Index Ch

Chaban-Delmas

Chaban-Delmas, Jacques (Pierre Michel), original surname Delmas (b. March 7, 1915, Paris - d. Nov. 10, 2000, Paris), prime minister of France (1969-72). As one of the early members of the Résistance (joined December 1940), he used Chaban as his code name, which he later legally added to his own. He was extremely active in the Résistance, joined the Free French government (October 1943) and rose to become the main liaison officer between the Résistance and the Free French general staff. In that capacity he was able to persuade the Allies to enter Paris rather than bypass it and to persuade the other Résistance leaders to defer any Parisian uprising until the Allies were close enough to be of help. Owing in large part to his efforts, the city was taken with a minimum loss of life. As a reward, Gen. Charles de Gaulle promoted him to general (1944). He ran for deputy to the National Assembly as a Radical Socialist (1946). His war record and affable personality won him easy victories in this and successive elections, and from 1947 to 1995 he also served as mayor of Bordeaux. In 1947 the Gaullist party was founded, and he had to choose between the radicals and the Gaullists. He chose the Gaullists, becoming a major force in their left wing. He was minister of public works (1954-55), minister of state (1956-57), and defense minister (1957-58). He served as general secretary of the (Gaullist) Union of Republicans of Social Action in 1954-58 and became a leader of the (Gaullist) Union for the New Republic. He was president of the National Assembly (1958-69) before he became premier. He became inspector general of finances in 1973, ran unsuccessfully for president in 1974, and served as president of the Regional Council of Aquitaine (1974-79, 1985-88) and again as president of the National Assembly (1978-81, 1986-88). He retired from politics in 1997.

Chabannes-Curton (La Palice), Octave Pierre Antoine Henri, vicomte de (b. May 16, 1803, Paris - d. March 7, 1889, Paris), governor of French Guiana (1851-52).

Chabod, Federico (b. Feb. 23, 1901, Aosta, Italy - d. July 13, 1960, Rome, Italy), president of Valle d'Aosta (1946).

Chacón (Sánchez de Sotomayor Rodríguez de Rivera), José María, governor of Trinidad (1784-97).

Chaderton

Chaderton (Matos), Roy (b. Aug. 17, 1942, Caracas, Venezuela), foreign minister of Venezuela (2002-04). He was ambassador to Gabon (1985-87), Norway (1987-90), Canada (1993-94), the United Kingdom (1996-2000), and Colombia (2001-02).

Chafee

Chafee, John (Lester) H(ubbard) (b. Oct. 22, 1922, Providence, R.I. - d. Oct. 24, 1999, Bethesda, Md.), U.S. politician. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps in World War II. He took part in the invasion of Guadalcanal, one of the largest of the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific. He returned to the military in 1951 to serve during the Korean conflict, and reached the rank of captain. He served in the Rhode Island House (including four years as minority leader) and was elected governor in 1962 by 398 votes. He was reelected in 1964 and 1966. Chafee was appointed Secretary of the Navy in January 1969, and served in that post for three and a half years. His career in the Senate began in 1976, and he was reelected to a fourth term in 1994. He was the first Republican in decades to be elected to the Senate from Rhode Island. Chafee, a moderate Republican, was one of 10 members of his party in the Senate to vote against impeaching Pres. Bill Clinton in the Monica Lewinsky case. Chafee had a strong environmental record. He was a leading voice in crafting the Clean Air Act of 1990, and later he led successful efforts to enact oil spill prevention and response legislation. He also worked, as a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, to expand health care coverage for women and children; he was responsible in the 1980s for the huge expansion of Medicaid, the health program for the poor. In March 1999 Chafee announced that he would not seek a fifth term. After his death his son Lincoln was appointed to his seat in November 1999.

Chagla

Chagla, Mahomedali Currim (b. Sept. 30, 1900, Bombay [now Mumbai], India - d. Feb. 9, 1981, Bombay), Indian politician. He was chief justice of the Bombay High Court from 1947 to 1958 and a judge to the International Court of Justice at The Hague from 1957 to 1960. He served as ambassador to the U.S., Cuba, and Mexico from 1958 to 1961 and was high commissioner to Britain and ambassador to Ireland from 1962 to 1963. Chagla then became minister of education (1963-66), leader of the Indian delegation to the UN Security Council during the debates on Kashmir (1964-65), and minister for external affairs (1966-67). Serving under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, he became highly critical of her increasingly authoritarian government. In 1978 he received a National UNESCO Award for Distinguished Service to Human Rights.

Chainani

Chainani, H(ashmatrai) K(hubchand) (b. Feb. 29, 1904 - d. ...), acting governor of Maharashtra (1962, 1963).

Chakraborty, Nripen (b. April 4, 1904, Bikrampur, Dhaka district, East Bengal [now in Bangladesh] - d. Dec. 25, 2004, Kolkata, West Bengal, India), chief minister of Tripura (1978-88).

Chalabi

Chalabi, Ahmad, Arabic in full Ahmad `Abd al-Hadi al-Jalabi (b. Oct. 30, 1944, Baghdad, Iraq), president of the Governing Council of Iraq (2003). His father and brother served as ministers under the Hashemite monarchy, which was overthrown by a military coup in 1958, prompting his family to leave Iraq. Chalabi lived in the United States and Lebanon before moving to Jordan, where he established the Petra Bank in 1977. After he was deposed from the bank in 1989 by military decree, a Jordanian court sentenced him in absentia to 22 years in jail for allegedly absconding with funds estimated at $22 million. Chalabi claimed this was a political sentence, the result of King Hussein's desire to improve relations with Iraqi Pres. Saddam Hussein. Chalabi had become more and more involved with the Iraqi opposition in exile. After leaving Jordan, Chalabi resided in London and became a British citizen. He became head of the Iraqi National Congress (INC), an umbrella organization of exiled opposition groups, which was established in 1992 and received heavy funding from the U.S. When a U.S.-led coalition occupied Iraq in 2003, Chalabi returned to Baghdad and was installed as a member of the Governing Council. A raid by U.S. forces on Chalabi's Baghdad home in May 2004 indicated that the U.S. was giving up on its formerly close partner. U.S. funding for the INC was abruptly cut. In June the U.S. accused Chalabi of having told an Iranian intelligence officer that the U.S. had cracked the secret signals code used by Tehran's intelligence service. Chalabi denied the charge. On Sept. 1, 2004, he survived an assassination attempt while on his way to the inaugural meeting of the country's new interim National Council. In 2005 he became deputy prime minister in Ibrahim al-Jaafari's government.

Chalvet, Jean (Victor Louis Joseph) (b. June 15, 1893, Tours, Indre-et-Loire, France - d. July 28, 1975), acting governor of Mauritania (1942-44) and governor of French Somaliland (1944-46) and Oubangui-Chari (1946-48).

Chamant, Jean (b. Nov. 23, 1913, Chagny, Saône-et-Loire, France), French minister of transports (1967-69, 1971-72) and president of the Regional Council of Bourgogne (1974-78).

Chambas

A. Chamberlain

Chambas, Mohamed Ibn (b. Dec. 7, 1950, Ghana), executive secretary of the Economic Community of West African States (2002- ).

Chamberlain, Sir (Joseph) Austen (b. Oct. 16, 1863, Birmingham, Warwickshire, England - d. March 16, 1937, London), British chancellor of the exchequer (1903-05, 1919-21), foreign secretary (1924-29), and first lord of the Admiralty (1931); knighted 1925.

N. Chamberlain

Chamberlain, (Arthur) Neville (b. March 18, 1869, Birmingham, Warwickshire, England - d. Nov. 9, 1940, Heckfield, near Reading, Hampshire), British prime minister (1937-40). The younger half brother of Sir Austen Chamberlain, he was chosen lord mayor of Birmingham in 1915. In December 1916 he joined David Lloyd George's government as director general of national service but resigned in August 1917. A Conservative member of the House of Commons from December 1918, he served as postmaster general (1922-23), paymaster general of the armed forces (1923), minister of health (1923, 1924-29, 1931), and chancellor of the exchequer (1923-24, 1931-37). He became prime minister on May 28, 1937. On three occasions in September 1938, he went to Germany in efforts to prevent the outbreak of a general European war over Hitler's demand that Czechoslovakia cede the Sudetenland to Germany. By the Munich Agreement of September 30, he and French Premier Édouard Daladier granted almost all of Hitler's demands and left Czechoslovakia defenseless. When Hitler seized the rest of Czechoslovakia (March 10-16, 1939), Chamberlain definitely repudiated appeasement and soon published Anglo-French guarantees of armed support for Poland, Romania, and Greece in the event of similar attacks. When the Germans attacked Poland (Sept. 1, 1939), he countered with a British declaration of war (September 3). After the failure of a British expedition to Norway in April 1940, he lost the support of many Conservatives in the Commons, and he resigned on May 10. In Winston Churchill's government he served loyally as lord president of the council until Sept. 30, 1940, when ill health forced him to resign that office and the Conservative Party leadership. He died a few weeks later.

Chamberlin

Chamberlin, Wendy (Jean) (b. Oct. 12, 1948, Bethesda, Md.), acting UN high commissioner for refugees (2005). She was U.S. ambassador to Laos (1996-99) and Pakistan (2001-02).

Chambers

Chambers, George (Michael) (b. Oct. 4, 1928, Trinidad - d. Nov. 4, 1997, Port-of-Spain), prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago (1981-86). After entering politics in 1966, he held at different times the portfolios of finance, public utilities and housing, national security, education, industry and commerce, and agriculture, lands, and fisheries. Though his political career was not always smooth - Prime Minister Eric Williams once removed him from office as minister of finance - he never lost support within the party. Chambers was appointed to the top post after Williams died in office in March 1981. Not associated with the racial politics that had in the past been a divisive influence in Trinidad, Chambers typified the nationalistic yet broadly socialist approach of his party, the People's National Movement (PNM), by offering every encouragement to private enterprise while maintaining social welfare programs and a substantial state sector. Unlike his predecessor, he was eager to convene a Caribbean heads-of-government meeting to try to solve major regional differences of opinion. Using his self-effacing style to brilliant effect, he won a startling election victory on Nov. 9, 1981, but he suffered a landslide defeat in 1986 after suggesting the country seek aid from the International Monetary Fund to diversify the economy. "The fete is over," he often warned of the oil boom that transformed Trinidad and Tobago into by far the Caribbean's richest country in the 1970s, but led to its decline in the early 1980s. Two years after Chambers' party was defeated, his successor secured loans from the IMF for more than $200 million. By then, the price of a barrel of oil had plummeted and the country was deeply in debt.

Chambon, Jean (Georges) (b. Oct. 1, 1896, Nantiat, Haute-Vienne, France - d. June 3, 1965, Paris, France), governor of Dahomey (1948), commissioner of French India (1949-50), and lieutenant governor of Middle Congo (1952-53).

Chamling

Chamling, Pawan (Kumar) (b. Sept. 22, 1950, Yangang, Sikkim [now in India]), chief minister of Sikkim (1994- ).

Chamorro (Pérez), Fruto, original name Fruto Pérez (b. Oct. 20, 1804, Guatemala - d. March 12, 1855, Granada, Nicaragua), director (1853-54) and president (1854-55) of Nicaragua.

P.J. Chamorro

Chamorro (Alfaro), Pedro Joaquín (b. June 29, 1818, Granada [now in Nicaragua] - d. June 7, 1890, Granada), president of Nicaragua (1875-79); half-brother of Fruto Chamorro.

V.B. de Chamorro

Chamorro, Violeta Barrios (Torres) (viuda) de (b. Oct. 18, 1929, Rivas, Nicaragua), president of Nicaragua (1990-97). Doña Violeta, as she was respectfully called, was catapulted into politics on Jan. 10, 1978, when her husband, Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, was assassinated by henchmen of dictator Anastasio Somoza. Chamorro Cardenal was a prominent Conservative opposition figure and editor of the family-owned daily La Prensa. His murder galvanized moderate forces in Nicaragua against Somoza and thus helped lead to the triumph of the Sandinistas in 1979. Violeta Chamorro served on the post-Somoza five-person revolutionary junta from July 1979. Citing ill health, she resigned in April 1980 and quickly turned La Prensa into a voice for those opposed to the government of Daniel Ortega. From then on, the paper was at the centre of controversy about the press, the contras, and efforts to overthrow the Nicaraguan government. She became the official presidential candidate of the 14-party anti-Sandinista coalition, the National Opposition Union (UNO), on Sept. 2, 1989. She and UNO were closely identified with the U.S. and the contras. She belonged to no political party and had never run for political office, yet she carried the mantle of her late husband. She handily defeated Ortega in the Feb. 25, 1990, election.

Chamorro Bolaños, Diego Manuel (b. Aug. 9, 1861, Nandaime, Granada department, Nicaragua - d. Oct. 17, 1923, Managua, Nicaragua), president of Nicaragua (1921-23); son of Pedro Joaquín Chamorro.

E. Chamorro

Chamorro Vargas, Emiliano, original name Emiliano Vargas, byname Lion of Nicaragua, Spanish León de Nicaragua (b. May 11, 1871, Acoyapa, Nicaragua - d. Feb. 26, 1966, Managua, Nicaragua), president of Nicaragua (1917-21). He early became an opponent of the regime of José Santos Zelaya. From 1893 on, he organized and was active in many of the revolts against this regime. He served as representative in Washington (1913-16 and 1921-23) and signed the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty (1914), which, in part, gave the United States the right in perpetuity to build an interoceanic canal across Nicaragua in exchange for foreign aid amounting to $3,000,000. In 1926 Chamorro seized the government from Pres. Carlos Solorzano but was forced to resign when neither the United States nor other Central American countries recognized his government. In 1949 Chamorro returned from exile and, having lost the 1950 presidential election to Anastasio Somoza, worked with Somoza on the writing of a new constitution that guaranteed a percentage of government positions to Conservatives. Chamorro also prevented the incumbent president from succeeding himself. Somoza's threatened repudiation of the pact, as well as his increasingly dictatorial rule, brought about an assassination attempt in 1954. Chamorro was convicted of complicity and temporarily exiled. He was president for life of Nicaragua's Conservative Party.

