statesman, solon, national leader

a man who is a respected leader in national or international affairs

• elder statesman — an elderly statesman whose advice is sought be government leaders
• Founding Father — a member of the Constitutional Convention that drafted the United States Constitution in 1787
• stateswoman — a woman statesman
• Acheson, Dean Acheson, Dean Gooderham Acheson — American statesman who promoted the Marshall Plan and helped establish NATO (1893-1971)
• Adenauer, Konrad Adenauer — German statesman; chancellor of West Germany (1876-1967)
• Agrippa, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa — Roman general who commanded the fleet that defeated the forces of Antony and Cleopatra at Actium (63-12 BC)
• Alcibiades — ancient Athenian statesman and general in the Peloponnesian War (circa 450-404 BC)
• Attlee, Clement Attlee, Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee — British statesman and leader of the Labour party who instituted the welfare state in England (1883-1967)
• Augustus, Gaius Octavianus, Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, Octavian — Roman statesman who became emperor of Rome after defeating Mark Antony at Actium (63 BC - AD 14)
• Bacon, Francis Bacon, Baron Verulam, 1st Baron Verulam, Viscount St. Albans — English statesman and philosopher; advocated inductive reasoning (1561-1626)
• Baldwin, Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley — English statesman; member of the Conservative Party (1867-1947)
• Balfour, Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour — English statesman; member of the Conservative Party (1848-1930)
• Begin, Menachem Begin — Israeli statesman (born in Russia) who (as Prime Minister of Israel) negotiated a peace treaty with Anwar el-Sadat of Egypt (1913-1992)
• Ben Gurion, David Ben Gurion, David Grun — Israeli statesman (born in Poland) and active Zionist who organized resistance against the British after World War II; prime minister of Israel (1886-1973)
• Bevin, Ernest Bevin — British labor leader and statesman who played an important role in diplomacy after World War II (1884-1951)
• Bismarck, von Bismarck, Otto von Bismarck, Prince Otto von Bismarck, Prince Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, Iron Chancellor — German statesman under whose leadership Germany was united (1815-1898)
• Bolivar, Simon Bolivar, El Libertador — Venezuelan statesman who led the revolt of South American colonies against Spanish rule; founded Bolivia in 1825 (1783-1830)
• Brandt, Willy Brandt — German states who as chancellor of West Germany worked to reduce tensions with eastern Europe (1913-1992)
• Brezhnev, Leonid Brezhnev, Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev — Soviet statesman who became president of the Soviet Union (1906-1982)
• Brutus, Marcus Junius Brutus — statesman of ancient Rome who (with Cassius) led a conspiracy to assassinate Julius Caesar (85-42 BC)
• Burke, Edmund Burke — English statesman famous for his oratory; pleaded the cause of the American colonists in Parliament and defended the parliamentary system (1729-1797)
• Caesar, Julius Caesar, Gaius Julius Caesar — conqueror of Gaul and master of Italy (100-44 BC)
• Cassius, Cassius Longinus, Gaius Cassius Longinus — prime mover in the conspiracy against Julius Caesar (died in 42 BC)
• Chamberlain, Neville Chamberlain, Arthur Neville Chamberlain — British statesman who as Prime Minister pursued a policy of appeasement toward fascist Germany (1869-1940)
• Chateaubriand, Francois Rene Chateaubriand, Vicomte de Chateaubriand — French statesman and writer; considered a precursor of the romantic movement in France (1768-1848)
• Chesterfield, Fourth Earl of Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope — suave and witty English statesman remembered mostly for letters to his son (1694-1773)
• Chiang Kai-shek, Chiang Chung-cheng — Chinese military and political figure; in the Chinese civil war that followed World War II he was defeated by the Chinese communists and in 1949 was forced to withdraw to Taiwan where he served as president of Nationalist China until his death (1897-1975)
• Churchill, Winston Churchill, Winston S. Churchill, Sir Winston Leonard Spenser Churchill — British Conservative statesman; British leader during World War II; received Nobel Prize for literature in 1953 (1874-1965)
• Cicero, Marcus Tullius Cicero, Tully — a Roman statesman and orator remembered for his mastery of Latin prose (106-43 BC)
• Cincinnatus, Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus — Roman statesman regarded as a model of simple virtue; he twice was called to assume dictatorship of Rome and each time retired to his farm (519-438 BC)
• Clemenceau, Georges Clemenceau, Georges Eugene Benjamin Clemenceau — French statesman who played a key role in negotiating the Treaty of Versailles (1841-1929)
• Clive, Robert Clive, Baron Clive, Baron Clive of Plassey — British general and statesman whose victory at Plassey in 1757 strengthened British control of India (1725-1774)
• Cosimo de Medici, Cosimo the Elder — Italian financier and statesman and friend of the papal court (1389-1464)
• Cromwell, Oliver Cromwell, Ironsides — English general and statesman who led the parliamentary army in the English Civil War and became Lord Protector of the Commonwealth (1599-1658)
• Davis, Jefferson Davis — American statesman; president of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War (1808-1889)
