Lech Walesa - Academy of Achievement

<!doctype html> <html lang="en-US" prefix="og: http://ogp.me/ns#"> <head><script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/bundle-playback.js?v=HxkREWBo" charset="utf-8"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/wombat.js?v=txqj7nKC" charset="utf-8"></script> <script>window.RufflePlayer=window.RufflePlayer||{};window.RufflePlayer.config={"autoplay":"on","unmuteOverlay":"hidden"};</script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/ruffle/ruffle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> __wm.init("https://web.archive.org/web"); __wm.wombat("http://www.achievement.org:80/achiever/lech-walesa","20190103141132","https://web.archive.org/","web","/_static/", "1546524692"); </script> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/banner-styles.css?v=S1zqJCYt" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/iconochive.css?v=3PDvdIFv" />  <meta charset="utf-8"> <meta http-equiv="x-ua-compatible" content="ie=edge"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="57x57" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-57x57.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="114x114" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-114x114.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="72x72" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-72x72.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="144x144" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-144x144.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="60x60" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-60x60.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="120x120" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-120x120.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="76x76" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-76x76.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="152x152" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-152x152.png"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-196x196.png" sizes="196x196"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-96x96.png" sizes="96x96"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-32x32.png" sizes="32x32"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-16x16.png" sizes="16x16"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-128.png" sizes="128x128"/> <meta name="application-name" content="Academy of Achievement"/> <meta name="msapplication-TileColor" content="#000000"/> <meta name="msapplication-TileImage" content="http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-144x144.png"/> <meta name="msapplication-square70x70logo" content="http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-70x70.png"/> <meta name="msapplication-square150x150logo" content="http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-150x150.png"/> <meta name="msapplication-wide310x150logo" content="http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-310x150.png"/> <meta name="msapplication-square310x310logo" content="http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-310x310.png"/> <link href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132cs_/https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Source+Sans+Pro:400,600,400italic,600italic,700,700italic" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"> <title>Lech Walesa - Academy of Achievement</title>  <meta name="description" content=""I had conversations with all the powerful people of the world: with presidents, with prime ministers, chancellors and kings, too. None of them believed that there was any chance of us toppling communism before the year 2000. I didn't meet a single person among those people who would believe that was possible. Not a single one in the whole world." In the 1970s, Lech Walesa was an electrician at the Lenin shipyard in Gdansk, Poland. He was fired for his outspoken criticism of the communist government, but when his old co-workers went on strike in 1980, Walesa scaled the shipyard fence to join them. The courage exemplified by this act of defiance inspired the workers to hold out until they had won recognition for Solidarity, the first independent trade union in the Eastern Bloc. When Walesa received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1983, the Nobel committee saluted "the power of victory which abides in one person's belief, in his vision and in his courage to follow his call." As the Polish people's demands for freedom grew louder, the government declared martial law and tried to outlaw Solidarity, but the genie was out of the bottle. After another Gdansk strike in 1988, free elections were held, and Solidarity emerged triumphant. In 1990 Lech Walesa, the former shipyard electrician, was elected President of Poland, an office he held for the next five years. TIME magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people of the past century. Lech Walesa's courage helped bring about the disintegration of the Eastern Bloc and the end of the Cold War."/> <link rel="canonical" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/lech-walesa/"/> <meta property="og:locale" content="en_US"/> <meta property="og:type" content="article"/> <meta property="og:title" content="Lech Walesa - Academy of Achievement"/> <meta property="og:description" content="<p class="inputTextFirst">"I had conversations with all the powerful people of the world: with presidents, with prime ministers, chancellors and kings, too. None of them believed that there was any chance of us toppling communism before the year 2000. I didn't meet a single person among those people who would believe that was possible. Not a single one in the whole world."</p> <p class="inputText">In the 1970s, Lech Walesa was an electrician at the Lenin shipyard in Gdansk, Poland. He was fired for his outspoken criticism of the communist government, but when his old co-workers went on strike in 1980, Walesa scaled the shipyard fence to join them. The courage exemplified by this act of defiance inspired the workers to hold out until they had won recognition for Solidarity, the first independent trade union in the Eastern Bloc.</p> <p class="inputText">When Walesa received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1983, the Nobel committee saluted "the power of victory which abides in one person's belief, in his vision and in his courage to follow his call."</p> <p class="inputText">As the Polish people's demands for freedom grew louder, the government declared martial law and tried to outlaw Solidarity, but the genie was out of the bottle. After another Gdansk strike in 1988, free elections were held, and Solidarity emerged triumphant. In 1990 Lech Walesa, the former shipyard electrician, was elected President of Poland, an office he held for the next five years.</p> <p class="inputText"><em>TIME</em> magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people of the past century. Lech Walesa's courage helped bring about the disintegration of the Eastern Bloc and the end of the Cold War.</p>"/> <meta property="og:url" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/lech-walesa/"/> <meta property="og:site_name" content="Academy of Achievement"/> <meta property="og:image" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/walesa-Feature-Image-2800x1120.jpg"/> <meta property="og:image:width" content="2800"/> <meta property="og:image:height" content="1120"/> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary"/> <meta name="twitter:description" content="<p class="inputTextFirst">"I had conversations with all the powerful people of the world: with presidents, with prime ministers, chancellors and kings, too. None of them believed that there was any chance of us toppling communism before the year 2000. I didn't meet a single person among those people who would believe that was possible. Not a single one in the whole world."</p> <p class="inputText">In the 1970s, Lech Walesa was an electrician at the Lenin shipyard in Gdansk, Poland. He was fired for his outspoken criticism of the communist government, but when his old co-workers went on strike in 1980, Walesa scaled the shipyard fence to join them. The courage exemplified by this act of defiance inspired the workers to hold out until they had won recognition for Solidarity, the first independent trade union in the Eastern Bloc.</p> <p class="inputText">When Walesa received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1983, the Nobel committee saluted "the power of victory which abides in one person's belief, in his vision and in his courage to follow his call."</p> <p class="inputText">As the Polish people's demands for freedom grew louder, the government declared martial law and tried to outlaw Solidarity, but the genie was out of the bottle. After another Gdansk strike in 1988, free elections were held, and Solidarity emerged triumphant. In 1990 Lech Walesa, the former shipyard electrician, was elected President of Poland, an office he held for the next five years.</p> <p class="inputText"><em>TIME</em> magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people of the past century. Lech Walesa's courage helped bring about the disintegration of the Eastern Bloc and the end of the Cold War.</p>"/> <meta name="twitter:title" content="Lech Walesa - Academy of Achievement"/> <meta name="twitter:image" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/walesa-Feature-Image-2800x1120.jpg"/> <script type="application/ld+json">{"@context":"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20190103141132\/http:\/\/schema.org","@type":"WebSite","@id":"#website","url":"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20190103141132\/http:\/\/www.achievement.org\/","name":"Academy of Achievement","alternateName":"A museum of living history","potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20190103141132\/http:\/\/www.achievement.org\/search\/{search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}</script> <script 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<div class="feature-area__text-inner text-white"> <h2 class="serif-8 feature-area__text-subhead back"><a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever">All achievers</a></h2> <h1 class="serif-1 entry-title feature-area__text-headline">Lech Walesa</h1> <h5 class="sans-6 feature-area__blurb">Nobel Prize for Peace</h5> </div> </figcaption> </div> </div> </figure> </header> </div>  <nav class="in-page-nav row fixedsticky"> <ul class="nav text-xs-center clearfix" role="tablist"> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link active" data-toggle="tab" href="#biography" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Biography">Biography</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link" data-toggle="tab" href="#profile" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Profile">Profile</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link" data-toggle="tab" href="#interview" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Interview">Interview</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link" data-toggle="tab" href="#gallery" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Gallery">Gallery</a> </li> </ul> </nav> <article class="post-3254 achiever type-achiever status-publish has-post-thumbnail hentry careers-politician"> <div class="entry-content container clearfix">  <div class="tab-content"> <div class="tab-pane fade in active" id="biography" role="tabpanel"> <section class="achiever--biography"> <div class="row"> <header class="editorial-article__header col-md-8 col-md-offset-2 text-xs-center"> <i class="icon-icon_bio text-brand-primary"></i> <h3 class="serif-3 quote-marks">When I continued saying that we were going to win against communism by peaceful means, they looked at me like a madman.</h3> </header> </div> <div class="row"> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar clearfix"> <h2 class="serif-3 p-b-1">Poland's Solidarity Revolution</h2> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Date of Birth</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> September 29, 1943 </dd> </div> </aside> <article class="editorial-article col-md-8"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><p class="inputtextfirst">Lech Walesa was born in Popowo, Poland. His father died shortly after World War II; he and his brothers and sisters were raised by their mother, aunt and uncle. The Soviet Union occupied Poland after the war, and the Soviet-imposed communist government controlled almost every aspect of life in Poland, except for the Catholic Church.</p> <figure id="attachment_21394" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-21394 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech455.