Chamoun

Chamoun, Camille (Nimer), Chamoun also spelled Sham'un (b. April 3, 1900, Dayr al-Qamar, Lebanon - d. Aug. 7, 1987, Beirut), president of Lebanon (1952-58). He was a member of a political faction known as the Constitutional Bloc, a predominantly Christian group that emphasized its Arabic heritage in an attempt to establish a rapport with the Muslim groups. By the late 1940s he had emerged as one of the bloc's most prominent members. He was finance minister (1946-47) and public health minister (1947-48). When his expectations of succeeding Béchara El-Khoury as president of Lebanon were denied in 1948 by a renewal of Khoury's term, he began to organize a parliamentary opposition. By the summer of 1952 he had made an alliance with Kamal Jumblatt, leader of the Progressive Socialist Party, and had won extensive support throughout the country. That September a general strike forced Khoury's resignation, and Chamoun was elected president. He reorganized governmental departments in an attempt to realize a more efficient administration. He faced a crisis in 1956 when Muslim leaders demanded that he break relations with Britain and France, which had just attacked Egypt over rights to the Suez Canal. He not only refused to do this but also named a pro-Western foreign minister. In May 1958 armed rebellion broke out in Beirut, supported mostly by Muslim elements. He appealed to the United States for aid, and U.S. marines landed near Beirut in July, ending the military threat to the government. Demands persisted that he resign; he refused but did not seek a second term. After a brief retirement he was elected to Parliament in 1960. When civil war erupted in 1975, he became involved in defending Lebanon against Syrian intervention and held a succession of ministerial posts, including foreign minister (1976) and again finance minister (1984-85).

Champon, Michel (b. March 18, 1952, Lyon, France), administrator-superior of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (2005-07).

Champy, Aimé (Ernest Justin) (b. April 13, 1837, Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe - d. ...), commandant of Nossi-Bé (1869-70).

J. Chan

Chan, Sir Julius (b. Aug. 29, 1939, Tanga island, New Ireland district, New Guinea [now in Papua New Guinea]), prime minister of Papua New Guinea (1980-82, 1994-97). He joined the Australian administration that ran Papua New Guinea until 1975. He was first elected to the Legislative Council in 1968. He was finance minister in 1972-77. In July 1977, he contested the first post-independence election as leader of the People's Progress Party and became deputy prime minister. But three months later he withdrew his party from the government after a dispute with Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare. In 1980, Chan was made a knight commander of the civil division by Britain's Queen Elizabeth for his work in administering his country. Ignoring the hint that knighthood implied retirement from active politics, in March 1980 he defeated Somare on the floor of Parliament and became prime minister. Chan was defeated by Somare in a general election in 1982. After the 1992 general election, Chan became finance minister. He was reelected prime minister in August 1994 on a dual platform - ensuring national security and ending economic mismanagement. In 1997 he hired Sandline International mercenary soldiers to fight on Bougainville in order to end the long-running secessionist crisis. Disgruntled Papua New Guinean soldiers, who had been fighting in Bougainville for 9 years and who were fed up with low pay and poor conditions, triggered civil unrest. Although he survived a vote asking him to stand aside, Chan did so after politicians were blockaded inside Parliament House by protesters. He called elections and set up a commission of inquiry. When the commission cleared Chan of corrupt practices and illegal actions, he resumed office, but in the ensuing elections, he lost his seat and was succeeded as prime minister by Bill Skate. In 2007 he became governor of New Ireland.

Chan, Laurie (Hok Si) (b. April 6, 1965), finance minister (2002) and foreign minister (2002-06) of the Solomon Islands.

Chan Nak (b. May 27, 1892, Phnom Penh, Cambodia - d. Nov. 7, 1954, Paris), prime minister of Cambodia (1953-54). He was also minister of justice (1945, 1945-46, 1950), interior (1953-54), and information (1953-54). He led the Cambodian delegation to the Paris conference between France and the three states of Indochina which was opened in August 1954 to revise their relationships.

Chan Sy (b. 1932, Kompong Chhnang province, Cambodia, French Indochina - d. Dec. 26, 1984, Moscow, U.S.S.R.), prime minister of Cambodia (1981-84). Chan Sy, who joined the Khmer Viet Minh forces in 1950, left Cambodia in 1954 after the Geneva Conference of that year recognized Prince Norodom Sihanouk's government as the sole legitimate authority in independent Cambodia. A member of the Communist Party from 1960, Chan Sy was believed to have returned in 1970 after the coup that ousted Sihanouk and placed the pro-U.S. Lon Nol in power. Chan Sy, who was opposed to the ultranationalist Pol Pot, by whose partisans he was detained in 1973, next appeared on the scene in 1978, with the forces of the Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation that with Vietnamese support penetrated into eastern Cambodia in December of that year. After some months' military training in the U.S.S.R., in 1980 he was appointed deputy defense minister and the following year defense minister and vice-president of the Council of Ministers; the same year he also became a member of the Politburo of the People's Revolutionary (Communist) Party of Kampuchea. When his predecessor, Pen Sovan, was dismissed from office in December 1981, Chan Sy became acting premier and he was confirmed in February 1982. Considered a steadfast adherent of Vietnam's Kampuchean policy, Chan Sy made visits to Bulgaria and East Germany as well as to the U.S.S.R. In the National Assembly he represented his native province.

Chance, Leo A.I. (b. Nov. 8, 1932, Saba, Netherlands Antilles), prime minister of the Netherlands Antilles (1977).

Chand

Chand, Lokendra Bahadur (b. Feb. 15, 1940, Kurkutia village, Baitadi district, Far Western region, Nepal), prime minister of Nepal (1983-86, 1990, 1997, 2002-03).

Chandler

Chandler, A(lbert) B(enjamin), byname Happy Chandler (b. July 14, 1898, Corydon, Ky. - d. June 15, 1991, Versailles, Ky.), governor of Kentucky (1935-39, 1955-59). The Democrat served in his native state as senator, lieutenant governor, and governor before moving to the U.S. Senate (1939-45). He then was baseball commissioner (1945-51). When he was unable to secure the necessary votes for reelection as commissioner, he returned to politics. In 1948 he embraced the Dixiecrats, a Southern splinter group that broke with the Democratic Party and supported a segregationist presidential nominee, Strom Thurmond. In his second term as governor, though, he used National Guard troops to enforce integration in schools in two Kentucky towns. In 1968, in another apparent turnabout, he sought the vice presidential nomination on George Wallace's third-party presidential ticket even though Wallace was an avowed segregationist.

Chandy

Chandy, Oommen (b. Oct. 31, 1943, Kumarakom [now in Kerala], India), chief minister of Kerala (2004-06).

Chanel, Marc Émile (Charles Jean) (b. Sept. 6, 1882, Bourg-en-Bresse, Ain, France - d. Jan. 14, 1943, Paris), governor of French Guiana (1923-26).

Chaney, Sir Fred(erick Charles) (b. Oct. 12, 1914, Fremantle, Western Australia - d. Dec. 17, 2001, Perth, Western Australia), administrator of the Northern Territory (1970-73) and lord mayor of Perth (1978-82); knighted 1982.

Chang, John H.: see Chiang, John H.

Chang Chun-hsiung

Chang Chun-hsiung, Pinyin Zhang Junxiong (b. March 23, 1938, Chiayi, Taiwan), premier of Taiwan (2000-02, 2007- ). He resigned as Pres. Chen Shui-bian's second premier in 2002 after opposition lawmakers forced him to cancel plans to scrap construction of a nuclear power plant. He later chaired Taiwan's quasi-official Straits Exchange Foundation, which handles relations with China such as visitor permits. In 2007 Chen (for whom he was twice campaign manager) put him in the premier's seat for a second time.

Chang Dae Whan

Chang Po-ya

Chang Dae Whan (b. March 21, 1952, Seoul), acting prime minister of South Korea (2002). He became the second prime minister to be rejected by Parliament in a month, after the earlier rejection of Chang Sang (no relation). The vote came after a grueling two-day confirmation hearing in which he acknowledged that he had evaded taxes but said it was an oversight.

Chang Po-ya, Pinyin Zhang Boya (b. Oct. 5, 1942, Chiayi, Taiwan), interior minister of Taiwan and governor of Taiwan province (2000-02). She earlier served as mayor of Chiayi city (1983-89, 1997-2000), legislator, and health minister (1990-97).

Chang Sang

Chang Sang (b. Oct. 9, 1939, Yongch'on, P'yongan-bukto province [now in North Korea]), acting prime minister of South Korea (2002). Her nomination on July 11 signified a big leap for female society in Korea as the first woman to be tapped for the post. This was also the first time that a prime minister candidate was put through a confirmation hearing, a new step for the political community. But she soon fell victim to a vitriolic opposition campaign that accused her of faking her academic background in the United States, engaging in speculative investment in real estate, and being disloyal to her homeland because of her son's U.S. citizenship. The career educator and women's rights activist denied any wrongdoing during the two-day confirmation hearing which ended on July 30. But lawmakers pressed on, alleging that Chang helped her son get U.S. citizenship so he can drop South Korean nationality to dodge mandatory military service in Korea (Chang's son was born in the United States in 1973). On July 31 the National Assembly rejected her appointment.

Chang Yinhuai (b. 1889, Licheng [now part of Jinan], Shandong, China - d. Jan. 11, 1929), acting transport minister of China (1927-28) and governor of Heilongjiang (1928-29); cousin of Wu Junsheng. He served for Zhang Zuolin's army for a long time. As a senior commander, he despised and disrespected Zhang Xueliang, Zhang Zuolin's son, who was 25 years younger than him and was thought less experienced. After Zhang Zuolin's death in 1928, he and Gen. Yang Yuting plotted a rebellion against Zhang Xueliang, by whom they both were executed.

Changarnier, Nicolas Anne Théodule (b. April 26, 1793, Autun, Saône-et-Loire, France - d. Feb. 14, 1877, Paris), governor-general of Algeria (1848).

Chanot, George (Marie Roger), interim governor of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon (1932-33).

Chantelat, Pierre (b. Sept. 20, 1925, Besançon, Doubs, France), president of the Regional Council of Franche-Comté (1988-98).

Chanzy, Antoine (Eugène Alfred) (b. March 18, 1823, Nouart village, Ardennes, France - d. Jan. 4, 1883, Châlons-sur-Marne [now Châlons-en-Champagne], Marne, France), governor-general of Algeria (1873-79).

E. Chao

Chao, Elaine (Lan), original Chinese name Zhao Xiaolan (b. March 26, 1953, Taipei, Taiwan), U.S. labor secretary (2001- ).

Chao Shou-po, Pinyin Zhao Shoubo (b. March 1, 1941, Changhua county, Taiwan), governor of Taiwan province (1998-2000).

Chapman, John Lionel (b. Jan. 9, 1910, Jarvis Brook, Sussex, England - d. ...), administrator of Saint Vincent (1966-67).

O.L. Chapman

Chapman, Oscar L(ittleton) (b. Oct. 22, 1896, Omega, Va. - d. Feb. 8, 1978), U.S. secretary of the interior (1949-53). He was chairman of the Colorado State Child Welfare Committee and later president of the Colorado State Board of Control. In May 1933 he was appointed assistant secretary of the interior, and served for a dozen years as a member of Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt's so-called "little cabinet." In December 1949 he became secretary of the interior. Chapman's function under the defense mobilization plans announced Sept. 9, 1950, by Pres. Harry S. Truman was to control petroleum, gas, solid fuels, and electric power. In October he set up a new Petroleum Administration for Defense, whose first task was to increase the output of aviation gasoline. Earlier, in a report to Congress, he said that oil could be extracted from shale and coal cheaply enough to compete with petroleum.

Chaponda

Chaponda, George (T.) (b. Nov. 1, 1942, Mendulo village, Mulanje district, Nyasaland [now Malawi]), foreign minister of Malawi (2004-05).

Chapple, Sir John (Lyon) (b. May 27, 1931), governor of Gibraltar (1993-95); knighted 1985.

Chaptynov, Valery (Ivanovich) (b. June 11, 1945 - d. Aug. 10, 1997), chairman of the Supreme Council (1990-94) and of the State Council (1994-97) of Altay.

Charalambopoulos, Ioannis (b. 1919, Psari, Greece), foreign minister (1981-85) and defense minister (1986-89) of Greece.

Charbonniaud, Claude (Jean) (b. Jan. 22, 1925, Limoges, France), governor of New Caledonia (1978-81).

Charbonnier, Robert (Maxime), resident of Wallis and Futuna (1944-46).

Charest

Charest, Jean, byname of John James Charest (b. June 24, 1958, Sherbrooke, Quebec), Canadian politician. First elected to the House of Commons in 1984, he was appointed minister of state for youth in June 1986 and became the youngest person to ever serve in cabinet. Two years later, he also assumed the portfolio of minister of state for fitness and amateur sport. In 1989, the role of deputy leader of the government in the House of Commons was added to his other responsibilities. In 1990, he was appointed chairman of the special House of Commons committee to study a proposed companion resolution to the Meech Lake constitutional accord. In April 1991, he was appointed environment minister. In June 1993, he finished second at the Progressive Conservative leadership convention. Shortly after, he was appointed deputy prime minister, minister of industry and science, and minister responsible for the Federal Office of Regional Development (Quebec). He was reelected for a third consecutive mandate on Oct. 25, 1993, as one of only two Conservatives elected. On Dec. 14, 1993, he was appointed interim leader of the PC, and on April 29, 1995, he was elected leader by 96% of the delegates attending the 1995 National Meeting in Hull, Quebec. In March 1998 he resigned as PC leader to seek the leadership of the Quebec Liberal Party and challenge the separatist Parti Québécois in the next provincial election. Polls showed the Liberals under Charest would enjoy a 17-point lead over the PQ. By the time he was acclaimed as Liberal leader in May, however, the party's surge in the polls had abated to an eight-point lead, and it ultimately lost the November 1998 election, and Charest became opposition leader. In the next elections (April 2003), he won a decisive majority and became premier.

