Romania: Death of a Dictator : DICTATORS: A ROGUE’S GALLERY

With the death of Romania’s Ceausescu and the toppling of Panama’s Noriega, the dictator seems to be an endangered species at the close of the 1980s. Here are some examples of tyrants in this century: ADOLF HITLER--Germany

A frustrated artist and master orator, Hitler blamed Germany’s World War I defeat on Jews and Marxists. He was a founder of the Nazi Party and welded it into a strong paramilitary group. The Great Depression brought his party mass support. Named chancellor in 1933, Hitler used brutality and subversion to acquire dictatorial powers later in the year. As supreme ruler, he ignited World War II in an effort to build a “1,000-Year Reich,” causing the deaths of millions. Defeated by the Allies, he committed suicide in his Berlin bunker in 1945.

JOSEF STALIN--Soviet Union

Born Josef Dzhugashvili, he adopted the name Stalin (“man of steel”) while still a revolutionary. In the years after the 1917 October Revolution that overthrew Czar Nicholas II, Stalin maneuvered his way into becoming V. I. Lenin’s successor as Soviet leader. Once in power, he instituted a cult of personality and ruled by repression and terror, which reached their height in the political purges of the 1930s. After the Allied victory in World War II, he carved out a Soviet sphere of influence in Eastern Europe. He died in 1953 of a cerebral hemorrhage.

FRANCISCO FRANCO--Spain

Army commander Franco led the rebel Nationalist army to victory over the leftist Republican government in 1939. Aided by Nazi Germany in the civil war, Franco instituted a fascist dictatorship in which he was chief of state, prime minister, military commander and leader of the Falange, the only legal political party. Early in his rule, he acted to eliminate all opposition, although he later eased restrictions. Before his death in 1975, he provided for an eventual restoration of the Spanish monarchy, which had ruled until 1931.

ANASTASIO SOMOZA--Nicaragua

Third in the line of Somoza dictators, he assumed command of the powerful National Guard in 1946 after graduating from West Point. Following the assassination of his father in 1956 and the death of his elder brother in 1967, he was elected president. He exercised increasingly harsh measures against dissent until 1979, when he was toppled by revolt led by the leftist Sandinista Front, named for revolutionary executed by Somoza’s father in 1934. Exiled to South America, he was assassinated in Paraguay in 1980.

FRANCOIS DUVALIER--Haiti

“Papa Doc” Duvalier, trained as a physician, entered politics in the 1930s as a champion of poor blacks against the mulatto elite. He was elected president in 1957, then abandoned reformism and began building a dictatorship marked by corruption, authoritarianism and terror, much of it carried out by the notorious Tontons Macoutes secret police. In 1964, he declared himself president for life. He died in 1971 and was succeeded by his son, Jean-Claude, who was overthrown by the army in 1986.

RAFAEL TRUJILLO--Dominican Republic

He led a military revolt in 1930 that led to his assuming power, and for the next 31 years he headed one of Latin America’s most ruthless dictatorships, either as president or as power behind the presidency. Although he brought his country stability, he finally lost support in the army due to economic reversals and international pressure to liberalize, and he was assassinated by army elements in 1961.

FULGENCIO BATISTA--Cuba

As an army sergeant, he led the revolt that ousted dictator Gerardo Machado y Morales in 1933. Rising to the rank of colonel, he made and broke presidents until his own election in 1940. After a period as a senator, he led a revolt against President Carlos Prio Socarras in 1952, becoming president again. He was overthrown by a leftist revolution under Fidel Castro in 1959, was exiled and died in Spain in 1973.

IDI AMIN--Uganda

Onetime heavyweight boxing champion of Uganda, the British-trained officer led the revolt that ousted a civilian government in 1971. During nine controversial years in power, he forced tens of thousands of Asians living in Uganda to leave the country, called for the extinction of Israel and reportedly ordered the deaths of thousands of Ugandans who disagreed with his rule. Overthrown in 1979 by his enemies with the help of Tanzanian troops, he has since lived in exile in Saudi Arabia.