995, after he had denounced Defense Minister Pavel Grachev's policies, Lieutenant General Lebed was forced to resign from the army. He won a seat in the Russian parliament in the December 1995 elections. In 1996 he campaigned for the presidency; his authoritarian, sometimes anti-West rhetoric appealed to many Russians, and he ran a strong third in the first round (June 16), winning 14.5% of the votes. On June 18, Yeltsin named him secretary of the Security Council and national security adviser. Thus co-opting his support, Yeltsin was able to win the second round of presidential voting against the Communist candidate. A number of top-ranking military officials (including Grachev) were fired, and in August he was handed responsibility for dealing with the situation in Chechnya. He met with both the Chechen separatists and the Russian military commanders, and by the end of the month he had negotiated a ceasefire. On October 17 Yeltsin dismissed Lebed again, saying that he was not a team player. In May 1998 he was elected governor of Krasnoyarsk kray. He died after his Mi-8 helicopter crashed near Abakan after it hit a power line.
Lebed, Dmitry (Zakharovich) (b. Feb. 21 [Feb. 9, O.S.], 1893, Yeletsko-Nikolayevka, Yekaterinoslav province, Russia - d. [executed] Oct. 30, 1937), Soviet politician. He was people's commissar of workers' and peasants' inspection of the Ukrainian S.S.R. (1924-25) and first deputy premier of the Russian S.F.S.R. (1930-37).
Lebedev, Ivan (Kononovich) (b. 1907, Bolshaya Sadovka, Penza province [now in Penza oblast], Russia - d. Nov. 24, 1972, Moscow, Russian S.F.S.R.), Soviet politician. He was first secretary of the party committees of Penza (1949-52) and Omsk (1952-55) oblasti and Stavropol kray (1956-60) and first deputy premier of the Russian S.F.S.R. (1955-56).
Lebedev, Pavlo (Valentynovych) (b. July 12, 1962, Novomikhailovsky, Krasnodar kray, Russian S.F.S.R.), defense minister of Ukraine (2012-14).
Lebedev, Sergey (Nikolayevich) (b. April 9, 1948, Uzbek S.S.R.), director of the External Intelligence Service of Russia (2000-07) and executive secretary of the Commonwealth of Independent States (2007- ).
Lebedev, Yury (Isakovich) (b. June 30, 1951), acting governor of Nizhny Novgorod oblast (1997). He was also mayor of Nizhny Novgorod (1998-2002).
Leber, Georg (b. Oct. 7, 1920, Obertiefenbach, Prussia [now part of Beselich, Hessen], Germany - d. Aug. 21, 2012, Sch?nau am K?nigssee, Bayern, Germany), defense minister of West Germany (1972-78). He was also minister of transportation (1966-72) and post and communications (1969-72).
Leber, Walter P(hilip) (b. Sept. 12, 1918, St. Louis, Mo. - d. Aug. 3, 2009, Palm City, Fla.), governor of the Panama Canal Zone (1967-71). He was commissioned second lieutenant, U.S. Army, in 1941, and advanced through grades to major general in 1967. He was assigned to the Office of the Chief Engineer and advanced to Secretary of Communication Zone, European Theater of Operation, from 1942 to 1946. He was appointed at the Manhattan Engineer District at Oak Ridge from 1946 to 1947, assigned Chief of Technical Division of Military Liaison Command from 1947 to 1949, assistant district engineer of the Executive Officer at Seattle and Walla Walla district from 1949 to 1950, assigned general staff of logistics department of the Army from 1951 to 1955, and was engineer of the 8th U.S. Army in Korea from 1956 to 1957. Leber was appointed executive officer of the Office of the Chief Engineer of the U.S. Army from 1958 to 1961. He was lieutenant governor of the Panama Canal Company from 1961 to 1963, assigned division engineer of the Army Engineer Division in Ohio River from 1963 to 1966, and was director of civil engineering at the Office of Chief Engineer of the U.S. Army in Washington from 1966 to 1967. Under his tenure as governor of the Panama Canal Zone, the studies of the Interoceanic Canal were initiated in 1970 to determine the feasibility for the construction of a sea-level canal; and the completion of the Gaillard Cut widening program in 1970 marked the end of a major improvement project designed to provide safer transit through the Canal. After his term as governor, Leber went to the United States Safeguard anti-ballistic missile system in Washington, D.C.
LeBlanc, Dominic (b. Dec. 14, 1967, Ottawa, Ont.), finance minister of Canada (2024-25); son of Rom駮 LeBlanc. He has also been minister of fisheries, oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard (2016-18), intergovernmental and Northern affairs (2018-19), international trade (2018-19, 2025- ), intergovernmental affairs (2020- ), infrastructure and communities (2021-23), public safety (2023-24), and democratic institutions (2023-24).
LeBlanc, Edward Oliver (b. Oct. 3, 1923, Vieille Case, Dominica - d. Oct. 29, 2004, Vieille Case), chief minister (1961-67) and premier (1967-74) of Dominica. He joined the Dominica Labour Party in 1957. He was also a member of the Trinidad-based government of the Federation of the West Indies in 1960 and was first elected to the Dominica House of Assembly in 1961, as political leader of his party. He became chief minister in the British colony, and when the island was granted internal self-government in 1967, became premier. He championed the cause of the rural poor "little man," a term he often used that has endured as a political catchphrase of the Labour Party. He was the island's only political leader to have contested three elections in three different constituencies and won. Some mused that if he "dressed up a broomstick" and asked voters to vote for that broomstick, they would. To the surprise of many, he retired in 1974 at age 50. He gave no reason and took no further part in public life and refused to give interviews.
LeBlanc, Rom駮 (Adrien) (b. Dec. 18, 1927, L'Anse-aux-Cormier, Memramcook, N.B. - d. June 24, 2009, Grande Digue, N.B.), governor general of Canada (1995-99). He served as press secretary to Lester B. Pearson in 1967-68 and to Pierre Elliott Trudeau in 1968-71. First elected to the House of Commons in 1972 representing Westmorland-Kent, N.B., LeBlanc served for ten years as a minister of the crown. He held the portfolios of minister of state (fisheries) (1974-76), minister of fisheries and the environment (1976-79), minister of fisheries and oceans (1980-82), and minister of public works and minister responsible for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and the National Capital Commission (1982-84). Between 1974 and 1984, he made official visits to the U.S.S.R. (twice), Poland, Cuba, the EEC, the United Kingdom, and France. He was also a member of the delegation to the United Nations Law of the Sea Conference from 1974 to 1979. In addition, LeBlanc served on the following cabinet committees: External Affairs and Economic Affairs (1974-82); Communications (1974-84; chairman 1976-81); Priorities and Planning (1975-84); and Social Affairs (1982-84). LeBlanc was summoned to the Senate of Canada on June 29, 1984. While a senator, he was a member of the Canada-France Parliamentary Association and the International Association of French-speaking Parliamentarians. He also served on the following Senate committees: Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration (1984-93; chairman 1989-93); Foreign Affairs (1986-94); and the Sub-Committee on Security and National Defence (1992-94). He was appointed speaker of the Senate on Dec. 7, 1993. In 1995 he became Canada's 25th governor general. He was the first person from Canada's Atlantic Provinces and the first Acadian to hold the post.
Leboeuf, Edmond (b. Dec. 5, 1809, Paris, France - d. June 7, 1888, Bailleul, Orne, France), war minister of France (1869-70).
Lebranchu, Marylise, n馥 Perrault (b. April 25, 1947, Loud饌c, C?tes-du-Nord [now C?tes-d'Armor], France), justice minister of France (2000-02). She was also minister of civil service, reform of the state, and decentralization (2012-16).
Lebret, Georges (b. Nov. 7, 1853, Etampes, Seine-et-Oise [now in Essonne], France - d. Jan. 17, 1927, Paris, France), justice minister of France (1898-99). He was also mayor of Caen (1892-96).
Lebrun, Albert (Fran輟is) (b. Aug. 29, 1871, Mercy-le-Haut, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France - d. March 6, 1950, Paris, France), president of France (1932-40). He was elected deputy from Meurthe-et-Moselle in 1900, and in 1905 became president of his departmental conseil g駭駻al, retaining this office until 1932. He was minister of colonies (1911-13, 1913-14), war (1913), blockade (1917-18), and liberated regions (1917-19). He was made senator in 1920 and was vice president (1925-29) and president (1931-32) of the Senate. A moderate conservative, he was elected president of the republic on May 10, 1932, largely as a compromise candidate acceptable to all factions. In his role as mediator and as a symbol of unity, he easily adapted to governments of both the right and the left, rarely exerting political influence on cabinet appointments or policy. On April 15, 1939, he was reelected (sharing this distinction with only one other Third Republic president, Jules Gr騅y). When Germany successfully invaded France early in World War II, he was among those who urged the removal of the government to North Africa but ultimately complied with the cabinet's decisions of June 1940 that led to the armistice with Germany. When, at Vichy on July 10, 1940, the National Assembly by 569 votes to 80, with 18 abstentions, accorded full powers to Marshal Philippe P騁ain, who on the following day, by a sort of coup d'騁at, proclaimed himself chief of state, Lebrun, without resigning formally, and without protest, retired to Vizille near Grenoble. In 1943 he was interned by the Germans at Itter in Tirol. As the Allies liberated France in 1944, he acknowledged Gen. Charles de Gaulle as head of the provisional government, ending his own political career.
Lecca, Dimitrie (b. Dec. 2, 1832, Tecuci, Moldavia [now in Romania] - d. July 4, 1888, Radomiresti, Bacau county, Romania), war minister of Romania (1866, 1879-80). He was also chairman of the Assembly of Deputies (1882-83, 1883-88).
Leche, Richard W(ebster) (b. May 17, 1898, New Orleans, La. - d. Feb. 22, 1965, New Orleans), governor of Louisiana (1936-39).
L馗helle, Honor? (Henry) (b. March 27, 1827, Fort-de-France, Martinique - d. ...), commandant of Nossi-B? (1873-74).
Lech?n Su疵ez, Juan (b. March 8, 1921, Cochabamba, Bolivia), Bolivian official. He was ambassador to the United Kingdom and the Netherlands (1969-74) and minister of planning and coordination (1974-78).
Lechuga Hevia, Carlos (b. Feb. 28, 1918, Havana, Cuba - d. April 1, 2009, Havana), Cuban diplomat. He was ambassador to Chile (1959), Mexico (1962), and Portugal (1981-83) and permanent representative to the United Nations (1962-66).
Leclerc, Charles Victor Emmanuel (b. March 17, 1772, Pontoise [now in Val-d'Oise d駱artement], France - d. Nov. 2, 1802, Cap-Fran軋is, Saint-Domingue [now Cap-Ha?tien, Haiti]), governor-general of Saint-Domingue (1802); brother-in-law of Napol駮n I. He joined the army in 1791 and distinguished himself at the siege of Toulon (1793). It was in this campaign that he met Napol駮n, who developed a great affection for him; Leclerc would serve Napol駮n faithfully for the rest of his life. He was promoted to general after duty in Napol駮n's Italian campaign. The relationship was further strengthened by his marriage (1797) to Napol駮n's sister, Pauline. He played a decisive role in the coup of 18 Brumaire (1799) that brought Napol駮n to power. He proved his abilities as a general in Germany (1800) and commanded the French expedition to Portugal (1801). Leclerc was then sent by Napol駮n to subdue the rebellion in Saint-Domingue. Accompanied by 23,000 French troops, he landed there in February 1802 and soon took possession of most of the island and made peace with the rebel leaders Henry Christophe, Toussaint-Louverture, and Jean-Jacques Dessalines. But he broke the agreement when, on Napol駮n's secret instructions, he captured Toussaint-Louverture and sent him to France. This treachery and Napol駮n's restoration of slavery on Guadeloupe touched off renewed fighting with the black rebels and at a time when Leclerc's army was decimated by a yellow fever epidemic. Leclerc himself succumbed in November and the blacks then resumed the offensive under Christophe and Dessalines. The French surrendered in November 1803. Leclerc de Hauteclocque, Jacques Philippe (legal name from 1945), original name Philippe Marie, vicomte de Hauteclocque, wartime pseudonym Jacques Philippe Leclerc (b. Nov. 28, 1902, Belloy-Saint-L駮nard, Somme, France - d. Nov. 28, 1947, near Colomb-B馗har [now B馗har], Algeria), French general. He passed out of the military school of Saint-Cyr in 1924; his promotion was slow, and on the outbreak of World War II in 1939 he was still a captain. He was wounded and taken prisoner in 1940, but contrived to escape, made his way to England, and offered his services to Gen. Charles de Gaulle. He adopted the name Leclerc to avoid reprisals against his relatives in France. He was sent to the French Cameroons, where he established the Free French regime and displayed brilliant organizing power. His first feat was to capture the Kufra oasis during Sir Archibald Wavell's offensive, but when the British retreated he had to do the same. In 1942-43 he led a French force from Fort-Lamy in Chad to join the British 8th Army in Tripoli, Libya, an achievement which had an immense moral value to France. Returning to England, he raised and trained the famous French 2nd Armoured Division, which took part under his command in the invasion of Normandy and in the liberation of Paris (August 1944). Its troops were the first to enter Strasbourg (Nov. 23, 1944) and for a short time in early 1945 he acted as governor of Strasbourg. Later that year he was appointed commander-in-chief in French Indochina, where his vigorous methods provoked some criticism. In 1946 he was made a full general. He was killed in an aircraft accident in Algeria, where he had held the appointment of inspector-general of the forces. He was created mar馗hal de France posthumously in 1952.Leclercq, Mathieu Nicolas Joseph (b. Jan. 30, 1796, Herve, France [now in Li鑒e province, Belgium] - d. March 15, 1889, Saint-Josse-ten-Noode [now in Brussels-Capital region], Belgium), justice minister of Belgium (1840-41).
Lecl鑽e, Ernest (Georges) (b. April 22, 1865, Luxembourg, Luxembourg - d. May 27, 1938, Luxembourg, Luxembourg), interior minister of Luxembourg (1915).
Leconte, (Jean-Jacques Dessalines Michel) Cincinnatus (b. Sept. 29, 1854, Ouanaminthe, Haiti - d. [killed in an explosion in the National Palace] Aug. 8, 1912, Port-au-Prince, Haiti), president of Haiti (1911-12); great-grandson of Jean-Jacques Dessalines. He was also minister of public works and agriculture (1897-1902).
Leconte (Mantilla), Ricardo (Guillermo) (b. Oct. 23, 1932), governor of Corrientes (1987-91).
Lecornu, S饕astien (b. June 11, 1986, Eaubonne, Val-d'Oise, France), armies minister of France (2022- ). He was also overseas minister (2020-22).
Lecourt, Robert (b. Sept. 19, 1908, Pavilly, Seine-Inf駻ieure [now Seine-Maritime], France - d. Aug. 9, 2004, Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France), French justice minister (1948, 1949, 1957-58), deputy prime minister (1949), minister of cooperation (1959-60), and minister of overseas departments and territories and the Sahara (1960-61). He became a member (1962-76) and president (1967-76) of the European Court of Justice.
Lederer, Jir? (b. July 15, 1922, Sollnitz [now part of Dessau-Rosslau, Sachsen-Anhalt], Germany - d. Oct. 12, 1983, Bad Reichenhall, Bayern, West Germany), Czechoslovak dissident. Both of his parents died in Nazi concentration camps. He was himself incarcerated in a camp in Poland, but escaped and remained in hiding in Poland until the end of World War II. On his return to Czechoslovakia he joined the Social Democratic Party. Being on the party's left wing, he favoured the merger with the Communist Party, which he joined in 1948. Three years later he was expelled from the Writers' Union, and until 1968 he worked in factories and as a free-lance journalist, with brief periods on the staff of Literarny Noviny. In 1968 he joined Literarny Listy and became nationally known during the reformist Prague Spring period. After the Soviet invasion in August that year, he became a leading figure of the opposition, helping to organize passive resistance. In January 1970 he was arrested and held for two months. A series of articles on anti-Semitism in Poland led to another imprisonment in 1972. He was sentenced to two years but was released after one. In 1977 he was sentenced to a three-year term in prison as one of the signatories of the Charter 77 human rights document. On his release he was allowed to emigrate to West Germany with his family (September 1980).
Ledesma (Izquieta), Genaro (Alfonso) (b. Sept. 19, 1931, Cajabamba, Cajamarca, Peru - d. April 1, 2018, Lima, Peru), Peruvian politician. He was founder of the Popular Front of Workers, Peasants, and Students (1977) and a minor presidential candidate (1980).
Ledesma (Ginatta), Xavier (Emilio) (b. 1949? - d. Oct. 9, 2018), interior minister of Ecuador (1995-96, 2005).
Ledesma Abdala (de Zamora), Claudia (Alejandra) (b. September 1974, La Banda, Santiago del Estero, Argentina), governor of Santiago del Estero (2013-17); wife of Gerardo Zamora. She was also provisional president of the Senate (2019-23).
