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President Of The Republic Of China

President of the Republic of China

, Taipei City.]] The President of the Republic of China (; Tongyong Pinyin: JhōngHuá MínGuó JǒngTǒng) is the head of state of the Republic of China, a political entity that since 1949 has consisted mainly of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu. The existing office was created in 1948 under the 1947 Constitution of the Republic of China, but soon afterwards, the Kuomintang lost mainland China to the Communists in the Chinese Civil War, forcing the ROC government, along with its presidency, to retreat to Taiwan. Outside of Taiwan the President of the ROC is commonly referred to as the "President of Taiwan" (台灣總統). This usage is less common in Taiwan itself. The official title is 'President of the Republic of China' under the Constution and is thus the one that appears in formal government usage. Local media refer unofficially to 'Taiwan's president' or 'the president of Taiwan,' though 'the president' usually suffices. For its part the People's Republic of China refuses to recognize Taiwan's government at all. In official statements the PRC places all titles in quotes and generally refers to the president as 'leader of the Taiwan authorities.'

History

When the Republic of China was founded in 1912, Sun Yat-sen was elected as the first "provisional president" (臨時大總統) by the provisional Senate, ending thousands of years of imperial rule in China. Sun Yat-sen soon resigned from the office in favor of Yuan Shikai, who formally assumed the office of "President" (大總統, literally "Great President", in contrast with the omission of 'great' in the current title) in 1913. The 1913 Constitution called for a strong presidential system with notable checks on the president by the National Assembly. However, Yuan soon began to assert presidential power, ignoring the National Assembly and later abolishing it altogether. In 1915, Yuan proclaimed himself Emperor of China in a largely unpopular move and was forced to retract his declaraction shortly before his death in 1916. With Yuan Shikai's death, China fragmented into warlordism. Vice President Li Yuanhong succeeded Yuan as president and attemted to reassert the constitutional government, but was soon forced to resign by local military strongmen. The presidency, though leading an internationally recognized government, was thereafter to be headed by a series of prominent warlords lacking any real authority beyond their fiefdoms surrounding the capital Beijing. This presidency ended in 1928 when the Northern Expedition, led by the Kuomintang, succeeded in conquering North China. Sun Yat-sen established a rival (military, not constitutional) government in Guangzhou in 1917 and took the title of "Generalissimo of the Military Government" (海陸軍大元帥, literally "grand marshal of the navy and army"). He was ousted in 1918 but returned again to Guangzhou in 1921. He summoned the members of the original parliament to elect him as president, but since there lacked a quorum, he took the title of "Extraordinary President" (非常大總統). Sun, again expelled from Guangzhou in 1922, returned in 1923 to take the title of "Generalissimo of the Military Government." Sun died in 1925 with no clear successor and leadership of the government (now named the Nationalist Government) rested in a series of committees. The "Chairman of the Nationalist Government," though not given specific presidential powers, took on the functions of a de facto head of state. This form of government under the KMT lasted through the Northern Expedition, which moved the capital to Nanjing and gave the Nationalist Government domestic control and foreign recognition, and the Second Sino-Japanese War, during which the Japanese established puppet Nationalist Governments with almost the identical organizational structure. Following the Chinese victory in the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Nationalist Government under Chiang Kai-shek was restored in Nanjing and the KMT set out to enact a liberal democratic Constitution in line with the last stage of Sun Yat-sen's three stages of national development. The new Constitution of the Republic of China, promulgated on December 25, 1947, established a five-branch government with the office of president (總統) as head of state. On May 20, 1948, Chiang Kai-shek was formally elected by the National Assembly to be the first term president.

