Index Q

Qabus

Qabus ibn Sa`id, also spelled Qaboos bin Said (b. Nov. 18, 1940, Salalah, Muscat and Oman [now Oman]), sultan of Oman (1970- ). He was educated in England at Bury Saint Edmunds, Suffolk, and at Sandhurst, the Royal Military Academy, in Berkshire. He was called home in 1964 by his father, Sa`id ibn Taimur, who kept his son a virtual prisoner while maintaining his subjects in a state of medieval backwardness despite the country's growing oil revenues. In 1970 Qabus took over the palace in a bloodless coup with British support and exiled his father. He immediately undertook a range of ambitious modern development projects, including the construction of roads, hospitals, schools, communications systems, and industrial and port facilities. He abrogated his father's moralistic laws and established a cabinet and a system of municipal councils. After initially sharing power with his uncle Tariq ibn Taimur, in 1972 Qabus became his own prime minister. His regime faced such problems as labour unrest, fiscal instability, a shortage of technocrats, and a rebellion in the southern region of Dhofar which he succeeded in suppressing in 1975. He moved the country out of its isolation by joining the Arab League and the United Nations in 1971 and helping form the Gulf Cooperation Council in 1981. He aligned Oman with the moderate Arab powers. In 1981 he created the State Consultative Council, superseded in 1991 by the Consultative Council. Omanis from outside the royal family, including women, were gradually allowed to participate in the government. In 1996 he issued a "Basic Law," Oman's first written constitution. In 2002 he extended voting rights to all citizens over the age of 21.

Qaddafi

Qaddafi, Muammar (Muhammad Abdul Salam Abu Minyar) al-, also spelled Muammar Khadafy, Moammar Gadhafi, or Mu`ammar al-Qadhdhafi (b. June 1942, near Surt, Libya), Libyan leader. He early began plotting to overthrow the Libyan monarchy. He graduated from the Libyan military academy in 1965 and thereafter rose to the rank of captain. With the help of his fellow army officers, he seized control of the government in a coup that deposed King Idris I in 1969. He was named commander in chief of the armed forces and chairman of the new Revolutionary Command Council. In 1970 he removed the U.S. and British military bases from Libya and in 1973 he nationalized all foreign-owned petroleum assets. A strong proponent of Arab nationalism, he made persistent but unsuccessful attempts to unify Libya with other Arab countries and was adamantly opposed to negotiations with Israel. His government also was implicated in several abortive coup attempts in Egypt and The Sudan, and Libyan forces persistently intervened in the civil war in Chad. He espoused a form of Islamic socialism which he expressed in The Green Book (2 vol., 1976, 1980). He resigned his position as head of state in 1979 but nevertheless remained the undisputed leader. Becoming known for his erratic and unpredictable behaviour on the international scene, he financed a broad spectrum of revolutionary groups worldwide and was believed to be involved in the downing of a passenger jet over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988. These activities resulted in UN and U.S. sanctions against Libya. In April 1986 U.S. warplanes bombed Tripoli and Benghazi, killing or wounding several of his children and narrowly missing Qaddafi himself. After he agreed in 2003 to abandon Libya's weapons of mass destruction program, the U.S. lifted most of its sanctions in 2004. In 2009-10 he was chairman of the African Union.

Qadir, Manzoor (b. Nov. 28, 1913, Lahore, Pakistan - d. Oct. 12, 1974, London, England), foreign minister of Pakistan (1958-62).

Qarase

Qarase, Laisenia (b. Feb. 4, 1941, Mavana village, Lau islands, Fiji), prime minister of Fiji (2000-01, 2001-06).

Qasim, Marwan al- (b. May 12, 1938, Amman, Jordan), foreign minister of Jordan (1980-84, 1988-91).