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-21394 size-full lazyload" alt="1979: Lech Walesa sowing the seeds of revolution. (Chris Niedenthal, TimePix)" width="2280" height="1509" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech455.jpg 2280w, /web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech455-380x252.jpg 380w, /web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech455-760x503.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech455.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">1979: Lech Walesa sowing the seeds of revolution. (Chris Niedenthal, TimePix)</figcaption></figure><p class="inputtext">Walesa trained as an electrician and mechanic, and as a young man went to work at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk. Walesa was an outspoken critic of the shipyard management and of the communist regime. He was involved in the shipyard strike of 1970, and throughout the next decade played a role in organizing the shipyard protests. In 1976 he was fired for his political activities. Although he was only sporadically employed for the next four years, he persisted in his organizing.</p> <figure id="attachment_21388" style="width: 2133px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-21388 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/GettyImages-585549731.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-21388 size-full lazyload" alt="September 1980: Lech Walesa with his family at home in Gdansk, Poland. His wife, Miroslawa Danuta Walesa, worked in a flower shop near the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk when she met, Lech Walesa, then an electrician. They had eight children. Their two daughters were born after this picture was taken. (Wojtek Laski/East News/Getty Images)" width="2133" height="2696" data-sizes="(max-width: 2133px) 100vw, 2133px" data-srcset="/web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/GettyImages-585549731.jpg 2133w, /web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/GettyImages-585549731-301x380.jpg 301w, /web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/GettyImages-585549731-601x760.jpg 601w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/GettyImages-585549731.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">September 1980: Lech Walesa with his family at home in Gdansk, Poland. His wife, Miroslawa Danuta Walesa, worked in a flower shop near the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk when she met, Lech Walesa, then an electrician. They had eight children. Their two daughters were born after this picture was taken. (Wojtek Laski/East News/Getty)</figcaption></figure><p class="inputtext">In 1980, the shipyard workers were ready to strike again, and Walesa emerged as a leading spokesman of Solidarity, the first independent trade union in the Eastern Bloc. A series of strikes spread throughout the country, forcing the government’s recognition of Solidarity, but this victory was short-lived. When Solidarity called for free elections, the government outlawed the union. Fearing Russian military intervention, Poland’s puppet government declared martial law in December 1981. Walesa was arrested and held for months without trial. When he was finally released in September 1982, he remained under government surveillance.</p> <figure id="attachment_21398" style="width: 1962px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-21398 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech459.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-21398 size-full lazyload" alt="December 29, 1980: Lech Walesa is featured on the cover of TIME magazine in a story entitled "Shaking Up Communism." (Time Inc.)" width="1962" height="2651" data-sizes="(max-width: 1962px) 100vw, 1962px" data-srcset="/web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech459.jpg 1962w, /web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech459-281x380.jpg 281w, /web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech459-562x760.jpg 562w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech459.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">December 29, 1980: Lech Walesa is featured on the cover of <i>TIME</i> in a story “Shaking Up Communism.” (<i>TIME</i> Inc.)</figcaption></figure><p class="inputtext">The outside world recognized Walesa’s courage, and he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1983. The encouragement of the Polish-born Pope John Paul II kept Solidarity’s hope alive underground, and the ascension of reform-minded Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union presented another opportunity for the Polish dissidents to press their case.</p> <figure id="attachment_21392" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-21392 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech-050.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-21392 size-full lazyload" alt="1988: Lech Walesa addressing striking workers at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk, Poland. (Chris Niedenthal, TimePix)" width="2280" height="1711" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech-050.jpg 2280w, /web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech-050-380x285.jpg 380w, /web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech-050-760x570.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech-050.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">1988: Lech Walesa addressing striking workers at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk, Poland. (Chris Niedenthal)</figcaption></figure><p class="inputtext">By 1989, Gorbachev had made it clear that he would not intervene to prop up communist governments in Eastern Europe. Nationwide protests at last forced the communist regime to hold free elections, and Solidarity quickly formed a new coalition government. Walesa traveled to the United States, accepting a Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George H.W. Bush. In a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, before Congressional leaders and Polish-American guests and labor leaders, President Bush hailed Mr. Walesa as “the spiritual godfather of a new generation of democracy.” President Bush said, “you were called a ‘nobody,’ but Lenin and Stalin have been disproved not by Presidents or Princes but by the likes of an electrician from Gdansk and his fellow workers in a brave union called Solidarity. The Iron Curtain is fast becoming a rusted, abandoned relic, symbolizing a lost era, a failed ideology.” Lech Walesa went on to become the first non-head of state to address a joint session of the United States Congress.</p> <figure id="attachment_21385" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-21385 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/george-bush-and-lech-walesa-waving.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-21385 size-full lazyload" alt="July 11, 1989, Gdansk, Poland: President George Bush and Solidarity leader Lech Walesa stand before a crowd of thousands of people in front of the monument dedicated to the workers who died in the 1970 strikes in the Lenin Shipyard. (Bettmann/CORBIS)" width="2280" height="1512" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/george-bush-and-lech-walesa-waving.jpg 2280w, /web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/george-bush-and-lech-walesa-waving-380x252.jpg 380w, /web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/george-bush-and-lech-walesa-waving-760x504.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/george-bush-and-lech-walesa-waving.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">July 11, 1989, Gdansk, Poland: President George Bush and Lech Walesa stand before a crowd of thousands of people in front of the monument dedicated to the workers who died in the 1970 strikes in the Lenin Shipyard.</figcaption></figure><p>In 1990, Lech Walesa was elected to a five-year term as President of Poland. His autobiography, <em>The Struggle and the Triumph,</em> first appeared in English in 1992. Walesa supported the policy of “shock treatment” to convert Poland’s socialist economy to a Western capitalist model. A devout Catholic, he followed the Church’s teachings on matters of social policy, and in 1993 signed a controversial law virtually outlawing abortion, which had been permitted in Poland since the 1950s.</p> <figure id="attachment_21386" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-21386 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/GettyImages-478687575.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-21386 size-full lazyload" alt="February 5, 1991: Pope John Paul II meets President of Poland Lech Walesa at his private library in the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City, Vatican. (Photo by Vatican Pool/Getty Images)" width="2280" height="1912" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/GettyImages-478687575.jpg 2280w, /web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/GettyImages-478687575-380x319.jpg 380w, /web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/GettyImages-478687575-760x637.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/GettyImages-478687575.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">February 5, 1991: Pope John Paul II meets President of Poland Lech Walesa at his private library in the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City. The encouragement of the Polish-born Pope John Paul II kept Solidarity’s hope alive.</figcaption></figure><p>Walesa narrowly lost his bid for re-election to the presidency in 1995, losing to the former communist Alexander Kwasniewski. The following year he founded a think-tank, the Lech Walesa Institute, to support the development of local governments in Poland and of democracy throughout the world. In 1997 he helped organize a new political party, Christian Democracy of the Third Polish Republic. He ran for the presidency a third time in 2000, but captured only one percent of the vote, finishing seventh in a field led by the former communist Krasniewski. While this was effectively the end of Walesa’s political career, he remained a highly visible figure in Polish public life and lectured around the world on Central European history and politics.</p> <figure id="attachment_36214" style="width: 2225px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-36214 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/wp-Walesa-Lech-at-podium.jpg"></noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-36214 lazyload" alt="" width="2225" height="2782" data-sizes="(max-width: 2225px) 100vw, 2225px" data-srcset="/web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/wp-Walesa-Lech-at-podium.jpg 2225w, /web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/wp-Walesa-Lech-at-podium-304x380.jpg 304w, /web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/wp-Walesa-Lech-at-podium-608x760.jpg 608w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/wp-Walesa-Lech-at-podium.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Lech Walesa addressing delegates and members during the 2000 International Achievement Summit in London.</figcaption></figure><p>In later years, the former president alienated many of his admirers in Poland and abroad with his outspoken opposition to gay rights. He resigned from Solidarity in 2006 over its support for opening the files of the communist-era state security services. Since the 1980s, Walesa’s critics had voiced suspicions that he may have collaborated with the secret police in the 1970s. Walesa denied such charges, but his responses to the allegations were sometimes inconsistent. He was also accused of attempting to destroy incriminating records while he was President of Poland.</p> <figure id="attachment_21442" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-21442 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/ebadi-walesa-nyc-Academy2005_1262.jpg"></noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-21442 lazyload" alt="" width="1024" height="1024" data-sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" data-srcset="/web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/ebadi-walesa-nyc-Academy2005_1262.jpg 1024w, /web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/ebadi-walesa-nyc-Academy2005_1262-190x190.jpg 190w, /web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/ebadi-walesa-nyc-Academy2005_1262-380x380.jpg 380w, /web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/ebadi-walesa-nyc-Academy2005_1262-760x760.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/ebadi-walesa-nyc-Academy2005_1262.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Academy members and recipients of the Nobel Prize for Peace: Dr. Shirin Ebadi and The Honorable Lech Walesa at the Banquet of the Golden Plate ceremonies during the 2005 International Achievement Summit in New York City.