Index O

Ó Cuív, Éamon (b. June 1, 1950, Dublin, Ireland), Irish minister of community, rural and Gaeltacht affairs (2002- ); grandson of Eamon de Valera.

Ó Dálaigh

Ó Dálaigh, Cearbhall (Irish), English Carroll O'Daly (b. Feb. 12, 1911, Bray, near Dublin, Ireland - d. March 21, 1978, Sneem, County Kerry, Ireland), president of Ireland (1974-76). While still in his early 20s, he became a protégé and devoted admirer of Eamon de Valera. He worked on de Valera's newspaper and stood unsuccessfully for parliament as a candidate of de Valera's party, Fianna Fáil. The special affinity between the two lay in their passionate enthusiasm for Irish language and culture; Ó Dálaigh never used the English form of his name. He became Ireland's youngest attorney general in 1945, serving at that post until 1948 and again in 1951-53. He became a judge on the Supreme Court in 1953 and was elevated to chief justice in 1961. In 1973 he became a judge of the Court of Justice of the European Communities in Luxembourg. He was the agreed candidate of the major political parties to take over as president following the death of Erskine H. Childers in 1974. He continued Childers's efforts to carve out a significant role for the essentially ceremonial presidency. In September 1976, he referred to the Supreme Court for a verdict on the constitutionality of a bill that would have lengthened the time during which police could detain suspected terrorists without making formal charges. The Supreme Court upheld the emergency legislation, albeit with reservations that justified Ó Dálaigh's action. But his action rankled with members of the government, and Defense Minister Patrick S. Donegan described him in a speech after an army luncheon as "a thundering disgrace." When the prime minister, Liam Cosgrave, declined to make any meaningful gesture of amends and refused to accept the resignation of Donegan (who had apologized), Ó Dálaigh resigned.

O Jin U (b. 1917, Jilin province, China - d. Feb. 25, 1995), North Korean politician. He was defense minister (1988-95), commander of the army, and an influential member of the Communist Party.

B. Obama

Obama, Barack (Hussein)¹ (b. Aug. 4, 1961, Honolulu, Hawaii), president of the United States (2009- ). He was the son of a Kenyan father and a white American mother who met and married when they were students at the University of Hawaii but who separated when he was two and later divorced. His mother subsequently married an Indonesian, and the young Barack lived in Jakarta for some years before returning to the United States. He served in the Illinois state legislature from 1997 until he was elected a U.S. senator from Illinois in 2004 - only the fifth black senator in U.S. history. In February 2007 he announced his candidacy for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. He was widely seen as the first African-American with a realistic chance of winning the presidency. In January 2008 he won the Iowa caucus and the South Carolina primary; in February he confirmed his position as one of the two frontrunners, as he and Sen. Hillary Clinton won a similar number of delegates on "Super Tuesday." He campaigned on a message of "change" and uniting the nation, reaching out to independents and even Republicans. Like Clinton, he vowed to withdraw from Iraq, making the point that he opposed the war from the start, unlike Clinton who voted for the 2002 congressional resolution authorizing the use of military force. After a long duel with Clinton he finally clinched the nomination on June 3, the day of the last primaries. At the convention in August he officially became the first black presidential nominee of a major party. With reduced levels of violence there, Iraq was not the dominant issue in the campaign; instead, a major financial crisis meant that, like in 1992, it was "the economy, stupid," which worked against the incumbent party and helped propel Obama to a historic victory in November, when he defeated Republican John McCain 53%-46%. After less than 9 months in office, he was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."
¹ His full name is given on his birth certificate as "Barack Hussein Obama II," but he does not use this form; e.g., at his swearing in (where traditionally the full name is used) he just said "Barack Hussein Obama."

R.M. Obama

Obama Nfubea, Ricardo Mangue (b. 1961?), prime minister of Equatorial Guinea (2006-08).

Obame-Nguema

Obame-Nguema, Paulin (b. Dec. 28, 1934, Libreville, Gabon), prime minister of Gabon (1994-99).

Obando (y del Campo), José María (Ramón) (name after adoption at age 2), original name José María Ramón Mosquera (b. Aug. 8, 1795, Güengüé, Cauca, New Granada [now in Colombia] - d. April 29, 1861, El Rosal, Cundinamarca, Granadine Confederation [now in Colombia]), president of New Granada (1853-54). He fought for the Spanish crown during most of the Latin American war for independence, but finally (1822) joined the revolutionary forces under Simón Bolívar. In the turbulent new republic of Gran Colombia (including present Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador), he opposed Bolívar's centralist government. A key event in the struggle for power was the assassination of Bolívar's lieutenant Marshal Antonio de Sucre in 1830, a deed for which many persons have held Obando responsible. Sucre's death helped clear the way for Obando's rise to the vice presidency (and acting presidency, 1831-32) and ministry of war in the newly independent State of New Granada, as Colombia was then called. In 1838-40 Obando led an unsuccessful rebellion against the Conservative Party government of Pres. José Ignacio de Márquez, and fled to Peru after his defeat. He returned to New Granada after the election victory of the Liberal Party in 1849, became a member of Congress, and in 1853 was elected president. His regime was marked by the adoption of the liberal constitution of 1853. It provided for popular election of provincial governors, and most of those elected were adverse to the executive. Obando's friends then staged a coup in 1854 in an attempt to save the party, but in the end the Conservatives gained control. Obando joined the civil war that began in 1860 on the side of Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera and was killed by government forces in 1861.

O'Bannon

O'Bannon, Frank (Lewis) (b. Jan. 30, 1930, Louisville, Ky. - d. Sept. 13, 2003, Chicago, Ill.), governor of Indiana (1997-2003). He succeeded his father in the state Senate in 1970 and held the seat until becoming lieutenant governor in 1989. His 1996 victory over Indianapolis Mayor Stephen Goldsmith capped the costliest gubernatorial campaign in Indiana history, with the two spending a total of $15 million. Goldsmith championed competition in government, a practice he used while running the state's largest city. O'Bannon urged voters to keep Indiana on the course of economic progress established by two-term governor Evan Bayh, a Democrat who could not by law run again. O'Bannon dropped out of the gubernatorial race eight years before, becoming Bayh's running mate instead. O'Bannon's win meant Democrats won the statehouse for a third straight time, something the party had not done in 56 years. The last time Democrats won three consecutive governor elections in Indiana was in 1932, 1936, and 1940. O'Bannon's tenure began brightly with the economic boom of the late 1990s. Indiana built a record $2 billion surplus, and he cut taxes by $1.5 billion, put 500 more police officers on the streets, and won increasing funding for schools and universities. He coasted to reelection in 2000 over former U.S. Rep. David McIntosh. Shortly into his second term, the economic good times soured into a recession. Indiana lost 120,000 jobs, and tax revenues slowed to a trickle, forcing tax increases and spending cuts. Taking some conservative positions, he wanted to place a 7-foot stone monument with the Ten Commandments on the grounds of the state capitol until the courts said no, and he allowed seven executions to occur without delay. He died in office.

Obarrio (Vallarino), Henrique de, president of Panama in rebellion (1948).

Obasanjo

Obasanjo, (Matthew Fajinmi Okikiolakan Aremu) Olusegun (b. March 5, 1937, Abeokuta, Nigeria), president of Nigeria (1976-79, 1999-2007). He joined the army in 1958, rising quickly through the ranks, and during the civil war of 1967-70 (the Biafra secession) he headed a commando unit that was instrumental in ending the fighting. Brig.Gen. Murtala Mohammed seized power in a 1975 coup but soon declared that civilian rule would be restored by 1979. In 1976, Mohammed was assassinated, and his deputy, Obasanjo, reluctantly took over the leadership. Although Obasanjo's presidency was not without its controversies, he maintained Mohammed's plan of a return to civilian rule. In 1979 he called the extremely close election (in which he chose not to run) in favour of a candidate from the northern, predominantly Muslim region, thereby angering his fellow Yoruba but gaining the respect of the Hausa-Fulani leaders in the north. Obasanjo became the first military leader in Africa to hand over power to civilian rule. Throughout the next several years, he worked as a diplomat, holding various positions through the UN and other organizations. In 1995 he was imprisoned for allegedly organizing a coup against Gen. Sani Abacha. He was given a death sentence, later commuted to a 15-year jail term. Following Abacha's death in 1998, he was released. Subsequently he joined the dominant People's Democratic Party and announced his candidacy for president. He won about 63% of the vote in the 1999 election. His stated goal of establishing a democratic, transparent, corruption-free Nigeria drew the support of Western leaders. He was reelected in 2003 with about 62% of the vote. In 2004-06 he was chairman of the African Union. A bid to remain in office beyond 2007 was killed in May 2006 when the Senate unanimously rejected the necessary constitutional amendment.

Jean Obeid

Obeid, Jean (Badawi), Arabic Jan (Badawi) `Ubayd (b. May 8, 1939, Alma, Lebanon), foreign minister of Lebanon (2003-04).

Jorge Obeid

Obeid, Jorge (Alberto) (b. Nov. 24, 1947, Ciudad de Diamante, Entre Ríos, Argentina), governor of Santa Fe (1995-99, 2003-07).

Obeidi, Abdul Ati al-, Arabic `Abd al-`Ati al-`Ubaydi (b. 1939), secretary of the General People's Committee (1977-79) and of the General People's Congress (1979-81) of Libya.

Obenga, Théophile (b. Feb. 2, 1936, Brazzaville, Middle Congo), foreign minister of Congo (Brazzaville) (1975-79).

Obhodjas, Salko (b. Jan. 5, 1964, Pale [now in Republika Srpska], Bosnia and Hercegovina), premier of Bosnian Podrinje (2003-06).

Obi, Paul (Edor), administrator of Bayelsa (1998-99).

Obi, Peter (b. July 19, 1961, Onitsha [now in Anambra state], Nigeria), governor of Anambra (2006, 2007, 2007- ).

Obiang

Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, Teodoro (b. June 5, 1942, Akoakam, Mongomo district, Spanish Guinea [now Equatorial Guinea]), president of Equatorial Guinea (1979- ). He toppled his uncle, dictator Francisco Macías Nguema, in 1979. He was elected in 1989 as sole candidate and again in 1996 and 2002 in elections from which opposition candidates withdrew because of irregularities.

Obissier, Louis Jules Albert (b. Jan. 23, 1868, Guitres, Gironde, France - d. 19...), commissioner of Mauritania (1914-16).

Obote

Obote, (Apolo) Milton¹ (Opeto), Apolo also spelled Apollo (b. Dec. 28, 1924 [other sources say 1925], Akokoro village, Lango district [now in Apac district], Uganda - d. Oct. 10, 2005, Johannesburg, South Africa), prime minister (1962-66) and president (1966-71, 1980-85) of Uganda. He became a member of the Uganda National Congress party in 1957 and was elected to the Legislative Council in 1958. When the National Congress split, he formed the Uganda People's Congress (UPC) in 1960. Drawing its support mainly from the northern Acholi and Lango peoples, the UPC was opposed to the southern kingdom of Buganda under King Mutesa II. However, he allied his party with Buganda's Kabaka Yekka party in order to win legislative elections in 1962. Becoming prime minister, he accepted a constitution granting federal status within independent Uganda to five traditional kingdoms, including Buganda; in 1963 Mutesa took up the (largely ceremonial) post of president. In 1966, however, Obote sent troops led by Idi Amin to attack Mutesa's palace, and Mutesa fled to Britain. Obote assumed the presidency and introduced a new constitution that abolished the kingdoms and conferred broad powers on the president. In 1971 he was overthrown in a coup led by Amin. He settled in neighbouring Tanzania, where he maintained a small émigré army led by Tito Okello, which aided Tanzanian forces in deposing Amin in 1979. Obote returned in May 1980 and was elected president in December. He did not prevent Acholi and Lango soldiers from conducting a campaign of murder and pillage in the south and in Amin's home district. In 1985 he was ousted by Okello. He eventually settled in Zambia. In 2005 he planned to return, but this was delayed after government officials observed that he would have to answer for the atrocities committed during his regime. In August he announced his retirement from the presidency of the UPC.
¹ He adopted the name Milton in his early years out of admiration for John Milton, author of Paradise Lost.

Obregón

Obregón (Salido), Álvaro (b. Feb. 19, 1880, Álamos, Sonora, Mexico - d. July 17, 1928, San Ángel [now Álvaro Obregón] delegación, Mexico City, Mexico), president of Mexico (1920-24). He did not take part in the 1910-11 revolution that overthrew dictator Porfirio Díaz, but in 1912 he supported Pres. Francisco Madero against the rebel Pascual Orozco. When Madero was overthrown by Victoriano Huerta in February 1913, Obregón joined Venustiano Carranza against Huerta and consistently defeated the enemy armies; he occupied Mexico City on Aug. 15, 1914. Obregón remained allied with Carranza against the rebel leaders Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata. During the campaign against Villa, he decreed anticlerical policies and labour regulations in the areas he conquered. At the constitutional convention of 1917, he was largely responsible for the revolutionary emphasis of the document. For a period in 1917 he served in Carranza's cabinet, but ideological differences induced him to resign. In 1920, Carranza's attempt to retain power by having his own candidate elected president brought about a rebellion in which Obregón played a leading role. Carranza was soon overthrown and Obregón was elected president. He effected relative peace in the country that had seen 10 years of savage civil war, and instituted widespread social and economic reforms. Because of some of these reforms, the United States refused to recognize his government until 1923, when he promised not to expropriate Mexican holdings of American oil companies. He defeated an army rebellion in 1923-24 before retiring at the end of his term. He was again elected to the presidency in 1928, but shortly afterward he was shot and killed by José de León Toral, who held Obregón responsible for persecutions of Catholics.

Obregón Tapia, Álvaro (b. Dec. 18, 1916 - d. Sept. 27, 1993, Tucson, Ariz.), governor of Sonora (1955-61); son of Álvaro Obregón.

O'Brien, Larry (b. July 19, 1949, Ottawa, Ont.), mayor of Ottawa (2006- ).

O'Brien, Lawrence F(rancis, Jr.) (b. July 7, 1917, Springfield, Mass. - d. Sept. 28, 1990, New York City), chairman of the Democratic National Committee (1968-69, 1970-72). He was a congressional aide before being persuaded in 1952 to serve as John F. Kennedy's campaign manager in his quest to win the Senate seat of the firmly entrenched Republican Henry Cabot Lodge. A brilliant strategist, O'Brien marshaled 340 "Kennedy secretaries," who learned the importance of telephone and door-to-door canvasing, grass-roots voter-registration drives, and political teas. He handled Kennedy's 1958 reelection and was drafted to help in his presidential campaign. After Kennedy narrowly defeated Richard M. Nixon in 1960, O'Brien was named (1961) the special assistant to the president for congressional relations, a post he was asked to retain after Kennedy's 1963 assassination. In this capacity O'Brien was instrumental in helping Presidents Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson win approval for legislation introduced by the White House, including the bills that created the Peace Corps, Medicare, the Model Cities program, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and a nuclear test ban treaty. When he attempted to leave government service, Johnson appointed him postmaster general (1965). He left this post in 1968 to handle the presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy, but when the latter was assassinated in June of that year, O'Brien became campaign director for Hubert Humphrey. When he was Democratic national chairman, it was his office that men working for the reelection of Nixon broke into in 1972; the ensuing Watergate scandal forced Nixon's resignation. In 1975 O'Brien surprised colleagues when he became commissioner of the National Basketball Association, a post he held until 1984.

Obuchi

Obuchi, Keizo (b. June 25, 1937, Nakanojo, Gunma prefecture, Japan - d. May 14, 2000, Tokyo, Japan), prime minister of Japan (1998-2000). The son of a politician, he resolved to become a politician himself after the death of his father in 1958. In 1963, at age 26, he was elected to the seat his father had held in the lower house of the Diet. Retaining his seat in 11 subsequent elections, he built a reputation as a congenial party functionary adept at forging behind-the-scenes compromises between competing political factions. He fought his way to the top against formidable local rivals such as prime ministers Takeo Fukuda and Yasuhiro Nakasone. He was deputy director-general in the prime minister's office in 1973 and in 1987 was named chief cabinet secretary. He also was secretary-general of the Liberal-Democratic Party (LDP) in April-October 1991. In 1992 he became head of the largest LDP faction. Ryutaro Hashimoto appointed him foreign minister in 1997. In 1998, the Diet named him prime minister, replacing Hashimoto, who was forced to resign following stunning losses for the LDP in elections to the upper house. Obuchi, whom pundits had called "about as exciting as cold pizza," moved quickly to win the confidence of Japanese citizens. Aside from getting Japan's stagnant economy back on its feet after its worst recession in over 50 years, he put through several measures dear to conservatives, including making official the national anthem and flag. But the honeymoon came to an end late in 1999 with a controversial decision to include a Buddhist-backed party in the government, a series of police scandals, and allegations of insider trading involving a close aide. Obuchi was replaced after suffering a coma-inducing stroke on April 2, 2000, triggered in part by his grueling work schedule.

