Klerk
de Klerk, F(rederik) W(illem)
(born March 18, 1936, Johannesburg, S.Af.) President of South Africa (1989–94). He brought the apartheid system to an end and negotiated a transition to majority rule. Replacing P.W. Botha as leader of the National Party and president, de Klerk quickly moved to release all important political prisoners, including Nelson Mandela, and to lift the ban on the African National Congress. He and Mandela jointly received the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize. Following the country's first universal suffrage elections in 1994, Mandela became president and de Klerk was appointed second deputy president. He retired from politics in 1997.
Learn more about de Klerk, F(rederik) W(illem) with a free trial on Britannica.com.
(born March 18, 1936, Johannesburg, S.Af.) President of South Africa (1989–94). He brought the apartheid system to an end and negotiated a transition to majority rule. Replacing P.W. Botha as leader of the National Party and president, de Klerk quickly moved to release all important political prisoners, including Nelson Mandela, and to lift the ban on the African National Congress. He and Mandela jointly received the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize. Following the country's first universal suffrage elections in 1994, Mandela became president and de Klerk was appointed second deputy president. He retired from politics in 1997.
Learn more about de Klerk, F(rederik) W(illem) with a free trial on Britannica.com.
- Michel de Klerk (1884-1923), Dutch architect
- Peter de Klerk (1935), former race driver from South Africa
- Frederik Willem de Klerk (1936), former President of South Africa
- Marike de Klerk (1937-2001), his former wife and a national politician, now deceased
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Wednesday August 06, 2008 at 13:20:42 PDT (GMT -0700)
View this article at Wikipedia.org - Edit this article at Wikipedia.org - Donate to the Wikimedia Foundation
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