</figcaption></figure><p>In 2016, files in the possession of a recently deceased communist general were made public, including purported records of Walesa’s work as a paid informant for the communists, prior to his involvement with Solidarity. Although Walesa disputed the documents’ authenticity, many former supporters found the evidence credible, and he remains embroiled in controversy over his past actions.</p></body></html> <div class="clearfix"> </div> </article> </div> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane fade" id="profile" role="tabpanel"> <section class="clearfix"> <header class="editorial-article__header"> <figure class="text-xs-center"> <img class="inductee-badge" src="/web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/inducted-badge@2x.png" alt="Inducted Badge" width="120" height="120"/> <figcaption class="serif-3 text-brand-primary"> Inducted in 2000 </figcaption> </figure> </header> <div class="row"> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar"> <dl class="clearfix m-b-0"> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Career</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> <div><a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/#filter=.politician">Politician</a></div> </dd> </div> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Date of Birth</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> September 29, 1943 </dd> </div> </dl> </aside> <article class="col-md-8 editorial-article clearfix"> <p class="inputTextFirst">“I had conversations with all the powerful people of the world: with presidents, with prime ministers, chancellors and kings, too. None of them believed that there was any chance of us toppling communism before the year 2000. I didn’t meet a single person among those people who would believe that was possible. Not a single one in the whole world.”</p> <p class="inputText">In the 1970s, Lech Walesa was an electrician at the Lenin shipyard in Gdansk, Poland. He was fired for his outspoken criticism of the communist government, but when his old co-workers went on strike in 1980, Walesa scaled the shipyard fence to join them. The courage exemplified by this act of defiance inspired the workers to hold out until they had won recognition for Solidarity, the first independent trade union in the Eastern Bloc.</p> <p class="inputText">When Walesa received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1983, the Nobel committee saluted “the power of victory which abides in one person’s belief, in his vision and in his courage to follow his call.”</p> <p class="inputText">As the Polish people’s demands for freedom grew louder, the government declared martial law and tried to outlaw Solidarity, but the genie was out of the bottle. After another Gdansk strike in 1988, free elections were held, and Solidarity emerged triumphant. In 1990 Lech Walesa, the former shipyard electrician, was elected President of Poland, an office he held for the next five years.</p> <p class="inputText"><em>TIME</em> magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people of the past century. Lech Walesa’s courage helped bring about the disintegration of the Eastern Bloc and the end of the Cold War.</p> </article> </div> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane fade" id="interview" role="tabpanel"> <section class="clearfix"> <div class="col-md-12 interview-feature-video"> <figure> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/os_qzacKSrA?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light&start=0&end=1826&version=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech-2000-MasterEdit.00_13_38_04.Still006-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech-2000-MasterEdit.00_13_38_04.Still006-760x428.jpg"></div> <div class="video-tag sans-4"> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> <div class="video-tag__text">Watch full interview</div> </div> </div> </figure> </div> <header class="col-md-12 text-xs-center m-b-2"> <i class="icon-icon_bio text-brand-primary"></i> </header> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar"> <h2 class="serif-3 achiever--biography-subtitle">Poland's Solidarity Revolution</h2> <div class="sans-2">London, England</div> <div class="sans-2">October 28, 2000</div> </aside> <article class="editorial-article col-md-8">   <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p class="inputtextfirst"><strong>(Lech Walesa’s video interview at the 2000 International Achievement Summit in London was conducted with the assistance of an interpreter.)</strong></p> <p class="inputtextfirst"><strong>The Solidarity movement that you led brought about the end of the communist regime in Poland. But it began as a protest at the Lenin Shipyard. What was the cause of original conflict in the shipyard?</strong></p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/tGYPjc6p15A?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light&start=0&end=93&version=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech-2000-MasterEdit.00_10_27_01.Still004-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech-2000-MasterEdit.00_10_27_01.Still004-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/keys-to-success/vision/">Vision</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p class="inputtext">Lech Walesa: A shipyard is a kind of a window to the world. In a shipyard, people are arriving from all different places around the world. There would be sailors and there would be shipowners. So, that also incited discussions about working conditions, living conditions. So people would start comparing what money they make here and what money was made elsewhere. And, the point was that those people who were aware of other things, they would revolt more quickly than the others, by comparing the achievements of one system against the other and also the working conditions and the salaries. That’s why occasionally we would protest. Sometimes there were large-scale protests and sometimes they were smaller-scale protests. And, my career is actually made by those protests. Had we had better living and working conditions, I wouldn’t be here talking to you.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><figure id="attachment_32484" style="width: 2056px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-32484 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/wp-walesaimg089.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-32484 size-full lazyload" width="2056" height="2675" data-sizes="(max-width: 2056px) 100vw, 2056px" data-srcset="/web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/wp-walesaimg089.jpg 2056w, /web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/wp-walesaimg089-292x380.jpg 292w, /web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/wp-walesaimg089-584x760.jpg 584w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/wp-walesaimg089.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">March 9, 1985: Solidarity leader Lech Walesa receives flowers from the crowd in Gdansk. (Corbis-Bettmann)</figcaption></figure><p><strong>Weren’t people afraid to protest at first? It must have taken some persuasion.</strong></p></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/shB_GqAwVWw?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light&start=0&end=90&version=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech-2000-MasterEdit.00_09_20_21.Still003-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech-2000-MasterEdit.00_09_20_21.Still003-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/keys-to-success/passion/">Passion</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p class="inputtext">Lech Walesa: When it comes to struggle, almost everybody is nervous and afraid, in every struggle all over the world. I think in Poland the anxiety was even stronger, because after all, we had to face the Political Police. We had the Soviet troops stationed in Poland for 50 years, over 200,000 soldiers based permanently on the territory of Poland. So, people would end up in prisons for some time, very often, they would be beaten up by the police. There were not so many people who would claim to be very courageous. Then again, you have people of different characters. Some are really put off by the hardships, by the difficulties, whereas the others actually strengthen. I was among the latter, who became stronger due to the hardships, and I got involved in my struggle with much more determination.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><p><strong>Why did the shipyard management tolerate you as long as they did?</strong></p> <p>Lech Walesa: I believe they’re asking themselves the same question now. I believe Gorbachev himself is asking the same question, because after all, I did lead to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and he ceased being the First Secretary of the Communist Party. Despite that fact, he received a Nobel Peace Prize, and so did I. I got my prize for winning against Gorbachev and against the Soviet Union, whereas he received it for his defeat, which was considered valuable in a certain category. That’s the world, two opponents.</p> <figure id="attachment_21396" style="width: 1736px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-21396 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech457.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-21396 size-full lazyload" alt="May 7, 1989: Solidarity leader Lech Walesa campaigns to become President of Poland. (Reuters/Leszek Wdowinski/Archive Photos)" width="1736" height="1542" data-sizes="(max-width: 1736px) 100vw, 1736px" data-srcset="/web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech457.jpg 1736w, /web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech457-380x338.jpg 380w, /web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech457-760x675.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech457.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">May 7, 1989: Solidarity leader Lech Walesa campaigns to become President of Poland. (Reuters/Leszek Wdowinski)</figcaption></figure><p><strong>Before you changed the world, you were fired from your job in the shipyard. How did that happen?</strong></p></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/bmrQiWvNEs4?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech-2000-MasterEdit.00_01_55_23.Still001-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech-2000-MasterEdit.00_01_55_23.Still001-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/keys-to-success/perseverance/">Perseverance</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p class="inputtext">Lech Walesa: I was fired on several occasions, because really, I got involved in the struggle with more and more determination, and I believe we can already quote the date 1970 as the date of my determined struggle. I was already the leader of the strike then. It was a very inefficient leadership on my part, and we failed with our strike in 1970, but that defeat caused my character — due to my character I spent the next ten years trying to work out the method that would actually bring about the victory. And when, ten years later, we had another opportunity, I already knew how to go about it, how to deal with it, and I led the struggle the way — as it should be.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><figure id="attachment_21391" style="width: 887px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-21391 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/oslo-1983-rok-danuta-walesa-z-synem-29996_l.jpg"></noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-21391 lazyload" alt="1983: Miroslawa Danuta Walesa, wife of the former President of Poland Lech Walesa, accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway on behalf of her husband, Lech Walesa, who feared, at a time of great political upheaval in the country, that the Polish government might not allow him to return if he traveled to Oslo himself. Lech and Danuta have been married since November 8, 1969 and have eight children." width="887" height="600" data-sizes="(max-width: 887px) 100vw, 887px" data-srcset="/web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/oslo-1983-rok-danuta-walesa-z-synem-29996_l.jpg 887w, /web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/oslo-1983-rok-danuta-walesa-z-synem-29996_l-380x257.jpg 380w, /web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/oslo-1983-rok-danuta-walesa-z-synem-29996_l-760x514.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/oslo-1983-rok-danuta-walesa-z-synem-29996_l.