Obure, Chris(topher Mogere) (b. Sept. 29, 1943, Gucha district, Nyanza province, Kenya), foreign minister (2001) and finance minister (2001-03) of Kenya. He also served as minister of industrial development (1999), cooperatives development (1999), agriculture (1999-2001), public works (2008- ), and acting minister of roads (2008- ).

Obzina, Jaromír (b. May 22, 1929 - d. Jan. 24, 2003, Prague, Czech Republic), interior minister of Czechoslovakia (1973-83). He was charged with abuse of power in 2001 for his role in an operation aimed to crush political dissent between 1978 and 1984. The operation code-named Asanace ("Sanitation") focused on some 50 dissidents, signatories of the Charter 77 human rights manifesto, resorting to threats and harsh interrogations to intimidate them and force them to leave the country. Fear for their life forced some 20 dissidents to officially ask Communist authorities to send them into exile after stripping them of citizenship, in what was meant to keep them from ever returning to their homeland. Prosecution of Obzina was suspended in 2002 after a judge ordered an investigation into whether he should enjoy immunity as a former legislator. He served in the Czechoslovak parliament between 1973 and 1989.

Öcalan

Öcalan, Abdullah, byname Apo (b. April 14, 1949, Ömerli, Sanliurfa province, Turkey), Kurdish rebel leader. He founded the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in 1978. It sought greater cultural rights for Turkey's Kurd minority, including the use of Kurdish language in education and broadcasting. The movement turned to guerrilla warfare in 1984. He drew supporters driven by Kurdish nationalism, poverty, and anger over the feudal system still prevalent in rural areas of the southeast. He recruited thousands of young Kurdish men and women and trained them with an iron fist. The guerrillas lived on rice and water in snow-covered mountains. Öcalan trained them in camps in the Syrian-controlled Bekaa Valley of Lebanon and in northern Iraq. He ordered his rebels to kill Turkish teachers so that Kurds in the southeast would not have to learn Turkish. But Öcalan himself reportedly knew little Kurdish and spoke Turkish. He also was never in the Turkish battlefield, hiding out mostly in Syria, until that country expelled him in 1998 under Turkish pressure. He arrived in Rome, Italy, on Nov. 12, 1998, seeking political asylum. He was arrested, prompting thousands of devoted followers to take to the streets of Rome and capitals across Europe to oppose his extradition to Turkey. They marched by the thousands, launched hunger strikes by the hundreds, set themselves on fire, and blew themselves up in suicide-bombings. Turkey was trying him in absentia on capital crimes, a fact that blocked his return by Italy. Italian law forbade extraditing suspects to a country where they faced the death penalty. In January 1999 he was allowed to leave Italy, but on February 15 Turkish security forces captured him in Kenya and brought him to Turkey, where he was sentenced to death on June 29. In 2002 Turkey abolished the death penalty, and his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

O'Callaghan

O'Callaghan, Mike, byname of Donal Neil O'Callaghan (b. Sept. 10, 1929, La Crosse, Wis. - d. March 5, 2004, Las Vegas, Nev.), governor of Nevada (1971-79). Adopting the first name Mike as a young boxer, he served in the Korean War where he lost his left leg below the knee. He became Nevada's first health and welfare director and a regional director in the federal Office of Emergency Preparedness before turning to politics. A Democrat, he narrowly won his first term as governor but was overwhelmingly reelected to a second term. He concerned himself with issues including the welfare of disadvantaged children, the preservation of Lake Tahoe, and affordable housing. He also advocated for prisoners' rights, arguing that companies should hire them and give them a chance to turn their lives around. Although the latter philosophy drew criticism with some labeling him as too liberal, he noted he was governor when the death penalty was reinstated in Nevada. Later he was executive editor and chairman of the Las Vegas Sun for 25 years.

Ochefu, Anthony (Aboki), governor of East Central state, Nigeria (1975).

Ochirbat

Ochirbat, Punsalmaagiyn (b. 1942, Tudevtey district, Dzavhan aymag [province], western Mongolia), president of Mongolia (1990-97). He began his career in government as an adviser at the Ministry of Industry in 1966. In 1972 he was appointed deputy minister of fuel and power industry and geology, and in 1976 he was promoted to the rank of minister. In January 1985 he became chairman of the State Committee for Foreign Economic Relations, and then in December 1987, following a reorganization of ministries, he was named minister of foreign economic relations and supply. In this position he was responsible for all of Mongolia's foreign trade operations. His political career was continuously linked with the ruling Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP), which he joined in 1965. He was first elected to the MPRP's Central Committee in the late 1970s and was reelected in April 1990 at the party's 19th congress. In March 1990 the MPRP's constitutional "leading role" in government was abolished and Ochirbat became chairman of the Presidium of the People's Great Khural (national assembly). After the country's first-ever multiparty elections in July, in which he won a large majority in his Darhan City constituency, the first session of the new People's Great Khural elected him president of Mongolia for a five-year term. As president, he gave up the seat as a deputy in the national assembly that he had held since 1975. Mongolia adopted a new constitution in 1992 which provided for direct presidential elections. The first such election was held in June 1993, and Ochirbat, supported by the opposition parties after being dumped by the then-ruling MPRP, won against MPRP candidate Lodongiyn Tudev. In 1997, however, he lost against the MPRP's Natsagiyn Bagabandi.

Ochoa Antich, Fernando (b. Sept. 12, 1938, Caracas, Venezuela), defense minister (1991-92) and foreign minister (1992-94) of Venezuela. He was ambassador to Mexico in 1994-98.

Ochs

Ochs, Peter (b. Aug. 20, 1752, Nantes, France - d. June 19, 1821, Basel, Switzerland), Swiss revolutionary. Born in France and growing up in Hamburg, Ochs went with his parents in 1769 to Basel, where he entered politics, becoming Ratsschreiber (1782), Stadtschreiber (1790), and Oberstzunftmeister (1796). Adhering to the ideas of the Enlightenment, he became an opponent of the "decayed Confederation" and, with the outbreak of the French Revolution, joined the partisans of revolutionary change in Switzerland. He championed French intervention and urged acceptance of the French Directory's demands for curtailing traditional rights of asylum and expelling émigrés. In Paris (1796-97) he plotted with Napoléon Bonaparte the establishment of a Swiss revolutionary government and produced a draft for a constitution for a unitary Switzerland, modeled closely upon the French constitution of 1795. With few emendations, his document was accepted, and the Helvetic Republic was established April 12, 1798. In the new regime, Ochs became president of the Senate and president of the state executive organ, the Directory, but he was deposed by the party of Frédéric César de La Harpe (June 1799) and thereafter played a diminishing role in national politics. After participating in the Consulta of 1802-03, which prepared a new constitution restoring the sovereignty of the cantons, he withdrew to cantonal politics in Basel, where he achieved local prominence for his part in devising new governmental and penal codes (1813, 1821) and reorganizing the city university.

Ochsenbein, (Johann) Ulrich (b. Nov. 24, 1811, Schwarzenegg, Bern, Switzerland - d. Nov. 3, 1890, Bellmund, Bern, Switzerland), president of the Diet (1847, 1847-48) and defense minister (1848-54) of Switzerland.

Ociepka, Wieslaw (b. Feb. 16, 1922, Sosnowiec, Poland - d. [plane crash] Feb. 28, 1973, near Szczecin, Poland), interior minister of Poland (1971-73).

O'Connor, Bob, byname of Robert E. O'Connor, Jr. (b. Dec. 9, 1944, Pittsburgh, Pa. - d. Sept. 1, 2006, Pittsburgh, Pa.), mayor of Pittsburgh (2006).

O'Connor, Sir (William) Frederick (Travers) (b. July 30, 1870 - d. Dec. 14, 1943), British resident (1918-20) and envoy (1920-23) in Nepal; knighted 1925.

O'Connor, Maureen (Frances) (b. July 14, 1946, San Diego, Calif.), mayor of San Diego (1986-92).

O'Connor, Ray(mond James) (b. 1926), premier of Western Australia (1982-83).

Oddie, Tasker L(owndes) (b. Oct. 24, 1870, Brooklyn, N.Y. - d. Feb. 17, 1950, San Francisco, Calif.), governor of Nevada (1911-15).

Oddsson

Oddsson, Davíd (b. Jan. 17, 1948, Reykjavík, Iceland), prime minister (1991-2004) and foreign minister (2004-05) of Iceland. He served three terms as mayor of Reykjavík from 1982 to 1991, earning a reputation as a strong but popular leader. In 1991, even though he was not a member of parliament, he challenged the sitting head of the Independence Party, wresting control from him and leading the party to victory in the election that year, forming a coalition with the Social Democrats. After the 1995 election he dumped the Social Democrats and formed a coalition with Halldór Ásgrímsson's Progressive Party. The colourful Oddsson once again showed his dominance of Iceland's politics in 1999, as voters applauded his centre-right coalition's handling of the booming economy. The Independence Party, already the dominant force in Iceland's parliament, increased its strength in the Althing. Oddsson had an easy campaign, benefiting from three years of growth of 5% or more, which boosted purchasing power, slashed unemployment, and filled the government coffers without reigniting inflation. He was able to see off opposition parties, ridiculing their claims that prosperity had left many people in poverty, dismissing their calls for heavy increases in welfare spending, and sidestepping criticism of the management of Iceland's key fisheries industry. In May 2003 the coalition was reelected, but in order to prevent the Progressive Party from defecting and forming a government with the opposition, Oddsson had to make a deal agreeing to step down in favour of Ásgrímsson in September 2004. He then took on Ásgrímsson's post as foreign minister. He resigned from the government in 2005 to become chairman of the Board of Governors of the Icelandic Central Bank.

O'Dea, Fabian (Aloysius) (b. Jan. 20, 1918, St. John's, Newfoundland - d. Dec. 12, 2004, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada), lieutenant governor of Newfoundland (1963-69).

Odenberg

Odenberg, Mikael (Ingemarsson) (b. Dec. 14, 1953, Stockholm, Sweden), defense minister of Sweden (2006-07).

G. Odermatt

L. Odermatt

Odermatt, Gerhard (b. 1947), Landammann of Nidwalden (2004-05).

Odermatt, Leo (b. Jan. 17, 1948), Landammann of Nidwalden (2002-03, 2008-09).

Odhnoff, Camilla, née Wilske (b. 1928), governor of Blekinge (1974-92).

Odili, Peter (Otunuya) (b. Aug. 15, 1949, Ndoni [now in Rivers state], Nigeria), governor of Rivers (1999-2007).

O. Odinga

Odinga, (Jaramogi Ajuma) Oginga (b. October 1911?, Sakwa, Central Nyanza, East African Protectorate [now in Kenya] - d. Jan. 20, 1994, Kisumu, Kenya), Kenyan politician. Entering politics in 1947, he was an associate of Jomo Kenyatta in the campaign for Kenya's independence from Britain. As a member of Kenya's second largest ethnic group, the Luo, he was active in recruiting Luo support for the movement, and was president of the Luo Union, a political and social organization, in 1952-57. In 1957 he was elected to the Legislative Council. A founder member of the Kenya African National Union (KANU) in 1960, he became its first vice president. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1963, and after Kenya became independent in December that year, he became minister for home affairs (1963-64) and vice president (1964-66). Considering many of Kenyatta's policies too moderate, he broke away from KANU in 1966 to form a left-wing opposition party, the Kenya People's Union, which failed to gain nationwide support. It was outlawed by Kenyatta in 1969, and some of its members, including Odinga, were detained. After his release in 1971, he rejoined KANU, but he was effectively blocked by Kenyatta and his followers from participating actively in politics. When Daniel arap Moi became president in 1978, Odinga was only temporarily brought out of the cold. In 1982 he was expelled from KANU and imprisoned for several months. He kept up his criticism of government corruption and pressed for a multiparty political system. In August 1991 he helped found the Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (FORD). In December Moi legalized opposition parties, but subsequently FORD split into two with Kenneth Matiba leading FORD-Asili and Odinga heading the FORD-Kenya group. In multiparty presidential elections held in 1992, Odinga came fourth.

R. Odinga

Odinga, Raila (Amolo) (b. Jan. 7, 1945, Maseno, Nyanza province, Kenya), prime minister of Kenya (2008- ); son of Oginga Odinga. He was a presidential candidate in 1997 and 2007.

Odingar (Mbailao), Noël Milarew (b. 1932, Sowalé, Chad - d. May 4, 2007, Paris, France), interim head of state of Chad (1975).

Odlum

Odlum, George (William) (b. June 24, 1934, Castries, St. Lucia - d. Sept. 28, 2003, Castries), St. Lucian politician. He served as permanent secretary in the ministry of trade, industry, and tourism from 1961 to 1964, and from 1964 to 1967 as an economist in the Commonwealth Secretariat in London. Between 1967 and 1971, he was the executive secretary in the Council of Ministers of the West Indies Associated States. For eight years, from 1971 to 1979, he gave yeoman service as president of the Farmers and Farm Workers Union. He became a member of government in 1979, and between 1979 and 1981, he was the deputy prime minister and minister for trade, industry, tourism, and foreign affairs. In 1994, he was posted to the St. Lucia mission to the United Nations, where he served as ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary and permanent representative, a post which he held with distinction until February 1996. In 1997 he was elected to parliament as Labour Party candidate for Castries North East and again became foreign minister. A longtime leftist activist, he had often challenged party leaders in a stormy career. He resigned in 2001 in a dispute over the government's direction, and then unsuccessfully sought to regain power in an alliance with a rival party.

Odorizzi, Tullio (b. Feb. 20, 1903, Cles, Austria-Hungary [now in Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy] - d. July 8, 1991, Trento, Trentino-Alto Adige), president of Trentino-Alto Adige (1949-60).

Odría

Odría (Amoretti), (José) Manuel A(rturo) (b. Nov. 26, 1897, Tarma, Peru - d. Feb. 18, 1974, Lima, Peru), chairman of the military junta (1948-50) and president (1950-56) of Peru. A grandson of Manuel Odría, a 19th-century war hero, he entered military school in 1915, was commissioned a second lieutenant in 1919, and in 1930 graduated from the War College, to which he later returned as director. In 1946 he was promoted to brigadier general and was made army chief of staff. Pres. José Luis Bustamante y Rivero appointed him minister of the interior in January 1947. In October 1948, heading an army junta, he deposed Bustamante in a bloodless coup, to protect his country from the radical APRA party. He dissolved the legislature, declared military rule, and took measures to restore the economy and political stability. He resigned temporarily on June 1, 1950, to run unopposed for election and was inaugurated as president July 28. He used harsh repressive measures to eliminate opposition and maintain order. Economic controls were ended, foreign investment was encouraged, and some improvements were made in social security and education. The economy expanded initially, helped also by U.S. aid and higher prices for exports during the Korean War, but by the end of his term there was a mounting trade deficit and rapid inflation, as well as labour unrest and public protests against the regime. He permitted a free election in 1956, in which he did not run, then went into a self-imposed exile, spending much time in the United States. In 1962 and 1963 he ran again for president, both times coming third. He then allied his forces in Congress with those of his former enemy, APRA leader Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre, to block many of Pres. Fernando Belaúnde's reforms.

Odry, Dominique (Joseph) (b. 1865 - d. 1962), general commissioner of the Memel Territory (1920-21).

N. Oduber

Oduber, Nelson (Orlando) (b. Feb. 7, 1947), prime minister of Aruba (1989-94, 2001-09).

D. Oduber

Oduber Quirós, (Porfirio Ricardo José Luis) Daniel (b. Aug. 25, 1921, San José, Costa Rica - d. Oct. 13, 1991, San José), president of Costa Rica (1974-78). He participated in the 1948 revolution, was a member of the founding junta of the Second Republic, and a founder of the National Liberation Party (PLN), of which he was secretary-general in 1956-58. In 1958-62 he was head of the PLN parliamentary group. As minister of foreign relations (1962-64) he cultivated good relations with the United States. In 1966 he first won his party's presidential nomination but was narrowly defeated by the moderate conservative José Joaquín Trejos. Oduber became president of the PLN in 1970 and served as president of the Legislative Assembly in 1970-73. Elected president in 1974, he took measures to reduce inflation, improve the balance of trade, expand social-welfare programs, institute a land-reform policy, and protect the environment. He restored legal status to the Communist Party in 1975 and reopened diplomatic relations with Cuba in 1977. In 1977 he was accused of having won his 1974 campaign with contributions from the fugitive American financier Robert Vesco. He said the money was in the form of loans which had been repaid. A brilliant orator and astute negotiator, he exercised almost absolute control over the PLN until 1984, when his leadership was challenged by Óscar Arias Sánchez. He was also a vice president of the Socialist International. In 1989 a parliamentary commission investigating drug trafficking urged him to retire from public life, and in April 1990 his party barred him from politics for one year in connection with a 1985 campaign donation he took from American Lionel Casey, later accused of drug trafficking.