Qasim, Syed Mir (b. August 1921, Doru village, Anantnag district, Jammu and Kashmir, India - d. Dec. 12, 2004, New Delhi, India), chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir (1971-75). Qasim, who joined politics in the late 1940s as a member of the Constituent Assembly that drew up independent India's constitution, is considered the founding father of the Congress party in Kashmir. He was a member of the first Constituent Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir (1951-57) and held a ministerial post for three terms (1953-57, 1961-63, 1964-65). He took over as chief minister in 1971 following the death of Ghulam Mohammad Sadiq. He paved the way for the Indira-Sheikh accord between then prime minister Indira Gandhi and then Kashmir chief minister Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah in 1975 by stepping down despite having a two-thirds majority in the assembly. Qasim was a member of the Rajya Sabha from July 1975 to November 1978. He joined the union cabinet in June 1976 as minister of civil supplies and held the charge until 1977. He remained a member of the Congress (I) high command until September 1983.

Qa`ud, Abdul Majid al-, Arabic `Abd al-Majid al-Qa`ud (b. 1943, Ghariar, Libya), secretary of the General People's Committee of Libya (1994-97).

Qazi Mohammad (bin Ali) (b. 1901 - d. [hanged] March 30, 1947, Mahabad, Iran), president of Iranian Kurdistan (1946). He was the first president of the Iranian Kurdish Democratic Party (linked to the Iraqi KDP).

Qhobela, Molapo (b. March 25, 1933), foreign minister of Lesotho (1993-94, 1994-95).

Qi Xieyuan (b. April 28, 1885, Ninghe, Hebei, China - d. [executed] Dec. 18, 1946, Nanjing, China), military governor of Jiangsu (1920-24).

Qian Nengxun (b. 1869, Jiashan, Zhejiang, China - d. June 5, 1924, Beijing, China), interior minister (1917-19) and premier (1918-19) of China. In the late Qing dynasty, he served as an officer in the ministry of punishment, then held gubernatorial posts in Guangxi and Shaanxi provinces. He mainly worked in the ministry of the interior after the founding of the republic.

Qian Qichen

Qian Qichen (b. Jan. 5, 1928, Jiading, Shanghai, China), foreign minister of China (1988-98).

Qiao Guanhua (Pinyin), Wade-Giles Ch'iao Kuan-hua (b. March 28, 1913, Jiangsu province, China - d. Sept. 22, 1983, Beijing, China), Chinese political leader. He reportedly joined the Communist Party in 1940 and from 1946 to 1949 was bureau chief of the New China News Agency in Hong Kong, but when the Communists took power in 1949 he returned to the mainland. He established a reputation as a leftist journalist writing under the pen name Qiao Mu (Ch'iao Mu) before becoming a protégé of Prime Minister Zhou Enlai. In 1954 he began his career as a diplomat, accompanying Zhou on his many travels abroad; he was instrumental in developing the first cautious contacts with the U.S. as a drafter (with Henry Kissinger) of the 1972 Shanghai communiqué, which paved the way for normalization of relations between China and the U.S. Qiao served as foreign minister from 1974 to 1976. After Zhou and Mao Zedong died, Qiao fell from prominence when he was discredited by his connection (through his second wife's friendship with Mao's widow, Jiang Qing) with the notorious radical faction known as the Gang of Four. He lived under house arrest after his dismissal. In 1982 he reappeared and was given a minor foreign affairs post.

Qiao Shi

Qiao Shi (Pinyin), Wade-Giles Ch'iao Shih, original name Jiang Zhitong (Chiang Chih-t'ung) (b. Dec. 21, 1924, Dinghai, Zhejiang, China), Chinese politician. He changed his name after joining the Communist Party of China in 1940. He became a top underground student activist in Shanghai, and after 1949 he served in party youth committee posts until he shifted to industry in 1954. In 1963 he was transferred to the Central Committee's International Liaison Department, which was responsible for managing relations with other communist and revolutionary parties; he became its head in 1982. In 1982 also he was elected to the Central Committee. He subsequently headed the party's General Office, Organization Department, Central Discipline Inspection Commission, and was in charge of the secret police. He was elected to the Politburo in 1985 and to its inner core, the Standing Committee, in 1987. In 1986 he received his first government post as a deputy premier. During the pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square in 1989, he sided with the old guard who wanted to send in the army, but only after spending weeks negotiating between reformist and conservative camps. Although some say he was offered the job of party general secretary on the eve of the massacre and turned it down, others say his hesitation over the protests led patriarch Deng Xiaoping to pass him over in favour of Jiang Zemin. In 1993-98 he was chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's nominal parliament, and, along with Jiang Zemin and Premier Li Peng, one of the nation's ruling triumvirate. He emphasized the need to strengthen China's legal order and challenged Jiang by pushing for more legislative control over the party and state. But he lost that battle in September 1997 when he was forced to retire from his party posts on account of his age.