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">1983: Miroslawa Danuta Walesa, wife of the former President of Poland Lech Walesa, accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway on behalf of her husband, Lech Walesa, who feared, at a time of great political upheaval in the country, that the Polish government might not allow him to return if he traveled to Oslo himself.</figcaption></figure><p><strong>What were some of the things you learned to do differently that led to the ultimate success?</strong></p> <p>I really had to think over every detail and everything, the whole defeat of 1970.</p></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/YfUCA91xCl4?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech-2000-MasterEdit.00_13_36_04.Still005-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech-2000-MasterEdit.00_13_36_04.Still005-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/keys-to-success/preparation/">Preparation</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p class="inputtext">Lech Walesa: I had to go into really many details. How to achieve victory, what kind of an organization to establish in order to win this victory, and what would be the stages in which we could win the victory? How to avoid the tragedy of bloodshed, of being shut out, and how to negotiate, how to protect food, how to organize duties in order for the whole organization to function, and try to foresee all the possible situations that might happen. And, bearing in mind that there could be alternative outcomes, like a tragic one and a less tragic one, to take into account the behavior of people who are afraid. To take into consideration the behavior of the provocateurs, those who can provoke, and the opponents who would certainly carry out certain resistant action within us. So really, the ten years was not even enough for me to think over all those details. But in fact, when it came, when the situation actually happened, nothing came as a surprise to me. So that means I had foreseen almost all the possible details, not in full, not fully, but generally at least. And certainly, without that period of ten years, we wouldn’t have won the victory. Had it not been for the previous defeat, we wouldn’t have won the final victory. So, I would say that without the defeat of 1970 we wouldn’t have had the victory of 1980.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><figure id="attachment_21384" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-21384 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/1991-20151106walesa-lech-antall-jozsef-havel.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-21384 size-full lazyload" alt="February 15, 1991, in Budapest, Hungary: Lech Walesa, the founder of the Polish Solidarity, as President of Poland." width="2280" height="1488" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/1991-20151106walesa-lech-antall-jozsef-havel.jpg 2280w, /web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/1991-20151106walesa-lech-antall-jozsef-havel-380x248.jpg 380w, /web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/1991-20151106walesa-lech-antall-jozsef-havel-760x496.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/1991-20151106walesa-lech-antall-jozsef-havel.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">February 15, 1991, in Budapest, Hungary: Lech Walesa, the founder of the Polish Solidarity, as President of Poland.</figcaption></figure><p><strong>Why did it become a national movement and not just stay confined to Gdansk?</strong></p> <p>Lech Walesa: It’s hard to say it very briefly, but the point was that the communist system was bound to fail, because it was an inefficient economic system and it couldn’t keep up with the speed of progress in the West.</p> <p>But there was one more thing that contributed to the victory. In the 1970s and in the 1980s, I had conversations with all the powerful people of the world: with presidents, with prime ministers, chancellors and kings, too. None of them believed that there was any chance of us toppling communism before the year 2000. I didn’t meet a single person among those people who would believe that was possible. Not a single one in the whole world.</p></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/CBq6_joXIEk?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light&start=0&end=72&version=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech-2000-MasterEdit.00_04_28_21.Still002-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech-2000-MasterEdit.00_04_28_21.Still002-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/keys-to-success/courage/">Courage</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p class="inputtext">When I continued saying that we were going to win against communism by peaceful means, they looked at me like a madman. And right now we are going to celebrate 2,000 years of Christianity, and we have this incredible thing happen to us. We get this divine gift from heaven, when nobody believes it’s possible. Here we have a Pole becoming the Pope. A year later, he visits Poland and he tells us, “Don’t be afraid. Change the face of this world.” And soon afterwards, we stopped fearing. The fear is gone. A year later, out of the ten people that I had in my command at that point, I have ten million supporting me, and I actually carry out the changing of the face of the world.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><figure id="attachment_21393" style="width: 1554px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-21393 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech230.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-21393 size-full lazyload" alt="August 30, 2000: Former Polish President Lech Walesa at the 20th anniversary of the founding of Solidarity, the first independent trade union in the Eastern Bloc. (Reuters/Pawel Kopczynski/Archive Photos)" width="1554" height="2304" data-sizes="(max-width: 1554px) 100vw, 1554px" data-srcset="/web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech230.jpg 1554w, /web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech230-256x380.jpg 256w, /web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech230-513x760.jpg 513w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech230.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">August 30, 2000: Former Polish President Lech Walesa at the 20th anniversary of the founding of Solidarity, the first independent trade union in the Eastern Bloc. (Reuters/Pawel Kopczynski/Archive Photos)</figcaption></figure><p class="inputtext">I consider this a gift of Providence to celebrate the 2000 years of Christianity. That was the 51 percent contribution to the success. The 35 percent that contributed to success is myself and Solidarity, and the remaining percentage is everybody else’s contribution. The actual stamp on the final victory was put down by President Yeltsin, who made a favorable atmosphere, who opposed Mikhail Gorbachev, and who withdrew Russia out of the Soviet Union. Without those three factors, we wouldn’t have final victory.</p> <p class="inputtext">Although you may claim that the Berlin Wall fell down earlier, before Russia actually withdrew from the Soviet Union, I’m sure that even if it had fallen down without Russia doing what she did, it would have been rebuilt personally by the Chancellor of Germany and the President of the United States.</p> <p class="inputtext">So, please consider these three factors as the major factors. Of course, from the perspective of different nations, there would be other additional factors, but they would be only minor.</p></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><figure id="attachment_21383" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-21383 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/92fabe46005626ff054ccb87c0adbeca.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-21383 size-full lazyload" alt="September 5, 2013: Lech Walesa and his wife, Danuta, attend the premier of the film "Walesa: Man of Hope" during the 70th Venice International Film Festival." width="2280" height="1520" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/92fabe46005626ff054ccb87c0adbeca.jpg 2280w, /web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/92fabe46005626ff054ccb87c0adbeca-380x253.jpg 380w, /web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/92fabe46005626ff054ccb87c0adbeca-760x507.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103141132/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/92fabe46005626ff054ccb87c0adbeca.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">September 5, 2013: Lech Walesa and his wife, Danuta, attend the premier of the film <i>Walesa: Man of Hope</i> during the Venice Film Festival. The biographical film by Oscar-winning filmmaker Andrzej Wajda is about the lives of Lech and Danuta from 1970-1989; it shows Walesa’s change from a shipyard worker to a charismatic labor leader.</figcaption></figure></body></html> </div>    <aside class="collapse" id="full-interview">    <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p><strong>Let’s go back to the beginning. I’d like you to introduce us to Lech Walesa as you were at age ten. Who are you? Where are you living?</strong></p> <p>Lech Walesa: I live in a village. It’s the year 1952-53. So that means it’s the post-war time. There is a lot of poverty. I am in the third grade of a primary school. I walk five kilometers to go to school, a long way. Then seven kilometers on foot after school to go to church, and that’s every day.</p> <p><strong>What do your parents hope for you at this point?</strong></p> <p>Lech Walesa: I believe they really cared about survival until the next day, how to make a living. Perhaps they wondered, “What will he grow into? What kind of a man will he be?” because I was really a very lively child. I really needed to break at least one window every month, and to get into mischief, so they must have wondered.</p> <p><strong>How many children were there in the family?</strong></p> <p>Lech Walesa: It was a combined family as I would call it. My father died on returning from the war, and his brother took care of my mother and of my family because my father had pledged him to. So, there were four of us in our family — that is, four children — and my father’s brother had three children. And we all have grown into decent people, and me, myself, into the president of our own country and a Nobel Peace Prize holder and some other things have happened to me in the meantime. So, I really knew what was the purpose of me breaking the windows. I had this idea that the people who make glass, make windows, could earn their money to make their living.</p> <p><strong>How important was the church in your life?</strong></p> <p>Lech Walesa: In my family and in Poland in general, the church has always played an important role. As you know, my home country is located between two powerful nations, between Russia and Germany, who are very sociable peoples and they enjoy visiting one another, so they need to cross Poland on the way. That’s why our geographical position was always tough, and we could only survive under certain circumstances. We could only survive as a nation thanks to our deep belief in God because we lived through some absolutely hopeless situations in history and on several occasions, we were erased as a country from the map of the world. But, thanks to our religious belief, we survived and in fact, we continue persisting. That’s why this belief was always really deep, and it was tangible. It was not an old-fashioned religious belief — because we continue to be a religious people — but this is not really an outdated, old-fashioned religion, and beyond progress. Today the Polish people, myself included, find God in the newest-generation computer, because He is there. It’s a question of people being able to find him there. He’s very modern. He’s a very modern God, and He’s really very good to live with.</p> <p><strong>He had trouble living with the Polish state at the time that you were a child.</strong></p> <p>Lech Walesa: It is true, but such difficulties and such hardships really reinforce and strengthen people. I think it’s a lack of problems that make people really lazy and breaks the spirit. My conclusion is that weak people have no god, and all those who are strong really — they all have God.</p> <p><strong>Tell me about school. What kind of studies did you have?</strong></p> <p>Lech Walesa: Elementary school? That was the same as for everybody, just the basic education. How to read and to write, but I believe there was also a school of living. It was a country school and I lived in the countryside, and that was a life where each child, apart from school, had also some other obligations, some other work to do.