Nelson Mandela (1918-2013) is an international emblem of dignity and tolerance. He transformed South Africa from a divided and unequal country where white people had all the wealth and power while Black people had none, to a country with fully democratic elections and equal rights for all races.

A large part of his success can be credited to his famous ability to bring people with very different views together. He famously said: “If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner” Mandela joined the African National Congress (ANC) in 1942. The ANC, he said, succeeded as a movement and a party because it had drawn on the collective wisdom of its many constituencies. For years he directed a campaign of peaceful, non-violent defiance against the South African government and its racist policies and at 44 he was sent to prison on charges of conspiring to overthrow the state. He remained there for 27 years and during this time developed his skills as a leader, negotiator and a speaker. He later credited his time there with teaching him the tactics and strategy that later made him president of South Africa. In February 1990, Mr. Mandela walked free at a time when both the ANC and the white government were split about how to move forward and there were many who saw violence as the only answer. He began a long process of laborious peace negotiations and after two years black and white leaders met in Johannesburg for negotiations that would lead, eventually, to political equality between races. In the midst of political chaos and extremist violence, Mandela and the white president, Mr. de Klerk, managed to negotiate a peaceful transfer of power and the country’s first multiracial elections. Mandela and President de Klerk were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their work toward dismantling the South African racial regime. On April 27 1994, South Africa held its first fully democratic elections.