Qin Dechun (Pinyin), Wade-Giles Chin Teh-chun (b. Dec. 11, 1893, Yishui, Shandong, China - d. Sept. 7, 1963, Taipei, Taiwan), chairman of the government of Chahar (1935) and Shandong (1948-49). He was also mayor of Beiping (1937) and Qingdao (1949).

Quadra (y Rui Lugo), (José) Vicente (de la) (b. July 25, 1812, Granada [now in Nicaragua] - d. Dec. 10, 1894), president of Nicaragua (1871-75).

Quadros

Quadros, Jânio da Silva (b. Jan. 25, 1917, Campo Grande, Mato Grosso, Brazil - d. Feb. 16, 1992, São Paulo, Brazil), president of Brazil (1961). He entered politics in 1945. After he was elected to the São Paulo city council (1947), he successfully campaigned for state deputy of São Paulo (1951); there he first campaigned with a broom as a symbol of his pledge to "sweep out corruption." He was an efficient mayor of the city (1953-54, 1955) and governor of the state (1955-59) of São Paulo. In his campaigns he affected the image of a commoner with a rumpled appearance. A favourite ploy was to pull a sandwich from his pocket while delivering a speech and then apologize, explaining he had not had lunch. In 1960 he became the presidential candidate of the Democratic National Union and won an overwhelming electoral victory. As president, besides banning bikinis and cockfighting, he sought to distance Brazil from U.S. influence, reestablishing diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, supporting Fidel Castro's Cuba, and decorating Latin American guerrilla leader Che Guevara. After seven months in office he suddenly resigned, enigmatically citing the "occult forces" conspiring against him. It was believed that he had intended to return to office with expanded powers after being coaxed back into office by Congress, but his resignation was accepted, and power passed to the vice president, João Goulart, who was overthrown by the military in 1964. In 1968, Quadros was stripped of his political rights and banished to a town on the Bolivian border. After receiving amnesty in 1980, he returned to São Paulo, where he unsuccessfully ran for governor for the small Brazilian Labour Party in 1982. He later served again as mayor of São Paulo (1986-88) before ill health forced him to retire from politics.

Quaison-Sackey

Quaison-Sackey, Alex(ander) (b. Aug. 9, 1924, Winneba, Gold Coast [now Ghana] - d. Dec. 21, 1992), president of the UN General Assembly (1964-65) and foreign minister of Ghana (1965-66).

Quandt, Bernhard (b. April 14, 1903, Rostock, Mecklenburg-Schwerin [now in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern], Germany - d. Aug. 2, 1999, Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany), minister-president of Mecklenburg (1951-52) and first secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of Schwerin (1952-74).

Quarles, John R., Jr. (b. April 26, 1935), acting administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (1977).

Quarles van Ufford, Cypriaan Gerard Carel (b. Dec. 3, 1891, Bennekom, Gelderland, Netherlands - d. Feb. 4, 1985, Leusden, Utrecht, Netherlands), queen's commissioner of Gelderland (1946-57).

Quarles van Ufford, Johan Willem (b. April 7, 1882, Loosduinen, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands - d. Dec. 10, 1951, Domburg, Zeeland, Netherlands), queen's commissioner of Zeeland (1921-41, 1945-47).

Quast, Jan Frederik (b. Nov. 13, 1875, Curaçao - d. Nov. 1, 1953, Curaçao), administrator of Aruba (1920-28).