Charette

Charette (de la Contrie), Hervé (Marie Joseph) de (b. July 30, 1938, Paris), foreign minister of France (1995-97).

Charles

Charles (Théodore Henri Antoine Meinrad), prince de Belgique, comte de Flandre, Dutch Karel Theodoor Henrik Antoon Meinrad, prins van België, graaf van Vlanderen (b. Oct. 10, 1903, Brussels, Belgium - d. June 1, 1983, Ostend, Belgium), regent of Belgium (1944-50). He spent World War II in seclusion and in hiding with the Belgian resistance before serving as acting head of state from 1944 to 1950. He was unanimously elected to the regency during this transitional period because of the accusations of collaboration leveled against his brother, King Leopold III; the latter abdicated in favour of his son Baudouin in 1951, thus ending the constitutional crisis. Charles, a retiring man who had nevertheless made an important contribution to the successful resumption of national affairs after the war, was happy to withdraw to his home near Ostend. His support for his brother's abdication, however, may have helped to cause some bitterness in his relations with the rest of the family. In his later years Prince Charles gained notoriety as a result of disputes with his entourage and mismanagement of his financial affairs.

E. Charles

Charles, Dame (Mary) Eugenia (b. May 15, 1919, Pointe Michel, Dominica - d. Sept. 6, 2005, Fort-de-France, Martinique), prime minister (1980-95) and foreign minister (1980-90) of Dominica. Her first involvement in active politics came in 1968, when she and a broad-based group known as "Freedom Fighters" came together to oppose legislation curtailing freedom of the press. Eventually the group formed itself into the Dominica Freedom Party and, initially against her wishes, Charles became party leader. She was elected to the then House of Assembly in 1970, once wearing a bathing suit underneath her black lawyer's gown in the House to protest a dress code for legislators. From 1975 she served as leader of the opposition. She was a strict constitutionalist and a skilled debater in parliament. She provoked much anger when she spoke courageously against the government's excesses and especially its business dealings in 1979 with the South African government. In Dominica's first post-independence election, on July 21, 1980, the Freedom Party won a landslide victory, and Charles became the Caribbean's first female prime minister. Politically, she was most commonly described as a conservative, but in reality she was probably more of a centrist. She favoured social welfare programs and limited state intervention but was a firm anti-communist. She refused to accept scholarships offered by the government of Fidel Castro to Dominican students. "I am not going to allow my students to study in Cuba where they will learn revolution," she said shortly after taking power. She survived two early coup attempts and had one man hanged for treason. In 1983 she backed the U.S. invasion of Grenada. She won a second and third term in 1985 and 1990. She was knighted in 1991.

Charles, Sir George (Frederick Lawrence) (b. June 7, 1916 - d. June 26, 2004, Castries, Saint Lucia), chief minister of Saint Lucia (1960-64); knighted 1998.

Charles, Jean (François Eugène), resident-superior of Annam (1913-20) and acting governor-general of French Indochina (1916-17).

N. Charles

Charles, Norris (Michael) (b. May 26, 1954), foreign minister of Dominica (1998-2000).

Pierre Charles

Charles, Pierre (b. June 30, 1954, Grand Bay village, southern Dominica - d. Jan. 6, 2004, Roseau, Dominica), prime minister (2000-04), foreign minister (2000-01), and finance minister (2001-04) of Dominica. He began as part of the political opposition and criticized the 1983 U.S. invasion of nearby Grenada, which was supported by Dominica's prime minister at the time, Eugenia Charles. He became prime minister following the death of Prime Minister Rosie Douglas in 2000, having previously served as minister of communication and works. In 2001, he was critical of the United States when its troops invaded Afghanistan; he accused them of killing innocents as he urged a halt to the conflict. He also called on the United States to lift its trade embargo against Cuba. One of his first acts as prime minister was to establish diplomatic ties with Libya. At home, Charles defended austerity measures as necessary to improve the economy of one of the Caribbean's poorest countries. Like his predecessor, he died in office.

Prince Charles

Charles, Prince of Wales, in full Charles Philip Arthur George, Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick and Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles and Great Steward of Scotland (b. Nov. 14, 1948, Buckingham Palace, London), heir apparent to the British throne. He is the eldest child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. In 1967 he entered Trinity College, Cambridge, and in 1971 took a bachelor's degree, the first ever by an heir to the British crown. He also spent a term at the University College of Wales at Aberystwyth, learning Welsh in preparation for his investiture as prince of Wales on July 1, 1969, at Caernarvon Castle. He then attended the Royal Air Force College (becoming an excellent flyer) and the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, and, from 1971 to 1976, took a tour of duty with the Royal Navy. Later he became an outspoken critic of modern architecture. He expressed his views on the topic in his book A Vision of Britain (1989). He also founded the Prince of Wales's Institute of Architecture in 1992. On July 29, 1981, Charles married Lady Diana Frances Spencer, daughter of the 8th Earl Spencer. Their first child, Prince William of Wales (b. June 21, 1982, London), became at his birth second in line of succession to the throne. Their second child was Prince Henry Charles Albert David ("Harry") (b. Sept. 15, 1984, London). By the late 1980s strains in the marriage had become apparent, and they were increasingly widely reported in the media, especially the tabloid press. In December 1992 their separation was announced; they were divorced Aug. 28, 1996. By this time both had admitted that they had committed adultery during their marriage, in Charles's case with Camilla Parker Bowles, whom he married on April 9, 2005.

Charlier, Élie (Adrien Édouard), acting governor of the French Settlements in Oceania (1907-08).

Charlotte

Charlotte (Aldegonde Élise Marie Wilhelmine) (b. Jan. 23, 1896, Château de Berg, Luxembourg - d. July 9, 1985, Château de Fischbach), grand duchess of Luxembourg (1919-64). The second daughter of Grand Duke Guillaume IV, Charlotte succeeded her sister Marie-Adélaïde, who abdicated in January 1919 after acquiring a pro-German reputation during World War I. Charlotte immediately called for a referendum, and in September three-quarters of the voters preferred her continued reign to a republic. Six weeks later she married Prince Félix of Bourbon-Parma (1893-1970). They had six children: Jean, Élisabeth, Marie-Adélaïde, Marie-Gabrielle, Charles, and Alix. When Nazi Germany overran Luxembourg in May 1940, Charlotte fled with the government, settling in Montreal for the duration of the war. Her frequent radio messages of encouragement were never forgotten by a grateful people. In April 1961 she granted Prince Jean all of her ducal responsibilities in preparation for abdicating in November 1964. Charlotte's popular reign provided stability during a time of sweeping change. Luxembourg's constitution was twice rewritten (1919 and 1948), providing universal suffrage and abolishing the country's much-violated disarmed neutrality. Labour laws and social-security schemes were passed, and through the Benelux Economic Union, NATO, and the EEC, Luxembourg was integrated into post-World War II western Europe. During this time Charlotte's steadfast patriotism and democratic sympathies made her a symbol of Luxembourg's sovereignty and prosperity. After her 45-year reign she continued to play a role in Luxembourg's political life, though her official appearances became increasingly rare.

Charmasson de Puylaval, (Pons) Guillaume (Basile) (b. April 12, 1780, Villeneuve-les-Avignon, Gard, France - d. 18...), governor of Senegal (1839-41) and French Guiana (1841-43).

Charner, Léonard Victor Joseph (b. Feb. 13, 1797, Saint-Brieuc, Côtes-du-Nord [now Côtes-d'Armor], France - d. Feb. 7, 1869, Paris), governor of Cochinchina (1861).

Charon, Viala, baron (b. July 29, 1794, Paris - d. 1880), governor-general of Algeria (1848-50).

Charritte, Jean-Pierre (de Casamajor) de (b. 1658 - d. Oct. 17, 1723), governor of Saint-Domingue (1705-07, 1710-11) and Martinique (1711-16).

Charunphan Isarangkun Na Ayuthaya (b. March 14, 1914), foreign minister of Thailand (1973-75).

Charvein, Camille (b. Jan. 1, 1834, Fort-de-France, Martinique - d. ...), governor of French Guiana (1893-95).

Chastenet de Géry, (Frédéric Marie) Jean (Baptiste) (b. May 5, 1889, La Rochelle, France - d. Sept. 8, 1976, Tourtoirac, Dordogne, France), governor of the French Settlements in Oceania (1937-40).

Chatel, Yves (Charles) (b. March 24, 1885, Rennes, Ille-et-Vilaine, France - d. Oct. 13, 1944, Lisbon, Portugal), resident-superior of Laos (1931), Annam (1931-34), and Tonkin (1937-40) and governor-general of Algeria (1941-43).

Chatichai

Chatichai Choonhavan (b. April 25, 1922, Bangkok, Thailand - d. May 6, 1998, London, England), foreign minister (1975-76), prime minister (1988-91), and defense minister (1988-90, 1990-91) of Thailand. He was the only son of Pin Choonhavan, a prominent army general who led the 1947 coup that brought Field Marshal Phibulsongkhram to power. Pin served as deputy prime minister and Chatichai also held a cabinet post, but the government was ousted in 1957. Chatichai's part in an unsuccessful coup to return Phibulsongkhram led to his being sent abroad to a string of unimportant diplomatic posts - tantamount to exile. He returned to Thailand in 1972. He helped found the Chart Thai (Thai Nation) party in 1974, rebuilding his family's old coalitions in preparation for the 1975 elections. No party won a majority, and a succession of temporary governments followed, in which the charismatic, popular Chatichai was often prominent, holding a number of cabinet posts. The unexpected refusal of Prime Minister Prem Tinsulanonda to continue in office after the July 1988 general election led to the appointment of Chatichai to take his place. Chart Thai had gained more seats than any other party. He became the first elected MP to become prime minister since 1976. His six-party coalition promoted private enterprise at a time when Thailand's economy was doing better than ever before. He was overthrown by the military in a bloodless coup in February 1991. He maintained a base of power, however, by forming the Chart Pattana, a major opposition party. A quintessential wheeler-dealer whose popularity was unaffected by the taint of corruption that attended his entire political career, his trademark "no problem" catchphrase, which he used repeatedly to answer his many critics, remained in popular use.

Chatterton, Fenimore (b. July 21, 1860, Oswego, N.Y. - d. May 9, 1958, Shreveport, La.), governor of Wyoming (1903-05).

Chattopadhyaya, Debi Prasad (b. Nov. 5, 1933, Baresal, Bengal [now in Bangladesh]), governor of Rajasthan (1990-91).

Chatty, Habib (b. Aug. 9, 1916 - d. March 6, 1991, Paris), foreign minister of Tunisia (1974-77) and secretary-general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (1980-84).

Chaturvedi, T(riloki) N(ath) (b. Jan. 18, 1928, Tirwa [now in Uttar Pradesh], India), chief commissioner of Chandigarh (1976-78) and governor of Karnataka (2002-07) and Kerala (2004).

Chau Sen Cocsal Chhum (b. Sept. 1, 1905, Tri Ton, southern Vietnam), prime minister of Cambodia (1962); cousin of Koun Wick. He was also Cambodian chargé d'affaires in Thailand (1951-53) and president of the National Assembly (1958-60, 1961-63).

Chaudhary

Chaudhary, Amarsinh (Bhilabhai) (b. July 31, 1941, Dolvan, Vyara taluk, Surat district, Bombay province [now in Gujarat state], India - d. Aug. 15, 2004, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India), chief minister of Gujarat (1985-89).

F.E. Chaudhry

Chaudhry, Fazal Elahi (b. Jan. 1, 1904, Gujrat, Punjab, India - d. June 1, 1982, Lahore, Pakistan), president of Pakistan (1973-78). He was elected to the Punjab Legislative Assembly in 1945 as a member of the All-India Muslim League. He became successively a member of the Punjab provincial government, speaker of the provincial assembly, and, from 1971 to 1973, speaker of the National Assembly. He was a supporter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party. When Bhutto relinquished his position of chief of state in 1973 under the new constitution enacted by the directly elected National Assembly, Chaudhry became president. When Bhutto was ousted as prime minister by the military regime of Gen. Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq in 1977, Chaudhry remained in office but resigned in the following year, reportedly after differences with the new regime.

M. Chaudhry

Chaudhry, Mahendra (Pal) (b. Sept. 2, 1942, Tavua, Fiji), prime minister of Fiji (1999-2000). A founding member of the Fiji Labour Party, Chaudhry was its assistant secretary-general from 1985 to 1994. First elected to the House of Representatives in 1987, he served as finance and economic minister for one month before the coup of that year. He became party leader after the death of Timoci Bavadra in 1989 and two years later, he was reelected to the House of Representatives. He became the first ethnic Indian prime minister of Fiji; this became possible with the country's new constitution adopted in 1997. On May 19, 2000, he was taken hostage when rebels led by George Speight stormed the parliament building. He was released on July 13 but did not regain office. In 2007 he became finance minister again.

Chaudié, Jean Baptiste Émile Louis Barthélemy (b. Aug. 28, 1853, Salernes, Var, France - d. 19...), governor-general of French West Africa and governor of Senegal (1895-1900).

Chauhan, Shivraj Singh (b. March 5, 1959, Jait village, Sehore district, Madhya Pradesh, India), chief minister of Madhya Pradesh (2005- ).