• Dayan, Moshe Dayan — Israeli general and statesman (1915-1981)
• de Gaulle, Charles de Gaulle, Charles Andre Joseph Marie de Gaulle — French general and statesman who became very popular during World War II as the leader of the Free French forces in exile (1890-1970)
• Demosthenes — Athenian statesman and orator (circa 385-322 BC)
• Deng Xiaoping, Teng Hsiaoping — Chinese communist statesman (1904-1997)
• de Valera, Eamon de Valera — Irish statesman (born in the United States); as president of the Irish Free State he was responsible for the new constitution of 1937 that created the state of Eire (1882-1975)
• Disraeli, Benjamin Disraeli, First Earl of Beaconsfield — British statesman who as Prime Minister bought controlling interest in the Suez Canal and made Queen Victoria the Empress of India (1804-1881)
• Flaminius, Gaius Falminius — Roman statesman and general who built the Flaminian Way; died when he was defeated by Hannibal (died 217 BC)
• Fox, Charles James Fox — English statesman who supported American independence and the French Revolution (1749-1806)
• Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, Indira Nehru Gandhi, Mrs. Gandhi — daughter of Nehru who served as Prime Minister of India from 1966 to 1977 (1917-1984)
• Gladstone, William Gladstone, William Ewart Gladstone — liberal British statesman who served as prime minister four times (1809-1898)
• Gorbachev, Mikhail Gorbachev, Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev — Soviet statesman whose foreign policy brought an end to the Cold War and whose domestic policy introduced major reforms (born in 1931)
• Grey, Charles Grey, Second Earl Grey — Englishman who as Prime minister implemented social reforms including the abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire (1764-1845)
• Haldane, Richard Haldane, Richard Burdon Haldane, First Viscount Haldane of Cloan — Scottish statesman and brother of Elizabeth and John Haldane (1856-1928)
• Hamilton, Alexander Hamilton — United States statesman and leader of the Federalists; as the first Secretary of the Treasury he establish a federal bank; was mortally wounded in a duel with Aaron Burr (1755-1804)
• Havel, Vaclav Havel — Czech dramatist and statesman whose plays opposed totalitarianism and who served as president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 to 1992 and president of the Czech Republic since 1993 (born in 1936)
• Hindenburg, Paul von Hindenburg, Paul Ludwig von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg — German Field Marshal and statesman; as president he reluctantly appointed Hitler as Chancellor in 1933 (1847-1934)
• Ho Chi Minh, Nguyen That Thanh — Vietnamese communist statesman who fought the Japanese in World War II and the French until 1954 and South vietnam until 1975 (1890-1969)
• Kalinin, Mikhail Kalinin, Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin — soviet statesman and head of state of the USSR (1875-1946)
• Kaunda, Kenneth Kaunda, Kenneth David Kaunda — statesman who led Northern Rhodesia to full independence as Zambia in 1964 and served as Zambia's first president (born in 1924)
• Kemal Ataturk, Kemal Pasha, Mustafa Kemal — Turkish statesman and founder of modern Turkey (1881-1938)
• Kenyata, Jomo Kenyata — Kenyan statesman and the first president of independent Kenya (1893-1978)
• Kerensky, Aleksandr Feodorovich Kerensky — Russian revolutionary who was head of state after Nicholas II abdicated but was overthrown by the Bolsheviks (1881-1970)
• Khama, Sir Seretse Khama — Botswanan statesman who was the first president of Botswana (1921-1980)
• Khrushchev, Nikita Khrushchev, Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev — Soviet statesman and premier who denounced stalin (1894-1971)
• Konoe, Fumimaro Konoe, Prince Fumimaro Konoe, Konoye, Fumimaro Konoye, Prince Fumimaro Konoye — Japanese statesman who set Japan's expansionist policies and formed an alliance with Germany and Italy (1891-1945)
• Kruger, Oom Paul Kruger, Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger — Boer statesman (1825-1904)
• Lorenzo de Medici, Lorenzo the Magnificent — Italian statesman and scholar who supported many artists and humanists including Michelangelo and Leonardo and Botticelli (1449-1492)
• Machiavelli, Niccolo Machiavelli — a statesman of Florence who advocated a strong central government (1469-1527)
• Mandela, Nelson Mandela, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela — South African statesman who was released from prison to become the nation's first democratically elected president in 1994 (born in 1918)
• Marshall, George Marshall, George Catlett Marshall — United States general and statesman who as Secretary of State organized the European Recovery Program (1880-1959)
• Meir, Golda Meir — Israeli statesman (born in Russia) (1898-1978)
• Metternich, Klemens Metternich, Prince Klemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar von Metternich — Austrian statesman (1773-1859)
• Mitterand, Francois Mitterand, Francois Maurice Marie Mitterand — French statesman and President of France from 1981 to 1985 (1916-1996)
• Molotov, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov — Soviet statesman (1890-1986)
• More, Thomas More, Sir Thomas More — English statesman who opposed Henry VIII's divorce from Catherine of Aragon and was imprisoned and beheaded; recalled for his concept of Utopia, the ideal state