Powers

The President is currently selected by a first past the post direct election of the areas administered by the Republic of China for a term of four years. Before 1991, the President was selected by the National Assembly of the Republic of China for a term of six years. The Constitution names the President as head of state and commander-in-chief of the military of the Republic of China. The President is responsible for conducting foreign relations, such as concluding treaties, declaring war, and making peace. The President must promulgate all laws and has no right to veto. Other powers of the President include granting amnesty, pardon, or clemency, declaring martial law, and conferring honors and decorations. Until the 1980s power in the Republic of China was personalized rather than institutionalized which meant that the power of the President depended largely on who occupied the office. For example, during the tenure of Yen Chia-kan, the office was largely ceremonial with real power in the hands of the Premier of the Republic of China, Chiang Ching-Kuo, and power switched back to the presidency when Chiang became President. After 2000, and the election of Chen Shui-bian to the Presidency, the Presidency and the Legislative Yuan were controlled by different parties which brought forth a number of latent constitutional issues such as the role of the legislature in appointing and dismissing a Premier, the right of the President to call a special session of the legislature, and who has the power to call a referendum. Most of these issues have been resolved through inter-party negotiations. Legislative Yuan

Diplomatic protocol

The diplomatic protocol regarding the ROC President is rather complex because of the anomalous political status of Taiwan. In the two dozen or so nations which recognize the ROC as a legitimate government, he is accorded the standard treatment that is given to a head of state. In other nations, he is formally a private citizen, although even in these cases, travel usually meets with strong objections from the People's Republic of China. In the case of the United States, the ROC President has travelled several times, formally in transit to and from Central America, which contains a number of nations which do recognize the ROC. This system allows the ROC President to visit the United States without the State Department having to issue a visa. During these trips, the ROC President is not formally treated as a head of state, does not meet officially with U.S. government officials, and does not visit Washington D.C.. In the case of southeast Asia, the ROC President was able to arrange visits in the early 1990s which were formally private tourist visits, however these have become increasingly infrequent as a result of PRC pressure. At the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders' summit, the ROC President is forbidden to attend personally and must send a special envoy to represent him at the event.

List of Presidents

Presidents of the Republic of China, 1912-1928

Presidents of the Republic of China, 1948-present

For Presidents before the enactment of the 1947 Constitution, see list of leaders of the Republic of China.

Elections

- ROC presidential election, 1996
- ROC presidential election, 2000
- ROC presidential election, 2004

External links

- [http://www.president.gov.tw/index_e.html Office of the President of the Republic of China] Category:Republic of China ja:中華民国総統

Tongyong Pinyin

Tongyong Pinyin () is the current official romanization of the Chinese language adopted by the national government (although not all local governments) of the Republic of China (Taiwan) since late 2000, announced by the Mandarin Promotion Council of the Ministry of Education. Like all previous ROC official romanizations, it is based on the official Chinese dialect of Standard Mandarin. Around 80 percent of the Tongyong Pinyin syllables are spelled identically to those of Mainland China's Hanyu Pinyin.

History

Tongyong Pinyin is the successor of MPS II. Created by Yu Bor-chuan (余伯泉, Yu Boquan) in 1998, Tongyong Pinyin has been modified several times since.

Features

Spelling

Notable features of Tongyong Pinyin are:
- Hanyu zh becomes jh (Wade-Giles uses ch).
- Hanyu x and q are completely unused in Tongyong Pinyin, they become s and c (Wade-Giles uses hs and ch) before front vowel (i and e), but sy and cy before yu (to avoid confusion with su and cu).
- The Hanyu i not represented in Zhuyin -- the empty rime (空韻) -- are shown as ih (partially like Wade-Giles), i.e, those in Hanyu as zi (資), ci (慈), si (思), zhi (知), chi (吃), shi (詩), and ri (日) all end in -ih in Tongyong.
- eng becomes ong after b-, p-, m-, f-, w- (蹦、碰、孟、奉、瓮)
- wen (溫) becomes wun
- iong becomes yong, e.g. syong instead of pinyin xiong (兇)
- Ü used in Pinyin is replaced by yu.
- Unlike Wade-Giles and Hanyu, iu and ui (e.g., liu (六) and gui (鬼)) contractions can be optionally written out in full as iou and uei. However, according to the Ministry of the Interior, in romanizations of names of places that is at township-level or below township-level, the letters must be written in full.
- Although the original scheme did not specify capitalization of the first letter of every syllable, Taipei has done so with almost every street sign in the city, resulting in a CamelCase-like effect. For example, Beitou is written as BeiTou. The CamelCase practice started with Hanyu Pinyin very unofficially with the raise of the Internet, and had rarely made out into the printed world until now.
Punctuation