Ledesma Bartret, Fernando (b. Dec. 30, 1939, Toledo, Spain), justice minister of Spain (1982-88). He was also president of the Council of State (1991-96).
Ledesma Rebaza, Walter (b. July 29, 1943, Huamachuco, La Libertad, Peru), defense minister of Peru (2000-01).
Ledezma Cornejo, Jorge (b. Aug. 24, 1963, Melga, Sacaba, Cochabamba, Bolivia), interim prefect of Cochabamba (2008-10) and defense minister of Bolivia (2015). He was also ambassador to Peru (2011-15).
Ledru-Rollin, Alexandre Auguste (b. Feb. 2, 1807, Paris, France - d. Dec. 31, 1874, Fontenay-aux-Roses, Seine [now in Hauts-de-Seine], France), interior minister of France (1848).
Lee, Andrew E(ricson) (b. March 18, 1847, Bergen, Norway - d. March 19, 1934, Vermillion, S.D.), governor of South Dakota (1897-1901).
Lee, Anthony (C.W.), byname Tony Lee (b. 1923 - d. Jan. 21, 2017), commissioner of Anguilla (1968-69, 1969).
Lee, Bill, byname of William Byron Lee (b. Oct. 9, 1959, Franklin, Tenn.), governor of Tennessee (2019- ).
Lee, Blair, III (b. May 19, 1916, Silver Spring, Md. - d. Oct. 25, 1985, Silver Spring), acting governor of Maryland (1977-79).
Lee, Charles (b. 1758, Westmoreland county, Virginia [now in U.S.] - d. June 24, 1815, Fauquier county, Va., U.S.), U.S. attorney general (1795-1801) and acting secretary of state (1800); brother of Henry Lee.
Lee, Edwin M(ah) (b. May 5, 1952, Seattle, Wash. - d. Dec. 12, 2017, San Francisco, Calif.), mayor of San Francisco (2011-17).
Lee, Ernest Page (b. 1862, Teignmouth, England - d. Feb. 18, 1932, Queenstown, N.Z.), foreign minister of New Zealand (1920-23). He was also minister of justice (1920-23) and industries and commerce (1920-23).
Lee, Fitzhugh (b. Nov. 19, 1835, Clermont, Fairfax county, Va. - d. April 18, 1905, Washington, D.C.), governor of Virginia (1886-90); grandson of Henry Lee; nephew of Robert E. Lee.
Lee, Henry, byname Light Horse Harry (b. Jan. 29, 1756, Prince William county, Virginia - d. March 25, 1818, Cumberland island, Ga.), governor of Virginia (1791-94).
Lee, Tun Sir Henry Hau Shik (b. Nov. 19, 1901, Hong Kong - d. June 22, 1988, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), finance minister of Malaya (1956-59). He was also minister of transport (1955-56). He was knighted in 1957 and awarded the title Tun in 1959.
Lee, Hyrum Rex (b. 1910, Rigby, Idaho - d. July 26, 2001, San Diego, Calif.), U.S. administrator. He entered government service in 1936 as an economist with the Department of Agriculture. During World War II, working with the War Relocation Authority, he was assigned to relocate Japanese-Americans. Later, with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, he worked his way up to deputy commissioner, championing legislation to improve the health, welfare, and economic status of American Indians. In 1961 he was appointed governor of a largely undeveloped American Samoa. His appointment signaled a major effort by the U.S. to finance the building of schools, streets, and houses while addressing such problems as rampant illiteracy and dubious health care. Embarking on an intense program of modernization that touched all segments of the territory, Lee ushered in a new era of education and economic vitality. Among his innovations: educational television, implemented in 1964 through his successful appeal for government appropriations. Under Lee's leadership, the American Samoan Development Corporation created a 101-room hotel as part of a campaign to cultivate the tourist industry. A hospital and two tuna processing plants also were built, and the Samoan legislature passed a law in 1963 to institute a federal income tax. In 1966, when American Samoa had the opportunity to reunify with Western Samoa, citizens voted to remain a territory of the United States. Lee received the Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service toward the end of his six-year tenure in American Samoa. In 1968 Pres. Lyndon Johnson appointed Lee to the Federal Communications Commission, where he became a leading advocate of public television. He retired in 1973. Lee, J(oseph) Bracken (b. Jan. 7, 1899, Price, Utah - d. Oct. 20, 1996, Salt Lake City, Utah), governor of Utah (1949-57). A conservative Republican, he was first elected in 1948, defeating Democratic incumbent Herbert Maw in a rematch of a 1944 campaign Lee had lost by just 1,056 votes. His tight control of state spending was credited for funding a 19ドル.5 million surplus by the end of his second term. Lee angered some Mormon Church officials when he lashed out at Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower's moderate politics. At one point, Lee threatened to form a third party if the Republicans did not repudiate Eisenhower. At the time, Ezra Taft Benson - who later became president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - was serving as Eisenhower's agriculture secretary. Lee lost his bid for a third term as governor when he was defeated by George Clyde in the 1956 GOP primaries. He then ran as an independent, but was defeated, along with Democrat L.C. Romney, by Clyde in the general election. He was mayor of Price in 1936 and served as Salt Lake City's mayor from 1960 until his retirement in 1972, gaining a tough reputation for fighting corruption and insisting on bare-bones fiscal policies.
Lee, Philip S(iu Lun) (b. 1944, Hong Kong), lieutenant governor of Manitoba (2009-15). He moved to Winnipeg in 1962 to study chemistry and chose to stay in the country following his studies, becoming a Canadian citizen in 1971.
Lee, Rex (Edwin) (b. Feb. 27, 1935, Los Angeles, Calif. - d. March 11, 1996, Provo, Utah), U.S. solicitor general (1981-85). His son Mike Lee became a Republican U.S. senator from Utah in 2011.
Lee, Robert E(dward) (b. Jan. 19, 1807, Stratford estate, Westmoreland county, Va. - d. Oct. 12, 1870, Lexington, Va.), Confederate general in the American Civil War; son of Henry Lee. He was commander of the Army of Northern Virginia (1861-65), the most successful of the Confederate armies, and became overall commander in February 1865, surrendering in April.
Lee, Thomas Sim (b. Oct. 29, 1745, near Upper Marlboro, Prince George's county, Maryland - d. Nov. 9, 1819, Frederick county, Md.), governor of Maryland (1779-82, 1792-94).
Lee, Sir William (b. Aug. 2, 1688, Hartwell, Buckinghamshire, England - d. April 8, 1754), British acting chancellor of the exchequer (1754); knighted 1737. He was lord chief justice (1737-54).
Lee Boon Yang (b. Oct. 1, 1947, Singapore), defense minister of Singapore (1994-95). He was also minister in the prime minister's office (1991-92) and minister of labour (1992-98), manpower (1998-2003), and information, communications, and the arts (2003-09).
Lee Bum Suk (Yi Pom Sok) (b. Oct. 20, 1900, Seoul, Korea [now in South Korea] - d. May 11, 1972), prime minister (1948-50), defense minister (1948-49), and home affairs minister (1952) of South Korea. He was also ambassador to Taiwan (1950-51).
Lee Bum Suk (b. Sept. 14, 1925 - d. Oct. 9, 1983, Rangoon, Burma [now Yangon, Myanmar]), foreign minister of South Korea (1982-83). He was also ambassador to Tunisia (1970-71) and India (1976-80) and minister of national unification (1980-82). He was killed in a North Korean bomb attack while on a visit to Burma.
Lee Han Key (b. 1917 - d. Feb. 4, 1995), acting prime minister of South Korea (1987).
Lee Hang, (Tapunuu Papali'i) Niko (b. 1953? - d. Nov. 29, 2022, Apia, Samoa), finance minister of Samoa (2006-11). He was also minister of works, transport, and infrastructure (2016-21).
Lee Ho (b. Feb. 7, 1914, Yongchon, North Kyongsang province, Korea [now in South Korea] - d. May 24, 1997), home affairs minister of South Korea (1960, 1967-68). He was also justice minister (1955-58, 1968-70) and ambassador to Japan (1971-73).
Lee Hong Koo (b. May 9, 1934, Seoul, Korea [now in South Korea]), prime minister of South Korea (1994-95). He was also minister of national unification (1988-90, 1994) and ambassador to the United Kingdom (1991-93) and the United States (1998-2001).
Lee Hsien Loong, Pinyin Li Xianlong (b. Feb. 10, 1952, Singapore), deputy prime minister (1990-2004), finance minister (2001-07), and prime minister (2004-24) of Singapore; son of Lee Kuan Yew. He became an officer in the Singaporean military, rising to the rank of brigadier general and serving as army chief of staff (1982-84), before beginning a political career in 1984 when he joined his father's ruling People's Action Party (PAP). He rose rapidly through the ranks, being appointed minister of state for defense and for trade and industry (1985-86), minister of trade and industry (1986-93), and, when Goh Chok Tong took over the premiership in 1990, deputy prime minister. On May 29, 2004, he was designated by the PAP to succeed Goh as prime minister. Compared with the affable Goh, Lee was seen by the public as tough, conservative, and uncompromising like his father. During 20 years in office he continued the PAP's moderately authoritarian but broadly effective governance. Nevertheless, issues like increasingly unaffordable housing began to loosen the party's grip on power. Like his predecessors, he stayed on as "senior minister" after stepping down.Lee Huan, Wade-Giles and Pinyin Li Huan (b. Feb. 8, 1917, Hankow, Hubei [Hupeh] province, China - d. Dec. 2, 2010, Taipei, Taiwan), premier of Taiwan (1989-90). He began working closely with Chiang Ching-kuo in the early 1950s and later took charge of the Youth Corps and the organization and training work of the ruling Kuomintang (KMT). The effort paid handsome dividends, for it produced well-educated future leaders for the party and the government. In the 1970s Lee oversaw the implementation of a reform program, known as Taiwanization (but not localization). Because it emphasized native talents and resources, it led to the appointment of many natives of Taiwan to important positions. These reforms, however, faced a serious setback from growing conservative opposition, especially after the violent Chungli Incident - the 1977 political riots in Chungli that forced Lee's resignation. In 1978 Lee founded National Sun Yat-sen University, which he helped develop into a major institution. His concern for education led to his appointment as education minister in 1984. He soon won popular acclaim for his educational programs and for the respect he accorded intellectuals and educators. In 1987 Lee became one of the most important politicians in Taiwan when he was named secretary-general of the KMT. As Chiang's right-hand man in the KMT's democratic reforms, Lee enjoyed grass-roots support for his pragmatic and rational approach to Taiwan's problems, including challenges from the political opposition in Taiwan and the Communist regime on the mainland.
Lee Hun Jai (b. April 17, 1944, Shanghai, China), South Korean politician. He began his career in the Ministry of Finance in 1970, where he made his name by helping Korea avoid a foreign currency crisis following the first oil shock of 1973. He held a number of positions in the ministry before taking a break in 1981. He was commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission in 1991-96. He became a household name as the country's leading business reform crusader after he was tapped by Pres. Kim Dae Jung in April 1998 to head the newly created Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), charged with recapitalizing the nation's insolvent banking system and restructuring its bloated corporations. He did so relentlessly, pressuring the powerful chieftains of Korea's gigantic conglomerates, known locally as chaebol, to cut debt, shed units, and adopt professional management practices. By taking control of many of Korea's biggest commercial banks in the recapitalization process, he was able to twist corporate arms by threatening to withhold vitally needed credit lines. The blunt-speaking Lee once said he took his inspiration from Genghis Khan. As head of the new financial regulatory agency, he needed a certain ruthlessness, assuming powers over banks and businesses that were once the reserve of the finance ministry. But President Kim wanted to weaken the ministry and its powerful mandarins upon taking office in February 1998. As a result, the ministry and the regulatory agency were in a barely disguised tussle for power that seemed to be put to rest with Lee's appointment as finance minister in a cabinet reshuffle in early 2000, following the installation of new prime minister Park Tae Joon. When the latter resigned in May 2000, Lee was briefly acting prime minister. He was dismissed as finance minister in August 2000 but held the post again from February 2004 to March 2005, and was again acting prime minister in May-June 2004. Lee Jong Wook (b. April 12, 1945, Seoul, South Korea - d. May 22, 2006, Geneva, Switzerland), director-general of the World Health Organization (2003-06). He worked as a medical officer at the LBJ Tropical Medical Center in American Samoa in 1981-83, then joined WHO as leader of a leprosy-control team for the South Pacific. In 1987-90 he served as a regional adviser for chronic disease, and in 1990 he was named director of WHO's Disease Prevention and Control office in Manila. In 1994 he moved to WHO's Geneva headquarters to direct its global program for vaccines and immunizations. In this post he spearheaded the agency's efforts to combat polio and tuberculosis. In 1998 he became a senior policy adviser to the WHO director-general, and from 2000 he was the director of the agency's Stop TB program, an antituberculosis campaign that involved more than 250 international partners. In January 2003 he was nominated as the next WHO director-general. Although he had worked for the agency for nearly 20 years, he was not widely known in international circles, and in the vote by WHO's executive board he was chosen by a close 17-15 margin over Peter Piot, the Belgian head of the UN's AIDS program; several other prominent candidates, including Mozambican prime minister Pascoal Mocumbi, had been eliminated in a preliminary round of voting. After being formally approved by the WHO General Assembly in May, Lee took office and began a five-year term on July 21. Before his election, he had outlined his plans, identifying "poverty and AIDS, conflict and disasters, inequitable distribution of critical resources like food and safe drinking water, and environmental degradation" as the most serious current threats to public health and pledged to devote more resources to countries in which health care systems were facing collapse. He also called for decentralizing WHO in order to improve its effectiveness.
Lee Myung Bak, Revised Romanization I Myeong-bak (b. Dec. 19, 1941, Osaka, Japan), president of South Korea (2008-13). He was mayor of Seoul in 2002-06. He was convicted of bribery and embezzlement in 2018 but his 17-year prison sentence was cut short by a presidential pardon in 2022.
Lee Sang Hoon (b. June 26, 1933 - d. Sept. 11, 2023), defense minister of South Korea (1988-90).
Lee Sang Ok (b. Aug. 25, 1934), foreign minister of South Korea (1990-93).
Lee See Young (b. Jan. 31, 1937), South Korean diplomat. He was ambassador to Senegal (1985-89) and France (1996-98) and permanent representative to the United Nations (1998-2000).
Lee Soo Young (b. Dec. 28, 1921, Chulsan, Korea [now in South Korea] - d. [suicide] April 21, 1972, Paris, France), South Korean official. He was charg? d'affaires (1956-57) and ambassador (1965-72) to France, permanent observer to the United Nations (1961-64), and minister of public information (1964).
Lee Teng-hui, Pinyin Li Denghui (b. Jan. 15, 1923, San-chih, north of Taipei, Taiwan - d. July 30, 2020, Taipei), president of Taiwan (1988-2000). He joined the cabinet in 1972 as minister without portfolio and carried out, as mayor of Taipei (1978-81), such projects as the construction of freeways and reservoirs and the modernization of sewage disposal. As governor of Taiwan province (1981-84) he introduced regional planning and agricultural reforms and contributed to the renovation of rural villages and the construction of irrigation systems. In 1984 he became vice president and in 1988, after the death of Pres. Chiang Ching-kuo, he became the first Taiwan-born president of the Republic of China. He also became acting chairman of the ruling party, the Kuomintang (KMT). His election as KMT chairman at the party's 13th congress in July 1988 further strengthened his position. In 1990 he was reelected by an overwhelming majority of members of the National Assembly, and in 1996 he won Taiwan's first direct popular presidential election. Favouring a policy of "flexible diplomacy" in dealing with the People's Republic of China, he eased restrictions on travel and trade. However, he at first upheld the one-China policy and opposed the independence of Taiwan. He rejected the Chinese Communist formula for reunification - "one country, two systems" - insisting that Taiwan and the mainland should be reunited eventually on the basis of freedom and democracy. In 1999, however, he suggested that Taiwan might consider itself to be an independent nation and not part of China, which strained relations with the mainland. In March 2000, he was forced to resign as head of the KMT after its candidate placed third in presidential elections. In 2001 he broke with the KMT and supported the new Taiwan Solidarity Union.Lee Tong Won (b. Aug. 2, 1925, Pukchong, Korea [now in North Korea] - d. Nov. 18, 2006, Seoul, South Korea), foreign minister of South Korea (1964-66). He became the chief presidential secretary (the youngest ever) in 1962. He played an important role in reducing tension between Pres. Park Chung Hee and U.S. president John F. Kennedy in 1963 when Seoul declared the extension of military rule by five more years. In 1963-64 he was ambassador to Thailand. As foreign minister, he played a key role in striking an agreement with Japan in 1965 that normalized the two nations' diplomatic relations. He also worked out an agreement with the United States on South Korea's dispatch of troops to Vietnam in 1964. The two agreements succeeded in drawing in financial assistance from Washington and Tokyo that served as seed money for Korea's economic development. In 1967, Lee became a lawmaker for the Democratic Republican Party, which Park created two years after his military coup in 1961. Lee was elected four times as legislator, including the last time in 1996 when he joined hands with Kim Dae Jung, a dissident under the Park regime who became president in 1998.