Oele, Adriaan Pieter (b. Nov. 28, 1923, Rotterdam, Netherlands), queen's commissioner of Drenthe (1982-88) and acting queen's commissioner of Gelderland (1991).

Oemarsono (b. May 3, 1940), governor of Lampung (1998-2003).

Oesman, Syahrial (b. May 25, 1955, Palembang, Sumatera Selatan, Indonesia), governor of Sumatera Selatan (2003-08).

Oettinger

Oettinger, Günther (Helmut) (b. Oct. 15, 1953, Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, West Germany), minister-president of Baden-Württemberg (2005-10). In 2010 he became EU energy commissioner.

Offerhaus, Willem Augustijn (b. May 20, 1897, Arnhem, Netherlands - d. Nov. 24, 1961, Groningen, Netherlands), queen's commissioner of Groningen (1954-61).

Offmann

Offmann, Karl (Auguste) (b. Nov. 25, 1940, Port-Louis, Mauritius), president of Mauritius (2002-03).

Ofori-Atta, William (Eugene Amoako-Atta), byname Paa Willie (b. Oct. 10, 1910, Kibi, Gold Coast [now in Ghana] - d. July 14, 1988, Accra, Ghana), foreign minister of Ghana (1971-72); son of Nana Sir Ofori Atta I (ruler of Akyem Abuakwa 1912-43).

Ogbeha, (Jonathan) Tunde (b. Sept. 1, 1947), governor of Akwa Ibom (1987-88) and Bendel (1987-90).

Ogbemudia, Samuel (Osaigbovo) (b. 1932, Benin City [now in Edo state], Nigeria), administrator (1967-68) and governor (1968-75) of Mid-Western state and governor of Bendel (1983).

Ogbu, Edwin Ogebe (b. Dec. 28, 1926 - d. 19...), acting foreign minister of Nigeria (1966).

Ogden, Peter Skene (baptized Feb. 12, 1790, Québec, Quebec - d. Sept. 27, 1854, Oregon City, Ore.), governor of the District of Columbia (British Columbia) (1838-39).

Ogi

Ogi, Adolf (b. July 18, 1942, Kandersteg, Bern, Switzerland), president of Switzerland (1993, 2000). He joined the People's Party in 1978, serving as its president from 1984 to 1987, and entered parliament in 1979. He entered the cabinet in 1987 as minister for transport, energy, and communications, and became defense minister in 1995. He twice held the largely ceremonial post of president - a position which rotates on a yearly basis among the seven members of the cabinet. In October 2000 he announced that he would step down at the end of the year. The announcement followed weeks of intense speculation about Ogi's future. Ogi told a news conference in Bern that, like a sportsman, he was stepping down at the "high point" of his career. Ogi represented the more liberal, Bern-based wing of the People's Party and had found himself in recent years under political pessure from the more right-wing, Zürich-based section of the party. In 2001 UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan named Ogi, who served as director of the Swiss Ski Federation for 12 years beginning in 1969, to be his special adviser on "sport for development and peace."

Oglethorpe

Oglethorpe, James (Edward) (b. Dec. 22, 1696, London, England - d. July 1, 1785, Cranham Hall, Essex, England), founder of the British colony of Georgia in America. He joined the Austrian army of Prince Eugène of Savoy in 1714, serving in the campaign against the Turks in 1716-17 and being present at the siege and storming of Belgrade. Back in England, he became member of Parliament for Haslemere in 1722. In 1729 he was chairman of a committee that brought about some much needed prison reforms. His work in behalf of insolvent debtors gave him the idea of founding a new colony in North America where the poor could start afresh and also as an asylum for persecuted Protestant sects. In 1732 he and 19 others secured a charter for such a colony in what became Georgia. In January 1733 he arrived at Charleston with 120 colonists; in the same year he founded Savannah. On the outbreak of war between Britain and Spain in 1739, he conducted a vigorous defense of the colony. Though his force proved inadequate to capture the Spanish town of St. Augustine, Florida, he was able to repel an attack on Fort Frederica, Georgia (1742), displaying great personal courage and leadership in the engagement. His popularity with all classes of the population helped to assure the safety of the colony, which continued to grow and prosper after the war. He returned to England in 1743. In 1745, now a major general, he took part in the campaign against the Jacobites; for his slackness in pursuit of the retreating rebels he was tried by court-martial but acquitted. He then saw no further active military service. With his fellow trustees of Georgia, he surrendered the charter in 1752. He served in Parliament until he lost his seat in 1754. In 1765 he was promoted to full general.

Ogwu

Ogwu, Joy (Uche Angela) (b. Aug. 22, 1946, Yaba, near Lagos, Nigeria), foreign minister of Nigeria (2006-07).

Ohier, Marie (Gustave) Hector (b. Aug. 5, 1814, Mondoubleau, Loir-et-Cher, France - d. Nov. 30, 1870), acting governor of Cochinchina (1868-69).

O'Higgins, Kevin (Christopher), Irish Caoimhghín Ó hUigín (b. June 7, 1892, Stradbally, County Leix, Ireland - d. [assassinated] July 10, 1927, Booterstown, County Dublin, Ireland), deputy prime minister (1922-27) and minister for economic affairs (1922), home affairs (1922-24), and justice (1924-27) of Ireland; nephew of T.M. Healy.

O'Higgins, Thomas (Francis) (byname Tom O'Higgins), Irish Tomás Ó hUiginn (b. July 23, 1916, Cork, Ireland - d. Feb. 25, 2003, Dublin, Ireland), Irish politician; son of Thomas F. O'Higgins; nephew of Kevin O'Higgins. He was elected to the Dáil for Leix-Offaly in 1948 and served as minister for health in 1954-57. He was a presidential candidate in 1966 (coming a close second to Eamon de Valera) and 1973. He was chief justice of Ireland in 1974-85 and as such a member of the Presidential Commission in 1974 and 1976. In 1985-91 he was a judge of the European Court of Justice.

O'Higgins, Thomas F., Irish Tomás Ó hUigín (d. Nov. 1, 1953, Dublin, Ireland), defense minister (1948-51) and industry and commerce minister (1951) of Ireland; brother of Kevin O'Higgins; nephew of T.M. Healy.

Ohira

Ohira, Masayoshi (b. March 12, 1910, Toyohama, Kagawa prefecture, Shikoku, Japan - d. June 12, 1980, Tokyo, Japan), prime minister of Japan (1978-80). He pursued a career in the finance ministry and came under the eye of Hayato Ikeda, who, when he became finance minister, made Ohira his private secretary in 1949. In 1952 Ohira was first elected to the House of Representatives, holding his seat for 10 terms. Well known for his negotiating abilities, he became Prime Minister Ikeda's chief cabinet secretary in 1960 and was credited with suggesting the healing "low posture" policies toward the leftist opposition, which restored the nation to stability after the anti-American confusion of the late 1950s. As minister of foreign affairs (1962-64) in the second Ikeda cabinet, he prepared the way for restoration of relations with South Korea. In 1968-70 he served as minister of international trade and industry. In 1971 he became the leader of the Kochi-Kai faction of the Liberal-Democratic Party (LDP). As Kakuei Tanaka's foreign minister (1972-74), Ohira was the co-architect of normalization of relations with the People's Republic of China. He was finance minister in 1974-76 and secretary-general of the LDP in 1976-78. In 1978 he won the presidency of the LDP, defeating incumbent Takeo Fukuda, and as a result was elected prime minister. "I have no grand plans," he said, "I just want the Japanese people to live in happy families in green cities." His main aim was to create middle-sized garden cities as refuges from the noise, pollution, and overcrowding of the Tokyo-Osaka megalopolis. In May 1980, he decided to call new elections rather than resign following his party's surprise defeat in a no-confidence vote. He unexpectedly died 10 days before the election.

Ohn Gyaw

Ohryzko

Oiterong

Ohn Gyaw (b. March 3, 1932, Nattalin, Burma [now Myanmar]), foreign minister of Myanmar (1991-98).

Ohrel, Alain (Robert Lucien Charles) (b. March 12, 1935, Le Havre, France), high commissioner of French Polynesia (1983-85).

Ohryzko, Volodymyr (Stanislavovych) (b. April 1, 1956, Kiev, Ukrainian S.S.R.), foreign minister of Ukraine (2007-09). He was ambassador to Austria in 1999-2004.

Oiterong, Alfonso (Rehobong) (b. 1925?), president of Palau (1985).

Ojdanic

Ojukwu

Ojdanic, Dragoljub (D.) (b. June 1, 1941, Ravni, near Uzice, Serbia), defense minister of Yugoslavia (2000).

Ojukwu, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu (b. Nov. 4, 1933, Zungeru, northern Nigeria), president of Biafra (1967-70).

Ojuland

Oka

Okada

Ojuland, Kristiina (b. Dec. 17, 1966, Kohtla-Järve, Estonian S.S.R.), foreign minister of Estonia (2002-05).

Oka, Ida Bagus (b. April 16, 1936, Denpasar, Bali, Netherlands East Indies [now Indonesia]), governor of Bali (1988-98).

Okada, Katsuya (b. July 14, 1953, Yokkaichi, Mie prefecture, Japan), foreign minister of Japan (2009- ).

Okala, Charles (b. 1910 - d. Sept. 16, 1973), foreign minister of Cameroon (1960-61).

Okalik

Okalik, Paul (b. May 26, 1964, Pangnirtung, Northwest Territories [now in Nunavut]), premier of Nunavut (1999-2008). In 1985, he began work for the Tungavik Federation of Nunavut (TFN) as a regional researcher and negotiator on the Nunavut Land Claim Agreement. He was quickly promoted to deputy chief negotiator and special assistant to the president of TFN in 1988. In this capacity, he was a vital member of the negotiating team for what became the largest land claim in Canadian history, signed in 1993. In 1993, he took on the task of acting director of Nunavut Tungavik Incorporated (NTI), where he ensured the provisions of the Nunavut Land Claim Agreement were being implemented by the Inuit. He also laid the groundwork for the creation of the Inuit Heritage Trust, the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board, the Nunavut Implementation Training Committee, and the Nunavut Social Development Council. On Feb. 15, 1999, the people of Iqaluit West elected him as their MLA in the first Nunavut Legislative Assembly. On March 5 the full caucus of Nunavut MLAs elected Okalik to be Nunavut's first premier. The new territory came into being on April 1.

Okanla

Okanla, Moussa (b. Sept. 2, 1950), foreign minister of Benin (2007-08).

Okday, Tevfik, until Jan. 1, 1935, Ahmed Tevfik Pasha (b. Feb. 11, 1845, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [now Istanbul, Turkey] - d. Oct. 8, 1936, Istanbul), grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire (1909, 1918-19, 1920-22).

Okello, Basilio Olara (b. 1929 - d. Jan. 11, 1990, Khartoum, Sudan), chairman of the Military Council of Uganda (1985).

T. Okello

Okello, Tito (Lutwa) (b. 1914, Namukora, northern Uganda - d. June 3, 1996, near Kampala, Uganda), president of Uganda (1985-86). He joined the King's African Rifles in 1940 and served as a corporal with the colonial forces in Somaliland during World War II. After the Somaliland campaign he underwent further military training in Kenya. Promoted to the rank of sergeant, he went to Burma at the close of the war. He finally returned to Uganda in 1955 and was given officer's rank when the country became independent seven years later. After independence he enjoyed rapid promotion and became army chief of staff in 1970. When Idi Amin seized power in 1971, Okello immediately went into exile in Tanzania and, with Milton Obote, played a major role in keeping alive the opposition to Amin's rule. In 1979 he led the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA), which, with the support of the Tanzanian military, succeeded in ending Amin's rule. He was made commander of the Ugandan armed forces. Though well past retirement age and no longer physically fit, Okello was retained in his post by Obote because of his past loyalty, his army seniority, and the fact of his being from the Acholi tribe, which made up at least half of the army's strength. Okello was one of the very last men whom Obote would have suggested of being disloyal to him. However, after the Acholi soldiers - dissatisfied over recent army promotions - decided to mutiny under the leadership of Brig. Basilio Okello (no relation), Tito Okello was invited to take over the country's leadership (July 1985). Six months later, he was overthrown by Yoweri Museveni, who had waged a 5-year bush war against Obote. Okello fled to southern Sudan with the remnants of his army. He returned home in 1993 under an amnesty granted by Museveni.

O'Kelly

O'Kelly, Sean T(homas), Irish Seán Tomás Ó Ceallaigh (b. Aug. 25, 1882, Dublin, Ireland - d. Nov. 23, 1966, Dublin), president of Ireland (1945-59). He became associated with Arthur Griffith, principal founder of the Sinn Féin party, in the editing of various Irish journals in 1905 and was honorary secretary of Sinn Féin in 1908-10. He was also a formative influence in the Gaelic League, of which he was general secretary in 1915-20. From 1913 onward he was active in raising the Irish Volunteers and, during the Easter Rising of 1916, fought as a staff captain in the General Post Office, Dublin. On the collapse of the rising, he was imprisoned until the following year. In the election of 1918, Sinn Féin swept away the old Irish Nationalist Party, and O'Kelly was elected for College Green division (Mid-Dublin). Subsequently he was elected speaker (1919-21) of Dáil Éireann, the Irish assembly formed by 73 Sinn Féiners who had been elected to the British House of Commons. Until 1945, he represented at intervals various divisions of Dublin in the Dáil. In 1919 he was accredited by the Dáil to the World War I peace conference, Paris, as envoy of the Irish Republic, and later he acted in the same capacity at Rome and Washington. In the government of Eamon de Valera, he became vice president of the executive council (1932-45), minister of local government and public health (1932-39), and finance minister (1939-45). In June 1945 he was elected to a seven-year term as president, and in May 1952 he was reelected without opposition - a tribute of affection and respect from the Irish people. On the conclusion of his second term, he retired from public life.

Okemo, Chris(anthus) (b. July 17, 1947), finance minister of Kenya (1999-2001). A Canadian-trained economist with extensive experience in the oil industry, he became energy minister in January 1998. He led negotiations with the IMF on energy sector reform and won funding to develop Kenya's geothermal and hydroelectric power output. In 1999 he swapped portfolios with Finance Minister Francis Masakhalia.

O'Kennedy, Michael, Irish Micheál Ó Cinnéide (b. Feb. 21, 1936, Nenagh, Ireland), foreign minister of Ireland (1977-79).

Oketa, Gazmend (Nuri) (b. Dec. 14, 1968, Durrës, Albania), defense minister of Albania (2008-09).

Okilo, (Chief) Melford (Obiene) (b. Nov. 30, 1933, Amakalakala village [now in Bayelsa state], Nigeria - d. July 5, 2008, Yenagoa, Bayelsa), governor of Rivers (1979-83).

Okita

Okita, Saburo (b. Nov. 3, 1914, Dalian, Manchuria, China - d. Feb. 9, 1993, Tokyo, Japan), foreign minister of Japan (1979-80). In 1937 he joined the Ministry of Posts as an engineer. He became chief of the research section of the Economic Stabilization Board (ESB) in 1947, and chief of the economic cooperation unit (1953), director general of the planning bureau (1957), and director general of the development bureau (1962) of the Economic Planning Agency (EPA), successor of the ESB. In these posts he was responsible for making various economic plans, including one in 1960 calling for doubling the Japanese people's income. Implemented by Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda's government (1960-64), it greatly accelerated Japan's economic growth. He was president of the official Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund (1973-77), president (1964-73) and chairman (1973-79) of the Japan Economic Research Centre, then minister of foreign affairs, and thereafter the government's representative responsible for external economic relations until December 1981. In 1977 he unsuccessfully ran for the House of Councillors for the New Liberal Club, a splinter group of the Liberal-Democratic Party. He received many awards at home and abroad, including Japan's Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun in 1986.

Okitundu

Okonjo-Iweala

Okitundu, Léonard She (b. March 26, 1946), foreign minister of Congo (Kinshasa) (2000-03).