Chaussebourg, Fernand (Clovis François) (b. May 6, 1921, Paris - d. Feb. 20, 2004, Paris), president of the Regional Council of Poitou-Charentes (1980-81).

Chautala

Chautala, Om Prakash (b. Jan. 1, 1935, Chautala, Punjab [now in Haryana]), chief minister of Haryana (1989-90, 1990, 1991, 1999-2005); son of Devi Lal.

Chautaria, Fateh Jang (b. 1805 - d. [killed during the Kot massacre] Sept. 14, 1846, Kathmandu), prime minister of Nepal (1840-43, 1845-46).

Chautemps, Camille (b. Feb. 1, 1885, Paris - d. July 1, 1963, Washington, D.C.), prime minister of France (1930, 1933-34, 1937-38). He was also minister of interior (1924-25, 1925-26, 1926, 1930, 1932-34), justice (1925), public instruction and fine arts (1930-31), and public works (1936), minister of state (1936-37, 1940), and deputy prime minister (1938-40).

Chauvet, Paul (Louis Gabriel) (b. Jan. 19, 1904 - d. Jan. 19, 2007), governor-general (1951-57) and high commissioner (1957-58) of French Equatorial Africa and acting governor-general of French West Africa (1951-52).

Chavalit

Chavalit Yongchaiyudh (b. May 15, 1932, Nonthaburi province, Thailand), prime minister of Thailand (1996-97). He began his career as a professional soldier on entering Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy in 1953. In the 1960s, he was operations and training officer for Thai troops fighting with the U.S.-backed forces in South Vietnam. He built his reputation on a successful "hearts and minds" campaign which brought Thai communist insurgents of the 1970s and early 1980s out of the jungle. As a powerful army chief and supreme commander of the armed forces in 1986, General Chavalit wielded political power traditionally held by the military while at the same time stressing a vision of a democratic country in which soldiers would no longer hold sway over civilian rule. He also attacked corruption among politicians and businessmen. He founded the New Aspiration Party (NAP) in 1990 after retiring from the military. He served as deputy prime minister (1990, 1994, 1995-96, 2001- ) and was defense minister (1990, 1995-97, 2001-02) and interior minister (1992-94). Since being named defense minister after the July 1995 election, he was often touted as a candidate for prime minister. He used the defense portfolio to strengthen his own power base, by dabbling in military reshuffles to place loyal officers in key positions and supporting big-budget military procurement to satisfy the armed forces. In the 1996 election campaign, he wooed many strong politicians from other parties to defect to his NAP. Some opposition parties accused the cash-rich NAP of enticing them with money, but Chavalit denied the charge. The NAP won a slim two-seat victory in the Nov. 17, 1996, election and formed a six-party coalition government.

S. Chavan

Chavan, Shankarrao (Bhaurao) (b. July 14, 1920, Paithan [now in Maharashtra], India - d. Feb. 26, 2004, Mumbai), chief minister of Maharashtra (1975-77, 1986-88) and defense minister (1984), home affairs minister (1984-86, 1991-96), and finance minister (1988-89) of India. He was active in the "Quit Court" movement against the Nizam of Hyderabad, and entered state politics when he joined the Bombay legislative council in 1956. One of the last surviving Congress leaders from the Nehru era, he switched loyalties midway through his career to align with Sharad Pawar's People's Democratic Front, but returned to the Congress fold in 1980 when he entered national politics as education minister. He is remembered for his controversial role during the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992, when he was home minister in the Narasimha Rao cabinet. He was nicknamed "Headmaster" because of his insistence on discipline in administrative and other matters.

Chavan, Yashwantrao Balwantrao (b. March 12, 1913, Satara, near Bombay, India - d. Nov. 25, 1984, New Delhi), Indian politician. A determined nationalist, he favoured Communism and increasingly despised Mohandas Gandhi's policy of civil disobedience. Chavan became a guerrilla fighter in 1942 but was arrested and imprisoned in 1944. Elected to the Bombay Legislative Assembly (1946), he became the province's chief minister (1956) and was chief minister of the new state of Maharashtra (1960-62). He was federal minister of defense (1962-66), of home affairs (1966-70), of finance (1970-74), and of external affairs (1974-77). When he was defense minister, his modernization of the Army and Air Force contributed to India's success in the 1965 and 1971 wars with Pakistan. Uneasy about the state of emergency declared by Indira Gandhi (1975), he nevertheless remained in her cabinet, breaking with her only when, shortly before the election of 1977, he became leader of the official Congress parliamentary party. Chavan briefly served as deputy prime minister and home affairs minister (1979-80), but he failed to form a government (July 1979) when invited to do so. He barely retained his seat in the 1980 election and further lost face by finally joining Indira Gandhi's Congress (I) party.

Chavanne

Chavanne, André (b. July 2, 1916, Paris - d. Sept. 25, 1990, Geneva), president of the Council of State of Genève (1966-67, 1974-75, 1980-81).

Chavannes, (Fortunes) Charles de (b. May 29, 1853, Lyon, France - d. 1940), resident of Middle Congo (1886-89), acting commissioner-general of Gabon and Congo (1886-87) and French Congo (1891-92, 1892-93, 1893-94), and lieutenant governor of Gabon and of Middle Congo (1889-94).

Chavassieux, Léon Jean Laurent (b. July 29, 1848, Montbrison, Loire, France - d. 1895), resident-superior of Annam (1889) and Tonkin (1891-93) and acting governor-general of French Indochina (1894).

Chaves (de Mendonça), (Antônio) Aureliano (b. Jan. 13, 1929, Três Pontas, Minas Gerais, Brazil - d. April 30, 2003, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais), governor of Minas Gerais (1975-78) and acting president of Brazil (1981, 1983). A veteran politician from the important southeastern state of Minas Gerais, he became vice president in 1979 under Pres. João Figueiredo, the last of five generals to rule Brazil during a 1964-85 dictatorship. In 1985, Chaves led a dissident wing of the government's Social Democratic Party that refused to back Paulo Maluf, the generals' choice to succeed Figueiredo. Maluf lost in the electoral college vote to Tancredo Neves, hastening Brazil's return to democracy. Chaves ran unsuccessfully for president in 1989, then retired from politics.

F. Chaves

Chaves (Careaga), Federico (b. Feb. 15, 1882, Paraguarí, Paraguay - d. April 24, 1978, Asunción), president of Paraguay (1949-54). He was a longtime leader of the right-of-centre Colorado (National Republican) Party. When his party served in a coalition government in 1946, Chaves was appointed to the Supreme Court. He served as Paraguay's foreign minister (1947, 1949) and as ambassador to France and Spain. The Democratic wing of the Colorado Party secured his assumption of the presidency (Sept. 11, 1949) following a period of great political instability. He was officially elected on July 15, 1950, for a three-year term and was reelected in 1953. During Chaves' tenure in office he tried to build a managed economy by increasing nationalization of industry and placing controls on production, trade, prices, and wages. For this he faced growing opposition from the conservative wing of the Colorado Party, who denounced not only his economic policies but his close association with Argentina. In 1954, when Chaves tried to strengthen his regime by arming the national police, Gen. Alfredo Stroessner, commander in chief of the armed forces, led the coup (May 5) that deposed Chaves. When Chaves died, he was buried with full state honours; Stroessner attended the services.

Chaves González, Manuel (María) (b. July 7, 1945, Ceuta, Spain), president of the Junta of Andalucía (1990- ).

Chávez

Chávez (Frías), Hugo (Rafael) (b. July 28, 1954, Sabaneta, Venezuela), president of Venezuela (1999- ). In 1975 he became a paratrooper in the army. By 1990 he had risen to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He led a failed rebellion on Feb. 4, 1992. Despite mobilizing thousands of troops and taking over key installations in several cities, the coup foundered after 12 hours of sporadic fighting in which dozens of people died. Known as "El Comandante" by his supporters, he was a complete unknown when he appeared in military uniform taking full responsibility for the uprising. But his enigmatic phrase, that the battle was over "for now," haunted Venezuelans and ensured that he was a cult figure by the time he was pardoned by Pres. Rafael Caldera in March 1994 after two years in jail. A few months after walking free, he was welcomed in Havana by Cuba's Fidel Castro as a fellow revolutionary. Together with allies from the army, he established the Fifth Republic Movement (MVR) as the electoral heir to the Bolivarian Revolutionary Movement (MBR-200) that organized the 1992 coup attempt. In April 1997 he announced his candidacy for president. He ran on a populist anti-establishment platform which struck a chord with Venezuelans frustrated with falling living standards and rampant corruption. He promised to transform the democratic constitution, making it the centrepiece of his presidency. He scored a landslide victory in the December 1998 election. In December 1999 voters overwhelmingly approved his new constitution that gave him sweeping powers and a license to refashion the country's political and social structure. He won reelection in 2000. In 2002 the military high command ousted him, but he was reinstated two days later on the wings of a popular uprising. In 2004 he survived a recall referendum and in 2006 he was elected to another six-year term. In 2007 the MVR merged with a number of other parties to form the United Socialist Party of Venezuela.

Chavez, Martin (Joseph) (b. March 2, 1952, Albuquerque, N.M.), mayor of Albuquerque (1993-97, 2001- ).

Chavis

Chavis, Benjamin (Franklin, Jr.) (b. Jan. 22, 1948, Oxford, N.C.), executive director (1993-94) of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He became active in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Then, as a field agent for the Commission for Racial Justice, he was sent to Wilmington, N.C., to organize high school students protesting racial discrimination in the city's public schools. In early 1971 several racial incidents occurred, a black student and an elderly white man were killed, and a white-owned grocery store was firebombed; about 600 National Guardsmen were called in to restore order. Chavis and nine others - called the "Wilmington Ten" - were convicted of the firebombing and spent more than four years in prison. The convictions were overturned by a federal appeals court in 1980. From 1986 to 1993 he was executive director of the Commission for Racial Justice. As head of the NAACP from April 1993, Chavis was criticized by some for paying heed to growing black nationalist sentiments instead of holding exclusively to the NAACP's historic integrationist platform. He was dismissed as executive director by the NAACP board on Aug. 20, 1994, amid controversy over alleged financial and administrative mismanagement.

Chea

Chea Sim, Samdech (b. Nov. 15, 1932, Romeas Hek district, Svay Rieng province, Cambodia), chairman of the Council of State of Cambodia (1992-93). He has been president of the National Assembly (1981-98) and of the Senate (1999- ). He was given the honorary title of Samdech in 1993. He became acting head of state on several occasions (especially in 1993-94, 1994-95, and in 2004) when King Norodom Sihanouk was out of the country and briefly after his abdication until the newly-chosen king, Norodom Sihamoni, returned to Cambodia on Oct. 20, 2004.

Chebrikov, Viktor (Mikhailovich) (b. April 27, 1923, Dnepropetrovsk, Ukrainian S.S.R. - d. July 1, 1999, Moscow), Soviet KGB chief. He began his career in the Communist Party in Ukraine after serving in the Soviet army from 1941 to 1950. He joined the KGB in 1967 and became its deputy chairman in 1968. The lifelong staunch communist was promoted to head the KGB in 1982 by his ally, then Soviet leader Yury Andropov. He skillfully presided over a period of great success against the U.S., only to lose power when his ideological opponent, General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, instituted a new era of glasnost (openness) in the 1980s. Gorbachev promoted Chebrikov to the Politburo in 1985, sacked him in 1988, and a year later had him pensioned off. In retirement, Chebrikov became increasingly critical of Gorbachev's reforms and remained distrustful of the West.

Chechenov, Anuar (Akhmetovich) (b. May 31, 1950), acting prime minister of Kabardino-Balkariya (2006).

Cheeseman

Cheeseman, Joseph James (b. 1843, Edina, Grand Bassa county, Liberia - d. Nov. 12, 1896), president of Liberia (1892-96).

F. Chehab

Chehab, (Emir) Fouad (Abdallah), Arabic Amir Fu´ad `Abd Allah Shihab (b. 1902, Ghazir, Lebanon - d. April 25, 1973, Beirut), president of Lebanon (1958-64). He served with French mandatory forces in Syria after World War I. In 1945 he became commander of the Lebanese army. He first became prominent in Lebanon's internal affairs in 1952, when violent opposition emerged to Pres. Béchara El-Khoury. Chehab believed that his role as commander required him to defend the country against external threats but not to maintain politicians in office, and he refused to give Khoury military support. Khoury was forced to resign and was succeeded by Camille Chamoun. In 1958, when open rebellion broke out against Chamoun, Chehab prevented it from spreading but again refused to give positive support. Chamoun's term ended that September and Chehab was elected president. He was considered to be the one person who could ease the tensions that accompanied the end of Chamoun's term. He maintained a balance between the myriad sectarian, economic, and geographic interests that filled the political scene. Working harmoniously with the cabinet, he kept basic power in his own hands and exercised direct control of the defense and interior ministries. He saw that the 1960 elections for the Chamber of Deputies were carried out with fairness. Taking the successful elections as an indication that the country had returned to normal, he announced his intention to resign, but was widely felt to be indispensable and, bowing to popular pressure, agreed to remain in office. He easily suppressed a 1961 coup attempt by the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, a small group trying to realize pan-Syrian unity. Despite a proposal in the Chamber of Deputies for a constitutional amendment to allow him a second term, he left office when his term ended.

Chehab, (Emir) Khaled (Najib), Arabic Amir Khalid Najib Shihab (b. 1892, Hasbeya, southern Lebanon - d. 1978), prime minister of Lebanon (1938, 1952-53). He was first elected to the Lebanese parliament in 1922. A member of Béchara El-Khoury's Constitutional Bloc, he was finance minister in 1927-28. Following a tenure as speaker of parliament (1935-37), he was appointed prime minister. Although he was one of the most influential Lebanese politicians under the French mandate, he is best remembered for the seven months during which he served as Pres. Camille Chamoun's first prime minister (1952-53). As head of a four-man cabinet, he wielded emergency powers and issued several dozen decrees that modernized the administration. Other significant accomplishments of his cabinet included giving women the right to vote, changing the electoral system in a way that weakened the power of traditional patrons, substantially reforming the judiciary, and liberalizing the press law. Well-established persons who had been hurt by his policies acted in coordination with radical critics to force his resignation.