</p> <p>When I was a child, the principles of life in the countryside were very, very clear, especially our attitude towards nature, but also in the human relations. It is true that with nature, you would steal some things from nature, you would hunt something in nature, but with great respect, and whenever nature needed some assistance from us, when there was winter, when things were difficult for nature, we wouldn’t hunt, and then we would help nature and all the living creatures. Nobody even dared to go hunting in this period. And, as far into human relationships, the principles were also very transparent and clear. If people had things that they — some reproach or some resentment — it was only natural to say it straightforwardly and explain what the resentment is about. Sometimes manually I would say it, but without the courtesy, without the “please,” and I must say that they were usually very honest dealings because as I said, they were very straightforward principles, straightforward rules, but very honest, and that’s why I liked them. Things have changed since then. People do break rules now.</p> <p><strong>Was school less important to you than what went on outside of school?</strong></p> <p>Lech Walesa: It wasn’t so, really. Since I came from a very poor family, that’s why everybody from my household wanted to learn, and they wanted to go on into the world. And well, I just tried to do the same thing. Of course, we gained our education in the schools that were in the near vicinity, and we were prepared more for the practical side of life. So we were not humanists, we were not theoreticians. We were educated in practical matters, like an electrician, a welder, and some other practical professions. Something — you were trained to be able to produce something and to make money on it.</p> <p><strong>How did you choose to become an electrician?</strong></p> <p>Lech Walesa: There were things about electricity that I liked because when I got to know electricity, I was really interested. There was great interest for me. I wanted to look inside it and I wanted to see what electricity is about, and I really got some shocks from that investigation at that point. And, then I said to myself, “How can it be? I can’t see it, still it really beat me up.” So, I decided to step back according to those basic transparent rules that I was quoting. But, the point is that before I actually got to know electricity, I was the one that was beaten. So, I decided to get to know it better, and that’s why I educated myself in this direction.</p> <p><strong>What was the procedure? Did you serve an apprenticeship? How did one become an electrician?</strong></p> <p>Lech Walesa: There was a three-year vocational school after elementary school. Once you completed the three years, you became an electrician. I combined this training with mechanical training, because I was also keen on cars. When I first went to school, it was the first time I saw a car. It was perhaps 1949. I hadn’t seen a car before. That was the kind of village that I came from.</p> <p>I can still remember this first car very clearly, and when I grew up, I bought one like it and worked on it. I did the repairs myself. Who knows, perhaps it was precisely the same car that I had seen as the first car in my life. It was really an exhausted car, and it needed a lot of repair.</p> <p><strong>At this point in your life, were you thinking about politics at all?</strong></p> <p>Lech Walesa: I never thought of politics at that point, and I never wanted to exert any public function. I never got any adequate training for this purpose, and I disliked it in fact. But at home, we used to listen to the radio. They were forbidden radio stations at that time, like Radio Free Europe and BBC. That was forbidden by the authorities at that time, and people could end up in jail for listening to those broadcasts. So while I was there, listening with the rest of the family and for this reason — since I could feel the ban on such simple things — I disliked the system from the very beginning. And, gradually I grew up and I continued disliking the system even more, and there were certain forums where I would speak out about it, and that’s when my trouble started, my problems started. And, the point was that the more trouble I had, the more openly I would speak, and this has, in fact, put me on this path of dissidence, later to continue into the real struggle against the system.</p> <p><strong>How old were you when you began to speak out in public?</strong></p> <p>Lech Walesa: I have been struggling ever since I can remember, against different things. As I said, my background was really based on very simple principles and rules, and I could observe already in elementary school that some of those principles were violated, because after all that was a communist school. So I became a dissident pretty soon in life, of course on a smaller scale at first.</p> <p><strong>Were notes written home to your parents saying that this child is not behaving?</strong></p> <p>Lech Walesa: It is true that I was in trouble many times. But as I said, I was quite a lively child, and I had my own mind. And, even if I saw things look differently that wouldn’t change my mind. And, I even got involved and set up a conflict with the priest. I believe it may have been when I was around ten. I can’t remember what it actually boiled down to. But, the point was that I was right, not him. And in fact, I followed him for like a fortnight and kept repeating that I’m right not him, and finally he had to give in, and then he said to me the following: “Well, my boy, you will either reach very, very far or you will end up in jail.” And the truth is, I sampled both in my life.</p> <p><strong>So what finally brought you to the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk? How did that happen?</strong></p> <p>Lech Walesa: I think that was when I was about 27. I was around my household, my family, working in different repair workshops, but I felt a little bit restricted, confined to these surroundings. On one occasion, I just go into a train and I came to Gdansk. Well in fact, my ticket was bought for a further destination than Gdansk, but what happened was the train controller said to me that we would have a longer stop in Gdansk, like half an hour. I was extremely thirsty, and so I got off the train. What happened was that, before I actually drank what I was drinking, the train had left. So I was left in Gdansk, and I have stayed for 30 years in Gdansk since. That’s how I ended up in the shipyard. There was always demand for labor, and I found a job there.</p> <p><strong>Did you need the government’s permission to live in Gdansk?</strong></p> <p>Lech Walesa: No, there was no need for such permission. There were workers’ hotels. There was such demand for labor that they would even send money to people for them to come over and work in the shipyard. They really had so much work at that point they needed a lot of workers.</p> <p><strong>That shipyard is a big place. You were an independent spirit even then. What was it like to work in this kind of big structure?</strong></p> <p>Lech Walesa: I felt a little bit uneasy to start with, because it was really a big city, with a relatively big population. Where I had lived before, there were very few people. Everybody knew me. Everybody would bow to the ground before me, because I was somebody there. I was really talented, I could earn a lot of money, so on the local scale, I was highly positioned. Now here I was, in Gdansk, there’s nobody saying hello to me or bowing to me, nobody noticing me, so I decided to change the situation. I must make them recognize me. Well as it turned out afterwards, people recognized me.</p> <p><strong>And what did they recognize in you?</strong></p> <p>Lech Walesa: It took a long, long time before it actually happened, but as I said, the education, the background that I had, the straightforward principles that I referred to, based on rules and values — which is the truth, honesty, decent behavior, decency — all this really gave me a lot of support around people, among the working people. It was a little bit more difficult to find some understanding among the powerful people, the hierarchy because I would often criticize them. I would point out things that they did wrong or that didn’t function well. So the point was that I got some support and some stimulus from the low levels, whereas I would get the criticism from the top levels of the people.</p> <p><strong>It sounds like those principles never changed. Thank you very much, Mr. President.</strong></p> </div>  </aside>  <div class="read-more__toggle collapsed" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#full-interview"><a href="#" class="sans-4 btn">Read full interview</a></div> </article> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane fade" id="gallery" role="tabpanel"> <section class="isotope-wrapper">  <header class="toolbar toolbar--gallery bg-white clearfix"> <div class="col-md-6"> <div class="serif-4">Lech Walesa Gallery</div> </div> <div class="col-md-6 text-md-right isotope-toolbar"> <ul class="list-unstyled list-inline m-b-0 text-brand-primary sans-4"> <li class="list-inline-item" data-filter=".photo"><i class="icon-icon_camera"></i>24 photos</li> </ul> </div> </header> <div class="isotope-gallery isotope-box single-achiever__gallery clearfix"> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.79736842105263" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wordpress_walesa_Academy2005_0713.jpg" data-image-caption="The former President of Poland, Solidarity founder Lech Walesa, spoke passionately of the inspiration the late Pope John Paul II lent to the Polish people in their struggle for freedom, during the Academy's 2005 International Achievement Summit in New York City. (© Academy of Achievement) " data-image-copyright="wordpress_walesa_Academy2005_0713" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wordpress_walesa_Academy2005_0713-380x303.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wordpress_walesa_Academy2005_0713-760x606.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.69210526315789" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/walesa-pope.jpg" data-image-caption="1991: Lech Walesa and Pope John Paul II appear together in Poland. Walesa served as President of Poland from 1990 until 1995, and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983. (Photo by INTERPRESS POLSKA AG/GAMMA/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)" data-image-copyright="walesa-pope" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/walesa-pope-380x263.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/walesa-pope-760x526.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66315789473684" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech458-1.jpg" data-image-caption="Lech Walesa in 1980, holding one of his daughters in front of a portrait of Pope John Paul II. (Chris Niedenthal, Black Star; Time Inc.)" data-image-copyright="walesa-lech458" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech458-1-380x252.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech458-1-760x504.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.76315789473684" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech464.jpg" data-image-caption="April 23, 1993: Polish President Lech Walesa takes questions after a meeting with President Bill Clinton at the White House. (Corbis/Reuters)" data-image-copyright="walesa-lech464" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech464-380x290.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech464-760x580.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.3523131672598" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech459.jpg" data-image-caption="December 29, 1980: Lech Walesa is featured on the cover of TIME magazine in a story entitled "Shaking Up Communism." (Time Inc.)" data-image-copyright="walesa-lech459" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech459-281x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech459-562x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66315789473684" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech458.jpg" data-image-caption="1980: Lech Walesa holding one of his daughters in front of a portrait of Pope John Paul II. (Chris Niedenthal, Black Star; Time Inc.)" data-image-copyright="walesa-lech458" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech458-380x252.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech458-760x504.