Okonjo-Iweala, Ngozi (b. June 13, 1954), finance minister (2003-06) and foreign minister (2006) of Nigeria.

Okonski, Zbigniew (Wojciech) (b. Feb. 12, 1949), defense minister of Poland (1995).

Okoto (Lolakombe), Jean-Charles, foreign minister of Congo (Kinshasa) (1998-99) and governor of Kasaï Oriental (1999). In 2000 he became head of the state diamond mining company Miba, but was dismissed by Pres. Joseph Kabila in November 2002, two weeks after being identified by a UN panel as one of the figures plundering the natural resources of war-divided Congo. He was under investigation by Belgian authorities from January 2003, being suspected of having funnelled $80 million from the company via the Belgian bank Belgolaise and having used part of this sum to buy arms from Ukrainian and Czech arms companies in violation of a UN embargo, and Belgium issued an international arrest warrant in June 2004, after a Miba employee in Brussels was kidnapped, held for several hours, and beaten by assailants who demanded information on the investigation.

Okoumba d'Okwatsegue, Paul (b. Dec. 30, 1933, Franceville, Gabon), foreign minister of Gabon (1974-76).

Okpara, Michael (Iheonukara) (b. December 1920 - d. Dec. 17, 1984), premier of Eastern Region, Nigeria (1960-66).

Okuma

Okuma, Shigenobu, in full (from 1916) Koshaku (marquess) Shigenobu Okuma (b. March 11, 1838, Saga, Japan - d. Jan. 10, 1922, Tokyo, Japan), prime minister of Japan (1898, 1914-16). He and his friends in Saga were not able to persuade their lord to join the great southwestern fiefs in the Restoration movement of 1868, which reestablished the power of the emperor, and as a result they took second place to leaders from those fiefs in the new Meiji government. Okuma's ability and courage, however, made up for some of these disadvantages, and he played an important role in politics. He became chief secretary of the Finance Ministry and then finance minister and was principally responsible for the modernization of Japan's fiscal system. In 1881 he responded to an imperial request for recommendations by presenting a draft of a new constitution which his colleagues considered too radical, and as a result he was forced out of the government. But the emperor promised that a constitution would be readied by 1890, and it was in fact promulgated on Feb. 1, 1889. In 1882 Okuma formed the Rikken Kaishinto ("Progressive Party"), oriented toward British parliamentary concepts. Rejoining the government in 1888, he served as foreign minister several times (1888-89, 1896-97, 1898, 1915). In 1898 he joined forces with Taisuke Itagaki, the founder of the Jiyuto ("Liberal Party"), to form the Kenseito ("Constitutional Party"). They formed a government with Okuma as prime minister, but it foundered within months over patronage disputes. He retired from politics in 1907, but was recalled as prime minister in 1914. During this term Japan entered World War I and experienced a great economic boom; Japanese demands led to a deterioration of relations with China. He resigned in 1916 and retired from politics because of ill health.

Okyar

Okyar, Ali Fethi, until Jan. 1, 1935, Ali Fethi Bey (b. 1880 - d. May 7, 1943, Istanbul, Turkey), prime minister (1923, 1924-25) and justice minister (1939-41) of Turkey.

Olachea Avilés, Agustín (b. Sept. 3, 1880, San Venancio ranch, Todos Santos, Baja California Sur, Mexico - d. April 13, 1973, La Paz, Baja California, Mexico), governor of Baja California Sur (1929-31, 1946-56) and Baja California (1931-32, 1932-35).

Olav V

Olav V, original name Prince Alexander (Edward Christian Frederik) of Denmark (b. July 2, 1903, Appleton House, near Sandringham, Norfolk, England - d. Jan. 17, 1991, Oslo, Norway), king of Norway (1957-91). The unassuming and much-loved folkekongen ("people's king") was the son of Prince Carl of Denmark and Princess Maud, daughter of the British monarch Edward VII. When Norway gained its independence from Sweden in 1905, the Storting (parliament) offered the newly restored throne to Prince Carl, who took the historic Norwegian royal name Haakon VII and renamed his two-year-old son Crown Prince Olav. Olav studied at the Norwegian military academy and at Balliol College, Oxford (1924-26). An avid skier and sailor, he participated in international ski-jumping competitions and won a gold medal in yachting at the 1928 Olympic Games. In 1929 he married his cousin Princess Märtha of Sweden (b. March 28, 1901 - d. April 5, 1954); they had three children, Ragnhild (b. 1930), Astrid (b. 1932), and Harald (b. 1937). During World War II Olav worked with the Norwegian government-in-exile, and in 1944 he was named commander of the free Norwegian armed forces. Olav twice served as regent, between the liberation of Norway and the return of King Haakon VII in 1945 and again from 1955 when a badly broken leg left Haakon unable to carry out his duties. He formally ascended to the throne on his father's death in 1957. As a constitutional monarch, his duties were largely ceremonial. After he suffered a serious stroke in June 1990, he relinquished most of his duties to his son, who succeeded him as King Harald V.

O'Leary, Desmond Vincent, byname Des O'Leary (d. April 2, 1996, Malvern, Victoria, Australia), administrator of Norfolk Island (1976-79).

O'Leary (Urdapilleta), Juan Emiliano (b. June 12, 1879, Asunción, Paraguay - d. Oct. 31, 1969, Asunción), acting foreign minister of Paraguay (1948-49).

O'Leary, Michael, Irish Micheál Ó Laoire (b. May 8, 1936, Cork, Ireland - d. May 11, 2006, France), Irish politician. He was elected to the Dáil in 1965 for Dublin North-Central. He is best remembered as minister for labour in 1973-77, when European law on equal pay and rights for workers had to be transposed into Irish law. In 1979 he successfully stood for the European Parliament. He succeeded Frank Cluskey as Labour Party leader when the latter lost his seat in the 1981 general election. He subsequently became Tánaiste (deputy prime minister) and minister for energy in the 1981-82 Fine Gael-Labour coalition that was formed under Garret FitzGerald. After that government collapsed, he defected to Fine Gael. He remained in parliament until 1987. He was appointed a district court judge in 1997, retiring in May 2006, just days before his death.

Olechowski, Andrzej (b. Sept. 9, 1947, Kraków, Poland), foreign minister of Poland (1993-95).

Olechowski, Tadeusz (b. Jan. 10, 1926, Wilno, Poland [now Vilnius, Lithuania] - d. Jan. 4, 2001, Warsaw, Poland), foreign minister of Poland (1988-89). He was ambassador to France (1969-72, 1976-80), Egypt and The Sudan (1974-76), and West Germany (1983-86).

Olekas, Juozas (b. Oct. 30, 1955, Krasnoyarsk kray, Russian S.F.S.R.), defense minister of Lithuania (2006-08).

Oleksy

Olesen

Oleksy, Józef (b. June 22, 1946, Nowy Sacz, Poland), prime minister (1995-96) and interior minister (2004) of Poland. He was also speaker of the Sejm (1993-95, 2004-05); he stepped down from that post in 2005 after a Warsaw court ruled that he had worked for the country's communist-era secret services and illegally concealed the collaboration; he denied the allegations.

Olesen, Kjeld (Støttrup) (b. July 8, 1932, Copenhagen, Denmark), defense minister (1971-73) and foreign minister (1979-82) of Denmark.

Olewale, Tatie (Kapio) (d. Oct. 17, 2004, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea), premier of Western province, Papua New Guinea (1977-83).

Oli, K(hadga) P(rasad) Sharma (b. 1952), foreign minister of Nepal (2006-07).

Oliphant

Oliphant, Sir Mark, original name Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant (b. Oct. 8, 1901, Adelaide, South Australia - d. July 14, 2000, Canberra, A.C.T.), governor of South Australia (1971-76). He studied at Adelaide University and under British physicist Ernest Rutherford at the Cavendish Laboratory at Britain's Cambridge University. His work with the Cavendish team included the successful splitting of the atom in 1932. Oliphant later led a team of British scientists who traveled to the United States in 1943 to assist with the Los Alamos National Laboratory's top-secret Manhattan Project working to develop the atomic bomb. But profoundly shocked at the use by the United States of nuclear weapons against Japan in 1945, he turned his focus to promote peaceful uses of nuclear power. His part in the development of the bomb haunted Oliphant throughout life. He once described himself as a "war criminal" for his role in the development of the atomic bomb. Ahead of World War II, Oliphant also worked on research into radar, successfully developing the cavity magnetron, which allowed radars to be built small enough to fit in aircraft. Descendants of that device now form the basis of microwave ovens. Oliphant returned to Australia in 1950, continuing his research in the capital, Canberra. He was a founder of the Australian Academy of Science and founding director of the Research School of Physical Sciences at the Australian National University (ANU). He retired from the ANU in 1967. In recognition of his achievements, he was appointed governor of South Australia. He was knighted in 1959.

Olisemeka, Ignatius C(hukwuemeka) (b. March 12, 1932, Kaduna, Nigeria), foreign minister of Nigeria (1998-99).

Oliva (Ojeda), Moisés (d. 1926, Italy), member of the Provisional Government Junta of Ecuador (1925).

Olivares Santana, Enrique (b. Aug. 22, 1920, San Luis de Letras, Aguascalientes, Mexico - d. March 16, 2004, Mexico City, Mexico), governor of Aguascalientes (1962-68) and interior minister of Mexico (1979-82).

Oliveira, Bento da França Pinto de (b. 1833, Porto, Portugal - d. 1889, Aveiro, Portugal), governor of Portuguese Timor (1882-83).

Oliveira, Dante Martins de (b. Feb. 6, 1952, Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, Brazil - d. July 6, 2006, Cuiabá), governor of Mato Grosso (1995-2002).

Oliveira, Jorge Teixeira de (b. June 1, 1921, General Câmara, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil - d. Jan. 28, 1987, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), governor of Rondônia (1979-85).

Olivera Vega, Fernando (b. July 26, 1958, Lima, Peru), foreign minister of Peru (2005). He was ambassador to Spain in 2002-05.

Olivier, Marcel (Achille) (b. Nov. 29, 1879, Nîmes, Gard, France - d. 1945), lieutenant governor of Haut-Sénégal-Niger/French Sudan (1919-21) and governor-general of Madagascar (1924-29).

Olivo, Rosario (b. April 18, 1940, Catanzaro, Calabria, Italy), president of Calabria (1987-91).

Ollivier

Ollivier, (Olivier) Émile, (b. July 2, 1825, Marseille, France - d. Aug. 20, 1913, Saint-Gervais-les-Bains, Haute-Savoie, France), French statesman. At the outbreak of the revolution of 1848 he was appointed commissioner-general (and later prefect) of the Bouches-du-Rhône département, but his idealistic policy there alienated both radicals and conservatives and in July he was demoted to the less important prefecture of Haute-Marne. After Louis-Napoléon became president of the republic in December, Ollivier was dismissed in January 1849 and held no public office until 1857, when he was elected to the Legislative Assembly. There he became one of the republican minority known as "the Five." But when Emperor Napoléon III made liberal concessions in November 1860, Ollivier offered his support to the empire if Napoléon would establish representative government. He gradually separated from his old associates and then worked with the duc de Morny for a "liberal empire" that would incorporate elements of parliamentary government. On Jan. 2, 1870, Napoléon appointed him minister of justice and in effect prime minister, although that office was not nominally recognized by the constitution. He drew up a new constitution (approved in a plebiscite in May by more than 80% of the voters) and set up numerous commissions to reform such areas as labour, education, and law. He seemed to have transformed the Second Empire from despotism to constitutional monarchy without any violence. But his work was soon ruined by the outbreak of the Franco-German War. He had no desire for war, but lost control of events; considering Prussian chancellor Otto von Bismarck's Ems telegram an intolerable insult to France, he declared war on Prussia on July 19. The French military reverses obliged him to resign on August 9, and thereafter he took no major part in politics.

Olmert

Olmert, Ehud (b. Sept. 30, 1945, Nahalat Jabotinsky [now part of Binyamina], Palestine [now in Israel]), prime minister of Israel (2006-09). He entered parliament for the right-wing Likud party in 1973 and entered the cabinet in 1988, as minister for minority affairs. In 1990 he became health minister. He opposed both the 1978 Camp David accords with Egypt and the 1993 Oslo agreement with the Palestinians. In 1993 he was elected mayor of Jerusalem, defeating longtime incumbent Teddy Kollek. During his ten-year stint in the municipality, Jerusalem declined to become one of the poorest cities in Israel, and also witnessed a mass exodus of secular, liberal residents. In 2003 he returned to parliament and was appointed minister of trade and industry and deputy prime minister. In that year he admitted his realization that the goal of a Greater Israel to which he had dedicated his whole career could lead only to the Jews playing second fiddle in an Arab-dominated united Palestine: "The most painful moment of my life was the day I discovered that simple arithmetic was more powerful than the history and geography of Israel." In August 2005 he was appointed finance minister, and in November he joined Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in breaking away from Likud and forming the new Kadima party. In January 2006 he was appointed acting prime minister when Sharon was hospitalized by a massive stroke. He also took over the Kadima leadership and led it to victory in the March elections. In April he officially became prime minister as Sharon was considered permanently incapacitated. He formed his own government in May, a coalition with the Labour, Pensioners, and religious Shas parties. After the July-August Lebanon war, his approval ratings plummeted. In October he expanded his coalition to include the hawkish nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party. In 2008 he resigned as Kadima leader; his successor, Tzipi Livni, failed to form a government, so he remained in office until after new elections were held in 2009.

Olry, Jean Baptiste Léon (b. Feb. 8, 1832, Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France - d. Nov. 10, 1890, Paris), governor of New Caledonia (1879-80).

Olsen, Ann-Kristin (b. March 29, 1945, Stockholm, Sweden), governor of Svalbard (1995-98) and Vest-Agder (1998- ).

J. Olsen

Olsen, John (Wayne) (b. June 7, 1945, Kadina, South Australia), premier of South Australia (1996-2001).

Olson

Olson, Bud, byname of Horace Andrew Olson (b. Oct. 6, 1925, Iddesleigh, Alberta - d. Feb. 14, 2002, Medicine Hat, Alberta), lieutenant governor of Alberta (1996-2000). After entering federal politics as a Social Credit MP for Medicine Hat in 1957, he was defeated in 1958 during John Diefenbaker's Tory sweep but was reelected in 1962, 1963, 1965, and finally, as a Liberal, in 1968. For his 1967 switch to the Liberals he was rewarded with a cabinet post and, in 1977, a Senate appointment. Once Alberta's most powerful Liberal, Olson had the unenviable task of selling Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's national energy program in the West. Olson lunched often with the prime minister at 24 Sussex Drive and served as minister of agriculture (1968-72), minister of economic and regional development (1980-84), and chairman of the cabinet committee on economic development (1980-83). He was regarded as one of Trudeau's most powerful ministers and served as government leader in the Senate from 1982 to 1984. As lieutenant governor, he caused a stir when he said he might refuse to sign special warrants for spending that hadn't been scrutinized by the legislature. He was openly critical of the Conservative government's practice of approving controversial spending behind the closed doors of cabinet. But his tenure is best remembered for the war of words that erupted with former lieutenant governor Gordon Towers over his decision to cast off a 90-year-old tradition and move the New Year's levee out of Edmonton to Medicine Hat, closer to his home. Olson was upset that Towers, a longtime political rival, had stuck his nose into his office after promising not to do so.

Olszewski

Olszewski, Jan (b. Aug. 20, 1930, Warsaw, Poland), prime minister of Poland (1991-92).

Olszowski, Stefan (b. Aug. 28, 1931, Torun, Poland), foreign minister of Poland (1971-76, 1982-85).

Olter

Olter, Bailey (b. March 27, 1932, Mwoakilloa, Pohnpei, Micronesia [now in Federated States of Micronesia] - d. Feb. 16, 1999, Kolonia, Pohnpei), president of the Federated States of Micronesia (1991-97). His career included serving as Pohnpei state treasurer, chairman of external affairs in the FSM first and second congresses, and Micronesian advisor to the U.S. delegation to the UN Trusteeship Council. He was the second vice president of the FSM (1983-87) before being elected president in 1991 and again in 1995. He was incapacitated after suffering a stroke in 1996.

Olubuse II, Okunade Adele Sijuwade (b. Jan. 11, 1930, Ile-Ife [now in Osun state], Nigeria), ruler of Ile Ife (1980- ).

Olurin, Adetunji (Idowu) (b. Dec. 3, 1944, Ilaro [now in Ogun state], Nigeria), governor of Oyo (1985-87) and administrator of Ekiti (2006-07).