• Morris, Gouverneur Morris — United States statesman who led the committee that produced the final draft of the United States Constitution (1752-1816)
• Mubarak, Hosni Mubarak — Egyptian statesman who became president in 1981 after Sadat was assassinated (born in 1929)
• Nansen, Fridtjof Nansen — Norwegian explorer of the Arctic and director of the League of Nations relief program for refugees of World War I (1861-1930)
• Nasser, Gamal Abdel Nasser — Egyptian statesman who nationalized the Suez Canal (1918-1870)
• Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru — Indian statesman and leader with Gandhi in the struggle for home rule; was the first Prime Minister of the Republic of India from 1947 to 1964 (1889-1964)
• North, Frederick North, Second Earl of Guilford — British statesman under George III whose policies led to rebellion in the American colonies (1732-1792)
• Ortega, Daniel Ortega, Daniel Ortega Saavedra — Nicaraguan statesman (born in 1945)
• Paderewski, Ignace Paderewski, Ignace Jan Paderewski — Polish pianist who in 1919 served as the first Prime Minister of independent Poland (1860-1941)
• Pericles — Athenian statesman whose leadership contributed to Athen's political and cultural supremacy in Greece; he ordered the construction of the Parthenon (died in 429 BC)
• Pitt, William Pitt, First Earl of Chatham, Pitt the Elder — English statesman who brought the Seven Years' War to an end (1708-1778)
• Pitt, William Pitt, Second Earl of Chatham, Pitt the Younger — English statesman and son of Pitt the Elder (1759-1806)
• Pompey, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, Pompey the Great — Roman general and statesman who quarrelled with Caesar and fled to Egypt where he was murdered (106-48 BC)
• Richelieu, Duc de Richelieu, Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal Richelieu — French prelate and statesman; principal minister to Louis XIII (1585-1642)
• Rockingham, Second Marquis of Rockingham, Charles Watson-Wentworth — English statesman who served as prime minister and who opposed the war with the American colonies (1730-1782)
• Sadat, Anwar el-Sadat — Egyptian statesman who (as President of Egypt) negotiated a peace treaty with Menachem Begin of Israel (1918-1981)
• Schmidt, Helmut Schmidt, Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt — German statesman who served as chancellor of Germany (born in 1918)
• Seneca, Lucius Annaeus Seneca — Roman statesman and philosopher who was an advisor to Nero; his nine extant tragedies are modeled on Greek tragedies (circa 4 BC - 65 AD)
• Smith, Ian Smith, Ian Douglas Smith — Rhodesian statesman who declared independence of Zimbabwe from Great Britain (born in 1919)
• Smuts, Jan Christian Smuts — South African statesman and soldier (1870-1950)
• Suharto — Indonesian statesman who seized power from Sukarno in 1967 (born in 1921)
• Sukarno, Achmad Sukarno — Indonesian statesman who obtained the independence of Indonesia from the Netherlands in 1949 and served as president until ousted by Suharto in a coup d'etat (1901-1970)
• Sully, Duc de Sully, Maxmilien de Bethune — French statesman (1560-1641)
• Sun Yat-sen, Sun Yixian — Chinese statesman who organized the Kuomintang and led the revolution that overthrew the Manchu dynasty in 1911 and 1912 (1866-1925)
• Talleyrand, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand — French statesman (1754-1838)
• Themistocles — Athenian statesman who persuaded Athens to build a navy and then led it to victory over the Persians (527-460 BC)
• Tito, Marshal Tito, Josip Broz — Yugoslav statesman who led the resistance to German Nazi occupation in World War II and established a communist state after the war (1892-1980)
• Vargas, Getulio Dornelles Vargas — Brazilian statesman who ruled Brazil as a virtual dictator (1883-1954)
• Verwoerd, Hendrik Verwoerd, Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd — South African statesman who instituted the policy of apartheid (1901-1966)
• Waldheim, Kurt Waldheim — Austrian diplomat who was Secretary General of the United Nations from 1972 to 1981; in 1986 he was elected president of Austria in spite of worldwide allegations that he had known about Nazi atrocities during World War II (born in 1918)
• Walesa, Lech Walesa — Polish labor leader and statesman (born in 1943)
• Walpole, Robert Walpole, Sir Robert Walpole, First Earl of Orford — English Whig statesman who (under George I) was effectively the first British prime minister (1676-1745)
• Warwick, Earl of Warwick, Richard Neville, the Kingmaker — English statesman; during the War of the Roses he fought first for the house of York and secured the throne for Edward IV and then changed sides to fight for the house of Lancaster and secured the throne for Henry VI (1428-1471)
• Weizmann, Chaim Weizmann, Chaim Azriel Weizmann — Israeli statesman who persuaded the United States to recognize the new state of Israel and became its first president (1874-1952)
• Wellington, Duke of Wellington, First Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, the Iron Duke — British general and statesman; he defeated Napoleon at Waterloo; subsequently served as Prime Minister (1769-1852)
• Wykeham, William of Wykeham — English prelate and statesman; founded New College at Oxford and Winchester College in Winchester; served as Chancellor of England and bishop of Winchester (1324-1404)

• politician, politico, pol, political leader — a person active in party politics