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.88815789473684" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech457.jpg" data-image-caption="May 7, 1989: Solidarity leader Lech Walesa campaigns to become President of Poland. (Reuters/Leszek Wdowinski/Archive Photos)" data-image-copyright="walesa-lech457" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech457-380x338.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech457-760x675.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.70921052631579" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech456.jpg" data-image-caption="February 20, 1998: Former Polish President Lech Walesa at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. (Reuters/Rick Wilking/Archive Photos)" data-image-copyright="walesa-lech456" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech456-380x269.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech456-760x539.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66184210526316" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech455.jpg" data-image-caption="1979: Lech Walesa sowing the seeds of revolution. (Chris Niedenthal, TimePix)" data-image-copyright="1979: Lech Walesa sowing the seeds of revolution. (Chris Niedenthal, TimePix)" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech455-380x252.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech455-760x503.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.4814814814815" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech230.jpg" data-image-caption="August 30, 2000: Former Polish President Lech Walesa at the 20th anniversary of the founding of Solidarity, the first independent trade union in the Eastern Bloc. (Reuters/Pawel Kopczynski/Archive Photos)" data-image-copyright="walesa-lech230" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech230-256x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech230-513x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.75" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech-050.jpg" data-image-caption="1988: Lech Walesa addressing striking workers at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk, Poland. (Chris Niedenthal, TimePix)" data-image-copyright="walesa-lech-050" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech-050-380x285.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Walesa-Lech-050-760x570.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.67631578947368" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/oslo-1983-rok-danuta-walesa-z-synem-29996_l.jpg" data-image-caption="1983: Miroslawa Danuta Walesa, wife of the former President of Poland Lech Walesa, accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway on behalf of her husband, Lech Walesa, who feared, at a time of great political upheaval in the country, that the Polish government might not allow him to return if he traveled to Oslo himself. Lech and Danuta have been married since November 8, 1969 and have eight children." data-image-copyright="oslo-1983-rok-danuta-walesa-z-synem-29996_l" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/oslo-1983-rok-danuta-walesa-z-synem-29996_l-380x257.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/oslo-1983-rok-danuta-walesa-z-synem-29996_l-760x514.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.88421052631579" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Lech-Walesa087.jpg" data-image-caption="Polish Solidarity Leader Lech Walesa at an AFL-CIO convention in Washington, D.C." data-image-copyright="lech-walesa087" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Lech-Walesa087-380x336.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Lech-Walesa087-760x672.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.76184210526316" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/hd14_solidarity_photo_2.jpg" data-image-caption="1991: Bob Dole meets Polish President Lech Walesa (Dole Photograph Collection)" data-image-copyright="1991: Bob Dole meets Polish President Lech, Walesa (Dole Photograph Collection)" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/hd14_solidarity_photo_2-380x290.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/hd14_solidarity_photo_2-760x579.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.2645590682196" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/GettyImages-585549731.jpg" data-image-caption="September 1980: Lech Walesa with his family at home in Gdansk, Poland, in September 1980. (Photo by Wojtek Laski/East News/Getty Images)" data-image-copyright="Lech Walesa" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/GettyImages-585549731-301x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/GettyImages-585549731-601x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/GettyImages-583565560.jpg" data-image-caption="The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 1983 Nobel Peace Prize to Lech Walesa. In reaching this decision, the Committee took into account Walesa's contribution, made with considerable personal sacrifice, to ensure the workers' right to establish their own organizations. This contribution was of vital importance in the wider campaign to secure the universal freedom to organize — a human right as defined by the United Nations. Lech Walesa's activities have been characterized by a determination to solve his country's problems through negotiation and cooperation without resorting to violence. He attempted to establish a dialogue between the organization he represented — Solidarity — and the authorities. The Committee regarded Walesa as an exponent of the active longing for peace and freedom which exists, in spite of unequal conditions, unconquered in all the peoples of the world. The Committee has on several occasions, when awarding the Peace Prize, emphasized that a campaign for human rights is a campaign for peace. Furthermore, the Committee believed that Walesa's attempt to find a peaceful solution to his country's problems contributed to a relaxation of international tension. In an age when detente and the peaceful resolution of conflicts are more necessary than ever before, Lech Walesa's contribution is both an inspiration and an example. (Photo by Micheline Pelletier/Sygma via Getty Images)" data-image-copyright="The Nobel Peace Prize" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/GettyImages-583565560-380x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/GettyImages-583565560-760x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.83815789473684" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/GettyImages-478687575.jpg" data-image-caption="February 5, 1991: Pope John Paul II meets President of Poland Lech Walesa at his private library in the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City, Vatican. (Photo by Vatican Pool/Getty Images)" data-image-copyright="John Paul II Meets President of Poland Lech Walesa" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/GettyImages-478687575-380x319.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/GettyImages-478687575-760x637.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66315789473684" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/george-bush-and-lech-walesa-waving.jpg" data-image-caption="July 11, 1989, Gdansk, Poland: President George Bush and Solidarity leader Lech Walesa stand before a crowd of thousands of people in front of the monument dedicated to the workers who died in the 1970 strikes in the Lenin Shipyard next to the monument. (Bettmann/CORBIS)" data-image-copyright="George Bush and Lech Walesa Waving" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/george-bush-and-lech-walesa-waving-380x252.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/george-bush-and-lech-walesa-waving-760x504.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.65263157894737" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/1991-20151106walesa-lech-antall-jozsef-havel.jpg" data-image-caption="February 15, 1991, in Budapest, Hungary: Lech Walesa, the founder of the Polish Solidarity, as President of Poland." data-image-copyright="Walesa, Lech; Antall József; Havel, Václav; Göncz Árpád; Bielecki,Krzysztof ; Calfa,Marian" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/1991-20151106walesa-lech-antall-jozsef-havel-380x248.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/1991-20151106walesa-lech-antall-jozsef-havel-760x496.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66710526315789" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/92fabe46005626ff054ccb87c0adbeca.jpg" data-image-caption="September 5, 2013: Lech Walesa and his wife, Danuta, attend the premier of the film "Walesa: Man of Hope" during the 70th Venice International Film Festival." data-image-copyright="92fabe46005626ff054ccb87c0adbeca" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/92fabe46005626ff054ccb87c0adbeca-380x253.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/92fabe46005626ff054ccb87c0adbeca-760x507.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/ebadi-walesa-nyc-Academy2005_1262.jpg" data-image-caption="Two recipients of the Nobel Prize for Peace, Dr. Shirin Ebadi and the Honorable Lech Walesa, at the Banquet of the Golden Plate ceremonies during the 2005 International Achievement Summit in New York City. (© Academy of Achievement) " data-image-copyright="ebadi-walesa-nyc-academy2005_1262" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/ebadi-walesa-nyc-Academy2005_1262-380x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/ebadi-walesa-nyc-Academy2005_1262-760x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.3013698630137" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/wp-walesaimg089.jpg" data-image-caption="March 9, 1985: Solidarity leader Lech Walesa received flowers from the crowd in Gdansk while under investigation for illegal trade union activities. (Reuters/Corbis-Bettmann)" data-image-copyright="wp-walesaimg089" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/wp-walesaimg089-292x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/wp-walesaimg089-584x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.99210526315789" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/wp-barakimg037.jpg" data-image-caption="Awards Council member Lech Walesa, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Peace, presents the American Academy of Achievement's Golden Plate Award to Ehud Barak at the 2001 Banquet of the Golden Plate in San Antonio, Texas." data-image-copyright="wp-barakimg037" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/wp-barakimg037-380x377.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/wp-barakimg037-760x754.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.25" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/wp-Walesa-Lech-at-podium.jpg" data-image-caption="Lech Walesa addressing student delegates and members during the 2000 International Achievement Summit in London." data-image-copyright="wp-Walesa, Lech at podium" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/wp-Walesa-Lech-at-podium-304x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/wp-Walesa-Lech-at-podium-608x760.jpg"></div>  </figure>    </div> </section> </div> </div> <div class="container"> <footer class="editorial-article__footer col-md-8 col-md-offset-4"> <div class="editorial-article__next-link sans-3"> <a href="#"><strong>What's next:</strong> <span class="editorial-article__next-link-title">profile</span></a> </div> <ul class="social list-unstyled list-inline ssk-group m-b-0"> <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="" class="ssk ssk-facebook" data-gtm-category="social" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Shared Achiever on Facebook"><i class="icon-icon_facebook-circle"></i></a></li> <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="" class="ssk ssk-twitter" data-gtm-category="social" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Shared Achiever on Twitter"><i class="icon-icon_twitter-circle"></i></a></li>  <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="" class="ssk ssk-email" data-gtm-category="social" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Shared Achiever via Email"><i class="icon-icon_email-circle"></i></a></li> </ul> <time class="editorial-article__last-updated sans-6">This page last revised on January 25, 2017</time> <div class="sans-4"><a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/how-to-cite" target="_blank">How to cite this page</a></div> </footer> </div> <div class="container interview-related-achievers"> <hr class="m-t-3 m-b-3"/> <footer class="clearfix small-blocks text-xs-center"> <h3 class="m-b-3 serif-3">If you are inspired by this achiever’s story, you might also enjoy:</h3> <div class="centered-blocks"> <div class="isotope-achiever public-service help-mankind experienced-war-firsthand ambitious join-the-military pursue-public-office " data-year-inducted="1995" data-achiever-name="Bush"> <div class="achiever-block view-grid"> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/george-h-w-bush/"> <figure class="ratio-container ratio-container--square bg-black"> <div class="lazyload box achiever-block__image" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/bush-007a-190x190.