Lee Wan Koo (b. June 2, 1950, South Chungchong province, South Korea - d. Oct. 14, 2021), prime minister of South Korea (2015). He was also governor of South Chungchong province (2006-09).Lee-Warner, Sir William (b. April 18, 1846 - d. Jan. 18, 1914), resident in Mysore and chief commissioner of Coorg (1895); knighted 1898.
Lee Won Kyung (b. Jan. 15, 1922, Wolsong-gun, Korea [now in South Korea] - d. Aug. 3, 2007), foreign minister of South Korea (1983-86). He was also minister of culture and information (1974-75) and sport (1982-83) and ambassador to Japan (1988-91).
Leeds, Francis Godolphin Osborne, (5th) Duke of, until 1789 styled Marquess of Carmarthen (b. Jan. 29, 1751, Westminster [now part of London], England - d. Jan. 31, 1799, London), British foreign secretary (1783-91). He succeeded as duke in 1789.
Leedy, John W(hitnah) (b. March 4, 1849, near Belleville, Ohio - d. March 24, 1935, Edmonton, Alta.), governor of Kansas (1897-99).
Leeflang, Frank(lin Juliaan) (b. July 20, 1936, Paramaribo, Suriname - d. May 5, 2024), interior minister of Suriname (1980-85). He was also justice minister (1982-85), deputy prime minister (1984-85), and ambassador to Belgium (1986-88).
Leemans, Edward (Jozef), byname Ward Leemans (b. April 26, 1926, Hoboken, Antwerp, Belgium - d. Aug. 2, 1998), Belgian politician. He was chairman of the Senate (1980-88).
Leemhuis-Stout, Joan (Marika) (b. June 29, 1946, Hoogezand, Groningen province, Netherlands), queen's commissioner of Zuid-Holland (1994-99) and acting king's commissioner of Friesland (2016-17).
Leendertse, Antje (b. March 7, 1963, Moers, Nordrhein-Westfalen, West Germany), German diplomat. She has been permanent representative to the United Nations (2021- ).
Lees, Sir Charles Cameron (b. March 11, 1837 - d. July 28, 1898), acting administrator (1873-74) and lieutenant governor (1874-75) of Lagos, acting governor of the Gold Coast (1874, 1876, 1878-79), and governor of Labuan (1879-81), the Bahamas (1882-84), the Leeward Islands (1884-85), Barbados (1885-89), Mauritius (1889-92), and British Guiana (1893-95); knighted 1883.
Lees, Meg (Heather), n馥 Francis (b. Oct. 19, 1948, Burwood, N.S.W.), Australian politician. She joined the Australian Democrats in 1977, the year the party was born, and worked her way up the party ranks. She filled a casual Senate vacancy in 1990 and became party leader in December 1997. In 1998, under her leadership, the party won a record ninth Senate seat, despite her low profile compared to the departed Cheryl Kernot. It was her urging that the party act like a serious negotiating force, and engage in debate with the government and opposition on issues such as the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Telstra - rather than throw grenades from the sidelines - that got her into trouble. Lees's demise began when she came to the table to thrash out the nuts and bolts of the GST with the government and won the exemption of fresh food, more compensation for pensions, and an environment package, in return for getting the tax through the Senate. Some in her party never forgave her, believing she should have voted against the GST, as did Natasha Stott Despoja, who replaced her as party leader in April 2001. Lees resigned from the party in July 2002 and in April 2003 founded the Australian Progressive Alliance. She lost her Senate seat in the 2004 election.
Leeuwen, Pieter Hendrik van, byname Piet van Leeuwen (b. Oct. 1, 1893, Cura軋o - d. ...), administrator of Bonaire (1939-43) and Sint Maarten (1943-48).
Leeuwen, Wilhelmus Frederik van (b. April 18, 1860, Surabaja, Netherlands East Indies [now Surabaya, Indonesia] - d. Sept. 6, 1930, The Hague, Netherlands), queen's commissioner of Noord-Holland (1911-14). He was also mayor of Amsterdam (1901-10).
Lefebvre, G駻ard (Serge Roland) (b. May 25, 1930, Poitiers, Vienne, France), prefect of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon (1983-85). He was also prefect of the French d駱artements of Dr?me (1986-87) and Tarn (1987-90).
Lefebvre, Ren? (L駮pold Henri) (b. Aug. 8, 1893, Tournai, Hainaut, Belgium - d. March 26, 1976), interior minister (1958-61) and deputy prime minister (1960-61) of Belgium. He was also minister of agriculture (1945-46, 1946-47, 1954-58).
Lefebvre du Prey, Edmond (Joseph Charles Marie) (b. Oct. 16, 1866, Saint-Omer, Pas-de-Calais, France - d. Jan. 14, 1955, Paris, France), justice minister (1924) and foreign minister (1924) of France. He was also minister of agriculture (1921-22).
Lef钁re, Andr? (Joseph) (b. June 17, 1869, Paris, France - d. Nov. 5, 1929, Paris), war minister of France (1920).
Lefevre (de la Ossa), Ernesto Tisdel (b. June 30, 1876, Panama City, Colombia [now in Panama] - d. Dec. 24, 1922, Panama City), third vice president (1918-20) and acting president (1920) of Panama.
Lef钁re d'Ormesson, Olivier (Gabriel Fran輟is-de-Paule) (b. Jan. 3, 1849, Ormesson-sur-Marne, Val-de-Marne, France - d. May 23, 1923, Paris, France), French official. He was prefect of the d駱artements of Allier (1877-79) and Basses-Pyr駭馥s (1879-80), charg? d'affaires in Russia (1886), and minister to Denmark (1894-95), Portugal (1895-97), Greece (1898-1906), and Belgium (1906-09).
Leffingwell, (Shelly) Lee (b. Oct. 13, 1939), mayor of Austin (2009-15).
Lefranc, (Bernard Edme) Victor (ノtienne) (b. March 2, 1809, Garlin, Basses-Pyr駭馥s [now Pyr駭馥s-Atlantiques], France - d. Sept. 13, 1883, Montsou?, Landes, France), interior minister of France (1872). He was also minister of agriculture and commerce (1871-72).
Lefroy, Sir John Henry (b. Jan. 28, 1817, Ashe, Hampshire, England - d. April 11, 1890, Lewarne, Cornwall, England), governor of Bermuda (1871-77) and acting governor of Tasmania (1880-81); knighted 1877.
Legar?, Hugh S(winton) (b. Jan. 2, 1797, Charleston, S.C. - d. June 20, 1843, Boston, Mass.), U.S. attorney general (1841-43) and acting secretary of state (1843). He was also charg? d'affaires in Belgium (1832-36).
Legendre, Jean (Constant) (b. May 7, 1906, Paris, France - d. Sept. 21, 1994, Compi鑒ne, Oise, France), president of the Regional Council of Picardie (1974-76).
L馮er, Adrien (ノmile Am馘馥) (b. May 5, 1899 - d. July 6, 1948), acting governor of French Cameroons (1946) and Chad (1946).
L馮er, (Jacques Nicolas Emmanuel) Georges (b. Jan. 27, 1890, Port-au-Prince, Haiti - d. March 26, 1965, P騁ionville, Haiti), finance minister (1935-37) and foreign minister (1936-38) of Haiti.
L馮er, Jacques (b. May 15, 1914, Port-au-Prince, Haiti - d. October 1980, Port-au-Prince), foreign minister of Haiti (1950-52). He was also charg? d'affaires in Venezuela (1944-47), ambassador to Cuba (1947-48), Argentina and Brazil (1948-50), and the United States and Canada (1952-56), and permanent representative to the United Nations (1956-57).
L馮er, Jacques Nicolas (b. March 10, 1859, Les Cayes, Haiti - d. Feb. 5, 1918, Port-au-Prince, Haiti), foreign minister (1911-13, 1914) and member of the Council of Secretaries (during presidential vacancies 1912, 1913) of Haiti. He was also minister to the United States (1896-1909).
L馮er, Jules (b. April 4, 1913, Saint-Anicet, Que. - d. Nov. 22, 1980, Ottawa, Ont.), governor general of Canada (1974-79). He joined the External Affairs Department in 1940 and enjoyed a diverse diplomatic career as ambassador to Mexico (1953-54), Italy (1962-64), France (1964-68), Belgium and Luxembourg (1973-74), and the North Atlantic Council and the Organization for European Economic Cooperation in Paris (1958-62). In 1974, he became Canada's 21st governor general. L馮er, who suffered a massive stroke less than six months after taking office, relearned English and French, and when he was unable to speak had his wife deliver his speeches. He often said that he had to learn English three times - as a boy from Quebec, on becoming a diplomat, and after his stroke. During his tenure, L馮er introduced a new informality to the office by inviting thousands of children to garden parties at his residence and sitting down with 100 children every year for Christmas dinner. He also supervised the transfer from Britain of the power to sign war and peace treaties and accredit diplomats abroad. Undaunted by his illness, L馮er remained in office for his full five-year term.Legge, Henry Bilson (Bilson added in 1754) (b. March 29, 1708 - d. Aug. 23, 1764, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England), British chancellor of the exchequer (1754-55, 1756-57, 1757-61); son of William Legge, (1st) Earl of Dartmouth.
Leghari, (Sardar) Farooq Ahmed (Khan), Urdu (Sardar) Faruq Ahmad (Khan) Leghari (b. May 2, 1940, Dera Ghazi Khan, Punjab province, India [now in central Pakistan] - d. Oct. 20, 2010, Rawalpindi, Pakistan), finance minister (1993), foreign minister (1993), and president (1993-97) of Pakistan. Having joined the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), he won a seat in the Senate in August 1975, where he came to the attention of Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the PPP. Leghari next gained appointment as minister of production in the Bhutto cabinet, and, in March 1977, he was also elected to the National Assembly. However, Gen. Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq took power in July 1977 and arrested Bhutto, who was executed in 1979. Leghari, meanwhile, remained staunchly loyal to his prime minister and endured four years of prison before being released in 1981. After General Zia died in a plane crash in 1988, democratic rule was reintroduced and Benazir Bhutto, the late prime minister's daughter, won the national election. Leghari won seats in both the National Assembly and the Punjab Assembly, but lost his bid to serve as chief minister of Punjab to Nawaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML). Given Leghari's support of her father, Bhutto assigned him the portfolio of minister of water and power. An internecine power struggle then erupted between Bhutto and Sharif that nearly paralyzed the government over the next two years until Pres. Ghulam Ishaq Khan dismissed Bhutto in 1990. Sharif's party then won a majority in parliament and he became prime minister. For the next two years Leghari assisted Bhutto as deputy leader of the opposition. In April 1993, President Khan stripped Sharif of his office and called for new elections. The PPP secured a slight plurality and Bhutto again became prime minister. Leghari joined her cabinet a second time as finance and then foreign minister, but only briefly before running for the vacated office of president and narrowly defeating Wasim Sajjad of the PML. Despite his long-standing alliance with Bhutto, he was determined to refrain from partisan politics and this was clearly manifested in November 1996 when, citing the corruption of the second Bhutto administration, he dismissed her from office and called for new elections in February 1997, again won by Sharif. Leghari resigned in December after a confrontation with Sharif about Supreme Court appointments.L馮itime, Fran輟is Denys, byname of Fran輟is D騏s L馮itime (b. May 20, 1841, J駻駑ie, Haiti - d. July 30, 1935), president of Haiti (1888-89). He was also minister of agriculture (1880-81), interior (1881), justice, education, and worship (1881), and foreign affairs (1888).
Legnani (Rodr?guez), Augusto (b. March 23, 1912, Montevideo, Uruguay - d. May 15, 1987), interior minister (1967-68) and defense minister (1972) of Uruguay. He was also permanent representative to the United Nations (1969-71).
Legrand, Pierre (b. May 13, 1834, Lille, Nord, France - d. May 31, 1895, Paris, France), French politician. He was prefect of Nord d駱artement (1870-71) and commerce minister (1882-83, 1885, 1888-89).
Legros, Auguste (b. Dec. 30, 1922, Saint-Andr?, R騏nion - d. May 30, 2008), president of the General Council of R騏nion (1982-88). He was also mayor of Saint-Denis (1969-89).
Legu?a (y Salcedo), Augusto B(ernardino) (b. Feb. 19, 1863, Lambayeque, Peru - d. Feb. 6, 1932, Lima, Peru), president of Peru (1908-12, 1919-30); cousin of Eleodoro Romero and Eulogio I. Romero. He was a member of one of the more distinguished families of the Peruvian oligarchy. He entered politics in 1903 when Pres. Manuel Candamo and Prime Minister Jos? Pardo induced him to accept the office of minister of finance. He then also became prime minister (1904-07). He increased the revenue and reestablished Peruvian credit. In 1908 he was elected president for the first time by an alliance of the Civil and Constitutional parties. In 1909 revolutionaries took him prisoner and dragged him to the Plaza de la Inquisici?n in Lima where he was offered the alternative of death or resignation. It is said that he refused to resign, remaining calm and unmoved. In any case, he was rescued at the last moment by the army. He introduced fiscal and administrative reforms and improved the health-care system by founding hospitals and building drainage systems in the cities. He also resolved the frontier questions with Bolivia and Brazil. For the most part he remained the tool of the Peruvian oligarchy during this term. He spent most of the interval between his two presidential terms in exile in London. He apparently won the 1919 election, but he contended that elements of the old oligarchy were plotting to set aside the results, and his followers staged a coup d'騁at to install him in office. He broke with the oligarchy that had dominated Peruvian politics for the previous two decades, and he forced many prominent politicians into exile. He presided over the creation of a new constitution, but disregarded constitutional norms and ruled as a dictator. He was removed from office by a coup in 1930 and remained in confinement until his death.Legu?a (y Salcedo), Roberto E(l?as) (b. Feb. 16, 1866, Lambayeque, Peru - d. March 19, 1945, Lima, Peru), first vice president of Peru (1912-14); brother of Augusto B. Legu?a. He was also president of the Chamber of Deputies (1911-12) and the Senate (1927-30).
Legu?a y Mart?nez, Germ疣 (b. April 30, 1861, Lambayeque, Peru - d. Nov. 21, 1928, Magdalena del Mar, Peru), foreign minister (1911-12, 1920) and prime minister and interior minister (1919-22) of Peru; cousin of Augusto B. Legu?a. A noted writer, he was also prefect of Piura (1905-07) and minister to Ecuador (1909-11).
Legwaila, Legwaila Joseph (Manson John) (b. Feb. 2, 1937, Mathathane, Bechuanaland [now Botswana]), Botswanan diplomat. He was permanent representative to the United Nations (1981-99), high commissioner to Guyana (1981-99) and Jamaica (1982-99), ambassador to Cuba (1983-99), and UN special adviser on Africa (2006-07).
Lehman, Herbert H(enry) (b. March 28, 1878, New York City - d. Dec. 5, 1963, New York City), governor of New York (1933-42). He was also director-general of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (1943-46) and a Democratic U.S. senator from New York (1949-57).
Lehmann, (Peter Martin) Orla (b. May 19, 1810, Copenhagen, Denmark - d. Sept. 13, 1870, Copenhagen), interior minister of Denmark (1861-63).
Leho, Fatima (b. Sept. 2, 1946, Blagaj, near Mostar [now in Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina]), governor of Herzegovina-Neretva (1996-97).
Lehr, Robert (b. Aug. 20, 1883, Celle, Prussia [now in Niedersachsen], Germany - d. Oct. 13, 1956, D?sseldorf, West Germany), interior minister of West Germany (1950-53). He was also lord mayor of D?sseldorf (1924-33) and Oberpr舖ident of Nordrhein (1945-46).
Lehto, Reino (Ragnar) (b. May 2, 1898, Turku, Finland - d. July 13, 1966, Helsinki, Finland), prime minister of Finland (1963-64) and governor of Uusimaa (1964-66).
Lehtosalo, Pauli (b. Dec. 18, 1910, Vehkalahti [now part of Hamina], Finland - d. March 12, 1989, Helsinki, Finland), justice minister of Finland (1961-62). He was also minister of agriculture (1958).
Lei, Andr? Gaudie (b. 17... - d. Sept. 17, 1852, Cuiab?, Mato Grosso, Brazil), acting president of Mato Grosso (1830-31, 1833).
Leidenbach, Guillaume (b. 1862? - d. May 8, 1943, Luxembourg, Luxembourg), justice minister of Luxembourg (1921-23).
Leigh, Leslie William, byname Bill Leigh (b. Feb. 23, 1921, Freetown, Sierra Leone - d. April 13, 1980, Monrovia, Liberia), foreign minister of Sierra Leone (1967-68).