Quayle

Quayle, Dan, byname of James Danforth Quayle (b. Feb. 4, 1947, Indianapolis, Ind.), vice president of the United States (1989-93). A Republican, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1977-81), his first election being a surprising victory over an eight-term incumbent Democrat. Elected to the U.S. Senate in 1980, defeating three-term incumbent Birch Bayh with much evangelical Protestant support, he cosponsored the Job Training Partnership Act of 1982 and was chairman of a committee on the Senate's organization. He was easily reelected in 1986. At the Republican national convention in New Orleans, La., on Aug. 16, 1988, George Bush surprisingly selected the rather obscure Quayle to be the vice-presidential nominee. Affable and youthfully handsome, Quayle had no enemies and was on good terms with Republicans who did not regard Bush as a true conservative. However, Quayle impressed many as inexperienced, intellectually shallow, and a beneficiary of help from powerful relatives. Nominated by acclamation of the convention on August 18, he then was confronted with reports that a friend of his family had helped him get into the Indiana National Guard in 1969, when he otherwise might have had to serve in Vietnam. Quayle defended his Guard service and essentially treated the matter as a non-issue, and interest in it waned. On November 8 Bush and Quayle got 54% of the vote, but a later Gallup Poll indicated that 4% of those voting had voted against that ticket because of Quayle. His various verbal flubs (like his misspelling the word potato[e] in a student spelling bee) provoked much ridicule. Renominated in 1992, he focused on "traditional family values," but the Bush-Quayle ticket was defeated by Bill Clinton and Al Gore.

Quéau de Quinssy, Jean-Baptiste (b. 1748, Paris - d. July 10, 1827), governor (1793-1810) and acting commissioner (1810-11) of Seychelles.

Queiroz, José Clarindo de (b. Jan. 22, 1841, Fortaleza, Brazil - d. Dec. 28, 1893, Rio de Janeiro), governor of Ceará (1891-92).

Queluz, João Severiano Maciel da Costa, marquês de (b. 1769, Mariana, Minas Gerais, Brazil - d. Nov. 19, 1833, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Portuguese governor of French Guiana (1809-17) and principal minister of Brazil (1823-24).

Questiaux, Nicole (Françoise), née Valayer (b. Dec. 19, 1930, Nantes, France), French politician. In 1955 she joined the Conseil d'État, where in 1963 she was appointed government commissioner to deal with disputes, the first woman to hold such a post. She was already a specialist in social affairs and had contributed to several works on the subject. Georges Dayan, an old friend and mentor of François Mitterrand, allegedly introduced Questiaux to the Convention des Institutions Républicaines, which was a meeting place for many supporters of the future president. In 1970 Questiaux chaired the national delegation for Socialist unity, which brought together Socialists, members of the Convention, and other representative figures with the aim of uniting Socialist forces in France. This undertaking led to the Congress of Socialist Unity in June 1971. A member of the leadership committee of the Socialist Party (PS), she was appointed national delegate to the European Communities in February 1975 but resigned six months later. In 1979 she joined the left-wing group within the PS. As minister of national solidarity (1981-82) she was the highest ranking of the six women members of the PS government formed in May 1981 after the election of Mitterrand. The Ministry of National Solidarity, one of three new ministries set up by Mitterrand's administration, combined responsibility for social security and welfare, immigrant affairs, and the broad direction of social policy. One of her major problems was the growing deficit in the social security budget.

Queuille

Queuille, Henri (b. March 31, 1884, Neuvic, Corrèze, France - d. June 15, 1970, Paris), prime minister of France (1948-49, 1950, 1951).