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/bush-007a-380x380.jpg"></div> <div class="achiever-block__overlay"></div> <figcaption class="text-xs-center achiever-block__text"> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <div class="achiever-block__text--center"> <div class="achiever-block__name text-brand-primary">George H. 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Gorbachev</div> <div class="achiever-block__known-as text-white sans-6">Nobel Prize for Peace</div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="text-white achiever-block__text--bottom"> <div class="achiever-block__year sans-4">Inducted in <span class="year-inducted">2000</span></div> </div> </figcaption> </figure> </a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="centered-blocks"> <div class="isotope-achiever racism-discrimination poverty help-mankind " data-year-inducted="2002" data-achiever-name="Hume"> <div class="achiever-block view-grid"> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/john-hume/"> <figure class="ratio-container ratio-container--square bg-black"> <div class="lazyload box achiever-block__image" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/hume-013a-190x190.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/09/hume-013a-380x380.jpg"></div> <div class="achiever-block__overlay"></div> <figcaption class="text-xs-center achiever-block__text"> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <div class="achiever-block__text--center"> <div class="achiever-block__name text-brand-primary">John Hume</div> <div class="achiever-block__known-as text-white sans-6">Nobel Prize for Peace</div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="text-white achiever-block__text--bottom"> <div class="achiever-block__year sans-4">Inducted in <span class="year-inducted">2002</span></div> </div> </figcaption> </figure> </a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="centered-blocks"> <div class="isotope-achiever public-service racism-discrimination spiritual-religious help-mankind play-music " data-year-inducted="1997" data-achiever-name="King, Coretta Scott"> <div class="achiever-block view-grid"> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/coretta-scott-king/"> <figure class="ratio-container ratio-container--square bg-black"> <div class="lazyload box achiever-block__image" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/king-cs-760_ac-190x190.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/king-cs-760_ac-380x380.jpg"></div> <div class="achiever-block__overlay"></div> <figcaption class="text-xs-center achiever-block__text"> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <div class="achiever-block__text--center"> <div class="achiever-block__name text-brand-primary">Coretta Scott King</div> <div class="achiever-block__known-as text-white sans-6">Pioneer of Civil Rights</div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="text-white achiever-block__text--bottom"> <div class="achiever-block__year sans-4">Inducted in <span class="year-inducted">1997</span></div> </div> </figcaption> </figure> </a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="centered-blocks"> <div class="isotope-achiever public-service public-service racism-discrimination small-town-rural-upbringing spiritual-religious help-mankind pioneer " data-year-inducted="2004" data-achiever-name="Lewis"> <div class="achiever-block view-grid"> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/congressman-john-r-lewis/"> <figure class="ratio-container ratio-container--square bg-black"> <div class="lazyload box achiever-block__image" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/lewis_760_ac-190x190.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/lewis_760_ac-380x380.jpg"></div> <div class="achiever-block__overlay"></div> <figcaption class="text-xs-center achiever-block__text"> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <div class="achiever-block__text--center"> <div class="achiever-block__name text-brand-primary">Congressman John R. Lewis</div> <div class="achiever-block__known-as text-white sans-6">Champion of Civil Rights</div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="text-white achiever-block__text--bottom"> <div class="achiever-block__year sans-4">Inducted in <span class="year-inducted">2004</span></div> </div> </figcaption> </figure> </a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="centered-blocks"> <div class="isotope-achiever public-service racism-discrimination spiritual-religious help-mankind " data-year-inducted="2003" data-achiever-name="Tutu"> <div class="achiever-block view-grid"> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/desmond-tutu/"> <figure class="ratio-container ratio-container--square bg-black"> <div class="lazyload box achiever-block__image" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/tutu_760_ac-190x190.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/tutu_760_ac-380x380.jpg"></div> <div class="achiever-block__overlay"></div> <figcaption class="text-xs-center achiever-block__text"> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <div class="achiever-block__text--center"> <div class="achiever-block__name text-brand-primary">Archbishop Desmond Tutu</div> <div class="achiever-block__known-as text-white sans-6">Nobel Prize for Peace</div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="text-white achiever-block__text--bottom"> <div class="achiever-block__year sans-4">Inducted in <span class="year-inducted">2003</span></div> </div> </figcaption> </figure> </a> </div> </div> </div> </footer> </div> </div> </article> <div class="modal image-modal fade" id="imageModal" tabindex="-1" role="dialog" aria-labelledby="imageModal" aria-hidden="true"> <div class="close-container"> <div class="close icon-icon_x" data-dismiss="modal" aria-label="Close"></div> </div> <div class="modal-dialog" role="document"> <div class="modal-content"> <div class="modal-body"> <figure class="image-modal__container"> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <img class="image-modal__image" src="/web/20190103141132im_/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/lech-walesa" alt=""/>  <figcaption class="p-t-2 container"> <div class="image-modal__caption sans-2 text-white"></div>  </figcaption> </div> </div> </figure> </div> </div> </div> </div> </main> </div> </div> <footer class="content-info main-footer bg-black"> <div class="container"> <div class="find-achiever" id="find-achiever-list"> <div class="form-group"> <input id="find-achiever-input" class="search js-focus" placeholder="Search for an achiever"/> <i class="icon-icon_chevron-down"></i> </div> <ul class="find-achiever-list list m-b-0 list-unstyled"> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/hank-aaron/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Hank Aaron</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/kareem-abdul-jabbar/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Kareem Abdul-Jabbar</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/lynsey-addario/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lynsey Addario</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/edward-albee/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Edward Albee</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/tenley-albright-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Tenley Albright, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/svetlana-alexievich/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Svetlana Alexievich</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/julie-andrews/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dame Julie Andrews</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/maya-angelou/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Maya Angelou</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/robert-d-ballard-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Robert D. 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Carson, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jimmy-carter/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jimmy Carter</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/johnny-cash/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Johnny Cash</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/william-j-clinton/"><span class="achiever-list-name">William J. Clinton</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/francis-s-collins/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/denton-a-cooley/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Denton A. Cooley, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/francis-ford-coppola/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Francis Ford Coppola</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ray-dalio/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ray Dalio</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/olivia-de-havilland/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dame Olivia de Havilland</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/michael-e-debakey-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Michael E. DeBakey, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/michael-dell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Michael S. Dell</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ron-dennis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ron Dennis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/joan-didion/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Joan Didion</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/david-herbert-donald-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">David Herbert Donald, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/david-doubilet/"><span class="achiever-list-name">David Doubilet</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/rita-dove/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Rita Dove</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sylvia-earle/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sylvia Earle, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/elbaradei/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mohamed ElBaradei</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/gertrude-elion/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Gertrude B. Elion, M.Sc.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/larry-j-ellison/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Larry J. Ellison</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/nora-ephron/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Nora Ephron</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/julius-erving/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Julius Erving</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/tony-fadell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Tony Fadell</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/paul-farmer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Paul Farmer, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/suzanne-farrell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Suzanne Farrell</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/anthony-s-fauci-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sally-field/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sally Field</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/lord-norman-foster/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lord Norman Foster</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/aretha-franklin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Aretha Franklin</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/milton-friedman-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Milton Friedman, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/carlos-fuentes/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carlos Fuentes</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/athol-fugard/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Athol Fugard</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ernest-j-gaines/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ernest J. Gaines</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/william-h-gates-iii/"><span class="achiever-list-name">William H. Gates III</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/leymah-gbowee/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Leymah