Olympio

Olympio, Sylvanus (Epiphanio) (b. Sept. 6, 1902, Lomé, Togo - d. Jan. 13, 1963, Lomé), president of Togo (1961-63). A leader of the Committee of Togolese Unity, formed early in World War II as a cultural organization, he was elected president of the first representative territorial assembly in 1946 and soon came into conflict with the French authorities. His party lost its majority at the 1951 elections and boycotted those of 1955. One of his early concerns was to unite the Ewe people, who were divided between British and French Togoland, but his hopes were dashed in 1956, when the British part voted to join the Gold Coast to become independent Ghana in 1957. When Togo became autonomous in 1956, his rival Nicolas Grunitzky became prime minister. In UN-supervised elections in 1958, however, Olympio's party won a clear majority, and he became prime minister, leading Togo to complete independence in 1960. He also held the finance and justice portfolios. Relations with Ghana were bad, Olympio denouncing his former friend Kwame Nkrumah, president of Ghana, as a "black imperialist." His sympathies were with the West, but he disclaimed any interest in the "cold war." Togo became a virtual one-party state, and he was elected president as the sole candidate in 1961, under a constitution granting extensive presidential powers. The regime's authoritarianism was widely resented, especially by Western-educated Togolese; northern leaders felt left out of the predominantly southern government, and the more radical members of Juvento (once the party's youth wing) wanted him to be less dependent on French aid. Juvento leaders were arrested and other opposition figures left the country. He was assassinated in the first successful military coup in postwar sub-Saharan Africa.

D. O'Malley

O'Malley, Desmond (Joseph), Irish Deasún Ó Máille (b. Feb. 2, 1939, Limerick, County Limerick, Ireland), Irish politician. When his uncle, Minister for Education Donough O'Malley, died, he decided to contest the by-election despite the intention of his uncle's widow to seek the nomination. He won the seat and entered the Dáil (parliament) in 1968 as a member of Fianna Fáil. His ability was quickly recognized, and in less than a year he became parliamentary secretary to Prime Minister John Lynch. In 1970 he was appointed minister for justice, where his tough, abrasive style won him grudging admiration. In 1977 he became what was later described as the most capable minister for industry and commerce that Ireland had known. Considered by many members of Fianna Fáil to be the natural heir to Lynch, he suffered a turn for the worse in his career when Charles Haughey took over the party leadership in 1979. O'Malley subsequently was involved in three unsuccessful attempts to remove Haughey. His final break with the party came when he criticized his leader's interpretation of the report of the New Ireland Forum. O'Malley was expelled in May 1985 for "conduct unbecoming," a phrase that was to become famous in Irish politics. In December 1985 he launched the Progressive Democrats party, and the instantaneous reaction from the public was one of strong support. Much of this was a vote for his proven ability as a politician. His right-wing economic views were especially appealing to the business sector, but support also came from all across the spectrum for a party that was seen to be attempting to break the mold of "civil-war" politics that prevailed within Ireland's two traditional parties, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. In 1989 he led his party into a coalition government with Fianna Fáil. He retired as party leader in 1993.

O'Malley, Martin (Joseph) (b. Jan. 18, 1963, Washington, D.C.), mayor of Baltimore (1999-2007) and governor of Maryland (2007- ).

Omanidze

M.A. Omar

Omanidze, Murman (b. Nov. 7, 1938), foreign minister (1991-92) and acting prime minister (1991) of Georgia.

Omar, Haji Farah Ali (b. 1907, Obbia [now Hobyo], Somalia), foreign minister of Somalia (1969).

Omar, Mohamed Abdullahi, foreign minister of Somalia (2009).

M.M. Omar

Omar (Akhund), Mullah Mohammad (b. 1959, Nodeh village, near Qandahar, or 1962, Uruzgan province, Afghanistan), Afghan leader. He joined the jihad against the Soviet occupation in the 1980s. He lost an eye fighting the Soviets as a deputy chief commander in the Harakat-i Inqilab-i Islami party of Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi. In 1994, disgusted by the power struggles among the various Afghan militias, he took up arms again and founded the Taliban movement. On April 3, 1996, about 1,000 so-called Muslim clergymen chose Omar as Amir al-Mo´menin (Supreme Leader of the Muslims). They branded Pres. Burhanuddin Rabbani, a former mujahideen leader, as a criminal. The Taliban moved mercilessly against their opponents and established a very strict, religiously toned dictatorship in the rapidly expanding territory under their rule. They promulgated a traditionalist version of Islam, strongly influenced by the conservative world of the Pashtun village. In September 1996 they took over Kabul. Omar, who remained in Qandahar and never made public appearances and refused to speak to journalists directly, was considered to be one of the most mysterious figures in Afghan politics. There was hardly a government anywhere as obscure as that of the Taliban, who came to rule 95% of Afghanistan. The Taliban's commandments and proscriptions, which the people were obliged to take note of daily over Radio Sharia (formerly Radio Kabul) or in the Friday sermon at their local mosque, included that women had to be veiled from head to foot, men had to wear traditional clothing and be bearded, alcoholic drinks were forbidden, as were dancing, music, soccer, television, possession of portrait photos (considered "idol worship"), and much more. The Taliban regime was overthrown in 2001, but Omar eluded capture and his whereabouts remain unknown.

Omehia, Celestine (Ngozichim) (b. Sept. 15, 1959, Ubima [now in Rivers state], Nigeria), governor of Rivers (2007).

Omeruah, Samson (Emeka) (b. Aug. 14, 1943, Zaria [now in Kaduna state], Nigeria - d. Dec. 4, 2006, London, England), governor of Anambra (1985-87).

Omu, Paul (Ufuoma) (b. 1940), governor of South-Eastern/Cross River (1975-78).

Ona, Francis (b. 1953? - d. July 24, 2005, Guava village, near Panguna, Bougainville, Papua New Guinea), Bougainville rebel leader. In 1989 he was instrumental in launching Bougainville's long secessionist conflict which dragged on through the 1990s and cost the lives of more than 10,000 people. The spark for the conflict was landowner anger over the giant Bougainville Copper Ltd. mine at Panguna and the environmental damage it was causing. In 1990 he proclaimed the island independent from Papua New Guinea, styling himself president of the "Republic of Mekamui." Under a 2001 peace agreement, Bougainvilleans were promised a referendum on independence in 10 to 15 years' time. Opposing the 2005 election of a new autonomous government, Ona, who had in 2004 crowned himself as king with the name Francis Dominic Dateransy Domanaa, emerged from 16 years of seclusion in his mountain retreat at Panguna in the lead-up to the election only to repeat his claim that Bougainville was already independent; he did not promote outright disruption of the election, however.

Oncieu de la Bâtie, Auguste Marie Édouard d' (b. Nov. 25, 1833, Chambéry, Savoie, France - d. ...), governor of the French Settlements in Oceania (1877-78).

Ondoga, Michael (d. [killed] between March 7 and 9, 1974), foreign minister of Uganda (1973-74).

O'Neal

P. O'Neill

O'Neal, Ralph (Telford) (b. Dec. 15, 1933, Virgin Gorda island, British Virgin Islands), chief minister (1995-2003) and premier (2007- ) of the British Virgin Islands. He previously served as deputy chief minister (1988-94, 1995).

O'Neil, William A(ndrew) (b. June 6, 1927, Ottawa, Ont.), secretary-general of the International Maritime Organization (1990-2003).

O'Neill, Paul (Henry) (b. Dec. 4, 1935, St. Louis, Mo.), U.S. treasury secretary (2001-02).

T.P. O'Neill

O'Neill, Thomas P(hilip), Jr., byname Tip O'Neill (b. Dec. 19, 1912, Cambridge, Mass. - d. Jan. 5, 1994, Boston, Mass.), U.S. politician. While attending college, he ran for Cambridge city council and suffered his only electoral defeat. In 1936 he was elected as a Democrat to the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He became a strong advocate of New Deal liberalism, which he never abandoned. He was speaker of the state House in 1949-52. In 1952 he was elected to the U.S. House, succeeding John F. Kennedy who gave up his seat to run for the Senate. He was reelected every two years, never losing touch with his constituency, until he retired in 1987. In 1967 he was the first member of the House leadership to oppose Pres. Lyndon Johnson vocally on the Vietnam War. He became House majority whip (1971-73), majority leader (1973-77), and then the longest-serving speaker of the House (1977-87). He was an old-fashioned, behind-the-scenes politician who insisted that "all politics is local," a shrewd manipulator who marshaled support in the back rooms of the Capitol rather than on the House floor. He earned the respect of his younger colleagues for approving legislative reform, including a new ethics code and a limit on outside income. Even a Republican-sponsored advertisement featuring an O'Neill look-alike who was meant to symbolize a bloated, freewheeling Congress not only failed to detract from his popularity but rather enhanced it. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1991.

O'Neill, William A(tchison) (b. Aug. 11, 1930, Hartford, Conn. - d. Nov. 24, 2007, East Hampton, Conn.), governor of Connecticut (1980-91). He lost campaigns for state representative in 1960 and 1962, but won in 1966. He managed Ella T. Grasso's victorious gubernatorial campaign in 1974 and became House majority leader. With her endorsement, he succeeded the legendary John M. Bailey as Democratic state chairman after Bailey's death in 1975. In 1976, Grasso backed Peter G. Kelly to lead the state organization, but O'Neill refused to back down and established his own power base. In 1978, Grasso did not endorse a running mate, but O'Neill was nominated and became lieutenant governor, then succeeded on Dec. 31, 1980, when cancer forced Grasso's resignation. O'Neill, a conservative Democrat, was underestimated by Republicans and, even more so, by a younger generation of liberal Democrats. He was elected to a full four-year term in 1982 and reelected in 1986, each time thwarting liberals in his own party and then handily defeating Republican opponents. Over 10 years and 10 days as the state's 84th governor (the longest-serving in nearly 200 years), he assembled a bright, ideologically diverse administration that poured money into education, health care, and the state's long-neglected infrastructure. He rode the crest of the state's booming economy, presiding over an era of expansion. Over the decade, state spending jumped by 140%. But as the economy again began to sour, the state budget deficit soared. He did not run for reelection in 1990. It may have been his resistance to the income tax, which his successor Lowell Weicker persuaded the legislature to pass eight months after O'Neill left office, that compounded the state's fiscal problems and led to his political downfall.

Baron O'Neill

O'Neill of the Maine, Terence (Marne) O'Neill, Baron (b. Sept. 10, 1914, County Antrim, Ireland - d. June 12, 1990, Lymington, Hampshire, England), prime minister of Northern Ireland (1963-69). He entered the Northern Ireland Parliament (1946) as a member of the Protestant Unionist Party. He held portfolios as secretary of health (1948-53) and minister of home affairs (1956). In 1956 he was named finance minister and deputy premier, and when Lord Brookeborough stepped down as prime minister in 1963 after some 20 years in office, O'Neill succeeded him. As prime minister he recognized the need for change in Ulster's discriminatory political system and sought to institute moderate civil reforms. In 1965 he invited Irish Prime Minister Sean Lemass to Belfast to hold the first formal meetings between the two leaders. O'Neill, however, was unable to reconcile the Unionist Party to his modest reforms or to convince Roman Catholics of his sincerity. Internal party divisions, combined with Roman Catholic mistrust and a rising tide of Protestant extremism, drove him out of office soon after he won the 1969 general election. By the end of the year, British troops had been called in to combat the escalating violence, and O'Neill retired to southern England. He was made a life peer in 1970.

Oneya, Dominic (b. May 26, 1948, Lagos, Nigeria), administrator of Kano (1996-98) and Benue (1998-99).

Ong

Ong Teng Cheong, Pinyin Wang Dingchang (b. Jan. 22, 1936, Singapore - d. Feb. 8, 2002, Singapore), president of Singapore (1993-99). He was a member of parliament and served the government as minister of communications, minister of culture, minister of labour, and deputy prime minister before he resigned to become the city state's first elected president in 1993. He chose not to run for a second six-year term after his party, the ruling People's Action Party, announced it would not back him because of concerns about his health. When he said that he had faced a "long list" of problems in trying to fulfil his constitutional role, he sparked a lengthy debate on the role of the president in the local media, culminating in Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew declaring that the position was mostly ceremonial.

Onganía

Onganía (Carballo), Juan Carlos (b. March 17, 1914, Buenos Aires, Argentina - d. June 8, 1995, Buenos Aires), president of Argentina (1966-70). He graduated from the National Military College as a second lieutenant in 1934, was promoted to brigadier general in 1959, and in 1962 briefly served as commander of the Cavalry Corps before leading a revolt against an opposing army faction and becoming army commander in chief. He helped put down an attempted coup and secured the way for elections that made Arturo Illía, a liberal democrat, president. But like many others he became disillusioned with a democratic government that was ineffective in the face of resurgent Peronism and economic troubles, and he resigned his commission to take power himself. Following his installation by the military, he moved speedily to buttress his power with repressive measures extraordinary even in Argentina's dictatorship-studded history. Congress was dissolved, all political parties were declared illegal, Supreme Court judges were replaced, trade unions were curbed, and the press and the arts came under government censorship. Universities were deprived of their autonomy, and he authorized riot police to storm the University of Buenos Aires and drive out faculty members as well as students in what became known as the "night of the long truncheons." In 1969 rioting by workers and students erupted in Córdoba, and those riots eventually led to Onganía's ouster in 1970, when a three-man ruling military junta unseated him. In February 1995 he was put under house arrest for two weeks after he accused the government of corruption. He planned to run as candidate of a small rightist party in the May 1995 presidential election, but withdrew.

Oni, Olusegun (Adebayo) (b. Sept. 5, 1954, Ifaki-Ekiti [now in Ekiti state], Nigeria), governor of Ekiti (2007-09, 2009- ).

Onley

Onley, David (Charles) (b. June 12, 1950, Midland, Ont.), lieutenant governor of Ontario (2007- ).

Onn (bin) Jaafar, Dato' Sir (b. 1895, Johor Bahru, Malaya [now in Malaysia] - d. Jan. 19, 1962, Johor Bahru), chief minister of Johor (1947-50); knighted 1953; son of Datuk Jaafar Mohamed.

Onoh, Christian (Chukwuma) (b. April 27, 1927, Enugu-Ngwo [now Ngwo], Nigeria - d. May 5, 2009, Ngwo), governor of Anambra (1983).

Onoprishvili

Onoprishvili, David (T.) (b. Jan. 8, 1961), finance minister of Georgia (1998-2000). A former World Bank official, he headed parliament's committee for economic reforms before being named finance minister.

Onorio, Rota (b. Oct. 26, 1919), chairman of the Council of State of Kiribati (1982-83).

Onu, Ogbonnaya (b. Dec. 1, 1951, Uburu [now in Ebonyi state], Nigeria), governor of Abia (1992-93).

Onu, Peter (b. 1931 - d. Jan. 17, 1997, Kent, England), Nigerian diplomat. A top civil servant of the Nigerian government, Onu spent 13½ years in the Organization of African Unity (OAU), arriving in 1972 to take up the post of assistant secretary general in charge of finance and administration. He then moved to political affairs until 1983 when he became interim secretary general of the OAU. He held this post until 1985 and in February 1986 left the organization. Onu was the longest serving elected official in the history of the OAU. Until his death, Onu served as a special advisor on political affairs to the Nigerian government.

Onyearugbulem, Anthony (Ibe) (b. July 9, 1955, Imo state, Nigeria - d. July 27, 2002, Kaduna, Nigeria), governor of Ondo (1996-98) and Edo (1998-99).

Onyonka, Zachary (Theodore) (b. Feb. 28, 1939, Meru, Kenya - d. Oct. 22, 1996), foreign minister of Kenya (1987-88).

Oorzhak, Sherig-ool (Dizizhikovich) (b. July 24, 1942, Shekpeer settlement, Tuva [now in Russia]), prime minister (1990-92), president (1992-2002), and chairman of the government (2002-07) of Tuva.

Opangault, Jacques (b. Dec. 13, 1907 - d. Aug. 20, 1978), prime minister (1957-58) and vice president (1962) of Congo (Brazzaville).

Opertti

Opertti (Badan), Didier (b. April 23, 1937, Montevideo, Uruguay), foreign minister of Uruguay (1998-2005).