- Tongyong syllables in the same word (except placenames) are to be separated by hyphens, like Wade-Giles. Except that, in Ministry of the Interior's romanizations, placenames have no spaces between the syllables.
- Tongyong uses tone marks like Zhuyin, and not like Hanyu, i.e., Tongyong has no mark for the first tone, but a dot for the neutral tone (which is optional on computers).
- The optional syllable disambiguity mark is apostrophe (like Hanyu), e.g., ji'nan vs. jin'an. The mark may also, as in the Ministry of the Interior placenames, be hyphen.
Adoption and Criticism
Some have criticised Tongyong Pinyin for matching more than one traditional bopomofo initial to the letters c and s. Others have pointed out that every single Mandarin syllable can be expressed in equal or fewer keystrokes in Hanyu Pinyin. Nonetheless, the largest difficulty may lie in that Hanyu Pinyin is both the standard of the PRC, and the internationally accepted ISO standard for the romanization of Mandarin Chinese. For those who have studied Mandarin outside Taiwan and for those who are accustomed to doing business in China, Hanyu Pinyin may be quite indispensable. On the other hand, Tongyong Pinyin supporters have argued that their system avoids q and x, letters that are confusing to many foreigners as to their proper pronuncation. Even though in early October 2000, the Mandarin Commission of the Ministry of Education proposed to use Tongyong Pinyin as the national standard, Education Minister Ovid Tzeng (曾志朗) submitted a draft of the Taiwanese Romanization in late October to the Executive Yuan, but it was rejected. The adoption of Tongyong Pinyin has also resulted in political controversy. Much of the controversy centered on issues of national identity with proponents of Chinese unification favoring the hanyu pinyin system which is used on the People's Republic of China and proponents of Taiwan, the Republic of China favoring the use of tongyong pinyin. In August 2002, the ROC government adopted Tongyong Pinyin but through an administrative order which local governments can override. Localities with governments controlled by the Kuomintang, most notably Taipei City, have overridden the order and are using Hanyu pinyin for local signs in accordance with the wishes of various groups representing foreign businesses. This creates the odd situation in which adjacent signs have different pinyin based on which government controls them. In part because of the lack of agreement of which pinyin to use, the goal of the Ministry of Education to replace bopomofo with pinyin to teach pronunciation in elementary school remains stalled as of 2003. Tongyong Pinyin also has a Taiwanese phonetic symbol version (台語音標版) which lacks the letter f but adds the letter v (for 万).
External links

- [http://research.chtsai.org/papers/pinyin-comparison.html Linguistic analysis]
- [http://www.romanization.com/tongyong/differences.html Hanyu-Tongyong comparison chart]
- [http://abc.iis.sinica.edu.tw/pinyinfangan.htm Formal documents] (in Traditional Chinese): from Academia Sinica
- [http://sources.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%87%BA%E7%81%A3%E5%9C%B0%E5%90%8D%E8%AD%AF%E5%AF%AB%E5%8E%9F%E5%89%87 Toponomastic Rules] (in Traditional Chinese): from Wikisource
- http://www.romanization.com/ Category:Chinese language romanization Category:Mandarin terms ja:通用ピン音 zh-tw:通用拼音

Head of state

. When two heads of state meet it is known as a state visit.]] Head of state or chief of state is the generic term for the individual or collective office which serves as the chief public representative of monarchic or republican nation-state, federation, commonwealth or any other political state. His or her role generally includes personifying the continuity and legitimacy of the state and exercising the political powers, functions and duties granted to the head of state in the country's constitution. Charles de Gaulle described the role he envisaged for the French president when he wrote the modern French constitution, a head of state should embody "the spirit of the nation" to the nation itself and to the world: une certaine idée de la France (a certain idea about what France is). Today many countries expect their Head of State to embody national values in a similar fashion.

