Curated playlist
People of the Cold War
- John F. KennedyJohn F. Kennedy spent hours in the water towing a burned crewman after a destroyer cut his boat in half.
- Ronald ReaganRonald Reagan preached small government, then signed California's largest tax hike.
- George H. W. BushAfter being shot down in 1944, George H. W. Bush asked why he alone had been spared. Both of his crewmates died.
- Richard NixonRichard Nixon was the only U.S. president to resign. He left office on the 9th of August, 1974, over Watergate.
- Nikita KhrushchevNikita Khrushchev spent four hours in 1956 tearing down Stalin's reputation. He had helped carry out Stalin's purges.
- Winston ChurchillWinston Churchill escaped a prisoner-of-war camp in Pretoria by hiding on freight trains. It made him famous.
- Joseph StalinJoseph Stalin once trained to be a Russian Orthodox priest. He later led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death.
- Jimmy CarterJimmy Carter once was lowered into a crippled nuclear reactor for 90 seconds at a time. He later ran for president.
- Harold WilsonAt ten, Harold Wilson told his mother he would be prime minister. He went on to win four general elections.
- Mohammad Reza PahlaviOn his first day at a Swiss boarding school, Iran's crown prince got beaten up.
- Margaret ThatcherMargaret Thatcher kept a portrait of her chemistry tutor on the wall at 10 Downing Street.
- Pierre TrudeauPierre Trudeau won the Liberal leadership after barely three years in the party.
- Pope John Paul IIPope John Paul II visited the man who shot him in 1981 and called him a brother.
- Che GuevaraChe Guevara signed Cuba's paper money with just one word: "Che." He was then president of the National Bank.
- Dwight D. EisenhowerEisenhower wrote a note taking all blame if D-Day failed. He drafted it on the eve of the June 1944 landings.
- Ferdinand MarcosFerdinand Marcos was convicted of murder as a law student, then rose to president.
- Helmut KohlGerman cartoonists drew Chancellor Helmut Kohl as a pear. He still reunited Germany in 1990.
- Lyndon B. JohnsonLyndon B. Johnson took the presidential oath from a woman, a first for any American president.
- Mao ZedongMao Zedong once worked as a library assistant in Peking. He later founded the People's Republic of China.
- Fidel CastroFidel Castro's yacht carried eighty-one men toward Cuba, but only nineteen safely reached the mountains.
- Mikhail GorbachevMikhail Gorbachev refused to declare a state of emergency during the August 1991 coup.
- François MitterrandFrançois Mitterrand, who ended France's death penalty, once urged rejecting mercy in 80% of cases.
- Harry S. TrumanHarry Truman became president knowing nothing about the atomic bomb. He had been vice president for only 82 days.
- Leonid BrezhnevIn a 2013 Levada Center poll, Russians named Leonid Brezhnev their favorite 20th-century leader.
- Henry KissingerHenry Kissinger made a secret trip to China in July 1971. It helped end 23 years of diplomatic isolation.
- Charles de GaulleCharles de Gaulle tried five times to escape German prison camps in the First World War. He even posed as a nurse.
- Clement AttleeClement Attlee told the King, "I've won the election," and the King replied that he already knew.
- Yuri AndropovYuri Andropov saw officers strung up from Budapest lampposts. Historian Christopher Andrew says it haunted him.
- Kim Il SungKim Il Sung stepped off a ship in 1945 as a 33-year-old Soviet captain. He ruled North Korea for more than 45 years.
- Konrad AdenauerObservers said Konrad Adenauer became West Germany's first chancellor by one vote, his own. He was 73.
- Konstantin ChernenkoSoviet leader Konstantin Chernenko's obituary ran on page two. Page one celebrated his successor, Gorbachev.
- Francisco FrancoFrancisco Franco was shot in the abdomen at 23 and was not expected to live. He ruled Spain from 1939 to 1975.
- Aleksandr SolzhenitsynAleksandr Solzhenitsyn watched Moscow's victory fireworks from a prison cell. He was a decorated Red Army captain.
- Mobutu Sese SekoMobutu renamed his country Zaire, its cities and himself. He also banned Western suits and European baby names.
- Willy BrandtWilly Brandt, later West Germany's chancellor, fled Nazi Germany under a false name. He made it legal in 1948.
- Claude ShannonClaude Shannon built a mechanical mouse that learned its way through a maze. He named the 1950 machine Theseus.
- Josip Broz TitoTito once wrote to Stalin: stop sending assassins to murder me. He said five had already been caught.
- Imre NagyHungary's Imre Nagy once informed for Stalin's NKVD police, then led a revolt against Soviet rule.
- Wojciech JaruzelskiWojciech Jaruzelski declared martial law in Poland on the 13th of December 1981. Later he helped end Communist rule.
- Manuel NoriegaManuel Noriega received his first payment from the United States in 1955, and it came to just $10.70. He belonged to a socialist youth group then, and the money is reported to have been a reward for informing on his comrades. By the 1980s…
- Andrei SakharovAndrei Sakharov built the Soviet Union's most devastating weapon, then spent his life trying to limit its damage.
- Efraín Ríos MonttEfraín Ríos Montt was sentenced to 80 years for genocide, and the ruling collapsed within days.
- Urho KekkonenOpponents once removed the chimney from a photo of Urho Kekkonen's birthplace. They wanted him to look poor.
- Erich HoneckerErich Honecker voted for his own removal as East Germany's leader. The Politburo ousted him in October 1989.
- Samantha SmithA ten-year-old from Maine wrote to the Soviet leader and got an answer. She then visited Moscow as his guest.
- Bernard BaruchBernard Baruch refused a 1929 pool to prop up the falling stock market. He had already moved into bonds, cash and gold.