The Father of the Nation reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004
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Father of the Nation

Father of the Nation is a term used by many countries to describe a political or symbolic leader who was one of the most influential founding fathers of the nation. He may also be a key figure from the nation's history whose perceived heroism and moral authority made him in the public's eyes worthy of respect, indeed often veneration. The Father of the Nation is almost always a highly respected national figure and a source of patriotic inspiration. His image is commonly featured on banknotes, stamps, and other national memorabilia. Compare the Roman honorific pater patriae.

Perhaps the most famous "Father of the Nation" is the American revolutionary general and first president of the United States, George Washington. Washington's image as a national icon of pride and leadership has become almost a cliche to the point where other countries even sometimes refer to their own independence leaders as "our George Washington."

While many states have held a 'father of the nation' in continuing high respect since their founding, others have adopted and then abandoned some numerous figures throughout their history. Josef Stalin was seen by millions during his period of control in the Soviet Union as the national father-figure, an image augmented deliberately by images released of him in the pose of a father or grandfather patting children on their head. Such was his esteem that a wave of suicides was recorded when his death was announced, with people suggesting that life without Stalin to guide them was unthinkable. Within a few years however, when his successors revealed the truth about Stalin's reign of terror, his popularity plummeted and his body was removed from the mausoleum where it had been laid alongside Lenin.

In Ireland, though he remained a controversial figure, to the majority of the electorate and the supporters of the state's biggest political party (which he founded and led for 33 years) Eamon de Valera was seen as the father of the nation up to his death in 1975. However in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s his reputation too underwent a re-evaluation, with the public moving away from their unfettered enthusiasm for 'deV' and his achievements and instead focusing interest on leaders like Michael Collins whom de Valera in his lifetime had tried to sideline.

Sun Yat-sen is regarded the Guofu (國父) in the Republic of China (now on Taiwan). The term is not used for Mao Zedong in the People's Republic of China.

The deposed King of Afghanistan, Mohammed Zahir Shah has been called "Father of the Nation" by current President Hamid Karzai, in some sense a compromise with those wishing to restore the monarchy; and a 2003 draft constitution in fact explicitly awarded this title to Zahir Shah.

Countries and their national "fathers"

CountryNational father(s)
AfghanistanMohammed Zahir Shah
AlbaniaIsmail Qemali
AlgeriaAhmed Ben Bella
AndorraCarlemany
Antigua and BarbudaVere Cornwall Bird
ArgentinaJosé de San Martín
The BahamasLynden Pindling
BangladeshMujibur Rahman
BarbadosGrantley Adams, Errol Barrow
BoliviaSimón Bolívar
Bosnia and HerzegovinaAlija Izetbegovic
CambodiaNorodom Sihanouk
CameroonAhmadou Ahidjo
CanadaJohn A. Macdonald
Cape VerdeAristides Pereira
Central African RepublicBarthélemy Boganda
ChileBernardo O'Higgins
Republic of ChinaSun Yat-sen
ColombiaSimón Bolívar, Antonio Nariño
Côte d'IvoireFélix Houphouët-Boigny
CroatiaAnte Starčević
CubaJosé Martí, Tomás Estrada Palma
CyprusArchbishop Makarios
CzechoslovakiaTomáš Masaryk
Czech RepublicVáclav Havel
Dominican RepublicJuan Pablo Duarte
East GermanyWalter Ulbricht
East TimorXanana Gusmão
EcuadorSimón Bolívar
EgyptMohammed Ali Pasha
EnglandAlfred the Great
FijiKamisese Mara
FinlandCarl Gustaf Mannerheim
FranceClovis I
GabonLéon Mba
GermanyKonrad Adenauer
GhanaKwame Nkrumah
GreeceAlexandros Mavrokordatos, Ioannis Kapodistrias
GuineaAhmed Sékou Touré
Guinea-BissauAmílcar Cabral
GuyanaCheddi Jagan
HaitiJean-Jacques Dessalines, Toussaint L'Ouverture
IndiaMohandas K. Gandhi
IndonesiaSukarno
IrelandEamon de Valera, Michael Collins
IsraelDavid Ben-Gurion
ItalyVictor Emmanuel II of Italy, Giuseppe Garibaldi, Count Camillo Benso di Cavour
JamaicaNorman Manley, Alexander Bustamante
JordanHussein of Jordan
KenyaJomo Kenyatta
KiribatiIeremia Tabai
North KoreaKim Il Sung
South KoreaSyngman Rhee
KosovoIbrahim Rugova
LiberiaJoseph Jenkins Roberts
MalaysiaTunku Abdul Rahman
MaliModibo Keita
Marshall IslandsAmata Kabua
MauritaniaMoktar Ould Daddah
MauritiusSeewoosagur Ramgoolam
MexicoJosé María Morelos, Emiliano Zapata, Francisco I. Madero, Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla
MongoliaGenghis Khan, Horloogiyn Choybalsan
MozambiqueSamora Machel
NauruHammer DeRoburt
NetherlandsWillem I of Orange
NigeriaNnamdi Azikiwe
OmanQaboos of Oman
PakistanMohammed Ali Jinnah
ParaguayJosé Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia
PeruSimón Bolívar
Pitcairn IslandsFletcher Christian
PolandJózef Pilsudski, Wladyslaw I of Poland
Saint Vincent and the GrenadinesJames Mitchell
SamoaMalietoa Tanumafili II
San MarinoMarinus
Saudi ArabiaIbn Saud
ScotlandDonald Dewar
SenegalLéopold Sédar Senghor
SingaporeLee Kuan Yew
SloveniaMilan Kucan
South AfricaNelson Mandela
Soviet UnionVladimir Lenin
SpainJuan Carlos I of Spain
Sri LankaDon Stephen Senanayake
SwedenGustav I Vasa
TanzaniaJulius Nyerere
Republic of TexasStephen F. Austin
Trinidad and TobagoEric Williams
TunisiaHabib Bourguiba
TurkeyKemal Atatürk
TurkmenistanSaparmurat Niyazov (self-proclaimed "Leader of all Turkmen")
United StatesGeorge Washington (styled the "Father of His Country")
UruguayJosé Gervasio Artigas
VanuatuWalter Lini
VenezuelaSimón Bolívar
VietnamHo Chi Minh
West Bank and Gaza StripYasser Arafat
YugoslaviaJosip Broz Tito
ZambiaHarry Nkumbula, Kenneth Kaunda

Some of the above "paternities" are matters of political contention in their respective countries, while others are widely accepted on a non-partisan basis.

See also: Pater Patriae