examples:
Dean Gooderham Acheson
United States statesman who promoted the Marshall Plan and helped establish NATO (1893-1971)
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa
Roman general who commanded the fleet that defeated the forces of Antony and Cleopatra at Actium (63-12 BC)
Alcibiades
ancient Athenian statesman and general in the Peloponnesian War (circa 450-404 BC)
Yasser Arafat
Palestinian statesman who was chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (1929-2004)
Kemal Ataturk
Turkish statesman who abolished the caliphate and founded Turkey as a modern secular state (1881-1938)
Clement Richard Attlee
British statesman and leader of the Labour Party who instituted the welfare state in Britain (1883-1967)
Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus
Roman statesman who established the Roman Empire and became emperor in 27 BC; defeated Mark Antony and Cleopatra in 31 BC at Actium (63 BC - AD 14)
Viscount St. Albans
English statesman and philosopher; precursor of British empiricism; advocated inductive reasoning (1561-1626)
Menachem Begin
Israeli statesman (born in Russia) who (as prime minister of Israel) negotiated a peace treaty with Anwar Sadat (then the president of Egypt) (1913-1992)
David Ben Gurion
Israeli statesman (born in Poland) and active Zionist who organized resistance against the British after World War II; prime minister of Israel (1886-1973)
Ernest Bevin
British labor leader and statesman who played an important role in diplomacy after World War II (1884-1951)
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius
a Roman who was an early Christian philosopher and statesman who was executed for treason; Boethius had a decisive influence on medieval logic (circa 480-524)
El Libertador
Venezuelan statesman who led the revolt of South American colonies against Spanish rule; founded Bolivia in 1825 (1783-1830)
Willy Brandt
German statesman who as chancellor of West Germany worked to reduce tensions with eastern Europe (1913-1992)
Marcus Junius Brutus
statesman of ancient Rome who (with Cassius) led a conspiracy to assassinate Julius Caesar (85-42 BC)
Edmund Burke
British statesman famous for his oratory; pleaded the cause of the American colonists in British Parliament and defended the parliamentary system (1729-1797)
Arthur Neville Chamberlain
British statesman who as Prime Minister pursued a policy of appeasement toward fascist Germany (1869-1940)
Chiang Chung-cheng
Chinese military and political figure; in the Chinese civil war that followed World War II he was defeated by the Chinese communists and in 1949 was forced to withdraw to Taiwan where he served as president of Nationalist China until his death (1897-1975)
Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus
Roman statesman regarded as a model of simple virtue; he twice was called to assume dictatorship of Rome and each time retired to his farm (519-438 BC)
Baron Clive of Plassey
British general and statesman whose victory at Plassey in 1757 strengthened British control of India (1725-1774)
Cosimo de Medici
Italian financier and statesman and friend of the papal court (1389-1464)
Oliver Cromwell
English general and statesman who led the parliamentary army in the English Civil War (1599-1658)
Jefferson Davis
American statesman; president of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War (1808-1889)
Demosthenes
Athenian statesman and orator (circa 385-322 BC)
Eamon de Valera
Irish statesman (born in the United States); as president of the Irish Free State he was responsible for the new constitution of 1937 that created the state of Eire (1882-1975)
First Earl of Beaconsfield
British statesman who as Prime Minister bought controlling interest in the Suez Canal and made Queen Victoria the empress of India (1804-1881)
Gaius Flaminius
Roman statesman and general who built the Flaminian Way; died when he was defeated by Hannibal (died 217 BC)
Charles James Fox
English statesman who supported American independence and the French Revolution (1749-1806)
Indira Nehru Gandhi
daughter of Nehru who served as prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 (1917-1984)
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev
Soviet statesman whose foreign policy brought an end to the Cold War and whose domestic policy introduced major reforms (born in 1931)
Second Earl Grey
Englishman who as Prime Minister implemented social reforms including the abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire (1764-1845)
Alexander Hamilton
United States statesman and leader of the Federalists; as the first Secretary of the Treasury he establish a federal bank; was mortally wounded in a duel with Aaron Burr (1755-1804)
Vaclav Havel
Czech dramatist and statesman whose plays opposed totalitarianism and who served as president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 to 1992 and president of the Czech Republic since 1993 (born in 1936)
Nguyen Tat Thanh
Vietnamese communist statesman who fought the Japanese in World War II and the French until 1954 and South Vietnam until 1975 (1890-1969)
Muhammad Ali Jinnah
Indian statesman who was the founder of Pakistan as a Muslim state (1876-1948)
Kenneth David Kaunda