Ople

Ople, Blas (Fajardo) (b. Feb. 3, 1927 - d. Dec. 14, 2003, Taoyuan county, Taiwan), foreign secretary of the Philippines (2002-03). He was appointed labour minister by Pres. Ferdinand Marcos in 1967 and held the post until Marcos was ousted in a popular revolt in 1986. Ople served as a senator under an opposition party starting in 1992 and was Senate president briefly in mid-1999. He relinquished his Senate post in July 2002 when Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo appointed him as foreign secretary, replacing Teofisto Guingona, with whom Arroyo had a spat over his opposition to the U.S. military presence in the Philippines. Ople dealt with major foreign policy issues, including the Philippines' decision to allow American counter-terrorist training forces in the country, a tiff with Malaysia over its crackdown on Filipino illegal migrant workers, and Manila's support of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. He died in a Taiwan hospital after falling ill on a flight from Tokyo to Bangkok.

Opoku Ware

Opoku Ware II, Otumfuo Nana, original name Barima Kwaku Adusei, Christian name Jacob Matthew Poku (b. Nov. 30, 1919, Kumasi, Gold Coast [now Ghana] - d. Feb. 25, 1999, Kumasi), Asantehene (king of the Ashanti people, 1970-99). Born into the Ashanti royal family, he was raised a Christian and attended Anglican school at Adisadel College, Cape Coast, Ghana. He worked as a surveyor until 1951, when he left to study law at the University of Exeter, U.K. When called to the bar at the Middle Temple in 1962, he returned to his homeland to practice law. He later founded a private law practice in Kumasi. In 1986, he served as commissioner for transport and communications under the National Liberation Council; he opened a new automatic long-distance dialling exchange and led bilateral trade delegations to Europe and the United States. Jacob Matthew Poku was designated ambassador to Italy when he was suddenly transformed into Otumfuo Opoku Ware II, the 15th keeper of the Golden Stool, in July 1970, succeeding his late uncle Otumfuo Osei Agyeman Prempe II. Contrary to tradition, he had just one wife, with whom he had three children; she died in 1995.

Oral

Oral, Sümer (b. 1938, Izmir, Turkey), finance minister of Turkey (1991-93, 1999-2002).

Orbán

Orbán, Viktor (b. May 31, 1963, Székesfehérvár, Hungary), prime minister of Hungary (1998-2002). He was part of a circle of twenty-somethings who in 1988 founded the youth party Fidesz. Fidesz is the Hungarian acronym for the Alliance of Young Democrats but also resembles the Latin word for Faith. In the summer of 1989 he was the new party's outspoken representative in the so-called Round Table Talks between the communist government, opposition groups, and trade unions on preparing a new democratic constitution. The party at the time had a rule saying no one over the age of 35 could be a member and was much more liberal and leftist than it is today. Fidesz put up a good showing in the 1990 elections, its 22 fresh-faced MPs transforming a chamber previously occupied by rows of grey-suited party cadres. But the new national-minded conservative prime minister József Antall saw Fidesz as too liberal to include in his new coalition and Orbán went into opposition with his then allies, the liberal Free Democrats (SZDSZ), made up mostly of anti-Communist dissidents. Orbán's decision to split with the SZDSZ and move the party closer to Antall's Democratic Forum was seen by some as a means of positioning for power rather than as a shift of belief and prompted the defection to the SZDSZ of several Fidesz leaders. His party won only 5% of parliamentary seats in the 1994 election. Orbán concluded if Fidesz was to assume power it had to widen its right-wing base, and having scrapped the upper age limit for membership, he moved to embrace the Democratic Forum and centrist Christian Democrats in a broad-based alliance designed to appeal to all ages. In 1998 his Fidesz Hungarian Civic Party won the biggest number of parliament seats, and he became prime minister. He was criticized for his confrontational style and vocal nationalism and lost the 2002 elections to the Socialists.

Orbay

Orbay, Hüseyin Rauf, until Jan. 1, 1935, Hüseyin Rauf Bey (b. 1881, Cibali district, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [now Istanbul, Turkey] - d. July 16, 1964), prime minister of Turkey (1922-23).

Ordóñez, Cleto, byname of José Anacleto Ordóñez (b. 1778, Santa Lucía district, Granada [now in Nicaragua] - d. 18...), General en Jefe del Ejército Protector y Libertador de Granada (1823-25) and commandant-general of Nicaragua (1827).

Oreja Aguirre, Marcelino (b. Feb. 13, 1935, Madrid, Spain), foreign minister of Spain (1976-80) and secretary-general of the Council of Europe (1984-89). He was also a European commissioner (1994-99).

Örek, Osman (b. Dec. 26, 1925, Nicosia, Cyprus - d. March 24, 1999), defense minister of Cyprus (1959-64) and prime minister of North Cyprus (1978).

Á.E. Orellana

Orellana (Mercado), Ángel Edmundo (b. Oct. 20, 1948), interior minister (2007-08), foreign minister (2008-09), and defense minister (2009) of Honduras.

Orellana Rojas, Gabriel (b. Dec. 2, 1947), foreign minister of Guatemala (2000-02).

Oreste (Lafontant), Michel, dit Michel-Oreste (b. April 8, 1859, Jacmel, Haiti - d. Oct. 28, 1918, New York City), president of Haiti (1913-14).

Orford

Orford, Robert Walpole, (1st) Earl of (b. Aug. 26, 1676, Houghton Hall, Norfolk, England - d. March 18, 1745, London, England), British statesman. After his father's death in 1700, he was elected to the family parliamentary seat at Castle Rising, transferring in 1702 to King's Lynn, which he represented, with one short intermission, for the next 40 years. He rapidly made his mark as a clear, forceful speaker in the House of Commons. In the Whig administration he became secretary at war in 1708 and treasurer of the navy in 1710, but he was dismissed on Jan. 2, 1711, with the advent of the Tory Party to power after the general election of 1710. He attacked the new government so strongly that in 1712, to remove him from the scene, he was impeached for corruption while secretary at war, found guilty, expelled from the Commons, and sent to the Tower of London for six months. Reelected to Parliament in 1713, he was made paymaster general of the forces at the accession of George I in 1714, and became first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer in 1715. He left the ministry in 1717 but returned as paymaster general of the forces in 1720 and again became first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer in 1721, offices that he was to hold until 1742. He and his brother-in-law, Charles Townshend, Viscount Townshend, headed the ministry but in 1730 Walpole forced Townshend's resignation; he is today considered the first British prime minister, although he himself rejected the title. In 1739 he reluctantly declared war against Spain (the War of Jenkins' Ear). Many did not consider him capable of directing the war vigorously enough and his resignation was forced on Feb. 2, 1742, on a minor issue. The king then created him Earl of Orford; he had been knighted in 1725.

Organov, Nikolay Nikolayevich (b. 1901 - d. May 5, 1982), chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian S.F.S.R. (1959-62).

Oribe

Oribe (y Viana), Manuel (Ceferino) (b. Aug. 27, 1792, Montevideo, Río de la Plata [now in Uruguay] - d. Nov. 12, 1857, Montevideo), president of Uruguay (1835-38). After serving with José Gervasio Artigas, he became a member of the Treinta y Tres Orientales, the legendary 33 nationalists who successfully fought for Uruguayan independence in the Cisplatine War (1825-28). He became the second president of Uruguay, succeeding Fructuoso Rivera. Although he had been allied with Rivera, their ambitions clashed. As Oribe sought to extend government control over rural districts ruled by Rivera and accused Rivera of financial mismanagement during his term in office, Rivera revolted in 1836, eventually forcing Oribe's resignation in 1838. Oribe then went to Buenos Aires along with his supporters. He had become friendly with the Argentine dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas and was given a military commission by him. Oribe began a long civil war that nearly destroyed Uruguay. He defeated Rivera's army with Argentine troops in 1842, then returned to Uruguay and laid siege to Montevideo for almost nine years (1843-51). The nation was divided into rival factions named Blanco (White) and Colorado (Red), led by Oribe and Rivera, respectively. The Blancos represented the conservative rural population and the Colorados the liberals. The two parties would dominate Uruguayan politics up to the early 21st century. A combined force of Brazilians, rebellious Argentines under Justo José de Urquiza, and the besieged Colorados defeated the Blancos; Oribe was forced into exile in Europe in 1853-55. But after his death, eight more years of civil strife followed, before the Colorados finally established their control, ruling almost continuously for 93 years thereafter.

Oris, Juma (Abdallah) (d. March 2001), foreign minister of Uganda (1975-78). He later became commander of the West Nile Bank Front rebel group. Although he was reported to have been killed by the government's Uganda People's Defense Force in March 1997, he was apparently only wounded.

Orlich

Orlich Bolmarcich, Francisco José (b. March 10, 1907, San Ramón, Costa Rica - d. Oct. 29, 1969, San José, Costa Rica), president of Costa Rica (1962-66).

Orlov, Vladimir (Pavlovich) (b. 1921 - d. 1999), chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian S.F.S.R. (1985-88).

Orlov, Vladimir (Yefimovich) (b. Nov. 28, 1936, Moscow, Russian S.F.S.R.), finance minister of the Soviet Union (1991).

Ormières, Louis Auguste Bertrand (b. Jan. 20, 1851, Saint-Denis, Réunion - d. 19...), resident of Anjouan (188...-95), lieutenant governor of Gabon (1904-05), and acting governor of French Somaliland (1905-06).

Ornelas Kuchle, Óscar (b. Nov. 30, 1920, Chihuahua, Mexico - d. 2000), governor of Chihuahua (1980-85).

Örnsköld, Per Abraham (Löth) (b. 1720 - d. 1791), governor of Västernorrland (1762-69) and Södermanland (1769-91).

O'Rourke, Mary, née Lenihan, Irish Máire Uí Ruairc, née Ní Luineacháin (b. May 31, 1937, Athlone, County Westmeath, Ireland), Irish minister of education (1987-91), health (1991-92), and public enterprise (1997-2002); sister of Brian Lenihan.

Orozco Romero, Alberto (b. April 3, 1925, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico - d. Aug. 28, 2007, Guadalajara), governor of Jalisco (1971-77).

K.A. Orr

Orr, Kay A(vonne), née Stark (b. Jan. 2, 1939, Burlington, Iowa), governor of Nebraska (1987-91).

Orr, Robert D(unkerson) (b. Nov. 17, 1917, Evansville, Ind. - d. March 10, 2004, Indianapolis, Ind.), governor of Indiana (1981-89). He was Vanderburgh County Republican chairman and was elected to the state Senate in 1968. He spent 16 years in the state's top two offices, serving two terms as lieutenant governor beginning in 1973 before serving as governor. As governor, he presided over the strengthening of the state's economy following the recession of the early 1980s. He also oversaw the removal of the state license branch system from political control and an aggressive effort to promote the export of Indiana products - a crusade he maintained long after leaving office. Orr's major achievement was passage of a sweeping educational reform package in 1987. The "A-Plus" package required student achievement exams, a new school accreditation system based on performance, and rewards for schools that showed improvement. He also pushed two major tax increases through the General Assembly, one in 1987 to pay for the education program and one in 1982 - just after the November election - to fix budget problems. He was barred from a third term. After leaving office, he was U.S. ambassador to Singapore (1989-92).

Orselli, Georges (Louis Joseph), governor of French Polynesia (1941-45), Martinique (1946-47), and Ivory Coast (1948).

Orsetti, Christian (Ernest) (b. April 1, 1923, Montpellier, Hérault, France), prefect of Martinique (1973-75). He is ambassador of Monaco to France since 1977.

D. Ortega

Ortega (Saavedra), (José) Daniel (b. Nov. 11, 1945, La Libertad, Chontales, Nicaragua), president of Nicaragua (1985-90, 2007- ). He joined the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), which was fighting against the ruling Somoza family, in 1963, and in 1966 became the leader of the insurgency's urban guerrilla front. In November 1967 he was arrested for his part in a bank robbery; he was released in December 1974, along with a number of other Sandinista prisoners, in exchange for high-level Somocista hostages. With the other released prisoners, he was exiled to Cuba, where he received several months of guerrilla training. After secretly returning to Nicaragua, he played a major role in the conciliation of various FSLN factions and in 1977 designed a policy of alliances with business and political groups which gradually turned the guerrilla campaign into a full-fledged civil war and led to the Sandinista victory in 1979. He became one of the five members of the ruling junta, was named coordinator of the junta in 1981, and in 1984 was elected president of Nicaragua in voting most observers considered free and fair, although some opposition groups boycotted the vote. He traveled widely seeking international support against the U.S. effort to assist the contra rebels; his cause attracted widespread support from leftists around the world. As part of an agreement to end the civil war he held elections in 1990, allowing an unfettered campaign by the opposition. He lost his reelection bid to Violeta Barrios de Chamorro. He failed to make a comeback in two more elections in 1996 and 2001 but won in 2006. Having long traded in his trademark army fatigues for collarless shirts and jeans, he campaigned to the tune of John Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance" and vowed to eradicate poverty through "peace, love, and reconciliation."

R. Ortega

Ortega, Ramón (Bautista) (b. Feb. 28, 1941, Lules, Tucumán, Argentina), governor of Tucumán (1991-95).

Ortega Bernés, Fernando (Eutimio) (b. Feb. 16, 1958, Campeche, Campeche, Mexico), governor of Campeche (2009- ).

Ortega Durán, Oyden (b. July 6, 1944), foreign minister of Panama (1983-84).

Ortega Masson, Rudecindo (b. June 1899, Temuco, southern Chile - d. October 1962, Santiago, Chile), president of the UN General Assembly (1956).

I. Ortega

Ortez

Ortega Pacheco, Ivonne (Aracelly) (b. Nov. 26 or 27, 1972, Dzemul, Yucatán, Mexico), governor of Yucatán (2007- ).

Ortez Colindres, Enrique (b. Oct. 29, 1931, Juticalpa, Honduras), foreign minister (2009) and interior minister (2009) of Honduras.

Ortigão, António de Macedo Ramalho (b. Aug. 5, 1876 - d. April 6, 1963), governor of Cape Verde (1910-11).

Ortiz (Lizardi), (Jaime Gerardo) Roberto M(arcelino María) (b. Sept. 24, 1886, Buenos Aires, Argentina - d. July 15, 1942, Buenos Aires), president of Argentina (1938-42).

Ortiz Ávila, José (b. 1917 - d. June 7, 2002, Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico), governor of Campeche (1961-67).

Ortiz Brennan, Benjamín (b. 1944), foreign minister of Ecuador (1999-2000). Until February 1999 he was the director of Hoy, one of the top five newspapers in Ecuador.

A. Ortiz

Ortiz Mena, Antonio (b. Sept. 22, 1908, Hidalgo del Parral, Chihuahua, Mexico - d. March 13, 2007, Mexico City, Mexico), finance minister of Mexico (1958-70) and president of the Inter-American Development Bank (1971-88).

Ortiz Mercado, José (b. Jan. 5, 1940 - d. Jan. 1, 2004, Santa Cruz, Bolivia), foreign minister of Bolivia (1983-84).

Ortiz Ortiz, Héctor (Israel) (b. July 28, 1950, Tejupan, Oaxaca, Mexico), governor of Tlaxcala (2005- ).

Ortiz Rubio, Pascual (b. March 10, 1877, Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico - d. Nov. 4, 1963, Mexico City, Mexico), governor of Michoacán (1917-18) and president of Mexico (1930-32).

Ortoli

Ortoli, François-Xavier (b. Feb. 16, 1925, Ajaccio, Corse, France - d. Nov. 29, 2007, Paris, France), president of the European Commission (1973-77). Later he was a vice president of the Commission (1977-85).

Ortúzar Escobar, Enrique (b. Nov. 7, 1914, Santiago, Chile - d. Feb. 26, 2005), interior minister (1958-59), justice minister (1960-64), and acting foreign minister (1963) of Chile.

Osadebay, Dennis (Chukwudebe) (b. June 29, 1911, Asaba [now in Delta state], Nigeria - d. Dec. 26, 1994, Asaba), administrator (1963-64) and premier (1964-66) of Midwest Region, Nigeria.

Osawa, Masaaki (b. Jan. 21, 1946), governor of Gunma (2007- ).

Osborn, Luther Wood (b. Dec. 14, 1843, Ithaca, N.Y. - d. Oct. 27, 1901, Apia, Samoa), U.S. consul at Apia, Samoa (1897-1901).

B. Osborne

J. Osborne

Osborne, Bertrand (Beresford) (b. 1935), chief minister of Montserrat (1996-97).

Osborne, John (Alfred) (b. May 27, 1936), chief minister of Montserrat (1978-91, 2001-06).