Cheiffou

Cheiffou, Amadou (b. Dec. 1, 1942, Kornaka, Niger), prime minister of Niger (1991-93). He was a presidential candidate in 2004.

Cheikh

Cheikh, Said Mohamed (b. July 1, 1904, Mitsamiouli, Grande Comore, Comoros - d. March 16, 1970, Soavinandriana, Antananarivo province, Madagascar), president of the Government Council of the Comoros (1962-70).

Chekhivsky, Volodymyr Musiyovych (b. July 19, 1876, Gorokhuvatka village, Kiev province, Russia [now in Ukraine] - d. [shot] Nov. 3, 1937), chairman of the Council of Ministers and foreign minister of the non-communist Ukraine (1918-19).

Chelmsford (of Chelmsford), Frederic John Napier Thesiger, (1st) Viscount, Baron Chelmsford (of Chelmsford) (b. Aug. 12, 1868, London, England - d. April 1, 1933, London), British colonial administrator. In 1905 he succeeded his father as Baron Chelmsford and was appointed governor of the state of Queensland. In 1909 he became governor of New South Wales, where he was active and popular despite political conflict and labour unrest. Knighted in 1912, he left Australia the next year to serve in India as a captain in the Dorsetshire regiment. During the early part of World War I he received quick promotions, to the surprise of many, and was viceroy of India in 1916-21, in a time of surging Indian nationalism. As a result of the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms, based on the joint report of the secretary of state for India, Edwin Samuel Montagu, and of Chelmsford himself, the central and provincial legislatures were increased in size and given elected majorities. The number of Indians on the viceroy's executive council of seven was increased from one to three. Implemented in 1919, the reforms were preceded by serious riots in Gujarat and the Punjab. Chelmsford thus sought to enforce the Rowlatt Acts (1919), designed to give certain emergency powers to the executive, such as the internment of persons accused of subversion, but he met strong Indian opposition. Widespread disturbances led to imposition of martial law in the Punjab and questioning of Chelmsford's competence. Mahatma Gandhi's non-cooperation campaigns led the Congress Party in 1920 to boycott the first elections to the reformed councils. On his retirement in 1921 Chelmsford was created a viscount and in 1924 became first lord of the Admiralty in Ramsay MacDonald's Labour government.

Chen Bijun

Chen Bijun (b. Nov. 5, 1891, Penang, Straits Settlements [now in Malaysia] - d. June 17, 1959, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China), Chinese politician; wife of Wang Jingwei. She joined the Chinese Revolutionary Alliance together with Wang in Japan in 1908, participating in the movements against the imperial government in China. In December 1938, she, together with Wang, turned to the Japanese invaders and was nominated as the "Political Guide" in Guangdong province. As Guangzhou fell to the Japanese in 1939, Chen became de facto Guangdong governor. In September 1949, she was arrested by the Kuomintang secret agent leader Zheng Jiemin, and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Chen Bingkun (b. Nov. 11, 1868, Liujiang, Guangxi, China - d. Sept. 1, 1927), military (1916-17) and civil (1916) governor of Guangxi and military governor of Guangdong (1917). He started serving as a general in the late Qing period. He also held the post of commander of the 1st Division of the Guangxi provincial army. Being a supporter of the Beijing government, he launched a war against the southern government led by Sun Yat-sen in 1921, but was soon defeated.

Ch'en Ch'eng

Ch'en Ch'eng (Wade-Giles), Pinyin Chen Cheng (b. Jan. 4, 1898, Qingtian, Zhejiang, China - d. March 5, 1965, Taipei, Taiwan), chairman of the government of Hubei (1938-39, 1940-43), governor of Taiwan province (1949), and premier (1950-54, 1958-63) and vice president (1954-65) of Taiwan. Having graduated from Baoding Military Academy in 1922, he was sent to the Guangdong provincial army. In 1924, he became a drillmaster of Huangpu Academy (the Chinese West Point in the 1920s) and participated in the Northern Expedition. He was promoted to commander of the 18th Army, moonlighting as head of the Nanjing garrison. In 1932 he married the daughter of Tan Yankai, who was the first premier of the Nationalist government. During World War II, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the 4th Group Army (in Hubei) and the 9th War Zone. Later he also became commander of the 6th and 1st War Zone, as well as commander-in-chief of the Expeditionary Army. He became minister of war in 1944. He went to Taiwan at the beginning of 1949 for stabilizing the province to prepare it as a refuge for Chiang Kai-shek's government. Ch'en was one of the closest generals, and an everlasting loyalist, to Chiang (they first met in 1923); as such, he continued to hold top posts after the Nationalist government fled to Taiwan and was regarded as Chiang's heir apparent.

Chen Chien-jen

Chen Chien-jen, Pinyin Chen Jianren (b. Aug. 18, 1939), foreign minister of Taiwan (1999-2000).

Chen Diaoyuan (b. Nov. 12, 1886, Anxin, Hebei, China - d. Dec. 8, 1943, Chongqing, China), civil governor (1923), military governor in rebellion (1925-27), and chairman of the government (1927-29, 1930-32) of Anhui and chairman of the government of Shandong (1929-30). A graduate of the Baoding College of Army Commanders, he served as a general under the central government until 1927, when he turned to Chiang Kai-shek, being the commander of the 5th Army before that. Chiang named him commander of the 33rd Army within the Revolutionary Forces, as well as chairman of Anhui when that province was not yet completely controlled by Chiang. After he completed his term in Shandong, he was named commander-in-chief of all anti-communist forces of the five provinces in the central-southeastern region (Jiangxi, Guangdong, Fujian, Hunan, and Hubei) and acting president of the Military Senate. He was detained together with Chiang in December 1936 in Xian by the northeastern army led by Zhang Xueliang, but was released soon.

Chen Gongbo (b. Oct. 19, 1892, Nanhai, Guangdong, China - d. June 3, 1946, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China), Chinese politician. He was an everlasting supporter of Wang Jingwei. He joined the Chinese Communist Party in July 1921, upon its founding, but left it the next year. Returning to China from the U.S. in 1925, he turned to the Kuomintang (KMT), being nominated as the head of the Department of Peasants as a KMT leftist. Having turned right together with Wang Jingwei in 1927, he was named minister of enterprises of the National Government in 1932. He was also a director of the KMT's Sichuan branch. In 1938, he and Wang started to cooperate with the Japanese invaders, and he became the Japanese-backed speaker of the Legislative Yuan (parliament) and mayor of Shanghai. When Wang was abroad in Japan, he acted as the president of Wang's government and became president of the Executive Yuan (premier). After the end of World War II, he was sentenced to death as a traitor and was executed.

Chen Guangyi (b. Aug. 7, 1933, Putian, Fujian, China), governor of Gansu (1983-86).

Chen Guangyuan (b. Oct. 8, 1873, Wuqing, Hebei [now in Tianjin municipality], China - d. Aug. 6, 1939, Tianjin), governor of Suiyuan (1917) and military governor of Jiangxi (1917-22). His military life started in Rehe; he stationed his troops in Chifeng city (now in Inner Mongolia). He was later named the commander of the 12th Division. Before going to Suiyuan, he was a deputy chief commander of the capital military garrison.

Chen Guofu

Chen Guofu (b. Oct. 27, 1892, Wuxing, Zhejiang, China - d. Aug. 25, 1951, Taipei, Taiwan), chairman of the government of Jiangsu (1933-37). Having joined the Chinese Revolutionary Alliance in 1911, he participated in both the revolution (against the Qing dynasty) and the "second revolution" (against Yuan Shikai). He restarted his political career in 1924, being nominated as member of the Kuomintang Central Audit, as well as head of the Department of Organization and president of the Central Financial Committee. Together with his younger brother Chen Lifu (1899-2001), he organized the famous "Central Club" (CC) Kuomintang faction. He left for Taiwan in December 1948.

Chen Huan (b. March 16, 1870, Anlu, Hubei, China - d. Oct. 24, 1939, Tianjin, China), governor of Sichuan (1915-16) and Hunan (1916). A graduate of Hubei Military College, he was made a brigade commander at the end of the Qing dynasty. He was a deputy minister of staff in the Beijing government. In his term as the governor of Sichuan, he was a supporter of Yuan Shikai's imperial attempt. However, in early 1916, he was forced to declare independence against Yuan together with another Yuan supporter, Hunan Gov. Tang Xiangming. Depressed by the loss of these two key supporters, Yuan died in June that year. Chen was expelled from office by Gen. Liu Cunhou in May 1916.

Chen Huanyou (b. January 1934, Nantong, Jiangsu, China), governor of Jiangsu (1989-94).

Chen Jintao (b. June 20, 1871, Nanhai, Guangdong, China - d. June 12, 1939, Shanghai, China), finance minister of China (1916-17, 1925-26). He attended both Columbia and Yale University in the U.S. where he got a doctor's degree in economics. He worked as a senior financial officer already in Qing times, being a supervisor of the Great Qing Bank, later director of the department of budget of the finance ministry. He was also the director of the Bureau of Statistics. In 1912, he was named the finance minister of the Nanjing government (January-March 1912) as well as head of the Audit Bureau. He turned to the south in the 1920s, where he went on leading the finance ministry after Chiang Kai-shek took power; he was named the director of the Currency Research Committee in Nanjing. He took up the finance ministry once again in 1938 in Nanjing, under the leadership of Wang Jingwei, a puppet of the Japanese invaders.

Chen Jiongming

Chen Jiongming (b. Jan. 13, 1878, Haifeng, Guangdong, China - d. Sept. 22, 1933, Hong Kong), military (1911-12, 1913, 1920-23) and civil (1920-22) governor of Guangdong and military governor of Guangxi (1921-22). He joined the Chinese Revolutionary Alliance in 1909 and obtained the post of commander-in-chief of the Guangdong Army. Under the temptation of Wu Peifu, he unexpectedly betrayed Sun Yat-sen and the revolution in 1922, leading his forces to attack Sun's residence as well as office. Sun escaped on a ship. Chen fled to Huizhou, eastern Guangdong, after Sun's army defeated him. During 1923-25, the Guangdong government organized two wars eastward against him; he fled to Hong Kong as his remaining forces were completely wiped out in 1925.

Chen Jitang

Chen Jitang (b. Feb. 12, 1890, Fangcheng [now Fangchenggang], Guangxi, China - d. Nov. 3, 1954, Taiwan), chairman of the government of Guangdong (1931). He joined the Chinese Revolutionary Alliance in 1908 and began serving in the Guangdong Army in 1920, rising from battalion to brigade commander. He was designated commander of the 11th Division within the 4th Army in 1925 and took up the garrison of Qinzhou city, Guangxi, in 1926, thus staying in the south during the Northern Expedition. He turned against Chiang Kai-shek in the south in 1931 and allied with Guangxi army commanders; another civil war might have broken out as a result if there had been no September 18 Incident in Shenyang, which reminded all sides of the necessity to unite. During World War II, he was a member of the National Government, Supreme National Defense Commission, and Strategic Commission, also taking up the agriculture and forestry ministry of the cabinet. He was named governor of Hainan island (within Guangdong province) after the war. He fled to Taiwan in April 1950, when Hainan came under Communist control, and was named a "Strategic Adviser of the President."

Chen Liangyu (b. October 1946, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China), mayor of Shanghai (2001-03). In 2002 he also became Communist Party secretary of Shanghai. In September 2006 he was dismissed from this post and removed from the central party's Politburo for allegedly misusing the city's social security fund.

Chen Lu (b. May 5, 1877, Fuzhou, Fujian, China - d. Feb. 19, 1939, Nanjing, China), acting foreign minister of China (1918-19). He studied abroad in Germany and France and started his career in the foreign ministry after the republic was founded. He held the post of deputy foreign minister for a long time and became acting minister when the post was vacant. He was also abroad as ambassador to Mexico and later to France. He was named a foreign policy adviser in the National Government of Chiang Kai-shek. In March 1938, he accepted the post of foreign minister of the "Nanjing government" (led by Wang Jingwei as a puppet of the Japanese invaders). He was assassinated as a traitor by Kuomintang secret agents.

Chen Mingshu

Chen Mingshu (b. Oct. 15, 1889, Hepu, Guangxi, China - d. May 15, 1965, Beijing, China), chairman of the government of Guangdong (1928-31). Having graduated from Baoding Military Academy, he served in the Guangdong army as a regiment commander from 1920 to 1925, when he became commander of the 10th Division within the 4th Army of the National Revolutionary Army. Participating in the Northern Expedition, he was named vice commander of the 4th Army in 1926, and also took up the Wuhan garrison and the leadership of the 11th Army. On Jan. 28, 1932, the Japanese invaded Shanghai. Chen, together with the 19th Route Army, helped in the defense of the city. Chen took part in the Fujian Incident in 1933 and joined the Kuomintang Revolutionary Committee, becoming a member of its Standing Committee in 1948. After the civil war, he was named a councillor of the Central People's Government as well as vice-chairman of the Administrative Council of Central and South China. He was a member of the Standing Committee of both the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Chen Mingyi (b. August 1940, Fuzhou, Fujian, China), governor of Fujian (1994-96).

Chen Qimei

Chen Qimei (b. Jan. 17, 1878, Wuxing, Zhejiang, China - d. May 18, 1916, Shanghai, China), Chinese revolutionary activist. He went to Japan for studies in 1906, and there joined the Chinese Revolutionary Alliance. In 1911, after the famous Wuchang Uprising, his forces occupied Shanghai. He was then made military governor of the city. He fled to Japan on the failure of the "Second Revolution" against Yuan Shikai's dictatorship. He subsequently joined the Chinese Revolutionary Party. Yuan had him assassinated in 1916. The assassination is believed to have been carried out by Zhang Zongchang, a general loyal to Yuan.