Leigh Guzm疣, Gustavo (b. Sept. 19, 1920, Santiago, Chile - d. Sept. 29, 1999, Santiago), Chilean junta member. He was commander of the air force on Sept. 11, 1973, the day of the Augusto Pinochet-led coup that toppled Marxist Pres. Salvador Allende. Leigh quickly emerged as the toughest member in the four-man military junta. Just hours after the coup, Leigh vowed the military would "eradicate the Marxist cancer from our fatherland, until the last consequences." It was on his personal orders, he disclosed later, that the air force bombarded and heavily damaged the presidential palace to put down the resistance by Allende and a small group of his followers. A fierce persecution of leftists followed, and Leigh's air force gained a reputation as especially implacable with dissidents. In 1978, Leigh was the first junta member to urge the restoration of civilian rule. That cost him his position with both the junta and the air force. Leigh opposed Pinochet's growing power within the junta. In 1978, when Pinochet called a vote to request that Chileans reject the United Nation's condemnation of the regime's human rights record, Leigh called the move "typical of governments in which power is in the hands of a single dictator." Pinochet believed Leigh wanted to challenge him to lead the country. "Pinochet always felt that I was interested in taking over from him, something that never even entered my mind," Leigh said in one of his last television interviews. In 1990 he was shot by members of an ultra-leftist guerrilla gang; he was hit by five bullets and lost an eye.
Leijonborg, Lars (Erik Ansgar) (b. Nov. 21, 1949, Solna, Stockholm, Sweden), Swedish politician. He was chairman of the youth wing of the Liberal Party (Folkpartiet) in 1971-73. He became a member of parliament in 1985 and was parliamentary leader of the Liberal group in 1990-97. He was Liberal Party chairman in 1997-2007.Leijonhielm, Anders friherre (b. Jan. 20, 1655 - d. Dec. 27, 1727, J?nk?ping, Sweden), governor of ヨsterg?tland (1714-18) and J?nk?ping (1718-27). He became friherre (baron) in 1719.
Leijonstedt, Anders greve, originally Anders Volimhaus (b. 1649, Uppsala, Sweden - d. Oct. 10, 1725, Stockholm, Sweden), Swedish diplomat; brother of Jakob greve Gyllenborg; son-in-law of Olof Arvidsson friherre Thegner. He was minister to Prussia (1703-10). He was ennobled under the name Leijonstedt in 1686 and made friherre (baron) in 1716 and greve (count) in 1719.
Leijonstedt, Carl Wilhelm greve (b. Nov. 3, 1725 - d. Nov. 5, 1782, Ume?, V舖terbotten, Sweden), governor of V舖terbotten (1781-82); nephew of Olof greve Leijonstedt; grandson of Anders greve Leijonstedt.
Leijonstedt, Olof greve (b. June 30, 1691 - d. Feb. 5, 1759, Ume?, V舖terbotten, Sweden), governor of V舖terbotten (1755-59); son of Anders greve Leijonstedt.
Leimena, Johannes, byname Om Jo (b. March 6, 1905, Ambon, Netherlands East Indies [now in Maluku, Indonesia] - d. March 29, 1977, Jakarta, Indonesia), a deputy prime minister (1957-59, 1963-66) and a deputy first minister (1959-63) of Indonesia. He was also minister of health (1947-49, 1949-53, 1955-56) and social affairs (1957), minister (1959-62) and coordinating minister (1962-66) for distribution, and chairman of the Indonesian Christian Party (1950-57).
Leino, Yrj? (Kaarlo) (b. Jan. 28, 1897, Helsingfors [now Helsinki], Finland - d. June 28, 1961, Helsinki), interior minister of Finland (1945-48).
Leinonen, Kaarlo (Olavi) (b. March 15, 1914, Tervola, Finland - d. April 19, 1975), defense minister of Finland (1963-64). He was also commander-in-chief of the Defense Forces (1969-74).
Leiro, Lars (b. April 13, 1914, Haus, S?ndre Bergenhus amt [now in Vestland fylke], Norway - d. March 22, 2005, Voss, Hordaland [now in Vestland]), governor of Hordaland (1966-84). He was also Norwegian minister of transport and communications (1963).
Leit縊, Jo縊 de Freitas, acting president of Rio Grande do Sul (1889).
Leite, Benedito Pereira (b. Oct. 4, 1857, Ros疵io, Maranh縊, Brazil - d. March 6, 1909, Hy鑽es, Var, France), member of the Governing Junta (1891-92) and president (1906-08) of Maranh縊.
Leite, Eraldo Gueiros (b. Jan. 18, 1912, Canhotinho, Pernambuco, Brazil - d. March 5, 1983, Recife, Pernambuco), governor of Pernambuco (1971-75).
Leite, Francisco, Neto (b. March 14, 1907, Riachuelo, Sergipe, Brazil - d. Dec. 10, 1964, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), federal interventor in Sergipe (1945).
Leite, Isidoro Pedro Leger Pereira, acting governor-general of Angola (1920). He was also Portuguese minister of colonies (1925).
Leite, Jo縊 Pinto da Costa, conde de Lumbrales (b. Feb. 3, 1905, Porto, Portugal - d. Dec. 31, 1975, Madrid, Spain), finance minister of Portugal (1940-50). He was also minister of commerce and industry (1937-40), public works and communications (1943-44), and the presidency (1950-55) and president of the Corporative Chamber (1955-57).
Leite, Jos? Rollemberg (b. Sept. 19, 1912, Riachuelo, Sergipe, Brazil - d. Oct. 24, 1996, Aracaju, Sergipe), governor of Sergipe (1947-51, 1975-79).
Leite, Jos? Xavier Bressane (b. 1780, Lisbon, Portugal - d. July 10, 1843, Luanda, Angola), governor-general of Angola (1842-43).
Leite, Luiz Benedito Pereira (b. Jan. 21, 1830, C當eres, Mato Grosso, Brazil - d. Jan. 15, 1910, C當eres), member of the Governing Junta (1892) and president (1892) of Mato Grosso.
Leith, Sir James (b. Aug. 8, 1763, Leith Hall mansion, near Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland - d. Oct. 16, 1816, Barbados), governor of the Leeward Islands (1814-16), Barbados (1815-16), and Guadeloupe (1815-16); knighted 1813.
Leivo, Margus (b. May 28, 1954, R舊ina, Estonian S.S.R. - d. Aug. 21, 2019), interior minister of Estonia (2003-05).
Leivo-Larsson, Tyyne (Lilja), original surname Lindroos, later Leivo (b. March 3, 1902, Nykyrka/Uusikirkko, Finland [now Polyany, Leningrad oblast, Russia] - d. Aug. 1, 1977, Helsinki, Finland), Finnish politician. She was second minister of social affairs (1948-50, 1954-57, 1958), deputy prime minister (1958), and ambassador to Norway (1958-65) and Iceland (1959-65).
Leizaola S疣chez, Jes?s Mar?a de (b. Sept. 7, 1896, San Sebasti疣, Spain - d. March 16, 1989, San Sebasti疣), president of the government of Pa?s Vasco in exile (1960-79).
Lekhal, Mohamed Salem Ould (b. Dec. 11, 1952, Atar, Mauritania - d. May 16, 2013, Paris, France), foreign minister of Mauritania (1993-96). He was also planning minister (1985-86), economy and finance minister (1986-87), and ambassador to Japan (1989-93) and Belgium (1999-2003).
Lekhanya, Justin Metsing (b. April 7, 1938, Thaba-Tseka, Basutoland [now Lesotho] - d. Jan. 20, 2021, Maseru, Lesotho), chairman of the Military Council and defense minister of Lesotho (1986-91). He was commander of Lesotho's army when he seized power on Jan. 20, 1986, ousting Prime Minister Leabua Jonathan, who had held power since 1965. His action, which received popular support, was prompted by the prime minister's statement that he might turn to the Eastern bloc for arms that he would use against South Africa. Prior to the coup, relations between Lesotho and South Africa had deteriorated, and the latter had imposed border restrictions on Lesotho because of Jonathan's refusal to hand over insurgents belonging to the banned African National Congress, who were alleged to be operating in Lesotho. Jonathan denounced the actions of South Africa, and on January 17 Lekhanya flew to Pretoria as one of a seven-man delegation to persuade the South African government to lift the restrictions. It was suggested that the coup was planned while he was in Pretoria. Following the coup Lekhanya announced that in the future all executive and legislative power would be vested in King Moshoeshoe II - whose powers had been curbed since 1967 - who would select a six-man Military Council, chaired by Lekhanya, that would advise him. All political activity was banned, and a policy of national reconciliation was declared. Lekhanya's main objective was to restore good relations with South Africa, and by January 25 the latter had lifted the restrictions on border traffic that had been crippling Lesotho's economy. On March 26, he also reached an agreement with South Africa on mutual security. It prohibited the use of either country's territory for planning acts of aggression toward the other. In 1990 he lost favour with Lesotho citizens when he was implicated in the death of what many believed to be a rival in a love triangle. In 1991 he was himself ousted in a coup. In 1999 he was elected secretary-general of the opposition Basotho National Party.
Lekishvili, Niko(loz Mikheilis dze) (b. April 20, 1947, Tbilisi, Georgian S.S.R. - d. Jan. 3, 2025), minister of state of Georgia (1995-98). He was also mayor of Tbilisi (1993-95).Leko, Josip (b. Sept. 19, 1948, Plavna, Serbia), Croatian politician. He was president of the Sabor (2012-15).
Lekota, Mosiuoa (Gerard Patrick), byname Terror Lekota (b. Aug. 13, 1948, Kroonstad, Orange Free State [now Free State], South Africa), South African politician. He became involved in the South African Students Organization (SASO). At the end of 1973, SASO's full-time organizer Abraham Tiro had to flee the country and Lekota took his place. In September 1974, when SASO began to organize rallies to celebrate the independence of Mozambique, he was arrested, along with eight other SASO leaders, and charged under the Terrorism Act. In the following trial he was sentenced to six years in prison, which he served on Robben Island. He was released at the end of 1982. On the island he shared the company of the imprisoned leaders of the African National Congress (ANC). On Aug. 20, 1983, he attended the national launch of the United Democratic Front and was elected national publicity secretary. Again arrested in April 1985, he was charged with high treason. In November 1988 he was one of four accused found guilty in the "Delmas trial"; he was sentenced to 12 years, but the trialists appealed against their conviction, and in December 1989 they were acquitted. He had spent 4ス years behind bars. After the unbanning of the ANC, he spent time as first chairperson of the Southern Natal region, then chairperson of the Northern Free State region. He was elected to the ANC's National Executive Committee in 1991. He did not get the nickname "Terror" in the political arena as many people think, but on the soccer field. In 1994 he became the first premier of Free State province but was removed from this position in 1996 as a result of party infighting. He was the first chairperson of the new National Council of Provinces, parliament's second house, in 1997-99. In 1999-2008 he was defense minister. In December 2008 he became president of the Congress of the People, a breakaway faction of the ANC.Lekoundzou Itihi Ossetoumba, Justin (b. 1942, Okouesse village, Boundji district, Middle Congo [now Congo (Brazzaville)] - d. Nov. 25, 2021, Brazzaville, Congo), finance minister of Congo (Brazzaville) (1980-87). He was also minister of industry, mines, and tourism (1971-73) and rural development (1987-89), minister of state for reconstruction and urban development (1997-99), and minister of the presidency in charge of defense (1999-2002).
Lekovic, Jelena, Montenegrin diplomat. She was charg? d'affaires at the United Nations (2022-23).
Lelashvili, Mikhail (Mikhailovich) (b. 1910, Tiflis, Russia [now Tbilisi, Georgia] - d. ...), Soviet politician. He was mayor of Tbilisi (1949-51), chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Georgian S.S.R. (1951-52), and first secretary of the Communist Party committee of Tbilisi oblast (1951-52).
Lelikov, Aleksey (Yemelyanovich) (b. Feb. 18 [Feb. 5, O.S.], 1912, Moscow, Russia - d. 1990, Moscow), chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Yakut A.S.S.R. (1965-66).
Lelong, Pierre (b. Jan. 5, 1936, J駻駑ie, Haiti), Haitian diplomat. He was ambassador to Mexico (1991-96) and permanent representative to the United Nations (1996-2001).
Lely, Cornelis (b. Sept. 23, 1854, Amsterdam, Netherlands - d. Jan. 22, 1929, The Hague, Netherlands), governor-general of Dutch Guiana (1902-05). He was also Dutch minister of water management (1891-94, 1897-1901, 1913-18).
Lely, Sir Frederic Styles Philpin (b. Dec. 16, 1846 - d. Nov. 21, 1934), chief commissioner of the Central Provinces (1904-05); knighted 1905.
Lema, Salvador Berm?dez de Castro y O'Lawlor, marqu駸 de, duque de Ripalda (b. Nov. 1, 1863, Madrid, Spain - d. Jan. 20, 1945, Madrid), foreign minister of Spain (1913-15, 1917, 1919-21). He was also mayor of Madrid (1903-04). He succeeded as marquess and duke in 1883.
Lema Pati?o, Ra?l (b. July 21, 1939, La Paz, Bolivia), Bolivian politician; son of Ra?l Lema Pel疇z. He was minister of mining (1972-74) and planning (1978), ambassador to the Soviet Union (1975-78), China (1986-89), and Spain (1994-96), and president of the Senate (1996-97).
Lema Pel疇z, Ra?l (b. Jan. 8, 1910, Tarija, Bolivia - d. 1996), finance minister of Bolivia (1971). He was also president of the Central Bank (1963-64).
Lemaignen, Robert (Andr? Fran輟is) (b. March 15, 1893, Blois, Loir-et-Cher, France - d. April 3, 1980, Paris, France), French politician. He was European commissioner for overseas development (1958-62).
Lemaire, Bernard (b. Nov. 4, 1946, Vittel, Vosges, France - d. March 6, 2009, Toulouse, France), acting high commissioner of New Caledonia (1986; secretary-general of New Caledonia 1985-87). He was also prefect of the French d駱artements of Haute-Corse (1998-99), Alpes-de-Haute-Provence (1999-2002), Ardennes (2002-04), and Aude (2006-09).
Lemaire, Jean-Baptiste Phil駑on, also appearing as Philema (or Philima) Lemaire (b. July 7, 1856, Verberie, Oise, France - d. May 6, 1932, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France), chief administrator of Middle Congo (1899-1902), acting commissioner-general of French Congo (1900), and governor of Martinique (1902-04) and French India (1904-05).
Lemaire, Victor (Gabriel) (b. Jan. 3, 1839, Paris, France - d. March 17, 1907), resident-general of Annam-Tonkin (1884-85).
Lemari, Kunio (David) (b. Nov. 29, 1942, Jabor Island, Jaluit Atoll, Marshall Islands - d. late March 2008), acting president of the Marshall Islands (1996-97). He was also minister of justice (1985-88) and transport and communications (1988-2000).
Lemass, Sean F(rancis), Irish Se疣 モ Leimeas (b. July 15, 1899, Dublin - d. May 11, 1971, Dublin), prime minister of Ireland (1959-66). He became identified with the Irish revolutionary movement at an early age. During the Easter Rising (April 1916) he served in the garrison at the General Post Office in Dublin; when caught by British soldiers, the story goes that they told him to "go back to mother." His brother Noel died as a revolutionary. After the Anglo-Irish treaty, he threw in his lot with the opponents of the treaty under Eamon de Valera, becoming a member of the headquarters staff of the Irish Republican Army in 1922. He was captured and imprisoned when the Four Courts fell at the beginning of the civil war. He was elected to the D疂l in 1924 but like other members of the anti-treaty block did not take his seat. He shared in the founding of the new party, Fianna F疂l, in 1926. After de Valera rose to the premiership in 1932, Lemass held portfolios in all his cabinets during the next 27 years, as minister of industry and commerce (1932-39, 1941-48, 1951-54, 1957-59), minister of supplies (1939-45), and deputy prime minister (1945-48, 1951-54, 1957-59). When de Valera became president in 1959, Lemass inherited the office of prime minister. Under him the nation took a more outward-looking approach; he improved relations with Northern Ireland, was the prime mover on the Irish side in the establishment of a free trade area between Britain and Ireland (1965), and pressed for Ireland's entry into the European Economic Community (Common Market). Ill health, however, forced him to relinquish the leadership of his party in 1966 and to withdraw from politics in 1969. Ireland's membership in the Common Market was not secured until 1973, after his death.LeMay, Curtis E(merson) (b. Nov. 15, 1906, Columbus, Ohio - d. Oct. 1, 1990, Riverside county, Calif.), U.S. chief of the Air Force Staff (1961-65). He was the American Independent vice presidential candidate in 1968 (running mate of George C. Wallace).
Lemayev, Vasily (Petrovich) (b. 1902, Novaya Sloboda, Nizhny Novgorod province, Russia - d. ...), first secretary of the Communist Party committee of the North Ossetian A.S.S.R. (1937-38).
Lembo, Cl疼dio (Salvador) (b. Oct. 12, 1934, S縊 Paulo, Brazil - d. March 19, 2025, S縊 Paulo), governor of S縊 Paulo (2006-07).
Leme, Antonio Dias Paes (b. April 2, 1832, Vassouras, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - d. Jan. 14, 1887, Tavira, Portugal), president of Esp?rito Santo (1869-70).
Leme, Antonio Pires da Silva Pontes (b. c. 1750, Mariana, Minas Gerais, Brazil - d. April 21, 1805, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), governor of Esp?rito Santo (1800-04).
