Word: strongman
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Strongman Porfirio Diáz took over after Juárez in 1876, ruled with an iron hand, justifying his protective dictatorship by sighing, "Poor Mexico, so far from God and so close to the U.S." He was overthrown by the 1910 Revolution, which became the almost mystical source of reform-land, church, social, economic-and is still the major influence in Mexico's national life today. It was led by Francisco Madero, a 5-ft. 2-in. vegetarian, teetotaler and spiritualist with brown beard, piping voice and a nervous tic. Madero was supported by the backwoods guerrillas Francisco...
...months ago. led by a young black strongman named Sekou Toure, Guinea became the only territory in French Africa to reject the constitution of Premier Charles de Gaulle. Last week Touré, threatened with the loss of all his economic ties with France, flew off to Ghana. Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah was at the Accra airport with bands, a 21-gun salute, and a cheering crowd bearing placards saying, WELCOME LABORMAN . . . LIBERATOR OF GUINEA! Toure had made no secret of the fact that he wanted intimate ties with Ghana. But just how close those ties were to be came...
...West's staunchest friends. Strongman Menderes will have little to do with the Western institution of the free press. For the first four years of his administration, relations between government and press were good. Shortly after the 1954 elections the opposition press became bitingly critical, and the administration began to strike back. Sweeping Menderes-backed laws can check a newsman into the "Ankara Hilton" for any story that lessens the public's regard for the Premier or his administration...
Reflecting on these symptoms of unrest as he paced in his borrowed estate 25 miles from London, Strongman Sarit decided it was time to reassert himself. He flew back to Bangkok last week. Next day he dissolved the National Assembly, deposed the Premier, banned all political parties, scrapped the constitution and promised to draw up another (which will not be submitted to a referendum), padlocked a dozen publications, and declared martial law because of "pressure of internal and external forces, especially of the Communists." In the name of the "revolutionary party," Sarit promised Thailanders that he would 1) respect...
...something like this: win power, steal, flee (aided by the hallowed tradition of "political asylum"), spend and enjoy. The story almost never includes: return home, face the music. Last week, in a startling change in the familiar pattern, the democratic government of Colombia stood up to a brazen former strongman and made him answer for his actions...