Oscar I

Oscar I, in full Joseph François Oscar (b. July 4, 1799, Paris, France - d. July 8, 1859, Stockholm, Sweden), king of Sweden and Norway (1844-59). When his father, the French marshal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, became Swedish crown prince in 1810 and King Karl XIV Johan in 1818, Oscar became prince and then crown prince. By his marriage (1823) with Josephine of Leuchtenberg, he had four sons (of whom two succeeded to his throne) and one daughter. As crown prince he was much influenced by liberal and progressive ideas, especially in connection with fiscal policy, freedom of the press, education, and penal reform. Despite his liberalism, his relations with his more conservative father remained good. After his accession in 1844 he furthered various reforms, such as instituting equal rights of inheritance for men and women (1845) and the right of unmarried women to come of age at 25 (1858); he became increasingly conservative in constitutional questions, especially after the 1848 revolutions elsewhere in Europe, and he sought to emulate Napoléon III. In foreign affairs he reversed his father's pro-Russian policy. He supported Denmark against the Germans in 1848, sending Swedish and Norwegian troops to the Danish island of Fyn. During the Crimean War (1854-56) he made a treaty (1855) with Great Britain and France against Russia. He prepared an expedition to recover Finland but the peace of Paris in 1856 frustrated his design. He followed a strongly pan-Scandinavian policy. In 1857 he became ill, and for the next two years his functions were performed by his son, the future Karl XV.

Oscar II

Oscar II, in full Oscar Fredrik (b. Jan. 21, 1829, Stockholm, Sweden - d. Dec. 8, 1907, Stockholm), king of Sweden (1872-1907) and Norway (1872-1905); son of Oscar I. As prince he was Duke of Östergötland. He married Sophie of Nassau in 1857 and had four sons. Associated with the navy from childhood, he always retained a special interest in its development and organization. He was an outstanding orator, loved music and literature, and himself published several books of verse and wrote on historical subjects. He succeeded to the throne on the death of his older brother, Karl XV, in 1872. In home politics a conservative, in foreign policy he favoured Scandinavian cooperation. He supported Germany, hoping that that country would provide a bulwark against Russia, and encouraged the Germanophile trend characterizing Swedish political and cultural life during his reign. During the struggle over customs duties in the 1880s his sympathies were with the free traders. In the 1890s he supported the efforts of Prime Minister Erik Gustaf Boström to strengthen Swedish military power. Much of his reign was taken up with friction between his two kingdoms of Sweden and Norway. He resisted Norwegian demands for full equality with Sweden and was much grieved when the conflict reached a state of crisis in 1905 and the Norwegian parliament declared the union dissolved. He refused to allow the use of force against the Norwegians but forbade any prince of his house to accept the Norwegian crown.

Osei-Adjei, Akwasi (b. Dec. 27, 1949), foreign minister of Ghana (2007-09).

Osei Tutu

Osei Tutu II, Otumfuo Nana, original name Barima Kwaku Dua (b. May 6, 1950, Kumasi, Gold Coast [now Ghana]), ruler of Asanteman (Asantehene) (1999- ). He was adopted by his uncle Oheneba Mensah Bonsu, one of the chiefs of the court of the Manhyia Palace, who groomed him. Oheneba Mensah Bonsu did not send his nephew to the prestigious schools, such as Prempeh College or Opoku Ware where most of Asante royals schooled. Rather he was shipped off to Sefwi Wiawso, to live with the then Sefwi chief Nana Kwadwo Aduhene, who had him enrolled at the town's secondary school in 1964, but later returned to Kumasi to complete his A levels. Nana Duah moved to Accra in 1971, to pursue a course in accountancy at the Institute of Professional Studies, Legon. In 1973, he proceeded to the United Kingdom where he studied at the Kilburn polytechnic before enrolling at the University of North London for a diploma in management and public administration. He became a member of the Institute of Personnel Management in the U.K. in 1985. He worked as a finance officer at the food processing company Oxo in London and as personnel administrator at the manpower services commission attached to Brent Council. In 1980, he moved to Canada and worked for a year as a senior consultant with the Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company's sponsored course in insurance at the University of Toronto. He returned to Ghana in 1989 to set up his own business, Transpomech International Ghana Limited, of which he remains the executive director. After Otumfuo Opoku Ware II died on Feb. 25, 1999, Kwaku Dua became his successor under the stool name Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.

Oshiomhole, Adams (Aliyu) (b. April 4, 1953, Iyamoh [now in Edo state], Nigeria), governor of Edo (2008- ).

Osho

Oskanyan

Osho, Pierre (b. May 5, 1945, Porto-Novo, Dahomey [now Benin]), foreign minister (1996-98), defense minister (1998-2006), and acting interior minister (2003) of Benin.

Osiatynski, Jerzy (Epaminondas) (b. Nov. 2, 1941, Riga, Latvia), finance minister of Poland (1992-93).

Oskanyan, Vartan (Minasi), Vartan also spelled Vardan (b. Feb. 7, 1955, Aleppo, Syria), Armenian politician. He joined Armenia's Foreign Ministry in 1992, first as deputy head of the Middle East Department and then as head of the North American Department. In November 1994, he was appointed deputy foreign minister, and in January 1997, promoted to first deputy foreign minister. He headed Armenia's delegation to the Karabakh negotiations since 1994. In 1998-2008 he was foreign minister.

Osman, Ahmed, Arabic Ahmad `Uthman (b. Jan. 3, 1930, Oujda, Morocco), prime minister of Morocco (1972-79).

Osman, Sir (Abdool) Raman (Mahomed) (b. Aug. 29, 1902 - d. Nov. 16, 1992), governor-general of Mauritius (1972-77); knighted 1973.

Osman (bin Haji) Aroff, Tan Sri (Dato' Seri Haji) (b. Nov. 23, 1940, Kampung Kelubi, Jitra, Kedah [now in Malaysia]), chief minister of Kedah (1985-96). He received the title Dato' in January 1980, Dato' Paduka in July 1983, Dato' Seri on Jan. 25, 1987, and Tan Sri on June 5, 1991.

Osmany, Mohammad Ataul Ghani (b. 1919, Sylhet, Bengal, India [now in Bangladesh] - d. Feb. 16, 1984, London, England), Bangladesh army officer. He served with the Indian Army during World War II, became a major at age 23, then joined the Pakistan Army after the partition of India in 1947. When the Awami League won the elections in East Pakistan in 1970, he took command of the Bangladesh guerrilla forces and after independence established the army of the new state. In 1973, after resigning from the Army and contesting the elections, he was appointed minister of defense but opposed plans for a one-party state. After Prime Minister Mujibur Rahman's assassination in 1975, Osmany became defense adviser before forming the National People's Party. He ran twice unsuccessfully for the presidency. A firm believer in parliamentary rule, he quarreled with Army Chief of Staff (later president) Hossain Mohammad Ershad's plan to give a greater political role to the Army.

L. Osmeña

Osmeña, Lito, byname of Emilio Mario Renner Osmeña (b. Sept. 11, 1938, Cebu, Philippines), Philippine politician; grandson of Sergio Osmeña. He was governor of Cebu in 1988-92 and a presidential candidate in 1998.

S. Osmeña

Osmeña (y Suico), Sergio (b. Sept. 9, 1878, Cebu, Philippines - d. Oct. 19, 1961, Manila, Philippines), president of the Philippines (1944-46). He served the Philippine revolution as a courier for its leader, Emilio Aguinaldo. After Spain's cession of the Philippines to the United States, the U.S. colonial administration appointed him governor of the province of Cebu and fiscal (district attorney) for the provinces of Cebu and Negros Oriental in 1904. He was elected governor of Cebu in 1906. In 1907 he was elected delegate to the National Assembly, the first Philippine legislature, and founded the Nationalist Party (Partido Nacionalista), which came to dominate Philippine political life. He lost the leadership of the party to Manuel Quezon in 1922. He was speaker of the Assembly (1907-16) and in its successor, the bicameral Congress, he was speaker of the House of Representatives (1916-22) and president pro tempore of the Senate (1922-34). In 1933 he went to Washington, D.C., to negotiate the provisions of the Hare-Hawes-Cutting independence bill, but Quezon objected to the bill's provision to retain U.S. military bases after independence, and blocked its ratification in the Philippines. It was superseded by the Tydings-McDuffie Act of 1934, making the Philippines a commonwealth with a large measure of autonomy. In 1935 Osmeña was elected vice president, with Quezon as president. After the Japanese occupation (1942), he followed Quezon into exile in Washington, D.C., and on the latter's death in August 1944, he succeeded as president. Returning to the Philippines in October, he was defeated in the April 1946 elections by Manuel Roxas, who became the first president of the independent Republic of the Philippines. He then retired from politics.

Osoba, Segun, byname of Aremo Olusegun Osoba (b. July 1, 1941), governor of Ogun (1992-93, 1999-2003).

Osóbka-Morawski

Osóbka-Morawski, Edward (b. Oct. 5, 1909 - d. Jan. 9, 1997), foreign minister (1944-45) and prime minister (1945-47) of Poland.

Osondu, Christopher (Ibe), administrator of Cross River (1998-99).

Osorio (Hernández), Óscar (b. Dec. 14, 1910, Sonsonate, El Salvador - d. March 6, 1969, Houston, Texas), president of El Salvador (1950-56).

Osorio Chong, Miguel Ángel (b. Aug. 5, 1964, Pachuca, Hidalgo, Mexico), governor of Hidalgo (2005- ).

Ospina (Vásquez), Pedro Nel (Ignacio Tomás de Villanueva) (b. Sept. 18, 1858, Bogotá, Granadine Confederation [now Colombia] - d. July 1, 1927, Medellín, Colombia), president of Colombia (1922-26); son of Mariano Ospina Rodríguez.

Ospina Pérez, (Luis) Mariano (b. Nov. 24, 1891, Medellín, Colombia - d. April 14, 1976, Bogotá, Colombia), president of Colombia (1946-50); grandson of Mariano Ospina Rodríguez; nephew of Pedro Nel Ospina. He entered politics in 1915 as a Conservative and held many elective offices. At a time of developing interparty conflict, he was elected president but failed to check the growth of violence despite recourse to coalition government. The more moderate upper-class segment of the Conservative Party, of which Ospina was a major figure, commonly opposed the majority faction headed by Laureano Gómez, who succeeded him as president; the hostility between the two Conservative leaders presented a serious problem for the National Front government of Colombia.

Ospina Rodríguez, Mariano (b. Oct. 18, 1805, Guasca, New Granada [now in Colombia] - d. Jan. 11, 1885, Medellín, Colombia), president of New Granada (1857-61).

Ostapenko

Ostapenko, Serhiy Stepanovych (b. 1881, Volyn guberniya, Russia [now in Ukraine] - d. [executed] 1937), chairman of the Council of Ministers of the non-communist Ukraine (1919).

Ostashek

Ostashek, John (b. 1936, High Prairie, Alberta - d. June 10, 2007, Vancouver, B.C.), government leader of Yukon Territory (1992-96). He was elected leader of the Yukon Party in 1992 and took his party to victory later that year. He refused to use the title of premier, reverting instead to the former term of government leader. His minority government managed to stay in power with the support of right-leaning independent MLAs. His party lost the 1996 election to the New Democratic Party, although Ostashek himself held on to his seat, becoming leader of the opposition. When the Liberals swept to power in the 2000 election, Ostashek lost his own Whitehorse riding of Porter Creek North. He stepped down as leader and retired from politics but remained an outspoken critic of successive governments, including the governing Yukon Party.

Ostrowski, Józef (August) hrabia (Count), h. Korab (b. Jan. 21, 1850, Maluszyn, Russia [now in Poland] - d. June 20, 1923, Maluszyn), member of the Regency Council of Poland (1917-18).

Osu

Osu (bin Haji) Sukam, Datuk Seri (Panglima Haji) (b. Feb. 5, 1949), chief minister of Sabah (1999-2001). He received the titles Datuk (Sept. 16, 1994) and Datuk Seri Panglima (Sept. 16, 1997).

Osuna Millán, José Guadalupe (b. Dec. 10, 1955, Aguacaliente de Gárate, Sinaloa, Mexico), governor of Baja California (2007- ).

Osunbor, Oserheimen (Aigberaodion) (b. Oct. 5, 1951, Iruekpen [now in Edo state], Nigeria), governor of Edo (2007-08).

Oszkó

Oszkó, Péter (b. March 22, 1973, Budapest, Hungary), finance minister of Hungary (2009- ).

Ota, Fusae (b. June 26, 1951), governor of Osaka (2000-08).

Ota, Masahide (b. June 12, 1925, Kume island, Okinawa prefecture, Japan), governor of Okinawa (1990-98).

Otáñez (Martínez), Aureliano (b. Oct. 18, 1911, Paris, France), foreign minister of Venezuela (1952-56).

Otari

Oti

Otari, Muhammad Naji al-, Arabic Muhammad Naji al-`Utari (b. 1944, Aleppo, Syria), prime minister of Syria (2003- ). Earlier (from March 9, 2003) he was speaker of parliament.

Otedola, Sir Michael (Agbolade) (b. July 16, 1926), governor of Lagos (1992-93). He was made a knight of the Order of St. Sylvester by Pope Paul VI in 1974.

Othman (bin Mohd) Saat, Tan Sri (b. April 4, 1927, Kampung Tengah, Muar, Johor [now in Malaysia] - d. Oct. 27, 2007, Johor Bahru, Johor), chief minister of Johor (1967-82). He received the title Dato' on Oct. 28, 1965, and Tan Sri on June 4, 1975.

Oti, (John) Patteson (b. 1964?), foreign minister of the Solomon Islands (1997-2000, 2006-07).

Otto, John E. (b. Dec. 18, 1938), acting director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (1987).

Otunbayeva

Otunbayeva, Roza (Isakovna) (b. Aug. 23, 1950, Osh, Kirgiz S.S.R.), foreign minister of the Kirgiz S.S.R. (1986-89) and of Kyrgyzstan (1992, 1994-97, 2005). In 1981 she became a functionary for the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) in the Kirgiz capital, Frunze (now Bishkek). In 1986, she was appointed deputy chair of the Kirgiz S.S.R. Council of Ministers, and then republican foreign minister. From 1989 to 1991, she worked at the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow. She returned to Kyrgyzstan following the collapse of the Soviet Union and alternated spells as foreign minister with diplomatic postings as ambassador to the U.S. and Canada (1992-94) and to the U.K. (1997-2002). In May 2002, she was named assistant to the UN secretary-general's special representative for the conflict in Abkhazia. In that post, she witnessed firsthand the protests in Georgia in November 2003 that precipitated the ouster of Pres. Eduard Shevardnadze. Following the completion of her assignment in Tbilisi, Otunbayeva returned to Bishkek in summer 2004. In December 2004, she founded the Ata-Jurt (Fatherland) political movement, together with three other opposition parliamentarians. She hoped to run in Feb. 27, 2005, parliamentary elections as a candidate for Ata-Jurt, but she was refused registration on the grounds that she had not lived in Kyrgyzstan for the entire five years prior to the vote. Interviewed a few days before the ballot, she accused Pres. Askar Akayev of having devalued the term "democracy" to such an extent that the population of Kyrgyzstan "just wants to leave." After the revolution that followed the election, she again became foreign minister, but was rejected by parliament when she was renominated by elected president Kurmanbek Bakiyev in September. When Bakiyev was driven from power in a 2010 uprising, she emerged as head of a provisional government.

Otunnu

Ou

Ouane

Otunnu, Olara (A.) (b. September 1950, Mucwini, Kitgum district, Uganda), foreign minister of Uganda (1985-86). Leaving Uganda in 1986, he returned for the first time in 2009. In 1997-2005 he served as UN undersecretary-general for children and armed conflict.

Ou, Francisco (H.L.) (Ou Hung-lien) (b. Jan. 5, 1940, Taiwan), foreign minister of Taiwan (2008-09). He was ambassador to Nicaragua (1984-85) and Guatemala (1990-96, 2003-08).

Ouane, Moctar (b. Oct. 11, 1955, Bidi village, Bandiagara cercle, central French Sudan [now Mali]), foreign minister of Mali (2004- ). He was previously permanent representative at the UN (1995-2002).

Ouattara

Ouattara, Alassane (Dramane) ("ADO") (b. Jan. 1, 1942, Dimbokro, Ivory Coast), prime minister of Côte d'Ivoire (1990-93). He planned to run for president but in July 2000, Pres. Robert Guéi's military government tightened the nationality criteria for presidential candidates, declaring that candidates must have two Ivorian parents, and must never have held the nationality of any other country. Ouattara insisted his ancestry was fully Ivorian, and his lawyers said genetic tests had shown that he was the son of an Ivorian woman - contradicting his opponents who said that his mother was from Burkina Faso. Under the terms of an April 2005 agreement he was allowed to stand in the presidential elections planned for 2006, and on Jan. 26, 2006, he returned from more than three years of exile in France. But as the country's political impasse continued, the elections were repeatedly postponed. Under a March 2007 agreement, he was to be included in a five-man consultative committee on the peace process.