Gbowee</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/frank-gehry/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank O. Gehry</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/murray-gell-mann-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Murray Gell-Mann, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/carlos-ghosn/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carlos Ghosn</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/vince-gill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Vince Gill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ruth-bader-ginsburg/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ruth Bader Ginsburg</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/louise-gluck/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Louise Glück</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/whoopi-goldberg/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Whoopi Goldberg</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jane-goodall/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dame Jane Goodall</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/doris-kearns-goodwin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Doris Kearns Goodwin, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/mikhail-s-gorbachev/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mikhail S. Gorbachev</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/nadine-gordimer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Nadine Gordimer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/stephen-jay-gould/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Stephen Jay Gould, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/carol-greider-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carol Greider, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/john-grisham/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Grisham</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sir-john-gurdon/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir John Gurdon</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/dorothy-hamill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dorothy Hamill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/demis-hassabis-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Demis Hassabis, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/lauryn-hill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lauryn Hill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sir-edmund-hillary/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir Edmund Hillary</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/reid-hoffman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Reid Hoffman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/khaled-hosseini/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Khaled Hosseini, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ron-howard/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ron Howard</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/john-hume/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Hume</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/louis-ignarro-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Louis Ignarro, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/daniel-inouye/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Daniel K. Inouye</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jeremy-irons/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jeremy Irons</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/john-irving/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Irving</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/kazuo-ishiguro/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Kazuo Ishiguro</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sir-peter-jackson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir Peter Jackson</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/donald-c-johanson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Donald C. Johanson, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/frank-m-johnson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank M. Johnson, Jr.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/philip-johnson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Philip C. Johnson</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/chuck-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Chuck Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/james-earl-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James Earl Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/quincy-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Quincy Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/beverly-joubert/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Beverly Joubert</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/dereck-joubert/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dereck Joubert</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/paul-kagame/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Paul Kagame</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/thomas-keller-2/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Thomas Keller</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/anthony-m-kennedy/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Anthony M. Kennedy</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/b-b-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">B.B. King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/carole-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carole King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/coretta-scott-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Coretta Scott King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/henry-kissinger-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Henry A. Kissinger, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/willem-j-kolff/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Willem J. Kolff, M.D., Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/wendy-kopp/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wendy Kopp</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/henry-r-kravis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Henry R. Kravis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/nicholas-d-kristof/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Nicholas D. Kristof</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/mike-krzyzewski/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mike Krzyzewski</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ray-kurzwell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ray Kurzweil</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/eric-lander-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Eric S. Lander, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/robert-s-langer-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Robert S. Langer, Sc.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/richard-leakey/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Richard E. Leakey</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/leon-lederman-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Leon Lederman, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/robert-lefkowitz-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Robert J. Lefkowitz, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/congressman-john-r-lewis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Congressman John R. Lewis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/maya-lin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Maya Lin</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/george-lucas/"><span class="achiever-list-name">George Lucas</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/norman-mailer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Norman Mailer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/peyton-manning/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Peyton Manning</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/wynton-marsalis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wynton Marsalis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/john-c-mather-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John C. Mather, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/johnny-mathis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Johnny Mathis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ernst-mayr-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ernst Mayr, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/willie-mays/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Willie Mays</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/frank-mccourt/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank McCourt</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/david-mccullough/"><span class="achiever-list-name">David McCullough</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/audra-mcdonald/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Audra McDonald</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/admiral-william-h-mcraven/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Admiral William H. McRaven, USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/w-s-merwin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">W. S. Merwin</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/james-a-michener/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James A. Michener</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/marvin-minsky-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Marvin Minsky, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/mario-j-molina-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mario J. Molina, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/n-scott-momaday-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">N. Scott Momaday, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/story-musgrave/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Story Musgrave, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ralph-nader/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ralph Nader</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/peggy-noonan/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Peggy Noonan</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jessye-norman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jessye Norman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/tommy-norris/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lt. Thomas R. Norris, USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/joyce-carol-oates/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Joyce Carol Oates</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/pierre-omidyar/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Pierre Omidyar</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jimmy-page/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jimmy Page</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/larry-page/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Larry Page</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/arnold-palmer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Arnold Palmer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/leon-panetta/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Leon Panetta</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/rosa-parks/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Rosa Parks</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/suzan-lori-parks/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Suzan-Lori Parks</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/linus-pauling/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Linus C. Pauling, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/shimon-peres/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Shimon Peres</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/itzhak-perlman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Itzhak Perlman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/general-david-petraeus/"><span class="achiever-list-name">General David H. Petraeus, USA</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sidney-poitier/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sidney Poitier</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103141132/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/general-colin-l-powell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">General Colin L. 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