statesman who led Northern Rhodesia to full independence as Zambia in 1964 and served as Zambia's first president (1924-1999)
Jomo Kenyata
Kenyan statesman and the first president of independent Kenya (1893-1978)
Aleksandr Feodorovich Kerensky
Russian revolutionary who was head of state after Nicholas II abdicated but was overthrown by the Bolsheviks (1881-1970)
Sir Seretse Khama
Botswanan statesman who was the first president of Botswana (1921-1980)
Prince Fumimaro Konoye
Japanese statesman who set Japan's expansionist policies and formed an alliance with Germany and Italy (1891-1945)
Lorenzo the Magnificent
Italian statesman and scholar who supported many artists and humanists including Michelangelo and Leonardo and Botticelli (1449-1492)
Niccolo Machiavelli
a statesman of Florence who advocated a strong central government (1469-1527)
John Roy Major
British statesman who was prime minister from 1990 until 1997 (born in 1943)
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela
South African statesman who was released from prison to become the nation's first democratically elected president in 1994 (born in 1918)
George Catlett Marshall
United States general and statesman who as Secretary of State organized the European Recovery Program (1880-1959)
Golda Meir
Israeli statesman (born in Russia) (1898-1978)
Sir Thomas More
English statesman who opposed Henry VIII's divorce from Catherine of Aragon and was imprisoned and beheaded; recalled for his concept of Utopia, the ideal state
Gouverneur Morris
United States statesman who led the committee that produced the final draft of the United States Constitution (1752-1816)
Hosni Mubarak
Egyptian statesman who became president in 1981 after Sadat was assassinated (born in 1929)
Fridtjof Nansen
Norwegian explorer of the Arctic and director of the League of Nations relief program for refugees of World War I (1861-1930)
Jawaharlal Nehru
Indian statesman and leader with Gandhi in the struggle for home rule; was the first prime minister of the Republic of India from 1947 to 1964 (1889-1964)
Second Earl of Guilford
British statesman under George III whose policies led to rebellion in the American colonies (1732-1792)
Ignace Jan Paderewski
Polish pianist who in 1919 served as the first Prime Minister of independent Poland (1860-1941)
Pericles
Athenian statesman whose leadership contributed to Athens' political and cultural supremacy in Greece; he ordered the construction of the Parthenon (died in 429 BC)
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus
Roman general and statesman who quarrelled with Caesar and fled to Egypt where he was murdered (106-48 BC)
Colin luther Powell
United States general who was the first African American to serve as chief of staff; later served as Secretary of State under President George W. Bush (born 1937)
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin
Russian statesman chosen as president of the Russian Federation in 2000; formerly director of the Federal Security Bureau (born in 1952)
Anwar el-Sadat
Egyptian statesman who (as president of Egypt) negotiated a peace treaty with Menachem Begin (then prime minister of Israel) (1918-1981)
Lucius Annaeus Seneca
Roman statesman and philosopher who was an advisor to Nero; his nine extant tragedies are modeled on Greek tragedies (circa 4 BC - 65 AD)
Ian Douglas Smith
Rhodesian statesman who declared independence of Zimbabwe from Great Britain (born in 1919)
Suharto
Indonesian statesman who seized power from Sukarno in 1967 (born in 1921)
Achmad Sukarno
Indonesian statesman who obtained the independence of Indonesia from the Netherlands in 1949 and served as president until ousted by Suharto in a coup d'etat (1901-1970)
Sun Yat-sen
Chinese statesman who organized the Kuomintang and led the revolution that overthrew the Manchu dynasty in 1911 and 1912 (1866-1925)
Themistocles
Athenian statesman who persuaded Athens to build a navy and then led it to victory over the Persians (527-460 BC)
Marshal Tito
Yugoslav statesman who led the resistance to German occupation during World War II and established a communist state after the war (1892-1980)
Kurt Waldheim
Austrian diplomat who was Secretary General of the United Nations from 1972 to 1981; in 1986 he was elected president of Austria in spite of worldwide allegations that he had direct knowledge of Nazi atrocities during World War II (born in 1918)
Lech Walesa
Polish labor leader and statesman (born in 1943)
First Earl of Orford
Englishman and Whig statesman who (under George I) was effectively the first British prime minister (1676-1745)
Earl of Warwick
English statesman; during the War of the Roses he fought first for the house of York and secured the throne for Edward IV and then changed sides to fight for the house of Lancaster and secured the throne for Henry VI (1428-1471)
Chaim Azriel Weizmann
Israeli statesman who persuaded the United States to recognize the new state of Israel and became its first president (1874-1952)
First Duke of Wellington
British general and statesman; he defeated Napoleon at Waterloo; subsequently served as Prime Minister (1769-1852)
William of Wykeham
English prelate and statesman; founded a college at Oxford and Winchester College in Winchester; served as chancellor of England and bishop of Winchester (1324-1404)