Lech Walesa
(1943-)

Polish Political Leader
1983 Nobel Peace Prize Winner
1989 Presidential Medal of Freedom
1999 National Freedom Award
2001 Pacem in Terris
Peace and Freedom Award

birthdate: September 29
birthplace: Popowo, Poland

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Lech Walesa was voted by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th Century. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983 for helping free Poland from Communist rule. As leader of the Solidarity Labor Union in Poland, he helped inspire Polish workers to unite in a nonviolent movement to stand up for their rights. In 1990 Lech Walesa was democratically elected as President of the Republic of Poland. With the Soviet Union under Gorbachev's leadership lessening its grip on Soviet Bloc nations, the timing of Walesa's movement helped inspire other nations to seek a more democratic destiny through nonviolence.