Quezon

Quezon (Antonio y Molina), Manuel L(uis) (b. Aug. 19, 1878, Baler, Tayabas [now Quezon] province, Philippines - d. Aug. 1, 1944, Saranac Lake, N.Y.), president of the Philippines (1935-44). In 1899 he joined the struggle for independence led by Emilio Aguinaldo, who surrendered in 1901. He was imprisoned for six months and became convinced that the only way to independence was through cooperation with the United States. He was elected governor of Tayabas province in 1905 and a representative to the newly established Philippine Assembly in 1907. In 1909 he was appointed one of two resident commissioners for the Philippines, entitled to speak, but not vote, in the U.S. House of Representatives; he played a major role in obtaining Congress' passage of the Jones Act (1916), which gave the Philippines greater autonomy and promised eventual independence, without giving a specific date. He resigned as commissioner and was elected to the newly formed Philippine Senate in 1916, serving as its president until 1935. In 1922 he replaced Sergio Osmeña as leader of the Nacionalista Party. He fought for passage of the Tydings-McDuffie Act (1934), which provided for full independence 10 years after the adoption of a constitution and the establishment of a Commonwealth of the Philippines as a forerunner of an independent republic. He was elected president of the new commonwealth in 1935 and reelected in 1941. He sought to spur economic development, promote social justice, and fight corruption, and began the construction of a new national capital (later known as Quezon City). When Japan invaded and occupied the Philippines in 1942, he escaped to the United States, where he headed a government in exile. He died before full Philippine independence was established.

Quijano

Quijano, Raúl (Alberto José) (b. Dec. 13, 1923, Santa Fe, Argentina - d. April 14, 2006), foreign minister of Argentina (1976).

Quinim Pholsena (b. Nov. 18, 1915, Pakse, Champasak [now in Laos] - d. [assassinated] April 1, 1963, Vientiane, Laos), foreign minister of Laos (1962-63).

Quinn, Pat(rick Joseph) (b. Dec. 16, 1948, Hinsdale, Ill.), governor of Illinois (2009- ).

Quiñónez (Abarca), Aníbal (Enrique) (b. Jan. 7, 1950, Tegucigalpa, Honduras), foreign minister of Honduras (2003). He was ambassador to Uruguay and Paraguay (1981-83) and to Japan (1985-94).

Quiñónez M.

Quiñónez Molina, Alfonso (b. Jan. 11, 1874, Suchitoto, El Salvador - d. May 22, 1950, San Salvador, El Salvador), president of El Salvador (1923-27).

Quintal, Abraham Blatchly (b. Jan. 31, 1827, Pitcairn Island - d. Sept. 20, 1910, Norfolk Island), chief magistrate of Pitcairn Island (1852); son of Edward Quintal; brother of William Quintal.

Quintal, Arthur, I (b. May 6, 1795, Pitcairn Island - d. Nov. 19, 1872, Norfolk Island), chief magistrate of Pitcairn Island (1840-41).

Quintal, Arthur, II (b. 1816, Pitcairn Island - d. Aug. 20, 1902, Norfolk Island), chief magistrate of Pitcairn Island (1845-46, 1850, 1854) and Norfolk Island (1862-65, 1885); son of Arthur Quintal I.

Quintal, Edward (b. 1800, Pitcairn Island - d. Sept. 8, 1841, Pitcairn Island), chief magistrate of Pitcairn Island (1838-39); half-brother of Arthur Quintal I.

Quintal, William (b. 1817, Pitcairn Island - d. July 6, 1905, Norfolk Island), chief magistrate of Norfolk Island (1866, 1872-73); son of Edward Quintal; brother of Abraham Blatchly Quintal.

Quintana (y Sáenz de la Gaona), Manuel (Pedro de la) (b. Oct. 19, 1835, Buenos Aires, Argentina - d. March 12, 1906, Buenos Aires), president of Argentina (1904-06).

Quintanilla

Quintanilla Schmidt, Carlos (b. Aug. 5, 1953, San Miguel, El Salvador), vice president of El Salvador (1999-2004).