Leme, Ernesto de Moraes (b. Dec. 30, 1896, Bragan軋 [now Bragan軋 Paulista], S縊 Paulo, Brazil - d. May 21, 1986), Brazilian diplomat. He was permanent representative to the United Nations (1954-55).
L駑ery, Henry (b. Dec. 9, 1874, Saint-Pierre, Martinique - d. April 26, 1972, Paris, France), justice minister of France (1934). He was also minister of colonies (1940).
Lemke (gen. von Soltenitz), Helmut (Bernhard Julius) (b. Sept. 29, 1907, Kiel, Germany - d. April 15, 1990, L?beck, West Germany), minister-president of Schleswig-Holstein (1963-71).
Lemke, William (b. Aug. 13, 1878, Albany, Minn. - d. May 30, 1950, Fargo, N.D.), U.S. politician. He was a representative from North Dakota (1933-41, 1943-50) and Union Party presidential candidate (1936).
Lemme, (Mar?a) Alicia (b. Sept. 19, 1954, Villa Mercedes, San Luis, Argentina), governor of San Luis (2001-03).
Lemne, Mats (Herman) (b. May 20, 1919, Tj舁lmo, ヨsterg?tland, Sweden - d. March 30, 1997), governor of トlvsborg (1955-70) and S?dermanland (1970-80). He was also governor of Sveriges Riksbank (1951-55).
Lemon, Idelphonse (William) (b. Nov. 26, 1937, Ouidah, Dahomey [now Benin]), finance minister of Benin (1990-91). He was a minor presidential candidate in 1991.
Lemos, C駸ar Tasso Saldanha (b. 1930? - d. Feb. 4, 1979, Fernando de Noronha territory [now part of Pernambuco state], Brazil), governor of Fernando de Noronha (1977-79).
Lemos, Francisco de Faria (b. Dec. 23, 1828, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil - d. Nov. 7, 1904, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), president of Pernambuco (1872), Cear? (1876-77), Rio Grande do Sul (1877-78), and Minas Gerais (1886-87).
Lemos, Manuel Pinto de (b. 1823, Vila de S縊 Salvador [now Campos dos Goytacazes], Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - d. Oct. 20, 1899, Florian?polis, Santa Catarina, Brazil), acting president of Santa Catarina (1880, 1883, 1885).
Lemos Arboleda, Francisco (b. 1903, Popay疣, Cauca, Colombia - d. Dec. 30, 1987, Popay疣), Colombian politician. He was governor of Cauca (1945-46, 1958-59), minister of communications (1959-60), and ambassador to El Salvador (1962-67).
Lemos Simmonds, Carlos (Apolinar) (b. Oct. 23, 1933, Popay疣, Cauca, Colombia - d. July 30, 2003, Bogot?, Colombia), foreign minister (1981-82), interior minister (1989-90), and vice president (1996-98) of Colombia. He was also minister of communications (1989) and ambassador to the U.K. (1995-98).
Lemus (L?pez), Jos? Mar?a (b. July 22, 1911, La Uni?n, El Salvador - d. March 31, 1993, San Jos?, Costa Rica), president of El Salvador (1956-60). An army lieutenant colonel, he served as interior minister in 1949-55. As president, he pardoned political prisoners and attempted to continue the progressive programs of his predecessor, Pres. モscar Osorio. A decline in the prices of coffee and cotton, however, brought strikes, political unrest, and violence. After an attempt was made to assassinate him, Lemus became increasingly harsh and dictatorial. He was deposed in October 1960 by a leftist group and exiled to Costa Rica. In 1992 his two pit bull terriers fatally attacked an elderly man and wounded two others; a judge found him guilty of negligence and fined him about 1,000ドル.Lenarcic, Janez (b. Nov. 6, 1967, Ljubljana, Slovenia), Slovenian diplomat. He was EU commissioner for crisis management (2019-24).
Len疵t, Jozef (b. April 3, 1923, Liptovsk? Por?bka, Czechoslovakia [now in Slovakia] - d. Feb. 11, 2004, Prague, Czech Republic), prime minister of Czechoslovakia (1963-68). He was a member of the Executive Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (1958-68, 1970-89), speaker of the Slovak National Council (1962-63), and first secretary of the Slovak Communist Party (1970-88). In August 1968 he supported the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia that squelched a popular uprising known as the Prague Spring, and he was the key Communist politician during the so-called "normalization" of the 1970s. After the fall of the Communist regime in 1989 he was forced to resign all his posts and was expelled from the Communist Party. He was charged with treason for allegedly having tried to establish a legal basis for the 1968 invasion. Although Slovak, Len疵t stayed in the Czech Republic after the split of Czechoslovakia and received Czech citizenship. He was acquitted in September 2002.Lencastre, Ant?nio de (b. July 11, 1721, Lisbon, Portugal - d. ...), governor of Angola (1772-79).
Lencastre, Jo縊 de (b. May 3, 1646, Aveiras, Portugal - d. February 1707, Lisbon, Portugal), governor of Angola (1688-91) and governor-general of Brazil (1694-1702).
Lencastre, J?lio Garc黌 de (b. Aug. 5, 1882, Porto, Portugal - d. March 16, 1970), governor-general of Angola (1934-35).
Lendo, Tahir (b. Feb. 9, 1961, Bistro, near Novi Travnik [now in Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina]), premier of Central Bosnia (2011- ).
Lendongolia Lebabonga, Paulin (b. March 4, 1990), governor of Tshopo (2024- ).
Leng Ngeth (b. 1900, Phnom Penh, Cambodia - d. 19...), prime minister and foreign minister of Cambodia (1955). He was also ambassador to the Soviet Union (1956-57), China (1958-62), and Laos (c. 1963).
Leng Yuqiu (b. 1882, Dantu, Jiangsu, China - d. 1959, Nanjing, Jiangsu), Chinese politician. He joined the Chinese Revolutionary Alliance in 1906, later participating in the anti-Qing uprisings in Anhui as well as Guangdong. As the revolution succeeded in the south, he was named commander of the 3rd, later 9th, Division of the northbound army. He joined the Senate of the Constitutional Junta organized by Sun Yat-sen in 1917. He was also acting interior minister of the southern government. During World War II, he stayed in the Senate, becoming a member of the Standing Committee of the Democratic Alliance of China. After the liberation, he was named vice-governor of Jiangsu province and elected a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and later the National People's Congress.
Lenge Masangu Mpoyo, Marcel (b. Aug. 6, 1956, Elisabethville, Katanga, Belgian Congo [now Lubumbashi, Haut-Katanga, Congo (Kinshasa)]), governor of Haut-Lomami (2019).
Lengruber, Ot疱io de Carvalho (b. Jan. 21, 1892, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - d. Nov. 19, 1952, Vit?ria, Esp?rito Santo, Brazil), federal interventor in Esp?rito Santo (1945-46).
Lengyel, Gyula, surname until 1903 Goldstein (b. Oct. 8, 1888, Szatm疵n駑eti, Hungary [now Satu Mare, Romania] - d. [executed] 1941, U.S.S.R.), joint finance commissar of Hungary (1919).
Leni, Nollen (Cornelius), foreign minister of the Solomon Islands (2002). He was also minister of forests, environment, and conservation (1995-96), provincial government and rural development (2001-02), national reform and planning (2002-04), and fisheries and marine resources (2006-07, 2007-10).
Lenihan, Brian (Joseph), Irish Brian モ Luineach疂n (b. Nov. 17, 1930, Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland - d. Nov. 1, 1995, Dublin, Ireland), Irish politician. He was elected to the Seanad (Senate) in 1957 and to the D疂l (House of Representatives) in 1961. Well regarded for his affable manner, he was seen as one of the rising stars of the Fianna F疂l party, along with his ally Charles Haughey - later prime minister - whom he succeeded as minister of justice in 1964. In this position Lenihan softened the nation's strict censorship laws. He then held successive ministerial posts in education (1968-69), transport and power (1969-73), foreign affairs (1973), and fisheries (1977-79) before serving in Haughey's cabinet as foreign minister (1979-81, 1987-89), minister of agriculture (1982), minister of defense (1989-90), and deputy prime minister (1987-90). As foreign minister he was credited with trying to improve relations with Northern Ireland during a series of crises. In particular, he sought to smooth differences between North and South during the Catholic hunger strikes in a British prison in the North in the early 1980s. In 1990 his party nominated him as its candidate for the presidency, and though he was an early favourite and expected to win in keeping with Fianna F疂l's historic domination of that contest, he narrowly lost to coalition candidate Mary Robinson in the second round. During the campaign he changed his account of his role in a political dispute in 1982, which experts said cost him votes. Following his defeat, he remained active in foreign affairs and domestic politics, helping to form a coalition between the Fianna F疂l and Labour parties in 1992.Lenihan, Brian (Joseph) (b. May 21, 1959, Dublin, Ireland - d. June 10, 2011, Dublin), justice minister (2007-08) and finance minister (2008-11) of Ireland; son of Brian Lenihan (1930-1995).
Lenin, Vladimir (Ilich), original name Vladimir (Ilich) Ulyanov (b. April 22 [April 10, O.S.], 1870, Simbirsk [now Ulyanovsk], Russia - d. Jan. 21, 1924, Gorky [now Gorky Leninskiye], near Moscow, Russian S.F.S.R.), chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of Russia (1917-24) and of the U.S.S.R. (1923-24); brother-in-law of Mark Yelizarov. He became a Marxist in January 1889. Arrested in December 1895, he was jailed for 15 months and then was sent into exile to Siberia for 3 years. He adopted the pseudonym Lenin in 1901.1 He found himself in the minority at first at the Second Congress (1903) of what was then proclaimed to be the Russian Social-Democratic Workers' Party. But a walkout by some disgruntled Jewish Social-Democrats left him with a slight majority. The members of his group were thus called Bolsheviks (majoritarians), who fought the Mensheviks (minoritarians) ceaselessly within the same party and professed the same program until 1912, when Lenin made the split final. In March 1917, the emperor was deposed. Lenin, who was in exile in Switzerland, hastened home after the German authorities agreed to permit his passage through Germany. To Lenin, the new Provisional Government was a "dictatorship of the bourgeoisie"; from September he urged an armed uprising, which was carried out in November, and he became head of the revolutionary government. He quickly pulled Russia out of World War I, but counterrevolutionaries sought to overthrow his government, and from 1918 to 1920 Russia was torn by a civil war, which cost millions of lives and untold destruction. In June 1922 he threw himself into the formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, but he became incapacitated as a result of a 1918 assassination attempt; his last public appearance was on Nov. 20, 1922.Lennon, Lucas Jaime (b. Dec. 11, 1928, Buenos Aires, Argentina - d. March 17, 2023), justice minister of Argentina (1981-83).
Lennon, William (b. Dec. 8, 1849, Dublin, Ireland - d. May 5, 1938, Brisbane, Qld.), acting governor of Queensland (1920, 1925-27). He was lieutenant governor in 1920-29.
Lenoir, (Joseph Victor) Jacques (Guy) (b. Aug. 13, 1918, Avignon, Vaucluse, France - d. Dec. 23, 2008, Sanary-sur-Mer, Var, France), prefect of police of Paris (1971-73). He was also prefect of the d駱artements of Vend馥 (1963-66) and Haut-Rhin (1966-68).
Lentsch, Josef (b. 1909 - d. Jan. 26, 1988), premier of Burgenland (1961-64).
Lentswe II a Molefi, also called Linchwe Molefi Kgafela (b. May 2, 1935 - d. Aug. 21, 2007), Kg?si of baKgatla (1963-2007); son of Molefi a Kgaf麝a. He was also Botswana's ambassador to the United States (1969-72).
Leo, Clement, foreign minister of Vanuatu (1998-99). He was also minister of health (2001-02).
Le?n (Carrera), J(os?) Mat?as (b. Feb. 24, 1865, Lima, Peru - d. May 19, 1939, Miraflores, Lima province, Peru), justice and education minister of Peru (1909-10, 1929-30).
Le?n (Uranga), Luis L(aureano) (b. July 4, 1890, Ciudad Ju疵ez, Chihuahua, Mexico - d. Aug. 21, 1981, Mexico City, Mexico), governor of Chihuahua (1929). He was also Mexican minister of agriculture and development (1924-28) and industry, commerce, and labour (1930).
Le?n (C疵denas), Mat?as (b. Feb. 24, 1793, Lima, Peru - d. Feb. 10, 1860, Lima), foreign minister (1830 [acting], 1831-32, 1834-35, 1843, 1844-45, 1845, 1848) and interior minister (1830 [acting], 1831-32, 1834-35, 1843, 1844-45) of Peru. He was also minister to Chile (1839-40) and Ecuador (1841-42) and president of the Supreme Court (1847-49).
Le?n Barandiar疣, Jos? (b. Dec. 8, 1899, Lambayeque, Peru - d. July 24, 1987, Lima, Peru), justice and labour minister of Peru (1948). He was also rector of the University of San Marcos (1957-61).
Le?n Brindis, Samuel (b. June 13, 1895, Ocozocoautla de Espinosa, Chiapas, Mexico - d. May 22, 1987, Tuxtla Guti駻rez, Chiapas), governor of Chiapas (1958-64).
Le?n Heredia, Julio (C駸ar) (b. Oct. 23, 1966), governor of Yaracuy (2008- ).
Le?n Luco, Ram?n (b. 1859? - d. Oct. 10, 1929, Santiago, Chile), war and marine minister of Chile (1911). He was also minister of industry, public works, and railways (1916-17).
Le?n y Castillo, Fernando, (from 1900) marqu駸 del Muni (b. Nov. 30, 1842, Telde, Gran Canaria, Spain - d. March 12, 1918, Biarritz, France), interior minister of Spain (1886-87). He was also overseas minister (1881-83) and ambassador to France (1887-90, 1892-95, 1897-1910, 1915-18).
L駮nard, (Joseph ノtienne) Roger (b. April 27, 1898, Bordeaux, Gironde, France - d. June 17, 1987, Paris, France), prefect of police of Paris (1947-51) and governor-general of Algeria (1951-55). He was also prefect of Seine-et-Oise d駱artement (1944-47) and first president of the French Court of Accounts (1955-69).
Leonas, Petras (b. Nov. 16, 1864, Leskava, Russia [now in Lithuania] - d. May 12, 1938, Kaunas, Lithuania), justice minister (1918-19) and interior minister (1919) of Lithuania. He was also a member of the Russian State Duma (1907).
Leonas, Silvestras (b. Jan. 15, 1894, Leskava, Russia [now in Lithuania] - d. Nov. 17, 1959, Kaunas, Lithuanian S.S.R.), interior minister of Lithuania (1938-39); nephew of Petras Leonas.
Leonce-Ceryl, Sonia, Saint Lucian diplomat. She was charg? d'affaires at the United Nations (1996-98).
Leone, Giovanni (b. Nov. 3, 1908, Pomigliano d'Arco, near Naples - d. Nov. 9, 2001, near Rome), president of Italy (1971-78). He entered politics in 1945, becoming one of the founders of the Naples branch of the Christian Democratic Party. He took part in the Constituent Assembly that drafted the new republic's constitution. First elected to parliament in 1948, he served as vice president (1950-55) and president (1955-63) of the Chamber of Deputies (the legislature's lower house) and as caretaker prime minister (1963, 1968). His most notable achievement came in 1970 when, as a member of the Senate, his successful negotiations helped to bring about his country's first divorce law. A church-led attempt to repeal the law was overwhelmingly defeated in 1972. He first was a presidential candidate in 1964, but withdrew after the 15th ballot in the electoral college. In 1971, he was elected president. He resigned six months before the end of his seven-year term amid allegations of links to a major payoff scandal involving the U.S. aircraft manufacturer Lockheed. He called the accusations against him "slanderous," and claimed the scandal had weakened his political clout. He said he resigned in the interest of democratic stability. The allegations were never proven. Like all former presidents, Leone was later made a senator for life.Leone, Mario (b. Aug. 24, 1922, Florence, Italy), president of Toscana (1978-83).
Leong Yew Koh, Tun (b. Aug. 22, 1888, Salak North, Perak, Malaya [now in Malaysia] - d. Jan. 12, 1963, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaya [now in Malaysia]), governor of Malacca (1957-59). He was also Malayan minister of health (1955-57) and justice (1959-63). He was awarded the title Tun in 1958.