Oueddei, Goukouni, Arabic Gukuni Wodeimi (b. 1944, Zouar, Chad), president of Chad (1979-82). He was one of the few sons of the Derdei, the spiritual and religious leader of the Toubou, who survived the civil war that began in 1967 in protest against the excesses of Pres. N'Garta Tombalbaye's government police. Oueddei indirectly shared his father's prestige; the latter's authority was unchallenged until his death, though he was for a time an exile in Libya. Oueddei's political career started in November 1976, when the Toubou guerrilla fighters of the National Liberation Front (Frolinat) chose him as their leader to replace his main rival, Hissène Habré. An ardent nationalist, Oueddei asserted Chad's independence from interference by Nigeria, Sudan, Libya, and France, while attempting to use France to counter all the other foreign countries involved. In March 1979 he was appointed president of the new Provisional State Council and then, in May, minister of state responsible for the interior. On August 21 the leaders of the 11 principal political and ethnic factions, meeting in Lagos, Nigeria, signed an agreement on national reconciliation. Oueddei, who represented the Popular Armed Forces, one of the three major combatant groups, was to become president of a "Transitional Government of National Union" - the name being a clear indication of the extreme fragility of the country's political institutions. On September 3 an interim committee headed by Oueddei was set up to assure day-to-day government while negotiations proceeded. Finally, after a six-day gathering at Douguia, the composition of the new government was agreed upon on November 10. He was overthrown by Habré in 1982. Since then he lives in exile in Algiers, Algeria, except for a brief return in 1993 to take part in the Sovereign National Conference.

A. Ouedraogo

G.K. Ouedraogo

J.-B. Ouedraogo

Ouedraogo, Ablassé (b. June 30, 1953), foreign minister of Burkina Faso (1994-99). Since 1999 he is a deputy director-general of the World Trade Organization.

Ouedraogo, Gérard Kango (b. Sept. 19, 1925, Ouahigouya, Upper Volta [now Burkina Faso]), prime minister of Upper Volta (1971-74). He was president of the National Assembly in 1978-80.

Ouedraogo, Jean-Baptiste (b. 1942), president of Burkina Faso (1982-83).

K.D. Ouedraogo

Y. Ouedraogo

Ouedraogo, Kadré Désiré (b. 1953, Boussouma, Sanmatenga province, Upper Volta [now Burkina Faso]), prime minister of Burkina Faso (1996-2000).

Ouedraogo, Youssouf (b. Dec. 25, 1952, Tikaré, Upper Volta [now Burkina Faso]), prime minister (1992-94) and foreign minister (1999-2007) of Burkina Faso.

Ouko, Robert (John) (b. March 31, 1932, Kisumu, Kenya - d. [assassinated] Feb. 13, 1990, near Koru, Kenya), foreign minister of Kenya (1979-83, 1988-90).

Oum Chheang Sun (b. June 1, 1900, Kompong Cham, eastern Cambodia - d. 19...), prime minister of Cambodia (1951, 1956). He was also defense minister (1951), public health minister (1955), and interior minister (1956).

Oumar, Acheikh Ibn (b. 1951, Batha, Chad), foreign minister of Chad (1989-90).

Oumarou, Ide (b. 1937, N'Dounga, Niger - d. Feb. 12, 2002, Niamey, Niger), foreign minister of Niger (1983-85) and secretary-general of the Organization of African Unity (1985-89).

Oumarou, Mamane (b. 1945, Diffa, Niger), prime minister of Niger (1983, 1988-89).

S. Oumarou

Ousmane

Oumarou, Seyni (b. Aug. 9, 1950, Tillabéri, Niger), prime minister of Niger (2007-09). In 2009 he became president of the National Assembly.

Ousmane, Mahamane (b. Jan. 20, 1950, Zinder, Niger), president of Niger (1993-96). In 1999-2009 he was president of the National Assembly. He was a presidential candidate in 1999 and 2004.

Outrey, (Antoine Georges Amédée) Ernest (b. Aug. 11, 1863, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [now Istanbul, Turkey] - d. Oct. 7, 1941, Saint-Germain-le-Guillaume, Mayenne, France), resident-superior of Laos (1910-11) and Cambodia (1911-14).

Ouyahia

Ouyahia, Ahmed, Arabic Ahmad Uyahya (b. July 2, 1952, Bouadnane village, Tizi-Ouzou province, Algeria), prime minister of Algeria (1995-98, 2003-06, 2008- ). He worked for four years in the presidency office under Pres. Houari Boumedienne. He moved in 1979 to the foreign ministry as director of the Africa department before being posted to the Algerian embassy in Abidjan in 1981. Three years later he was appointed a diplomat in Algeria's mission to the United Nations, later becoming his country's deputy representative in the Security Council. He returned to the foreign ministry in 1989 to be named as adviser of the minister until August 1992 when he was appointed head of Algerian mediators in Mali, where he brokered an accord to end the bloody conflict between Tuareg rebels and the Malian government. He became ambassador in Mali to ensure implementation of the accord before moving in September 1993 to the job of state secretary for cooperation and Maghreb affairs. He held this position until February 1994 when he was appointed head of the president's cabinet. In 1995 he became the first non-military Berber-speaker prime minister of Algeria (previously the former head of military intelligence Kasdi Merbah was the only prime minister known to be from the northeastern Kabylie Berber area). He resigned in 1998; major opposition parties had demanded his dismissal, accusing him of having failed to stop what they called widespread cheating in favour of the main ruling National Democratic Rally party in 1997 local elections. Foes also held him responsible for the government's failure to end rampant armed violence involving Islamist militants. The main labour unions vilified him for closing down more than 1,000 ailing state-owned companies. In 1999 he became justice minister, in 2002 minister of state (special representative of the president), and he served twice again as prime minister.

Ovando

Ovando Candía, Alfredo (b. April 6, 1918, Cobija, Bolivia - d. Jan. 24, 1982, La Paz, Bolivia), Bolivian politician. Ovando, who became a soldier in the Army in 1936, was credited with rebuilding the country's armed forces after their dissolution in 1952. He served as co-president in 1965-66 with Gen. René Barrientos after they overthrew Pres. Víctor Paz Estenssoro. He was commander in chief of the military campaign during which Che Guevara, the Cuban revolutionary, was captured and executed in 1967. Ovando became president again in 1969 when he ousted the constitutional civilian president, Luis Adolfo Siles Salinas, in a bloodless military coup. In 1970 Ovando resigned under pressure from the military.

Overby, Andrew N(orris) (b. March 27, 1909, Cheyenne Agency, S.D. - d. April 28, 1984), acting managing director of the International Monetary Fund (1951).

Oviedo

Oviedo (Silva), Lino (César) (b. Sept. 23, 1943, Asunción, Paraguay), Paraguayan political figure. He helped overthrow Pres. Alfredo Stroessner in 1989. He initially supported Pres. Juan Carlos Wasmosy, who was elected in 1993, but they soon fell out and when Wasmosy ordered Oviedo to relinquish his army command in April 1996, Oviedo holed up in barracks with troops and tanks in defiance of Wasmosy. In September 1997 Oviedo won the Colorado Party primaries for president. He was confined to barracks in December 1997 by a military tribunal investigating his 1996 coup attempt and was sentenced to 10 years' jail and discharged on March 9, 1998. In April, after the Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Oviedo and upheld his jail sentence, the Superior Court of Electoral Justice ruled Oviedo "non-eligible for the post of president." Raúl Cubas, who was Oviedo's vice-presidential running mate, then moved to the top spot. Cubas was elected, and upon taking office in August promptly released Oviedo and appointed new members to the military tribunal, which then exonerated Oviedo. However, in September the Supreme Court ruled that the tribunal's decision was invalid. In December the Supreme Court ordered Oviedo back to jail, declaring the presidential decree releasing the general unconstitutional. Oviedo was blamed with Cubas for the assassination of Vice President Luis María Argaña in 1999. He fled to Argentina in a small plane after Cubas's resignation and was granted asylum. Argentina rejected a Paraguayan request to extradite Oviedo. His asylum was revoked, however, after he broke his rules of exile by engaging in Paraguayan politics - forcing him to go into hiding. In June 2000, he was arrested in Brazil. In December 2001 he won the right to stay in Brazil. But he voluntarily returned to Paraguay in June 2004 and was put in prison to serve out his 10-year sentence. In October 2007 his conviction was annulled by the Supreme Court, clearing the way for him to run for president in 2008. In 2002 he had established his own party, the National Union of Ethical Citizens. He came third in the 2008 election.

D. Owen

Owen, David (Anthony Llewellyn) (b. July 2, 1938, Plympton, Devon, England), British foreign secretary (1977-79).

Owen, John Wynne (b. April 25, 1939), governor of the Cayman Islands (1995-99).

Owens

Owens, Bill, byname of William Forrester Owens (b. Oct. 22, 1950, Fort Worth, Texas), governor of Colorado (1999-2007). He once worked as a page in the U.S. House. The Republican rose through the ranks of Colorado state government undefeated, repeating a mantra - "It's time for a change" - that he hoped would end a Democratic stranglehold on the governor's office. He was first elected to the Colorado House in 1982, serving three terms before moving to the state Senate in 1988. In 1994, he was elected treasurer. In 1998, he extended his winning streak - albeit barely - to become Colorado's first Republican governor in 24 years. After defeating Senate President Tom Norton in the Republican primary 59%-41%, he edged out his Democratic opponent, Lt.Gov. Gail Schoettler, 49%-48%, having consistently portrayed her as part of the status quo. In his first two years, he delivered on many of his promises, though not always as some Republicans liked. He tried to get voters to pass referenda for transportation bond issues, which were rejected in 1997 and 1998. But in 1999, with a big campaign treasury and support from former governor Roy Romer and Denver mayor Wellington Webb, he got voters to back a $1.7 billion bond issue, which he claimed would finance $4.4 billion of transportation projects. After the 1999 Columbine school shooting, he and the legislature sidetracked a pending concealed-carry law, and he backed a referendum that passed in 2000 requiring background checks for all sales at gun shows. His major effort in 2000 was education reform, including the issuing and sending to parents of performance-based report cards for each school. He cut income tax and took conservative stands on cultural issues. In 2002 he was easily reelected, defeating Democrat Rollie Heath 63%-34%.

Owoniyi, Aina (Joseph), administrator of Taraba (1998-99).

Owusu

Owusu-Agyemang

Owusu, Victor (b. Dec. 26, 1923, Agona, Gold Coast [now Ghana] - d. Dec. 16, 2000, London, England), foreign minister of Ghana (1969, 1969-71). He was a presidential candidate in 1979.

Owusu-Agyemang, Hackman (b. Nov. 22, 1941, Effiduase-Koforidua, Eastern Region, Gold Coast [now Ghana]), foreign minister (2001-03) and interior minister (2003-05) of Ghana.

Oyakhilome, Fidelis (b. April 3, 1939, Ewu [now in Edo state], Nigeria), governor of Rivers (1985-87).

Oyakhire, Amen (Edore), administrator of Taraba (1996-98) and Oyo (1998-99).

Oyanedel Urrutia, Abraham (b. May 25, 1874, Copiapó, Atacama province, Chile - d. Jan. 29, 1954, Santiago, Chile), acting president of Chile (1932).

Oyé-Mba

Oyono

Oyé-Mba, Casimir (Marie Ange) (b. April 20, 1942, Nzamaligué, Gabon), prime minister (1990-94) and foreign minister (1994-99) of Gabon.

Oyinlola, Olagunsoye (b. Feb. 3, 1951, Okuku village [now in Osun state], Nigeria), administrator of Lagos (1993-96) and governor of Osun (2003- ).

Oyono, Ferdinand Léopold (b. Sept. 14, 1929, Ngoulemakong or Ebolowa, French Cameroons [now in South province, Cameroon]), foreign minister of Cameroon (1992-97).

Oyun

Oyun, Sanjaasürengiyn (b. 1964, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia), foreign minister of Mongolia (2007-08); brother of Sanjaasürengiyn Zorig.

Oza, Ghanshyam (Bhai) (b. 1911 - d. July 12, 2002, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India), chief minister of Gujarat (1972-73).

Ozaki, Masanao (b. Sept. 14, 1967), governor of Kochi (2007- ).

Özal, Korkut, before 1935 Korkut bin Mehmet Siddik Bey (b. 1929), interior minister of Turkey (1977-78); brother of Turgut Özal.

T. Özal

Özal, (Halil) Turgut, before 1935 Halil Turgut bin Mehmet Siddik Bey (b. Oct. 13, 1927, Malatya, eastern Turkey - d. April 17, 1993, Ankara, Turkey), prime minister (1983-89) and president (1989-93) of Turkey. He served as a technical adviser to the Defense Ministry, the State Planning Organization (SPO), and Prime Minister Süleyman Demirel. He worked on a number of major utility projects, including the Bosporus Bridge, and served as undersecretary of the SPO in 1967-71. Unlike the socialist planners who at first dominated the SPO, he championed private enterprise within the national plan. After Demirel was ousted in a military coup (1971), Özal worked at the World Bank in Washington, D.C. (1971-73). Demirel regained power in 1975, and Özal resumed his post at the SPO four years later. He devised and implemented a major program liberalizing the Turkish economy. In 1980, after the military once again took control, he was made deputy prime minister in charge of the economy and given a free hand to push his economic austerity program. He succeeded in slashing inflation, increasing exports, and restoring his country's creditworthiness, but he clashed with the ruling generals when his monetarist stance led to soaring interest rates and the bankruptcy of a major finance house. Resigning in 1982, he founded the Motherland Party in 1983. Working within the framework established by the military but without their favour, he led the party to victory in the general election of Nov. 6, 1983, that inaugurated a return to civilian parliamentary rule; the party won again in 1987. By the time he became president in 1989, he had revived the economy, strengthened Turkey's commitment to NATO, and applied to join the European Community. In 1990 he used Turkey's pivotal geographic location to command a central role in the Western-Arab alliance against Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

Ozawa

Ozawa, Ichiro (b. May 24, 1942, Mizusawa, Iwate prefecture, Japan), Japanese politician. He was born into the family of a powerful party politician. After his father died in 1968, he inherited a lower house seat for Iwate prefecture (1969) and earned his reputation as a political fixer under the tutelage of a pair of Liberal-Democratic Party (LDP) strongmen, Kakuei Tanaka and, later, Shin Kanemaru. He served as vice minister of the Science and Technology Agency and of construction in the late 1970s and as minister of home affairs in 1985-86. In 1989-91 he held the post of secretary-general of the LDP. He broke with his party in 1993 over the question of political reform, and put together Shinseito (Japan Renewal Party), which helped topple the Liberal Democrats, who had held power for 38 years. Subsequently he was top policymaker through the administrations of prime ministers Morihiro Hosokawa and Tsutomu Hata, but his dictatorial management came under fire after the Social Democratic Party left the ruling coalition and formed a government with the LDP in 1994. Ozawa then set up the Kaikaku (Reform) parliamentary group as a forerunner to a new unified opposition party. Shinshinto (New Frontier Party) was subsequently formed; he first became its secretary-general and in 1995 took over the leadership. This group disbanded in 1997, as it was unhappy with his high-handed approach, and he then formed the Liberal Party in 1998 and in 2003 merged it into the Democratic Party of Japan, of which he became leader in April 2006. He had laid out a prescription for national renewal in his 1993 best-seller Blueprint for a New Japan, which called for Japan to become "a normal nation" and assume international responsibilities, not only as an economic but also as a political and military power. He resigned as party leader in May 2009.

Özdilek, Fahri, byname of Emin Fahrettin Özdilek (b. 1898, Bursa, Ottoman Empire [now in Turkey] - d. March 13, 1989, Ankara, Turkey), defense minister (1960, 1961), deputy prime minister (1960-61, 1961), and acting prime minister (1961) of Turkey.

Özgürgün

Özgürgün, Hüseyin (b. 1965, Nicosia, Cyprus), foreign minister of North Cyprus (2009- ).

Ozores Typaldos, Carlos (b. Aug. 7, 1940), foreign minister (1978-81), interior minister (1983-84), and vice president (1984) of Panama.

Ozov, Anatoly (Galimzhanovich) (b. 1942, Cherkessk, Russian S.F.S.R.), prime minister of Karachayevo-Cherkessia (1995-99).