Chen Shaokuan

Chen Shaokuan (b. Oct. 7, 1889, Fuzhou, Fujian, China - d. July 30, 1969, Fujian), Chinese admiral. Having graduated from the Mawei Naval Academy (in Fujian) in 1907, he started to serve in the navy. He joined the Paris Conference in 1919 as Chinese navy delegate, when holding the post of commander of the 2nd Fleet. He turned to the South with his fleet in 1927 and was nominated as minister, as well as commander-in-chief, of the navy. In 1945, he, together with Song Ziwen, went to New York to participate in the founding of the United Nations. After World War II, Chiang Kai-shek sacked him as commander-in-chief. In 1946, he was forced to retire. After that, he started to connect with the Communist underground organizations. He refused to go to Taiwan in 1949. After the Communist victory, he was named vice-governor of Fujian as well as vice-chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and the Kuomintang Revolutionary Committee.

Chen Shineng (b. July 1938, Jiaxing, Zhejiang, China), governor of Guizhou (1993-96).

Chen Shufan (b. Nov. 20, 1885, Ankang, Shaanxi, China - d. Nov. 2, 1949, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China), military (1916-21) and civil (1916, 1917-18) governor of Shaanxi. He joined the Chinese Revolutionary Alliance as a participant in the revolution in 1911, turning to Duan Qirui after taking office as Shaanxi governor. For collecting money to improve his armed forces, he encouraged local people to grow opium during his term as governor. In 1921, his forces were defeated by the united army led by Liu Zhenhua and Feng Yuxiang; as a result he was expelled from office and moved to Tianjin. Hearing that the Japanese authorities invited him to hold posts, he hid himself in Sichuan for eight years, not caring for political business.

Chen Shui-bian

Chen Shui-bian (name for foreign use), Wade-Giles Ch'en Shui-pien, Pinyin Chen Shuibian (b. October/November 1950¹, Kuantien, Tainan county, Taiwan), president of Taiwan (2000- ). He got involved in politics defending political dissidents during Taiwan's repressive martial law era, which ended after 38 years in 1987. He was imprisoned for eight months in 1986-87 for accusing a Nationalist politician of plagiarism. He became a leading figure in the Democratic Progressive Party, which was founded in 1986. Elected as Taipei's first opposition mayor in 1994, he held the DPP's top government office in Taiwan before he lost a close race to Nationalist Party challenger Ma Ying-jeou in 1998. The defeat is credited with prompting Chen to adopt a more moderate political style, giving him an image as a consensus builder that won him several important endorsements from intellectuals, who questioned whether Nationalist presidential candidate Lien Chan could clean up Taiwan's money politics and corruption. His election in 2000 ended the Nationalist Party's 51-year rule on the island. He swept to power on a split within the Nationalists and against their repeated warnings that his victory could provoke a war with China, which regards Taiwan as a breakaway province to be reunited with the mainland by force if necessary. Until 2000, Taiwanese had been wary about letting the DPP take control of state affairs because the party's platform called for formal independence from China - a step that Beijing said would lead to war. To win trust, Chen had to back down from his early vocal support of independence. He promised during the campaign he would not raise tensions with China but also said he would not compromise Taiwan's democracy and way of life in seeking reconciliation with China. He was shot and wounded in an assassination attempt on March 19, 2004, one day before he was narrowly reelected. He was chairman of the DPP in 2002-05 and 2007-08.
¹ Because he was very weak as an infant, the family did not register his birth with the local census bureau until 1951. Thus, his identification certificate shows his date of birth as Feb. 18, 1951.

Chen Tang-shan

Chen Tang-shan, also called Chen Tan-sun or Mark Chen, Pinyin Chen Tangshan (b. 1935, Tainan county, Taiwan), foreign minister of Taiwan (2004-06).

Chen Xilian (b. Jan. 4, 1915, Hong'an county, Hubei, China - d. June 10, 1999, Beijing), Chinese politician. He joined the Red Army at the age of 14. Before the 1949 communist victory, he served for 20 years under military commanders who would become some of China's most influential politicians. Promoted to general in 1955, Chen oversaw military operations in China's northeast (Manchuria) and then in Beijing. He was chairman of the Revolutionary Committee of Liaoning in 1968-73. He was named vice premier in 1975 and resigned five years later to make way for economic reformers favoured by paramount leader Deng Xiaoping.

Chen Xiru (b. 1859, Honolulu, Hawaii - d. 1937), civil governor of Guangdong (1922-23). A graduate of Yale University, he set up an English school especially for Chinese in the U.S. He and his father returned to China in 1890, running business in Hong Kong and Macau, holding the post of president of the Sino-Japan Bank seated in Hong Kong, and being a shareholder of the Guangdong-Hankou railway. He was a support of Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary movements, donating 270,000 yuan to Sun for his reshuffle of the Guangdong government. He was elected Guangdong governor by the provincial council in 1922, but was removed the next year, after which he returned to doing business in Hong Kong and Macau.

Chen Xitong (b. June 1930, Anyue county, Sichuan, China), mayor of Beijing (1983-93). In December 1992 he became Communist Party secretary of Beijing but rumours began to fly that he and his staff were demanding major bribes in return for construction contracts and in 1995 he was removed from his post. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 1998 and released in 2006 on medical parole.

Chen Yi (1883-1950)

Chen Yi, Wade-Giles Ch'en Yi (b. May 5, 1883, Shaoxing, Zhejiang, China - d. June 18, 1950, Taiwan), civil governor (1926-27) and chairman of the government (1948-49) of Zhejiang, chairman of the government of Fujian (1933-41), and governor of Taiwan (1945-47). He studied abroad in Japan in 1902 and participated in the Chinese revolution a decade later. Having been a division commander in the Zhejiang Provincial Army, he went to Japan again in 1917 for further study, and became commander of the 1st Army, moonlighting as head of the garrison of Xuzhou city, Jiangsu. He turned to Chiang Kai-shek in December 1926, taking the leadership of the 19th Army. He was also the secretary-general of the Executive Yuan (premier's office). He was sent to Taiwan after the end of World War II, holding the governor's post as well as that of head of garrison. In early 1949, he tried to persuade Gen. Tang Enbo to turn to the Communist Party, but was sold out by Tang and executed the following year.

Chen Yi (1901-72)

Chen Yi (b. Aug. 26, 1901, Lochi, near Chengdu, Sichuan, China - d. Jan. 6, 1972, Beijing, China), mayor of Shanghai (1949-58) and foreign minister of China (1958-72).

Chen Yonggui, Wade-Giles romanization Ch'en Yung-kuei (b. Feb. 14, 1915, Xiyang, Shanxi, China - d. March 26, 1986, Beijing, China), Chinese politician. In 1950 he set up the Dazhai (Ta-chai) agricultural commune and gained national prominence by touting its accomplishments, by receiving delegations of admirers, and by traveling to other communes to promote Dazhai work methods. Mao Zedong made Dazhai a national symbol, and the slogan "In agriculture, learn from Dazhai!" was emblazoned on walls throughout the country in an effort to stimulate workers into emulating the commune. Chen reportedly mobilized 83 families to carve granite slabs out of the hillsides and to construct terraces and reservoirs. In 1973 he was elected a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party, and in 1975 he was appointed vice-premier. He also headed friendship delegations to Mexico (1975) and Cambodia (1977) and was elected (1978) deputy for Shanxi province. After the entire operation was exposed as a sham in 1978, it was revealed that battalions of army labourers had terraced the hills and dug irrigation ditches and that grain output had actually decreased year after year, with peasants going hungry. Deng Xiaoping scrapped Mao's system of agricultural communes, and though Chen remained in the Politburo and the Central Committee until 1982, he was later posted to the Dongjiao farm and was not heard from again until his death.

Chen Youren (b. 1878, in present Trinidad and Tobago - d. May 20, 1944, Shanghai, China), Chinese politician. He was named a legal adviser of the transport ministry upon the founding of the Beijing government in 1912, later becoming an adviser of Sun Yat-sen on foreign affairs and taking up the foreign ministry when Chiang Kai-shek took power. As a Kuomintang leftist, Chen participated in the Fujian Incident against Chiang in 1932, holding the foreign ministry in the Fujian People's Revolutionary Government led by Li Jishen. He fled abroad upon their defeat and then moved to Hong Kong in 1937; he lived in Shanghai from 1941.

Chen Yun

Chen Yun, Wade-Giles romanization Ch'en Yün, original name Liao Ch'eng-yün (b. June 13, 1905, Qingpu, Kiangsu, China - d. April 10, 1995, Beijing), vice-premier of China (1979-82). He joined the Communist Party in 1924 under the tutelage of Zhou Enlai (later premier). He took part in the Long March (1934-35) and spent 1935-37 in the Soviet Union. During World War II he was active in organizational work for the party and from 1945 to 1949 played important roles in political and economic developments in Manchuria. He then directed China's economy after the defeat (1949) of the Nationalist government. As vice-premier (he also acted as premier during Zhou's absence), and as a member of the all-powerful Standing Committee of the party Politburo, Chen stressed sound planning and prudent policies. This approach put him at odds with Mao Zedong, who launched the disastrous Great Leap Forward (1958-59) in the hope that China could be transformed into an instant superpower by forcing labourers into communes and installing backyard blast furnaces throughout the land. As a consequence of his differences with Mao, Chen lost administrative posts and power. His return to prominence, believed to have been engineered by Deng Xiaoping, began late in 1978 with election to the Politburo and appointment as a vice-chairman of the Chinese Communist Party. His designation as a vice-premier and head of the new State Finance and Economic Commission in July 1979 seemed to confirm his role as undisputed czar of China's economy during the critical years that lay ahead. Chen quickly established his authority by redesigning China's plans for modernizing the economy. Evidently feeling that the original goals were too ambitious and probably unattainable, he opted for less frantic development and more emphasis on light industry.

Chen Zhaochang (b. 1867, Xinhui, Guangdong, China - d. Oct. 24, 1914, Shanghai, China), governor of Jilin (1908-13). He was appointed the secretary of the ministry of personnel affairs in the early 1900s, and subsequently governor. He continued his term as governor despite the fall of the imperial government. He resigned for failing health in 1913.

Cheney

Cheney, Richard (Bruce), byname Dick Cheney (b. Jan. 30, 1941, Lincoln, Neb.), U.S. vice president (2001- ). In Washington, D.C., on a congressional fellowship in 1968, he caught the eye of Donald Rumsfeld, director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, and became Rumsfeld's special assistant in 1969. He was on the White House staff in 1970-71 and served as an assistant director of the Cost of Living Council from 1971 to 1973, when Rumsfeld was director. When Rumsfeld became assistant to the president and chief of staff of the White House in 1974, Cheney became his deputy. From 1975 to 1977 Cheney himself was chief of staff. He won the first of six consecutive terms as U.S. representative from Wyoming in 1978. He served on the Select Committee on Intelligence and became chairman of the Republican Conference in 1987 and minority whip in December 1988. On March 9, 1989, the U.S. Senate rejected Pres. George Bush's nomination of John Tower as defense secretary, and the next day, Bush nominated the respected Cheney. He took office on March 17 after having been confirmed by the Senate by a vote of 92-0. He presided over reductions in the military following the breakup of the Soviet Union and oversaw the U.S. military invasion of Panama (1989) and the U.S. participation in the Persian Gulf War (1991). After President Bush lost his reelection bid in 1992, Cheney became a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. On July 25, 2000, Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush announced that Cheney was his running mate. What he brought to the ticket was experience in national government and in foreign affairs, both of which Bush lacked. He became one of the most active and influential vice presidents in the history of that office.

Cheng Andong (b. October 1936, Huainan, Anhui, China), governor of Shaanxi (1994-2002).

Cheng Dequan

Cheng Dequan (b. July 22, 1860, Yunyang, Sichuan, China - d. April 29, 1930, Shanghai, China), military governor of Jiangsu (1911-12, 1912-13). He was civil governor of Heilongjiang in Qing times, and then was sent to Fengtian (now Liaoning) and later to Jiangsu. In 1911 the Jiangsu Military Government was founded in opposition to the Qing dynasty, and he was forced to declare independence. With the support of the constitutional monarchists as well as some bureaucrats, he and his other monarchist colleagues managed to maintain their posts, only breaking some bricks of the old provincial government hall into pieces so as to show that a revolution was necessary. As a leader of the Republican Party of China, which held about 20 seats in the first ever Congress of China, he was a supporter of Yuan Shikai, fleeing from office to Shanghai as revolutionary forces gained control over the Jiangsu capital Nanjing during the "Second Revolution" in 1913-14. In Shanghai, he cancelled the independence of Jiangsu claimed by the Kuomintang, in order to show his support to President Yuan.

Cheng Heng

Cheng Heng (b. Jan. 10, 1910, Takeo province, Cambodia - d. March 15, 1996), head of state of Cambodia (1970-72). He was also president of the National Assembly (1968-70). He lived in exile in the United States in 1975-92.

Cheng Ke (b. 1878, Kaifeng, Henan, China - d. March 28, 1936, Tianjin, China), governor-general of Altay (1915-18) and justice minister (1923-24) and interior minister (1924) of China. He joined the Chinese Revolutionary Alliance in Japan and later became an advisor in the president's office. Before he took office in Altay, he had been a magistrate in Hanzhong city, Shaanxi. His top-official career started after Duan Qirui took power. He was first elected a member of the House of Representatives and then seated himself in the cabinet. He resigned in September 1924 and then moved to Tianjin, where he was nominated as mayor in 1934.