Leoni (Otero), Ra?l (b. April 26, 1905, El Manteco, Bol?var state, Venezuela - d. July 5, 1972, New York City), president of Venezuela (1964-69). As a student he was first jailed in 1921 for his role in an insurrection against the government of dictator Juan Vicente G?mez. Following several other jailings and another attempt against the G?mez regime, he was exiled to Bogot?, Colombia. He returned in January 1936, shortly after the dictator's death, and founded the National Democratic Party in 1937, but was repeatedly forced into exile by military governments during the next 20 years. In 1941 he joined with R?mulo Betancourt and others to form the Democratic Action party. In 1945-48 he served as minister of labour. He returned to Caracas when Gen. Marcos P駻ez Jim駭ez was overthrown in 1958, and he was elected to the Senate. During the 1959-64 presidency of Betancourt, Leoni served as leader of the Democratic Action party. Elected president in December 1963, Leoni had the sensitive job of trying to reduce the tensions he inherited from Betancourt, who had simultaneously alienated Venezuela's left and right. During Leoni's presidency, Venezuela maintained rapid economic growth, based on booming oil production and a new multibillion dollar petrochemical industry. Agrarian reforms proceeded less swiftly, and the persisting unevenness of the economy cost him the support of university student activists. In December 1966, he suspended constitutional guarantees for several months in a drive against revolutionaries whom he linked to Cuban leader Fidel Castro. During this time he sent troops to seize an arsenal in Caracas' Central University which had until then remained immune from action by police or army. Ironically, his own party had emerged from that same university.
Leonty, secular name Ivan (Alekseyevich) Lebedinsky (b. Feb. 3 [Jan. 22, O.S.], 1822, Novaya Kalitva, Voronezh province, Russia - d. Aug. 13 [Aug. 1, O.S.], 1893, Cherkizovo [now part of Moscow], Russia), metropolitan of Moscow (1891-93). He was also bishop of Revel (1860-63) and Podolia (1863-73) and archbishop of Podolia (1873-74), Kherson (1874-75), and Kholm (1875-91).
Leonty, secular name Leonid (Ieronimovich) Turkevich (b. Aug. 20 [Aug. 8, O.S.], 1876, Kremenets, Volyn province, Russia [now in Ternopil oblast, Ukraine] - d. May 14, 1965, Syosset, N.Y.), metropolitan of All America and Canada (1950-65). He was also bishop of Chicago (1933-50).
Leontyev, Anatoly (Mikhailovich) (b. Feb. 15, 1937, Novoye Sheptakhovo, Chuvash A.S.S.R., Russian S.F.S.R. - d. June 17, 2007), chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (1988-90) and chairman of the Supreme Soviet (1990-91) of the Chuvash A.S.S.R.
Leopold I, in full Leopold Ignaz Joseph Balthasar Felician, Hungarian Lip?t Ign當 J?zsef Boldizs疵 Felician (b. June 9, 1640, Vienna, Austria - d. May 5, 1705, Vienna), archduke of Austria and king of Hungary (1657-1705) and emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (1658-1705). He was the second son of Ferdinand III's first marriage, to his cousin Maria Anna, daughter of Felipe III of Spain. When his elder brother, Ferdinand IV, died quite unexpectedly (1654), Leopold became heir apparent to the Austrian Habsburg lands. In 1657, his father died, and after long and difficult struggles against the opposition of France, Leopold was elected and crowned emperor in 1658. He acquired a claim to the Spanish throne by his first marriage (1666) to Margarita Teresa (1651-1673), daughter of Felipe IV of Spain. Leopold's health was bad, and, when he fell dangerously ill in 1670, the Austrian line of the Habsburgs was expected to become extinct. But he recovered, and in 1673 married Claudia Felicitas (1653-1676) from the Tirolian branch of the Austrian Habsburgs. In 1676 he solemnized his third marriage, with Eleonora of Palatinate-Neuburg (1655-1720); this union produced 10 children, among them the future emperors Joseph I and Karl VI. From the beginning Leopold had to fight wars, first of all against the Turks; in 1683 they appeared before Vienna, and for the second time in its history the city suffered a Turkish siege. When the childless Carlos II of Spain died in 1700, his throne and the vast Spanish holdings passed by bequest to Philippe, duc d'Anjou, a grandson of Louis XIV of France. There could be no question for Leopold that the Spanish heritage had to be defended by force of arms. In the middle of the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-14), Leopold died. L駮pold I, in full L駮pold Georges Chr騁ien Fr馘駻ic, Dutch Leopold Joris Christiaan Frederik (b. Dec. 16, 1790, Coburg, Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld - d. Dec. 10, 1865, Laeken, Belgium), king of Belgium (1831-65). The third son of Franz, duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, L駮pold served in the Russian army against Napol駮n's forces during the Napoleonic Wars (1800-15); in 1816 he married Charlotte, the only child of the future king George IV of Great Britain. Although the princess died in 1817, L駮pold continued to live in England until 1831, when he accepted his election as the first king of the Belgians, having declined the Greek crown the previous year. He immediately began to strengthen the Belgian army and, with assistance from France and England, fought off the attacks of Willem I of the Netherlands, who at first refused to recognize Belgium as an independent kingdom. Until 1839 L駮pold helped maintain a Liberal-Catholic coalition that expanded the educational system. In 1836 he granted greater political autonomy to large towns and rural areas. The coalition ended in 1839 with the removal of Dutch pressure through Willem I's recognition of the Belgian kingdom. L駮pold signed commercial treaties with Prussia (1844) and France (1846) and maintained a neutral foreign policy, most notably during the Crimean War (1853-56). In 1848 his throne stood unshaken during the revolutions which marked that year in most other European countries. After the accession of a hostile regime under Napol駮n III in France (1852), he sponsored a fortification of the Antwerp area, completed in 1868. Often spoken of as the "Nestor of Europe," L駮pold was highly influential in European diplomacy. In 1832 he married Louise Marie of Orl饌ns (1812-1850), daughter of the French king Louis-Philippe.Leopold I, byname der alte Dessauer ("the old Dessauer") (b. July 3, 1676, Dessau, Anhalt-Dessau [now part of Dessau-Rosslau, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany] - d. April 9, 1747, Dessau), prince of Anhalt-Dessau (1693-1747). He was also known as a Prussian field marshal.
Leopold II, in full Peter Leopold Joseph Johann Anton Joachim Pius Gotthard, Hungarian P騁er Lip?t J?zsef J疣os Antal Jo疚im Pius Gotthard (b. May 5, 1747, Vienna, Austria - d. March 1, 1792, Vienna), grand duke of Tuscany (as Pietro Leopoldo I) (1765-90) and archduke of Austria, king of Hungary, and Holy Roman emperor (1790-92); son of Maria Theresia and Franz I (1708-1765).
L駮pold II, in full L駮pold Louis Philippe Marie Victor, Dutch Leopold Lodewijk Filips Maria Victor (b. April 9, 1835, Brussels - d. Dec. 17, 1909, Laeken, Belgium), king of Belgium (1865-1909). The eldest son of L駮pold I, first king of the Belgians, and his second wife, Louise Marie of Orl饌ns, he became duke of Brabant in 1840 and served in the Belgian army. In 1853 he married Marie Henriette (1836-1902), daughter of the Austrian archduke Joseph, palatine of Hungary, and he became king on his father's death in 1865. The domestic affairs of his reign were dominated by a growing conflict between the Liberal and Catholic parties over suffrage and education issues, but he concentrated on developing the nation's defenses. He was jealous of his country's neutrality, which, though preserved during the Franco-German War (1870-71), was imperilled by the increasing strength of France and Germany. In 1887 he persuaded parliament to finance the fortification of Li鑒e and Namur. A military conscription bill, for which he had long argued, was passed shortly before his death. But most notably, he was determined early on to acquire a colony. In 1876 he founded what in 1882 was named the International Association of the Congo, to explore that area, with Sir Henry Morton Stanley as his main agent. Stations were established and treaties with native chiefs concluded, and in 1885 the leading powers recognized L駮pold as the sovereign of the Congo Free State, an area 80 times the size of Belgium. The exposure of mistreatment of natives in the rubber industry in 1904 led to the decline of his personal rule in the region. Britain, with U.S. aid, pressured Belgium to annex the Congo state to redress the "rubber atrocities"; the area became the Belgian Congo in 1908. L駮pold III, in full L駮pold Philippe Charles Albert Meinrad Hubertus Marie Miguel, Dutch Leopold Filips Karel Albert Meinrad Hubertus Maria Miguel (b. Nov. 3, 1901, Brussels - d. Sept. 25, 1983, Brussels), king of Belgium (1934-51). The son of Albert I and his consort Elisabeth of Bavaria, he was a soldier during the final campaign of World War I. On Nov. 10, 1926, he married Princess Astrid of Sweden (killed Aug. 28, 1935, in a motor accident near Luzern, Switzerland); their children were Jos駱hine-Charlotte, Baudouin, and Albert. He became king of the Belgians following his father's death in 1934. When the Germans invaded in World War II, he assumed supreme command of the Belgian army; he surrendered his encircled forces on May 28, 1940, 18 days after the invasion. He remained with his troops, rather than joining the London government in exile, and was held prisoner by the Germans at his royal ch穰eau near Brussels. On Sept. 11, 1941, he married Mary Lilian Baels (1916-2002; daughter of Henri Baels), whom he made princesse de R騁hy; their children were Alexandre, Marie-Christine, and Maria Esmeralda. On June 7, 1944, he and his wife and a son were removed to a fort in Hirschstein, near Dresden, Saxony, then on March 6, 1945, to Strobl, near Salzburg, Austria, where on May 8 they were liberated by the U.S. 7th Army. His brother Charles having been appointed regent in 1944, L駮pold remained in Pregny, near Geneva, Switzerland, awaiting resolution of the controversy over his pending return to the throne. In a plebiscite held March 12, 1950, 57.9% of the voters favoured his return, and on July 22 he returned to Brussels. But unrest fomented by Liberal, Socialist, and Walloon opposition led him to renounce his sovereignty on Aug. 11, 1950, in favour of his son Baudouin, who became king in 1951.Leoro Franco, Galo (Alberto) (b. Dec. 15, 1926, Ibarra, Ecuador - d. June 26, 2014, Quito, Ecuador), foreign minister of Ecuador (1994-97). He was also ambassador to the Dominican Republic (1971-72), the United Kingdom (1983-84), and the Vatican (1993-94) and permanent representative to the OAS (1972-79).
L駮tard, Fran輟is (G駻ard Marie) (b. March 26, 1942, Cannes, Alpes-Maritimes, France - d. April 25, 2023), French defense minister (1993-95). He was also minister of culture and communication (1986-88) and president of the Republican Party (1988-90, 1995-97) and the Union for French Democracy (1996-98).
Lepa, Alfred (Karlovich), Latvian Alfreds Liepa (b. Aug. 5 [July 24, O.S.], 1896, Riga, Russia [now in Latvia] - d. [executed] May 9, 1938, Kazan, Russian S.F.S.R.), first secretary of the Communist Party committee of the Tatar A.S.S.R. (1933-37). He was also executive secretary of the party committees of Kursk (1926-28) and Vyatka (1928-29) provinces.
LePage, Bradford William (b. Feb. 19, 1876, Rustico, P.E.I. - d. Dec. 4, 1958, Charlottetown, P.E.I.), lieutenant governor of Prince Edward Island (1939-45).
Lepage (Barreto), Octavio (b. Nov. 24, 1923, Santa Rosa, Anzo疸egui, Venezuela - d. Jan. 6, 2017, Caracas, Venezuela), acting president of Venezuela (1993). He was ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg (1964-65), interior minister (1975-78, 1984-86), and president of the Senate (1989, 1993).
LePage, Paul (Richard) (b. Oct. 9, 1948, Lewiston, Maine), governor of Maine (2011-19).
Lepercq, Aim? (b. Sept. 2, 1889, Collonges, Rh?ne, France - d. Nov. 9, 1944, Harnes, Pas-de-Calais, France), finance minister of France (1944).
Lep鑽e, (Edme) Charles (Philippe) (b. Feb. 1, 1823, Auxerre, Yonne, France - d. Sept. 6, 1885, Auxerre), interior minister of France (1879-80). He was also minister of agriculture and commerce (1879).
Lepikson, Robert (b. June 14, 1952, Tallinn, Estonian S.S.R. - d. July 1, 2006, Rakvere, Estonia), interior minister of Estonia (1997-98). He was also mayor of Tallinn (1996-97).
L駱ine, Louis (Jean Baptiste) (b. Aug. 6, 1846, Lyon, France - d. Nov. 10, 1933, Paris, France), prefect of police of Paris (1893-97, 1899-1913) and governor-general of Algeria (1897-98). He was also prefect of the d駱artements of Indre (1885-86), Loire (1891-93), and Seine-et-Oise (1893).
Lepoil dit Bernys, Georges Victor Gustave (b. Aug. 24, 1902, Paris, France - d. May 7, 1960, Quito, Ecuador), French official. He was prefect of the d駱artements of Maine-et-Loire (1946-47) and Haut-Rhin (1947-55) and ambassador to Ecuador (1959-60).
Lepori, Giuseppe (b. June 2, 1902, Massagno, Ticino, Switzerland - d. Sept. 6, 1968, Seravezza, Lucca province, Italy), president of the Council of State of Ticino (1941-42, 1946-47, 1951-52). He was also posts and railways minister of Switzerland (1955-59).
Leposavic, Vladimir (b. Aug. 24, 1984, Bar, Montenegro), justice minister of Montenegro (2020-21).
Lepp, Peeter (b. July 1, 1943, Russian S.F.S.R.), Estonian politician. He was mayor of Tallinn (1999).
Lepper, Andrzej (Zbigniew) (b. June 13, 1954, Stowiecino, Poland - d. [suicide] Aug. 5, 2011, Warsaw, Poland), Polish politician. He was a presidential candidate (1995, 2000, 2005, 2010) and a deputy prime minister and minister of agriculture and rural development (2006, 2006-07).
Lepping, Sir George (Gerea Dennis) (b. Nov. 22, 1947 - d. Dec. 24, 2014, Honiara, Solomon Islands), governor-general of the Solomon Islands (1988-94); knighted 1988.
Leprette, Jacques (b. Jan. 22, 1920, Alexandria, Egypt - d. April 2, 2004, Paris, France), French diplomat. He was ambassador to Mauritania (1961-63) and permanent representative to the United Nations (1976-82) and the European Community (1982-85).
Lepreux, Charles (Jules Louis) (b. Feb. 7, 1856, Valenciennes, Nord, France - d. Oct. 10, 1930, Saint-Christophe-des-Bardes, Gironde, France), acting governor-general of Madagascar (1905-06) and governor of Martinique (1906-08).
Lepro, Alfredo (b. 1903, Trinidad, Uruguay - d. July 14, 1986, Montevideo, Uruguay), interior minister of Uruguay (1968-69). He was also ambassador to Colombia (1970-71) and Portugal (1972-73).
Lequerica (Erquiza), Jos? F駘ix de (b. Jan. 30, 1891, Bilbao, Spain - d. June 9, 1963, Bilbao), foreign minister of Spain (1944-45). He was also mayor of Bilbao (1938-39), ambassador to France (1939-44) and the United States (1951-54), and permanent representative to the United Nations (1956-63).
L駻, Leopold (b. Oct. 23, 1928, Ostrava, Czechoslovakia [now in Czech Republic] - d. April 20, 2013), finance minister of Czechoslovakia (1973-85). He was also finance minister of the Czech Socialist Republic (1969-73).
Lerdo de Tejada (y Corral), Sebasti疣 (b. April 25, 18232527, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico - d. April 21, 1889, New York City), president of Mexico (1872-76). In 1855 he was made a judge of the Supreme Court and in 1857 he was appointed foreign minister. He was identified with the Liberal administration of Benito Ju疵ez and was a member of the Mexican Congress in 1861-62, and opposed the treaty that had been made for arranging the English debt. He was appointed subsequently by Ju疵ez to arrange a treaty of commerce and extradition with the United States, which was highly beneficial to his country. He afterward held the positions of justice and foreign minister under Ju疵ez. He became president of the Supreme Court and de facto vice president of the Mexican republic after its restoration in 1867. After Ju疵ez' death in 1872, Lerdo became president of Mexico, only to be immediately challenged by Porfirio D?az, another of Ju疵ez' lieutenants. He issued a decree of amnesty, and all the rebellious chiefs, including D?az, made their submission. He was elected president by the Congress in November 1872 and retained the Ju疵ez cabinet. But when in 1875 he was proclaimed a candidate for reelection in 1876, revolutionary movements emerged again; he was opposed by provincial chieftains who resented his centralized government, by the church for his connection with the anticlerical reforms of Ju疵ez, and by progressives who criticized his failure to undertake public works. D?az led a successful uprising, and Lerdo and his cabinet fled. They were captured by Pioquinto Huato, a bandit, and were held for 30,000ドル ransom. After this episode he went to New York, where he remained until his death.Lere, (Alhaji Ahmed Dabo) Mohammed (b. March 16, 1940, Lere [now in Kaduna state], Nigeria - d. Feb. 18, 2002, Abuja, Nigeria), governor of Kaduna (1992-93).
Lerias, Rosette (Oppus Y?iguez) (b. June 16, 1945, Maasin, Leyte [now in Southern Leyte], Philippines), Philippine politician; daughter of Nicanor Y?iguez and Salvacion Y?iguez. She was governor of Southern Leyte (1998-2007).
Lerner (Ghitis), Salom?n, byname Siomi Lerner (b. Feb. 4, 1946, Lima, Peru), prime minister of Peru (2011).