Quirino

Quirino (y Rivera), Elpidio (b. Nov. 16, 1890, Vigan, Ilocos Sur province, Philippines - d. Feb. 28, 1956, Novaliches, Quezon City, Philippines), president of the Philippines (1948-53). He was elected to the Philippine House of Representatives (1919-25) and Senate (1925-31). In 1934 he was a member of the Philippine independence mission to Washington, D.C., which secured the passage in Congress of the Tydings-McDuffie Act under which the Philippines achieved independence in 1946. In 1934 he was also elected to the convention that drafted a constitution for the new Philippine Commonwealth. He served as secretary of finance (1935-36) and of the interior (1936-38) in the commonwealth government. During the World War II Japanese occupation (1942-45), he was captured and imprisoned. After the war, he again became secretary of finance (1946) and then served as foreign secretary and vice president (1946-48) under the first president of the independent Philippines, Manuel Roxas. When Roxas died in 1948, Quirino succeeded to the presidency. In 1949 he was elected to a four-year term on the Liberal Party ticket, defeating the Nacionalista candidate. Quirino's presidency was marked by general economic gains but basic social problems remained unsolved and his administration was tainted by graft and corruption. His administration was threatened by the Communist-led Hukbalahap (Huk) movement, which by 1950 had gained control over a considerable portion of Luzon. Ramon Magsaysay, who as secretary of national defense was largely successful in eliminating the insurgency, broke with Quirino on the issue of corruption, campaigned for clean elections, and as the Nacionalista candidate defeated Quirino in the presidential election of 1953. Subsequently, Quirino retired from public life.

Quiroga R.

Quiroga Ramírez, Jorge (Fernando), byname Tuto Quiroga (b. May 5, 1960, Cochabamba, Bolivia), finance minister (1992), vice president (1997-2001), and president (2001-02) of Bolivia. In 2005 he was a presidential candidate.

Quiroga Suárez, José (b. July 4, 1920, Petín, Orense province, Galicia, Spain - d. Oct. 18, 2006, Valdeorras, Orense province), president of the Xunta of Galicia (1979-82).

Quisling

Quisling, Vidkun (Abraham Lauritz Jonssøn) (b. July 18, 1887, Fyresdal, Norway - d. Oct. 24, 1945, Akershus Fortress, Oslo, Norway), Norwegian leader. He graduated from the Military Academy in 1911 and served as military attaché in Petrograd (St. Petersburg; 1918-19) and Helsinki (1919-21). Later he assisted the famous Arctic explorer and humanitarian Fridtjof Nansen in his relief work in Russia and worked there for the League of Nations. In the absence of diplomatic relations between Britain and the Soviet Union, he represented British interests at the Norwegian legation in Moscow (1927-29). Returning to Norway in 1929, he joined the Agrarian Party and was made defense minister in an Agrarian minority government (1931-33), gaining notoriety for repressing a strike by hydroelectrical workers. In 1933 he founded his own party, the fascist Nasjonal Samling (National Union), which stood for suppression of Communism and unionism, but it never gained a single seat in the Storting (parliament). At a meeting with Adolf Hitler in December 1939, he urged a German occupation of Norway; after assisting the German invasion of April 1940, he proclaimed himself head of the government. His regime so incensed the Norwegians that it collapsed within a week, but the Germans were unable to find a better substitute, and he was named "minister president" in February 1942. His attempts to nazify the Norwegian church, schools, and youth aroused fervent opposition. He deported nearly 1,000 Jews to die in German concentration camps. After the surrender of the German forces in Norway in May 1945, he was arrested, found guilty of treason and other crimes, sentenced to death on September 10, and executed by firing squad. His collaboration with the Germans established his surname as a synonym for "traitor."

Qureia

Qureia, Ahmed (Ali), byname Abu Ala, Arabic Ahmad `Ali Muhammad Quriy`, or Abu `Ala´ (b. 1937, Jerusalem), prime minister of the Palestinian Authority (2003-05, 2005-06).

Qureshi, Makhdoom (Sajjad Hussain) (d. Jan. 23, 1998, Lahore, Pakistan), governor of Punjab (Pakistan) (1985-88).

Moeen Qureshi

S.M. Qureshi

Qureshi, Moeen (b. June 26, 1930, Lahore, India [now in Pakistan]), prime minister of Pakistan (1993).

Qureshi, (Makhdoom) Shah Mehmood (b. June 22, 1956, Murree, Pakistan), foreign minister of Pakistan (2008- ).