Cheng Kejie

Cheng Kejie (b. Nov. 13, 1933, Shanglin, Guangxi, China - d. Sept. 14, 2000, Beijing, China), chairman of the government of Guangxi (1989-98). He joined the Chinese Communist Party in February 1984. He held a series of leading party and government positions in the Guangxi autonomous region until 1998 when he became a vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. In 2000 he was executed on charges of bribery.

Cheng Weigao (b. September 1933, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China), governor of Henan (1987-90) and Hebei (1990-93).

Chenik

Chérestal

Chenik, M'Hamed (b. May 1889, Tunis - d. Nov. 20, 1976, Radès, Tunisia), prime minister of Tunisia (1943, 1950-52). He was arrested on March 26, 1952, and exiled to Remada (in the south) until May 1953.

Chérestal, Jean-Marie (Antoine Pompilus) (b. June 18, 1947, Port-Salut, Haiti), finance minister (1995-96) and prime minister (2001-02) of Haiti. He was a presidential candidate in 2006, winning 0.3% of the vote.

Cherkesov, Viktor (Vasilyevich) (b. July 13, 1950, Leningrad, Russian S.F.S.R. [now St. Petersburg, Russia]), plenipotentiary of the president in Severo-Zapadny federal district (2000-03).

Chermont, (Dominique) Prosper de (b. Nov. 24, 1741, Toul [now in Meurthe-et-Moselle département], France - d. Sept. 13, 1798, Pondicherry, French India), acting governor-general of the Mascarene Islands (1790) and governor of Île Bourbon (1790-92) and French India (1792-93).

Chernenko

Chernenko, Konstantin (Ustinovich) (b. Sept. 24 [Sept. 11, Old Style], 1911, Bolshaya Tes, Yeniseysk, Russia [now in Krasnoyarsk kray] - d. March 10, 1985, Moscow), general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1984-85). He joined the Communist Party in 1931. Trained as a party propagandist, he held several administrative posts before becoming head of agitation and propaganda (agitprop) in Moldavia (1948-56), where he was first noticed by Leonid Brezhnev and brought to Moscow to head a similar department for the party's Central Committee (1956-60). When Brezhnev took over the party in 1964, he made Chernenko his chief of staff. Chernenko was a full member of the Central Committee from 1971 and of the Politburo from 1977. An old-line conservative, Chernenko traveled extensively with Brezhnev and was considered his aide, confidant, and, by some observers, his heir apparent. After Brezhnev's death, however, he was unable to rally a majority of the party factions behind his candidacy to be head of the party and lost out to Yury Andropov, the former KGB chief, who became general secretary on Nov. 12, 1982. However, Andropov had become mortally ill by the following August, and after his death six months later, Chernenko succeeded him as general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on Feb. 13, 1984. On April 12 he became chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. Like his predecessor, Chernenko began showing signs of deteriorating health shortly after taking office. His frequent absences from official functions because of illness left little doubt that his election had been an interim measure, and upon his death he was succeeded by Mikhail Gorbachev.

Chernogorov, Aleksandr (Leonidovich) (b. July 13, 1959, Vozdvizhenka village, Stavropol kray, Russian S.F.S.R.), governor of Stavropol kray (1996- ).

Chernomyrdin

Chernomyrdin, Viktor (Stepanovich) (b. April 9, 1938, Cherny Ostrog, Orenburg oblast, Russian S.F.S.R.), prime minister of Russia (1992-98). He joined the Communist Party in 1961 and worked his way up to join the Central Committee's industry department. He became gas industry minister in 1985 under Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Chernomyrdin won an international business reputation as chairman (1989-92) of Gazprom, the natural-gas monopoly. He left the party in 1991. In December 1992 he was named prime minister. His prestige rose in mid-1994 when he played a crucial role in gaining the release of Russian citizens held hostage by rebel forces in Chechnya and in bringing about negotiations to end the Chechen war. In mid-1995, he formed a political party, tacitly backed by Pres. Boris Yeltsin, named Our Home is Russia. In parliamentary elections held in mid-December 1995, he led the party to capture slightly over 10% of the vote. On March 23, 1998, Yeltsin sacked him without explanation, replacing him with Sergey Kiriyenko. Yeltsin later said the sacking was due to Chernomyrdin's lack of reformist stamina. But some Kremlin sources said the growing political weight of the premier was the real reason. Yeltsin, they said, feared Chernomyrdin had become too powerful. Chernomyrdin, abandoned by the Kremlin chief, announced plans to run for president in 2000, revealing an ambition he had long denied harbouring. But on August 23 Yeltsin removed Kiriyenko and recalled Chernomyrdin as acting premier and even endorsed him as his heir apparent. However, this time he failed to retain his reputation as politically "unsinkable." The Duma rejected him, although like Chernomyrdin, many of the Duma members were former communists and Soviet-era managers and had backed him on many previous occasions. In 2001 he was named ambassador to Ukraine.

Chernousov, Boris Nikolayevich (b. 1908 - d. Jan. 2, 1978), chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian S.F.S.R. (1949-52).

Chernov

Chernov, Pavel (Viktorovich) (b. Jan. 7, 1950, Malo-Makatelen, Gorky [now Nizhny Novgorod] oblast, Russian S.F.S.R.), prime minister of Karelia (2003- ).

Chernyshev, Aleksey (Andreyevich) (b. March 29, 1939), head of the administration of Orenburg oblast (1999- ).

Chervenkov

Chervenkov, Vulko (Velev) (b. Sept. 6, 1900, Zlatitsa, Bulgaria - d. Oct. 21, 1980, Sofia), Bulgarian politician. He joined the Bulgarian Workers' Party in 1919 and was (1920-25) a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League. In September 1923 Chervenkov took part in an unsuccessful Communist uprising. He was editor of the legal crypto-Communist newspaper Budashte ("Future") and the underground Voinishki Glas ("Soldier's Voice"). In October 1925 he fled to Moscow, where he studied at the Marx-Lenin School of which he eventually became director. In 1941, shortly after the German aggression against the U.S.S.R., he was appointed director of the Khristo Botev radio station, which broadcast to Bulgaria. In September 1944 Georgi Dimitrov, head of the Comintern and Chervenkov's brother-in-law, sent him to Bulgaria where he was elected a member of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP). In September 1947, he was a Bulgarian delegate at the conference in Poland at which the Cominform was created. On Dec. 12, 1947, he was appointed minister of culture and on July 20, 1949, first deputy prime minister. He became secretary-general of the party in 1949 and in 1950, after the death of Vasil Kolarov, he was named premier. His position was seriously weakened after the death of Stalin in 1953 and became precarious with Khrushchev's denunciation (1956) of the Stalin personality cult. On April 17, 1956, Chervenkov was replaced as premier, but for five years he remained in office as one of the deputy premiers. In 1962 he was expelled from the BCP, but he was silently rehabilitated seven years later.

Chervyakov, Aleksandr (Grigoryevich), Belorussian Alyaksandr (Ryhoravich) Charvyakou (b. March 8 [Feb. 25, old style], 1892, Dukorki, Minsk province, Russia [now in Belarus] - d. June 17, 1937, Minsk, Belorussian S.S.R.), co-chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the U.S.S.R. (1922-37).

Cheshire, Sir John (Anthony) (b. Sept. 4, 1942), lieutenant governor of Jersey (2001-06); knighted 1995.

Chessé, Henri Isidore (b. May 20, 1839, Le Marin, Martinique - d. ...), commandant of the French Settlements in Oceania (1880-81) and governor of French Guiana (1883-84).

Chettiar

Chevallaz

Chettiar, Angidi (Veeriah) (b. April 29, 1928), vice president (1997-2002, 2007- ) and acting president (2002) of Mauritius.

Chevallaz, Georges-André (b. Feb. 7, 1915, Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland - d. Sept. 8, 2002, Lausanne), Swiss politician. He was mayor of Lausanne in 1957-73. Elected to the Swiss parliament in 1959 for the centrist Liberal Democrats, he became a minister in the seven-member coalition cabinet in 1973. As finance minister (1974-79, 1983), he was tasked with getting Switzerland through the oil crisis of the 1970s. He implemented a number of austerity measures, including a tax on gas and tobacco products, a freeze on hiring of government staff and on government subsidies of health insurance. However, his attempts to introduce value-added tax were twice rejected by the Swiss people in referendums. Chevallaz was president in 1980 under Switzerland's rotating system, and in the same year moved to head the Defense Ministry, a position he held until he retired in 1983.

Chevallier, Victorin, byname of Victor Jean-Marie Eustache Chevallier (b. Dec. 9, 1815, Port-au-Prince, Haiti - d. Dec. 28, 1869, Fort Bizoton, west of Port-au-Prince), member of the Provisional Government of Haiti (1867).

Chevènement

Chevènement, Jean-Pierre (b. March 9, 1939, Belfort), French politician. He began his administrative career as a commercial attaché in the Ministry of Economy and Finance. After joining the SFIO (Section Française de l'Internationale Ouvrière) in 1964, he was secretary-general (1965-71) of the Centre d'Études, de Recherches et d'Éducation Socialistes (CERES). In 1971, at the congress on Socialist unity at Épinay-sur-Seine, he became the ally of François Mitterrand. He was appointed national secretary of the Socialist Party that year and was one of the main negotiators of the joint program with the Communists and other left-wing parties. He was first elected a deputy for Belfort in 1973. In 1975, at the Socialist Party's Pau congress, he was removed from the party leadership and went into a four-year "exile." But at the Metz congress in 1979 he supported Mitterrand, and the Socialist Party Committee extended the National Secretariat to members of the CERES. He was the main editor of the "Socialist Plan" on which Mitterrand based his presidential manifesto. He became minister for research and technology (1981-83) and industry (1982-83), thus gaining the means to carry out his plans to make France a major power in advanced technology. He was education minister in 1984-86. In 1988 he became defense minister, resigning in 1991 to protest France's involvement with the U.S.-led alliance in the Gulf War against Iraq. He was president of the Movement of Citizens party in 1993-2001. In 1997 he became interior minister. His heart stopped Sept. 2, 1998, after he suffered an allergic reaction to curare, a muscle relaxant, just before gall bladder surgery. He spent eight days in a coma. He returned to work on Jan. 4, 1999. He resigned in 2000 and was a presidential candidate in 2002, winning 5% of the vote. Since 2002 he is president of the Republican Pole party.

Chevigné

Chevigné, Pierre (Gabriel Adhéaume, comte) de (b. June 16, 1909, Toulon, France - d. Aug. 4, 2004, Biarritz, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France), high commissioner of Madagascar (1948-50) and defense minister of France (1958).

Chevreau, (Julien Théophile) Henri (b. April 28, 1823, Paris - d. May 26, 1903, Yerres, Essonne, France), prefect of Rhône (1864-70) and Seine (1870) départements and interior minister of France (1870).

Cheysson

Cheysson, Claude (b. April 13, 1920, Paris), foreign minister of France (1981-84). He joined the Foreign Ministry in 1948 and became head of the liaison service with the West German authorities the following year. Subsequently, he served as counselor to the president of the government of Vietnam in 1952, chef de cabinet to Premier Pierre Mendès-France (1954-55), general secretary of the Commission for Technical Cooperation in Africa (1957-62), director of the Organisme Saharien (1962-65), ambassador to Indonesia (1966-69), and a member of the European Communities (EC) Commission in Brussels (in charge of development policy, cooperation, budgets, and financial control, 1973-77; development, 1977-81; and Mediterranean policy and North-South relations, 1985-89). He was one of the architects of the Lomé Convention linking the European Economic Community to 60 countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific, and a man who believed that third world development was an absolute necessity. He was appointed foreign minister in the Socialist government formed on May 22, 1981, following the election of Pres. François Mitterrand. Cheysson recalled that Mitterrand would surely wish to make the area of foreign relations his particular province, but the natural alignment of Cheysson's views with those of Mitterrand gave Cheysson a different status from that of his predecessors. Once in office he undertook an intense program of foreign visits (including attendance at the North-South summit at Cancún, Mexico).

Chhean Vam (b. April 16, 1916, Battambang, Cambodia - d. Jan. 19, 2000, Paris), prime minister of Cambodia (1948). He was also national education minister (1946-48) and defense minister (1948-49). He was granted asylum in France in 1974.

Chhibber, B(akshi) K(rishan) N(ath) (b. 1936?), governor of Punjab (India) (1994-99).

Chi	J.H. Chiang

Chi Haotian (b. July 1929, Zhaoyuan, Shandong province, China), defense minister of China (1993-2003).

Chiang, John H. (Chiang Hsiao-yen), Pinyin Jiang Xiaoyan (b. May 2, 1941, Guilin, Guangxi, China), Taiwanese politician. A grandson of Chiang Kai-shek and an illegitimate son of Chiang Ching-kuo, he went by his mother's surname, Chang (Pinyin Zhang), until changing to Chiang in March 2005. He was foreign minister in 1996-97, vice premier in 1997, and secretary-general of the Nationalist Party in 1997-99. He quit as Taiwan's presidential chief of staff in 1999 after confessing to an extramarital affair but attempted a political comeback in 2001.

Chiang Ching-kuo

Chiang Ching-kuo, Pinyin Jiang Jingguo (b. March 18, 1910, Xikou, Zhejiang [Chekiang] province, China - d. Jan. 13, 1988, Taipei, Taiwan), president of Taiwan (1978-88); son of Chiang Kai-shek. He was arrested several times during his youth for involvement with revolutionary activities. During the war with the Japanese, Chiang Ching-kuo held various military and administrative posts in the Nationalist government. After 1941 his father came to rely increasingly on his advice, and when the Communists gained control of mainland China in 1949, father and son moved to Taiwan, where they reestablished the headquarters of the Nationalist government. There Chiang Ching-kuo was given control of the military and security agencies of the Nationalist government, and in 1965 he became defense minister, with command of the army. In 1972 he was appointed prime minister by his father. His father's death in 1975 was followed by a caretaker presidency until March 21, 1978, when Chiang Ching-kuo was formally elected by the National Assembly to a six-year presidential term; he was reelected to a second term in 1984. He moved to eliminate governmental corruption and favouritism and to broaden the government's base by bringing more native-born Taiwanese into the legislative and executive branches, which were dominated by former mainland Chinese officials of the Nationalist Party. He tried to maintain Taiwan's vital foreign-trade relationships as well as its political independence, since many members of the international community, including the United States, broke diplomatic relations with his country in the 1970s in order to establish ties with China. In the 1980s he remained opposed both to Taiwanese recognition of the Communist regime and to negotiations for a reunification with the mainland.