Leroy, Jean Baptiste Reynold, Haitian diplomat. He was charg? d'affaires at the United Nations (2018-19).
Leroy, Jean Dominique (b. 1758, Paris, France - d. Aug. 21, 1803, Paris), French official. He was prefect of Aude d駱artement (1802-03).
Leroy de Saint-Arnaud, Armand Jacques Achille (b. Aug. 20, 1798, Paris, France - d. Sept. 29, 1854, at sea, aboard the Berthollet), war minister of France (1851-54); son of Jean Dominique Leroy.
Lerroux Garc?a, Alejandro (b. March 4, 1864, La Rambla, C?rdoba province, Spain - d. June 27, 1949, Madrid, Spain), foreign minister (1931, 1935) and prime minister (1933, 1933-34, 1934-35) of Spain.
Lersundi y Ormaechea, Francisco de (b. Jan. 28, 1817, Valencia, Spain - d. Nov. 17, 1874, Bayonne, France), prime minister of Spain (1853) and governor of Cuba (1866, 1867-69). He was also minister of war (1851-52, 1853, 1863-64) and navy (1856-57).
Les, Gabriel-Beniamin (b. Dec. 23, 1975, Satu Mare, Romania), defense minister of Romania (2017, 2018-19).
Lesage, Jean (b. June 10, 1912, Montreal, Que. - d. Dec. 12, 1980, Sillery [now part of Qu饕ec], Que.), premier of Quebec (1960-66). In 1945 he was elected to the Canadian House of Commons - to serve as parliamentary assistant to leading members of the cabinet and also as a delegate to the United Nations. He became minister of resources and development (1953) and of northern affairs and national resources (1953-57). In 1958 he resigned his seat in the Commons to become leader of the Quebec Liberal Party. In the provincial elections of 1960 he led the Liberals to victory over the conservative Union Nationale, which had been in office since 1944. With a platform calling for social and cultural reform as well as greater provincial autonomy, he set out to lead Quebec's "Quiet Revolution." His cabinet of diverse and, to some extent, disputatious personalities was dubbed l'駲uipe de tonnerre ("the team of thunder"). Under his administration, for the first time schools became a government responsibility instead of being left in the hands of the Roman Catholic Church; he appointed the first minister of education in Quebec. The government also took over other institutions that had been under religious control. The civil service was also modernized. He served as his own finance minister and minister of federal-provincial affairs and won major fiscal concessions from the federal government. His administration was also active in developing closer ties with France through cultural and educational accords. He decisively won the 1962 provincial election on the issue of the nationalization of hydroelectric power. In 1966, however, the Liberals were defeated by the renovated Union Nationale. He was then leader of the opposition until 1970, when he was succeeded by his prot馮? Robert Bourassa.Lescano (Ancieta), Yonhy (b. Feb. 15, 1959, Puno, Peru), Peruvian presidential candidate (2021). He was also secretary-general of Popular Action (2009-11).
Lescot, (Jean-Baptiste) G駻ard (b. April 20, 1914, Port-de-Paix, Haiti - d. Oct. 7, 1979), foreign minister of Haiti (1943-46); son of ノlie Lescot.
Lescure, Fr馘駻ic (b. May 25, 1904 - d. Dec. 5, 1993), president of the Regional Council of Bourgogne (1983-85).
Lesechko, Mikhail (Avksentyevich) (b. Oct. 16 [Oct. 3, O.S.], 1909, Aleksandrovsk, Yekaterinoslav province, Russia [now Zaporizhzhya, Ukraine] - d. Jan. 21, 1984, Moscow, Russian S.F.S.R.), Soviet politician. He was minister of instrument-making and automation (1956-57) and a deputy premier (1962-80).
Lesh, Leonid (Vilgelmovich) (b. Jan. 21 [Jan. 9, O.S.], 1862 - d. Aug. 28, 1934, Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia [now in Croatia]), military governor of Zakaspiyskaya oblast (1913-16).
Leshchinsky, Pavel (Donatovich) (b. Jan. 3, 1895, St. Petersburg, Russia - d. [executed] May 17, 1938, Kuybyshev, Russian S.F.S.R. [now Samara, Russia]), executive secretary of the Communist Party committee of the Kabardino-Balkar autonomous oblast (1924-25). He was also executive secretary of the party committee of Novgorod province (1921-23).
Leskinen, V臺n? Olavi (b. March 8, 1917, Helsinki, Finland - d. March 8, 1972, Helsinki), foreign minister of Finland (1970-71). He was also minister of social affairs (1952-53, 1958-59), interior (1954-55), and trade and industry (1968-70).
Leslie, Harry G(uyer) (b. Aug. 6, 1878, West Lafayette, Ind. - d. Dec. 10, 1937, Miami, Fla.), governor of Indiana (1929-33).
Leslie, John Clifford, byname Jack Leslie (b. 1920, Calgary, Alta. - d. Dec. 27, 2010), mayor of Calgary (1965-69).
Leslie, Preston H(opkins) (b. March 2, 1819, Wayne [in present Clinton] county, Ky. - d. Feb. 7, 1907, Helena, Mont.), governor of Kentucky (1871-75) and Montana (1887-89).
Leslie, Robert (Anthony) (b. Aug. 16, 1942, Belize, British Honduras [now Belize City, Belize]), Belizean diplomat. He was permanent representative to the United Nations (1982-85), high commissioner to the United Kingdom (1991-93), and ambassador to the Vatican (1992-93).
Leslie, Stuart (Warren) (b. Sept. 30, 1964), acting governor-general of Belize (2021). He was also permanent representative to the United Nations (2000-05).
Lesnic, Cristina (b. March 28, 1982, Kishinev, Moldavian S.S.R. [now Chisinau, Moldova]), a deputy prime minister of Moldova (2018-19, 2020).
Lesniewski, J?zef K(rzysztof) (b. Sept. 26 [Sept. 14, O.S.], 1867, Nevel district, Vitebsk province, Russia [now in Belarus] - d. Oct. 3, 1921, Warsaw, Poland), military affairs minister of Poland (1919-20).
Lesovsky, Stepan (Ivanovich) (b. 1781, Moscow province, Russia - d. Nov. 23 [Nov. 11, O.S.], 1839, Chernigov, Russia [now Chernihiv, Ukraine]), governor of Kursk (1826-30); illegitimate son of Knyaz Nikolay Repnin.
Lesovsky, Stepan (Stepanovich) (b. 1817, Rethel, Ardennes, France - d. March 9 [Feb. 26, O.S.], 1884, St. Petersburg, Russia), Russian navy minister (1876-80); son of Stepan (Ivanovich) Lesovsky.
Lespinasse, (Jean Pierre Joseph) Edmond (b. 1856 - d. Dec. 1, 1933, Port-au-Prince, Haiti), member of the Council of Secretaries of Haiti (1912, 1913).
Lessa, Francisco de S? (b. May 20, 1887, Diamantina, Minas Gerais, Brazil - d. June 26, 1977, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), prefect of Distrito Federal (1955-56).
Lessa, Mac疵io das Chagas Rocha (b. Coruripe, Alagoas, Brazil - d. ...), acting governor of Alagoas (1912).
Lessa Santos, Ronaldo Augusto (b. April 25, 1949, Macei?, Alagoas, Brazil), governor of Alagoas (1999-2006).
Lesufi, Panyaza, byname of Andrek Lesufi (b. Sept. 4, 1968, Dindela, Transvaal [now in Gauteng], South Africa), premier of Gauteng (2022- ).
Letcher, John (b. March 29, 1813, Lexington, Va. - d. Jan. 26, 1884, Lexington), governor of Virginia (1860-63).
Letcher, Robert P(erkins) (b. Feb. 10, 1788, Goochland county, Va. - d. Jan. 24, 1861, Frankfort, Ky.), governor of Kentucky (1840-44). He was also U.S. minister to Mexico (1850-52).
Letelier (N??ez), An?bal (del Rosario) (b. March 5, 1862, Talca, Chile - d. Feb. 25, 1930, Vi?a del Mar, Chile), justice (and education) minister of Chile (1911, 1913).
Letelier Esp?nola, Miguel (Wenceslao) (b. May 15, 1883, Santiago, Chile - d. Nov. 8, 1965, Santiago), interior minister of Chile (1931). He was also minister of industry, public works, and railways (1922).
Letelier Icaza, Luis Felipe (b. Dec. 3, 1906, Talca, Chile - d. Jan. 18, 1993, Santiago, Chile), justice minister of Chile (1948-49). He was also minister of labour (1949-50).
Letellier, Ren? (Laurent Paul) (b. June 18, 1914, Juaye-Mondaye, Calvados, France - d. Jan. 20, 2000, Cagnes-sur-Mer, Alpes-Maritimes, France), prefect of French Guiana (1963-67). He was also prefect of Ard鐵he d駱artement (1967-69).
Letellier de Saint-Just, Luc (Horatio) (b. May 12, 1820, Rivi鑽e-Ouelle, Lower Canada [now Que.] - d. Jan. 28, 1881, Rivi鑽e-Ouelle), lieutenant governor of Quebec (1876-79).
Leterme, Yves (Camille D駸ir?) (b. Oct. 6, 1960, Wervik, Belgium), minister-president of Flanders (2004-07) and prime minister (2008, 2009-11) and foreign minister (2009) of Belgium.
Lethem, Sir Gordon James (b. Sept. 16, 1886 - d. Aug. 14, 1962), governor of Seychelles (1934-36), the Leeward Islands (1936-41), and British Guiana (1941-46); knighted 1936.
Letsie, Thaabe (b. April 4, 1940, Qeme, near Maseru, Basutoland [now Lesotho]), foreign minister of Lesotho (1988-90).
Letsoha-Mathae, Maqueen (Joyce) (b. Feb. 3, 1969), premier of Free State (2024- ).
Letta, Enrico (b. Aug. 20, 1966, Pisa, Italy), prime minister of Italy (2013-14). He was also minister of EU policy (1998-99) and industry (1999-2001) and leader of the Democratic Party (2021-23).
Leuca, Gheorghe (b. May 22, 1957, Milesti, Moldavian S.S.R.), Moldovan diplomat. He has been ambassador to Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, and India (2016-19) and permanent representative to the United Nations (2021- ).
Leuenberger, Moritz (b. Sept. 21, 1946, Biel, Bern, Switzerland), president of Switzerland (2001, 2006). He was environment, transport, energy, and communications minister (1996-2010).
Leullier, (Alexandre Louis Henri) Robert (b. Sept. 15, 1870, Ligni鑽es-Ch穰elain, Somme, France - d. July 5, 1922, Paris, France), prefect of police of Paris (1921-22). He was also prefect of the d駱artements of Gers (1909-11), Aube (1911-12), Aisne (1912-18), and Pas-de-Calais (1918-21).
Leung, Ernest C(hui) (b. Aug. 25, 1939, Baguio, Philippines - d. Nov. 15, 2019), finance secretary of the Philippines (1993-94).
Leuning, Carl Peter Gram (b. May 27, 1820, F?rslev, Denmark - d. July 21, 1867, Copenhagen, Denmark), justice minister of Denmark (1865-67).
Leupena, Sir Tupua (b. Aug. 2, 1922 - d. Nov. 24, 1996), governor-general of Tuvalu (1986-90); knighted 1986.
Leurquin, Bernard (Gaston) (b. April 4, 1933, Bavay, Nord, France), prefect of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon (1985-87). He was also prefect of the French d駱artement of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence (1987-90).
Leushkin, Sergey (Gennadiyevich) (b. Oct. 9, 1950, Korf, Kamchatka oblast, Russian S.F.S.R. [now in Kamchatka kray, Russia] - d. April 20, 2008), chairman of the Executive Committee (1990-91) and head of the administration (1991-96) of Koryak autonomous okrug.
Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, Sabine (b. July 26, 1951, Minden, Nordrhein-Westfalen, West Germany), justice minister of Germany (1992-96, 2009-13); niece of Wolfgang Stammberger.
Leuthold, Bruno (b. Oct. 2, 1923, Stans, Nidwalden, Switzerland), Landammann of Nidwalden (1986-87, 1988-89).
Levallois, Michel (Francis L駮n) (b. Jan. 16, 1934, Paris, France - d. April 29, 2018, Paris), prefect of R騏nion (1981-84). He was also prefect of Haute-Marne d駱artement (1978-81).
LeVander, (Karl) Harold (Phillip) (b. Oct. 10, 1910, Swede Home, Neb. - d. March 30, 1992, St. Paul, Minn.), governor of Minnesota (1967-71).
Levashov, Nikolay (Vasilyevich) (b. Nov. 26 [Nov. 14, O.S.], 1828 - d. Feb. 4 [Jan. 23, O.S.], 1888), governor of Oryol (1861-66, acting to 1862) and St. Petersburg (1866-71); son of Vasily (Vasilyevich) Levashov.
Levashov, Vasily (Vasilyevich) (b. Oct. 21 [Oct. 10, O.S.], 1783 - d. Oct. 5 [Sept. 23, O.S.], 1848, St. Petersburg, Russia), military governor of Kiev and governor-general of Podolia and Volyn (1832-35), governor-general of Chernigov, Poltava, and Kharkov (1835-37), and chairman of the Imperial State Council and the Committee of Ministers of Russia (1848); great-grandson of Vasily (Yakovlevich) Levashov.
Levashov, Vasily (Yakovlevich) (b. 1667 - d. April 18 [April 7, O.S.], 1751), governor-general of Moscow (1744-51).
Levashov, Graf (Count) Vladimir (Vasilyevich) (b. Dec. 12 [Nov. 30, O.S.], 1834 - d. June 7 [May 26, O.S.], 1898), military governor of Kutaisi (1867-74); son of Vasily (Vasilyevich) Levashov; son-in-law of Graf Viktor Panin. He was also gradonachalnik (city governor) of Odessa (1876-78).
Levecque, Fernand (Ernest) (b. Sept. 2, 1852, Beaurieux, Aisne, France - d. July 4, 1947, Paris, France), acting mayor of Amiens (1881-82, 1884), resident-superior of Annam (1906-08), and governor of French India (1909-10), French Guiana (1914-16), and Martinique (1921-23).
Leven, Fridrikh, German Friedrich von L?wen (b. July 5, 1654, Lohde [Koluvere] castle, Sweden [now in Estonia] - d. July 9, 1744, Reval, Russia [now Tallinn, Estonia]), governor of Reval (1730-35).
Levendal, Graf Vladimir, German Ulrich Friedrich Woldemar Graf von L?wendal (b. April 6, 1700, Hamburg [Germany] - d. May 27, 1755, Paris, France), governor of Reval (1740-43); great-grandson of Frederik III (king of Denmark 1648-70). In 1741 he was raised from Freiherr (baron) to Graf (count).
Levens, Marie, byname of Maria Elizabeth Levens (b. 1950), foreign minister of Suriname (2000-05).
L騅麭ue, Michel (b. July 19, 1933, Algiers, Algeria), minister of state of Monaco (1997-2000). He was also French ambassador to Libya (1985-89), Morocco (1991-93), Brazil (1993-94), and Algeria (1995-97).
L騅esque, Ren? (b. Aug. 24, 1922, New Carlisle, Quebec - d. Nov. 1, 1987, Montreal, Quebec), premier of Quebec (1976-85). He entered politics in 1960 and was elected to the Quebec National Assembly as a Liberal member for Gouin, joining Jean Lesage's government first as minister of public works and hydraulic resources (1960-61), and then holding the newly created portfolio of natural resources (1961-65); during the last months of the Lesage government in 1966, he was minister of family and social welfare. He was reelected in the Montreal constituency of Laurier in the 1962 and 1966 elections. He became disenchanted with the Liberal Party's stand on constitutional issues, and in October 1967 he and others founded the Mouvement Souverainet?-Association, which the following year combined with other separatist groups to form the Parti Qu饕馗ois (PQ), with L騅esque as its first president. He was unsuccessful in the elections of 1970 and 1973 (although the PQ became the official opposition party in Quebec in the latter year) but in 1976 his party won control of the provincial National Assembly and he became premier. He introduced several important pieces of legislation, notably Bill 101, which established French as the official language of Quebec. His independence plan was rejected by 59.6% of the Quebec electorate in a referendum on May 20, 1980, amid one of the highest voter turnouts in Quebec's history. Despite this serious setback, he retained his personal popularity, as was demonstrated by his reelection in April 1981. In his second term, his government attempted to curb public spending in order to solve its financial problems. In June 1985, largely because of failing health, he resigned from the PQ leadership, at a time when the party's power was waning.Levetzow, Albert Erdmann Karl Gerhard von (b. Sept. 12, 1827, Gossow, Prussia [now Goszkow, Poland] - d. Aug. 12, 1903, Gossow), president of the Reichstag of Germany (1881-84, 1888-95).
Levey, Stuart (Alan) (b. June 3, 1963, Akron, Ohio), acting U.S. treasury secretary (2009).