Chiang Kai-shek

Chiang Kai-shek, Wade-Giles romanization Chiang Chieh-shih, Pinyin Jiang Jieshi, official name Chiang Chung-cheng (Jiang Zhongzheng) (b. Oct. 31, 1887, Fenghua, Zhejiang, China - d. April 5, 1975, Taipei, Taiwan), head of the Nationalist government in China (1928-49), and subsequently head of the Chinese Nationalist government on Taiwan (1949-75). In 1911 Chiang helped in the sporadic fighting that led to the overthrow of the Manchus. In 1918 he joined Sun Yat-sen, the leader of the Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang. Shortly after Sun Yat-sen had begun to reorganize the Nationalist Party along Soviet lines, Chiang visited the Soviet Union in 1923 to study Soviet institutions, especially the Red Army. Moscow supported him until 1927, when he finally broke with the Communists. Commander in chief of the revolutionary army since 1925, he had meanwhile launched a massive Nationalist campaign against the northern warlords. This drive ended only in 1928, when his forces entered Beijing, the capital. A new central government under the Nationalists, with Chiang at its head, was then established at Nanjing, farther south. War with Japan broke out in 1937, and Chiang was compelled to end his military campaigns against the Communists and form an alliance with them against the Japanese invaders. He resumed the struggle against the Communists after the Japanese surrendered to the United States in 1945. Civil war recommenced in 1946; by 1949 Chiang had lost continental China to the Communists. Chiang moved to Taiwan with the remnants of his Nationalist forces and established a relatively benign dictatorship over the island. After his death in 1975 he was succeeded temporarily by Yen Chia-kan, who was in 1978 replaced by Chiang's son Chiang Ching-kuo.

Chiang Yen-shih, also spelled Tsiang Yien-si, Pinyin Jiang Yanshi (b. 1915 - d. July 2, 1998), foreign minister of Taiwan (1978-79).

Chiappe, Jean (Baptiste Pascal Eugène) (b. May 3, 1878, Ajaccio, Corse [now in Corse-du-Sud], France - d. Nov. 27, 1940, Mediterranean Sea, between Sardinia and the African coast), French administrator. He was prefect of police (1927-34) and president of the Municipal Council (1935) of Paris. He was appointed high commissioner of Syria and Lebanon in November 1940, but died on his flight to Beirut when his plane was shot down as it was crossing a locality where a naval engagement between British and Italians was taking place.

Chiari (Remón), Roberto F(rancisco) (b. March 2, 1905, Panama - d. March 1, 1981, Panama), president of Panama (1949, 1960-64); son of Rodolfo Chiari.

Chiari (Robles), Rodolfo (E.) (b. Nov. 15, 1869, Aguadulce, Panama - d. Aug. 16, 1937, California), president of Panama (1924-28).

Chiaruzzi

Chiaruzzi, Mauro (b. Oct. 13, 1952), captain-regent of San Marino (2002-03).

Chicherin, Georgy (Vasilyevich) (b. Nov. 24, 1872, Tambov province, Russia - d. July 7, 1936, Moscow), Soviet foreign minister (1918-30). He entered the imperial diplomatic service but became involved in the Russian revolutionary movement, and in 1904 resigned his post, renounced title to his estates, and went to Berlin, where he joined the Menshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Party (1905). For the next 12 years he devoted himself to party activities, working closely with the French Socialists and the British labour movement. During World War I he took part in pacifist and relief activities in London. After the Bolsheviks seized power in Russia (November 1917), the British arrested him and, in exchange for their ambassador, Sir George Buchanan, released him on Jan. 3, 1918. He returned to Russia and joined the Bolshevik Party. He then resumed his diplomatic career, participating in the final stage of negotiating the Brest-Litovsk peace treaty with Germany and subsequently becoming people's commissar for foreign affairs (May 1918). After negotiating treaties resolving territorial and commercial disputes, Chicherin headed the Soviet delegation to the conference of European nations held at Genoa to consider reconstruction of the European economy (1922). There he secretly negotiated the Treaty of Rapallo with Germany (signed April 16, 1922), which established normal commercial and diplomatic relations between the two countries and thereby ended the diplomatic and economic isolation that had been imposed on Russia and Germany after World War I. Although he had little influence in determining the foreign policies of the Soviet Union, he continued to carry them out skillfully until illness prevented him from performing his duties in 1928.

Chidambaram

Chidambaram, Palaniappan (b. Sept. 16, 1945, Kandanur, near Karaikudi, India), Indian politician. A staunch free-market reformer, he held ministerial posts under Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and was commerce minister in Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao's Congress party ministry which lost power in 1996. He joined the breakaway regional Tamil Maanila Congress in April 1996 when Rao entered into a controversial political alliance in Tamil Nadu. He was finance minister in H.D. Deve Gowda's United Front government in 1996-97 and during his tenure launched an ambitious tax reform programme to tackle an unwieldy fiscal deficit, a voluntary disclosure of income scheme to halt tax evasion, and capital market reforms. He also unveiled a "dream budget" in 1997 in which he lowered import tariffs and slashed tax rates to boost tax compliance. He again became finance minister in 2004 after the Congress party's election victory. Though not part of Congress, he was backed by the party in the election because he was regarded as one of the sharpest economists in the country.

Chidchai Vanasatidya, also spelled Chitchai Wannasathit (b. Aug. 13, 1946), interior minister (2005) and acting prime minister (2006) of Thailand.

E. Chien

F.F. Chien

Chiepe

Chien, Eugene (Chien You-hsin), Pinyin Jian Youxin (b. Feb. 4, 1946, Taipei), foreign minister of Taiwan (2002-04).

Chien, Frederick F(oo), Pinyin Jian Fu (b. Feb. 17, 1935, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China), foreign minister (1990-96) and speaker of the National Assembly (1996-98) of Taiwan.

Chiepe, Gaositwe K(eagakwa) T(ibe) (b. Oct. 20, 1922, Serowe, Bechuanaland [now Botswana]), foreign minister of Botswana (1985-94).

Chifley

Chifley, Joseph Benedict (b. Sept. 22, 1885, Bathurst, New South Wales [Australia] - d. June 13, 1951, Canberra), prime minister of Australia (1945-49). He became a prominent figure in the Railway Locomotive Engine-Drivers Union. He first stood for parliament in 1925, but was not elected until three years later. Appointed defense minister in 1931, he lost his seat in the electoral debacle of that year and did not return to parliament until 1940. His participation on the royal commission on banking (1935-37) shaped his later financial policies. When the Labor Party regained control of the government under John Curtin in 1941, Chifley became federal treasurer and imposed strict wartime control over the economy, including expansion of federal taxing powers. In 1942 he also became minister for postwar reconstruction. He succeeded Curtin in 1945 and soon sponsored legislation governing the interrelations of state and private banks and the federal government. His government also nationalized Qantas (the Australian international airline) and established Trans-Australia Airlines (the government-owned domestic airline). Among other accomplishments of his government were public-health and labour-arbitration bills, agricultural and industrial development, and the founding of the Australian National University in Canberra as a centre for postgraduate research. In 1948-49 Chifley altered Australia's traditional hostility toward Asian nations by siding with the Indonesians against the Dutch in the Netherlands East Indies (now Indonesia). His moderate attitude toward the Australian Communist Party and his unsuccessful attempt to nationalize private banks led to his defeat in the elections of 1949. He continued as leader of the Labor opposition in Parliament until his death.

Chigoyev, Merab (Ilich) (b. Feb. 15, 1950), prime minister of South Ossetia (1998-2001).

Chihana, Chakufwa (Tom) (b. 1938? - d. June 12, 2006, Johannesburg, South Africa), Malawian politician. A former trade unionist detained without trial for six years in the 1970s, he rallied opposition to the dictatorship of Hastings Kamuzu Banda. He fiercely criticized Banda during trips abroad and was arrested upon his return to Malawi in April 1992. His high-profile sedition trial fuelled a local and international campaign for change, forcing Banda to call a referendum in 1993 in which Malawians voted overwhelmingly for the restoration of multiparty democracy. Chihana, as leader of the Alliance for Democracy (AFORD), ran for president in 1994, but lost to Bakili Muluzi, a former Banda protégé. He twice served in Muluzi's government as second vice president (1994-96, 2003-04) and also held office as minister of agriculture and irrigation both under Muluzi and his successor, Bingu wa Mutharika.

Chikerema, James (Robert Dambaza) (b. April 2, 1925, Kutama mission, Zvimba, near Salisbury [now Harare], Southern Rhodesia [now Zimbabwe] - d. March 22, 2006, Indiana, U.S.), Zimbabwean nationalist leader. He played an important role in Zimbabwe's struggle for independence in the 1950s, '60s, and '70s. He helped organize a bus boycott in the then white-ruled Rhodesia in 1956. After being released from a detention in 1963, he went into exile until 1977. He was acting chairman of the Zimbabwe African Peoples Union (ZAPU) - a rival to Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African Nationalist Union (ZANU) - from 1964 to 1971 and later was a leader of the Front for the Liberation of Zimbabwe (Frolizi). In 1977 he became first vice president of Abel Muzorewa's United African National Council. He was joint minister of transport and power, mines, roads and traffic, and posts in the biracial government of 1978-79. In June 1979 he formed the Zimbabwe Democratic Party. He retired from active politics at independence in 1980 but continued to comment on national affairs, becoming a fierce critic of President Mugabe, to whom he was related.

Chikvaidze, Aleksandr (Davidovich) (b. Jan. 19, 1932, Tbilisi, Georgian S.S.R.), foreign minister of Georgia (1992-95).

Childers

Childers, Erskine H(amilton) (b. Dec. 11, 1905, London - d. Nov. 17, 1974, Dublin), president of Ireland (1973-74). Childers was given the same Christian name as his father, Robert Erskine, who became a leading figure in the struggle for Irish independence, was minister for publicity in the Republican government of 1919, and was executed on Nov. 24, 1922. The son, following his political debut in 1938, became a junior minister in 1944 and was later minister for posts and telegraphs (1951-54), of lands, forestry, and fisheries (1957-59), and of transport and power (1959-69). He was minister for health and deputy leader of the Fianna Fáil party from 1969. He supported Prime Minister Jack Lynch's condemnation of the violence in Northern Ireland and Lynch's advocacy of a European role for the Irish Republic within the European Economic Community. After his election as president in 1973, Childers was not able to realize his hope of making the presidency a platform for noncontroversial pronouncements and intellectual debate. He was the second Protestant to hold the office (the first being Douglas Hyde, 1938-45).

Chiles

Chiles, Lawton (Mainor, Jr.) (b. April 3, 1930, Lakeland, Fla. - d. Dec. 12, 1998, Tallahassee, Fla.), governor of Florida (1991-98). The Democrat was elected to the state House in 1958, at 28, and to the state Senate in 1966. In 1970, he ran for U.S. senator by walking across the state, barely finishing second in the primary, beating a better-known Democrat in the runoff and then upsetting a Republican in the general. His demeanor and record were moderate, but well to the left of most Republicans. In 1990 he ran for governor, beat Congressman Bill Nelson in the primary and whipped Republican Bob Martinez 57%-43%. Chiles, part of the Democratic Leadership Council, promised to reform government. He reduced spending increases, called for "right-sizing" the bureaucracy, settling a federal suit on the Everglades. He was a late entry in 1990, brought in by his lieutenant governor, Buddy MacKay, a former congressman who nearly won the 1988 Senate race. He pushed through campaign finance reform with low contribution limits. He was proud of requiring "Healthy Start" to screen every pregnant woman and newborn for health risks and pushed a mandatory work program to cut state welfare rolls. He also called for $1.3 billion in new taxes in 1992, at which point his job rating plummeted. And in 1994 his healthcare reform plan was rejected by the legislature. In 1994 Jeb Bush, son of George Bush, won the Republican primary. Bush zoomed to a lead in polls and presented a program of thoroughgoing conservative reform, calling for fewer appeals for death row inmates and speedier executions, and more welfare cuts. The result was a 51%-49% Chiles victory. Blacks were 94% for Chiles, Jews 79% for Chiles, Cubans 74% for Bush. He did not seek reelection in 1998 and died before his term expired.

Chiluba

Chiluba, Frederick (Jacob Titus) (b. April 30, 1943, Kitwe, Wusakili township, Copperbelt, Northern Rhodesia), president of Zambia (1991-2002). In 1968, he was elected shop steward of the National Union of Building Engineering and General Workers. In 1974 he was elected chairman-general of the 300,000-strong Zambia Congress of Trade Unions, a position he held for 17 years. As such he was the leader of the unofficial opposition to Pres. Kenneth Kaunda's one-party government. In 1981 Kaunda detained Chiluba and other labour leaders and accused them of plotting to overthrow the government, but after three months a court released the accused, saying their detention was illegal. In February 1991 he was elected leader of the new Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD), which was galvanized into a political party to contest and eventually wrestle power from Kaunda's United National Independence Party (UNIP). In the October 1991 election, the MMD won 125 seats and UNIP 25. Chiluba won just over 80% of the vote to force Kaunda from office. He quickly began Africa's most ambitious programme to reform a state-