Levi, Edward H(irsch) (b. June 26, 1911, Chicago, Ill. - d. March 7, 2000, Chicago), U.S. attorney general (1975-77). During World War II, he worked as a special assistant in the U.S. attorney general's office. During his time as president of the University of Chicago (1968-75), student protests reached a high, culminating in a 1975 takeover of the school's administration building. Levi was praised for his evenhanded response to the situation. He held numerous leadership positions in national civic groups. He argued for civilian control of nuclear energy and in 1945 advised the group that founded the Atomic Energy Commission. He served on Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson's task force on education from 1966 to 1967 and on Pres. Richard Nixon's task force on higher education from 1969 to 1970. As attorney general he helped rebuild a Justice Department crippled by the Watergate scandal. His performance was considered so nonpartisan that when he left the department he was warmly praised by Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. He was elected president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1986.Levi, Maria Benvinda Delfina (b. March 24, 1969, Chicuque, Maxixe municipality, Inhambane province, Mozambique), justice minister (2008-15) and prime minister (2025- ) of Mozambique.
Levi Sandri, Lionello (R.) (b. Oct. 5, 1910, Milan, Italy - d. April 12, 1991, Rome, Italy), Italian politician. He was European commissioner for social affairs (1961-70) and personnel and administration (1967-70) and a vice president of the Commission (1964-70).
Levie, Michel (Edouard) (b. Oct. 4, 1851, Binche, Belgium - d. March 6, 1939, Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, Belgium), finance minister of Belgium (1911-14).
Levin, Yariv (Gideon) (b. June 22, 1969, Jerusalem), deputy prime minister and justice minister of Israel (2022- ). He was also minister in the Prime Minister's Office (2015-20), minister of public security (2015), tourism (2015-20), and immigration and absorption (acting, 2018-19), and speaker of the Knesset (2020-21, 2022).
Levina, Tamara (Nikolayevna), Soviet politician. She was a deputy premier of the Russian S.F.S.R. (1988-90).
Levinge, Sir Edward Vere (b. May 24, 1867 - d. Jan. 24, 1954), acting lieutenant governor of Bihar and Orissa (1918); knighted 1916.
Levinson, Karl (Samuel) (b. Oct. 2, 1885, Stockholm, Sweden - d. Aug. 29, 1971, Stockholm), governor of Stockholm (1938-52).
Levintal, Aleksandr (Borisovich) (b. Oct. 18, 1957, Birobidzhan, Yevreyskaya autonomous oblast, Khabarovsk kray, Russian S.F.S.R. [now in Yevreyskaya autonomous oblast, Russia]), governor of Yevreyskaya autonomous oblast (2015-19).
Levitin, Igor (Yevgenyevich) (b. Feb. 21, 1952, Tsebrikovo, Odessa oblast, Ukrainian S.S.R.), Russian politician. He was transport minister (2004-12) and secretary of the State Council (2012-24).
Levitin, Mark (Filippovich) (b. 1891, Nakhichevan-na-Donu, Don Cossack Host, Russia [now part of Rostov-na-Donu, Rostov oblast, Russia] - d. [executed] Feb. 8, 1938), executive secretary of the Communist Party committee of the Mountain A.S.S.R. (1923). He was also chairman of the revolutionary committees of Samara (1918), Tomsk (1920), and Semipalatinsk (1920-...) provinces and the Executive Committee of Semipalatinsk province (192...-21) and executive secretary of the party committees of Semipalatinsk (1921) and Irkutsk (1922-23) provinces.
Levitin, Vyacheslav (Leonidovich) (b. Oct. 14, 1949, Roslavl, Smolensk oblast, Russian S.F.S.R.), head of Mangistau oblast (1995-97).
Levitte, Jean-David (b. June 14, 1946, Moissac, Tarn-et-Garonne, France), French diplomat. He was permanent representative to the United Nations (2000-02) and ambassador to the United States (2002-07).
Levy, David (b. Dec. 21, 1937, Rabat, Morocco - d. June 2, 2024, Jerusalem), Israeli politician. He immigrated to Israel with his family in 1957. He entered politics with the upstart Herut Party, which was trying to improve the lot of Sephardic Jews, a group long considered the disenfranchised underclass. His first important party job was chairman of the Herut faction of the Histadrut, Israel's enormous labour organization. In 1969 he won a seat in the Knesset. In 1977, Menachem Begin's Likud bloc (which included Herut) pulled off the biggest political upset in the nation's short history, and Levy became minister of immigrant absorption (1977-81) and minister of construction and housing (1979-90). He quickly distinguished himself by becoming a spokesman for the underclass and proving himself a savvy politician who could protect his own interests. He secretly financed a new Jewish settlement in the Christian quarter of Old Jerusalem and was blamed for ruining Israel's unblemished record of support for separate worship in the Old City. He established himself as an important Likud asset and became a deputy prime minister (1981-92) and foreign minister (1990-92). He bolted Likud in 1995 over differences with party leader Benjamin Netanyahu and founded the Gesher party, but later he joined Netanyahu's right-wing alliance in the number two spot, and in 1996 he became a deputy prime minister and foreign minister again but he resigned in 1998, citing lack of progress on the peace process and the government's indifference to the needs of low-income workers. He took his party into Ehud Barak's One Israel alliance, became a deputy prime minister and foreign minister for a third time in 1999, but pulled out again in 2000. In 2002 he was briefly minister without portfolio under Ariel Sharon.L騅y, Georges (Adolphe) (b. June 11, 1867, Paris, France - d. 19...), governor of French Guiana (1916-17).
Levy, Joaquim (Vieira Ferreira) (b. Feb. 17, 1961, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), finance minister of Brazil (2015).
Levy-Abekasis, Orly (b. Nov. 11, 1973, Beit She'an, Israel), Israeli politician; daughter of David Levy. She was minister of community strengthening and advancement (2020-21).
Lewal, Jules Louis (b. Dec. 13, 1823, Paris, France - d. Jan. 22, 1908, Senlis, Oise, France), war minister of France (1885).
Lewandowski, Bohdan (b. June 29, 1926, Ostroleka, Poland - d. March 25, 2013), Polish diplomat. He was permanent representative to the United Nations (1960-66).
Lewandowski, Janusz (Antoni) (b. June 13, 1951, Lublin, Poland), Polish politician. He was minister of privatization (1991, 1992-93) and EU commissioner for financial programming and budget (2010-14).
Lewandowski, Wincenty (Janusz) (b. April 5, 1937, Piotrk?w Kujawski, Poland), acting finance minister of Poland (1989).
Lewelling, Lorenzo D(ow) (b. Dec. 21, 1846, Salem, Iowa - d. Sept. 3, 1900, Arkansas City, Kan.), governor of Kansas (1893-95).
Lewenhaupt, Carl greve (b. March 19, 1835, Riseberga parish, Kristianstad [now in Sk蚣e], Sweden - d. Dec. 10, 1906, Helsingborg, Sweden), foreign minister of Sweden (1889-95); nephew of Patrik greve Lewenhaupt. He was also minister to the United States (1876-84), France (1884-89), and the United Kingdom (1895-1902).
Lewenhaupt, Mauritz Axel greve (b. July 5, 1791, ヨstra Ving虧er socken, S?dermanland, Sweden - d. Jan. 12, 1868, Stockholm, Sweden), acting governor of Stockholm city (1842-44).
Lewenhaupt, (Adolph) Patrik greve (b. June 22, 1794, Alings蚶, トlvsborg [now in V舖tra G?taland], Sweden - d. Oct. 21, 1871, Lund, Malm?hus [now in Sk蚣e], Sweden), governor of Halland (1843-60); cousin of Mauritz Axel greve Lewenhaupt.
Lewerissa, Hendrik (b. March 2, 1968, Ambon, Maluku, Indonesia), governor of Maluku (2025- ).
Lewis, Sir Allen (Montgomery) (b. Oct. 26, 1909, Castries, Saint Lucia - d. Feb. 18, 1993), governor (1974-79) and governor-general (1979-80, 1982-87) of Saint Lucia; knighted 1968. He was also president of the Senate of the West Indies (1958-59), acting chief justice of Jamaica (1966), and chief justice of the West Indies Associated States Supreme Court (1967-72).
Lewis, Andrew L(indsay), Jr., byname Drew Lewis (b. Nov. 3, 1931, Philadelphia, Pa. - d. Feb. 10, 2016, Prescott, Ariz.), U.S. transportation secretary (1981-83).
Lewis, Brandon (b. June 20, 1971, London, England), British justice secretary (2022). He was also Northern Ireland secretary (2020-22).
Lewis, David P(eter) (b. 1820, Charlotte county, Va. - d. July 3, 1884, Huntsville, Ala.), governor of Alabama (1872-74).
Lewis, Ernest Gordon, byname Toby Lewis (b. Sept. 26, 1918, Otago, N.Z. - d. Dec. 29, 2006, London, England), commissioner of the Turks and Caicos Islands (1955-58) and governor of the Falkland Islands (1971-75).
Lewis, Sir George Cornewall, (2nd) Baronet (b. April 21, 1806, London, England - d. April 13, 1863, Old Radnor, Powys, Wales), British chancellor of the exchequer (1855-58), home secretary (1859-61), and war secretary (1861-63). He succeeded as baronet in 1855.
Lewis, Sir (William) Hawthorne (b. June 29, 1888, Kasauli [now in Himachal Pradesh], India - d. Oct. 19, 1970), governor of Orissa (1941-46); knighted 1938.
Lewis, James T(aylor) (b. Oct. 30, 1819, Clarendon, N.Y. - d. Aug. 5, 1904, Columbus, Wis.), governor of Wisconsin (1864-66).
Lewis, John L(lewellyn) (b. Feb. 12, 1880, near Lucas, Iowa - d. June 11, 1969, Washington, D.C.), U.S. labour leader. In Panama, Ill., he became head of a United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) local, and in 1911 he became an organizer for the American Federation of Labor (AFL), with which the UMWA was affiliated. He became a vice president of the UMWA in 1917, acting president (for Frank J. Hayes) in 1919, and was its president from 1920 to 1960. Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal (from 1933) presented organized labour with opportunities that Lewis exploited with energy and imagination. In 1935 he joined several other AFL union leaders and formed the Committee for Industrial Organization to organize workers in mass-production industries. The more traditional leaders of the AFL favoured limiting its membership to craft unions and refused to support the new strategy, so Lewis and seven other dissident union heads left the AFL to organize what became the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), with Lewis as its president. The CIO proved so successful that by the end of 1937 it had more members than the AFL. Lewis was a lifelong Republican, but he had supported Roosevelt for the presidency in 1932 and 1936. He opposed a third term for Roosevelt, however, and threatened to resign as CIO president if Roosevelt won. Taking Roosevelt's victory as a repudiation of his own leadership, Lewis resigned as president of the CIO in 1940 and in 1942 pulled the UMWA out of the parent body. A series of miners' strikes called by Lewis in the 1940s won wage increases and new benefits for miners but caused anti-union sentiment which spurred the passage of the Smith-Connally Act (1943) and the Taft-Hartley Act (1947), both of which placed new restrictions on labour unions.
Lewis, Meriwether (b. Aug. 18, 1774, "Locust Hill," north of Ivy, Virginia - d. [probably suicide] Oct. 11, 1809, Grinder's Stand, near present Hohenwald, Tenn.), governor of Louisiana Territory (1808-09). He was also noted as co-leader of the Corps of Discovery ("Lewis and Clark Expedition," 1804-06).
Lewis, Morgan (b. Oct. 16, 1754, New York City - d. April 7, 1844, New York City), governor of New York (1804-07); brother-in-law of Edward Livingston, Robert R. Livingston, and John Armstrong, Jr.
Lewis, Stephen Henry (b. Nov. 11, 1937, Ottawa, Ont.), Canadian diplomat; son of David Lewis. He was permanent representative to the United Nations (1984-88) and UN special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa (2001-06).
Lewis Arango, Samuel (b. June 20, 1901, Panama City, Colombia [now in Panama] - d. Sept. 10, 1975), foreign minister of Panama (1944, 1949). He was also ambassador to the United States (1945).
Lewis Galindo, Gabriel (b. Feb. 24, 1929 - d. Dec. 19, 1996, Denver, Colo.), foreign minister of Panama (1994-96); son of Samuel Lewis Arango. He was also ambassador to the United States (1977-79).
Lexa von Aehrenthal, Aloys (Leopold Johann Baptist) Graf (b. Nov. 27, 1854, Gross-Skal, Austria [now Hrub? Sk疝a, Czech Republic] - d. Feb. 17, 1912, Vienna, Austria), foreign minister of Austria-Hungary (1906-12). He was also minister to Romania (1895-99) and ambassador to Russia (1899-1906). In 1909 he was raised from Freiherr (baron) to Graf (count).
Leyden van Westbarendrecht, Fr馘駻ic Auguste van (b. Feb. 18, 1768, Haarlem, Netherlands - d. Nov. 25, 1821, The Hague, Netherlands), interior minister of Holland (1808) and governor of Zuid-Holland (1814-17).
Leydin, Reginald Sylvester (b. May 15, 1905 - d. 1993), administrator of Nauru (1954-58, 1962-66) and Norfolk Island (1958-62).
L騫? (Lenelcau Manatawai), Jean-Marie (b. 1932, Aneityum island, New Hebrides [now Vanuatu] - d. Dec. 9, 2014, Port Vila, Vanuatu), president of Vanuatu (1994-99).
Leyen, Ursula (Gertrud) von der, n馥 Albrecht (b. Oct. 8, 1958, Ixelles [now in Brussels-Capital region], Belgium), defense minister of Germany (2013-19) and president of the European Commission (2019- ); daughter of Ernst Albrecht. She was also minister of family, senior citizens, women, and youth (2005-09) and labour and social affairs (2009-13).
Leygues, Georges (Jean Claude) (b. Oct. 26, 1857, Villeneuve-sur-Lot, Lot-et-Garonne, France - d. Sept. 2, 1933, Saint-Cloud, Seine-et-Oise [now in Hauts-de-Seine], France), prime minister and foreign minister of France (1920-21). He was also minister of public instruction and fine arts (1894-95, 1898-1902), interior (1895, 1930-31), colonies (1906), and marine (1917-20, 1925-26, 1926-30, 1932-33).
Leymang, G駻ard (b. 1937, Malekula island, New Hebrides [now Vanuatu] - d. April 30, 2002, Noum饌, New Caledonia), chief minister of the New Hebrides (1978-79).
Leys, Peter (b. Feb. 21, 1851 - d. May 22, 1922), acting governor of Labuan (1881-88).
Leyt?n, Vicente, interior and justice minister (1939-40), finance minister (1949), and defense minister (1949) of Bolivia. He was also minister of industry and commerce (1938-39) and propaganda (1939-40).
Leyva (Urdaneta), Jorge (b. July 4, 1912, Bogot?, Colombia - d. Dec. 23, 1968, Bogot?), Colombian presidential candidate (1958, 1962). He was also minister of commerce and industry (1949) and public works (1950-53) and governor of Cundinamarca (1949-50). He was appointed minister of war just before the 1953 coup, when he was arrested.
Leyva Mortera, Xicot駭catl (b. April 4, 1940, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico - d. Sept. 30, 2021, Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico), governor of Baja California (1983-89). He was also mayor of Tijuana (1977-80).
Leyva Vel痙quez, Gabriel (b. June 30, 1896, San Ignacio, Sinaloa, Mexico - d. March 20, 1985, Mexico City, Mexico), governor of Sinaloa (1935-36, 1957-62). He was also president of Mexico's Institutional Revolutionary Party (1952-56).
Lezama (Bagez), Arturo (b. 1899 - d. 1964), president of the National Council of Government of Uruguay (1957-58).
Lezhava, Andrey (Matveyevich) (b. March 3 [Feb. 19, O.S.], 1870, Sighnaghi, Tiflis province, Russia [now in Georgia] - d. [executed] Oct. 8, 1937), Soviet politician. He was people's commissar of internal trade of the Soviet Union (1924) and a deputy premier (1924-30) and chairman of the State Planning Commission (1925-29) of the Russian S.F.S.R.
Lezhja, Gjergj (Kost?) (b. Oct. 14, 1957), acting interior minister of Albania (2007).
Lezhnev-Finkovsky, Pyotr (Yakovlevich) (b. Jan. 10, 1902, Glushkovo, Tver province, Russia - d. Jan. 20, 1958, Moscow, Russian S.F.S.R.), executive secretary of the Communist Party committee of Mari autonomous oblast (1922-23).
L'Helgoualc'h, Victor (ノdouard Marie) (b. May 15, 1870, Bannalec, Finist鑽e, France - d. July 31, 1968, Thizy, Rh?ne, France), acting resident-superior of Cambodia (1922-24).
Lho Shin Yong (b. Feb. 28, 1930, Kanso, Korea [now in North Korea] - d. Oct. 21, 2019, Seoul, South Korea), foreign minister (1980-82) and prime minister (1985-87) of South Korea. He was also ambassador to India (1973-76).
L'Hopiteau, Gustave (ノmile Joseph) (b. April 26, 1860, Ecrosnes, Eure-et-Loir, France - d. Oct. 3, 1941, Chartres, Eure-et-Loir), justice minister of France (1920-21).