Constitutional models

Different countries have different executive systems but in essence four major, generalizing categories can be distinguished: the presidential (or imperial) system in which the head of state is also the head of government and actively exercises executive power, the semi-presidential system in which the head of state shares exercise of executive power with a head of government, the parliamentary system in which the head of state possesses theoretical executive power but the exercise of this power is delegated to a head of government, and the non-executive head of state system in which the head of state does not hold any executive power and mainly plays a symbolic role on behalf of the state.

Presidential system

Note: 'presidential' in this context does not automatically imply a president but any head of state –elected, hereditary, or dictatorial– who 'presides'. It is sometimes called the Imperial model, without regard for the monarchic title Emperor, rather referring to the luster. president Some constitutions or fundamental laws provide for a head of state who is not just in theory but in practice chief executive, operating separately from, and independent from, the legislature. This system is sometimes known as a presidential system because the government is answerable solely and exclusively to a 'presiding' activist head of state, and is selected by and on occasion dismissed by the head of state without reference to the legislature. It is notable that some presidential systems, while not providing for collective executive answerability to the legislature, may require legislative approval for individuals prior to their assumption of cabinet office and empower the legislature to remove a president from office (for example, in the United States). In this case the debate centres on the suitability of the individual for office, not a judgment on them when appointed, and does not involve the power to reject or approve proposed cabinet members en bloc so it is not answerability in the sense understood in a parliamentary system. Some presidential systems may also include a prime minister but as with the other ministers they are responsible to the President, not the legislature. In many such instances the office is of minimal political importance, sometimes even held by some administrative technocrat rather than a politician. A prime minister in a presidential system lacks the constitutional and political dominance of a prime minister in a parliamentary system and is often seen as simply a politically junior figure who may run the mechanics of government while allowing the President to set the broad national agenda. One could say that, whereas in parliamentary systems a prime minister may be master of his or her party and the government, prime ministers in presidential systems are usually the servants, with the head of state the master of the government who can hire and fire anyone, including the prime minister, at will. Presidential Systems of Governments are a notable feature of constitutions in the Americas, notably the United States. Though most presidents in the system are selected by democratic means (popular direct or indirect election, etc) the system also encompasses people who become head of state by other means, notably through military dictatorship or coup d'état. Some of the characteristics of a presidential system (i. e, a strong dominant political figure with an executive answerable to them, not the legislature) can also be found among absolute monarchies. It is worth noting that modern presidential systems, most notably the United States, owe their origins to the contemporary eighteenth century British constitutional model in existence at the time of the enactment of the Constitution of the United States, in which the British monarch was still the dominant force and their government was not in a modern sense answerable to the legislature. Thus modern presidential systems are the lineal successors of the Ancien régime governmental systems of eighteenth century Europe, whereas in Europe many states have evolved from a head of state-centred executive system (a presidential system) to a legislature-oriented one (a parliamentary system). In the 1870s in the United States in the aftermath of the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson and his near removal from office it was speculated that the United States too would move from a presidential system to a semi-presidential or even parliamentary one, with the Speaker of the House of Representatives becoming the real centre of government as a quasi-prime minister. This did not happen and the presidency, having been damaged by two late nineteenth century assassinations (Lincoln and Garfield) and one impeachment (Johnson), reasserted its political dominance by the early twentieth century through such figures as Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson.

Semi-presidential systems

Woodrow Wilson Semi-presidential systems combine features of Presidential and Parliamentary systems, notably a requirement that the government be answerable to both the President and the legislature. The Constitution of the current French Fifth Republic provides for a prime minister who is chosen by the President but who nevertheless must be able to gain support in the Chamber of Deputies. Where in France a president is of one side of the political spectrum and the opposition is in control of the legislature, s/he often is forced to select someone from the opposition to become prime minister, a process known as Cohabitation. President François Mitterrand, a socialist, for example was forced to co-habit with the neo-gaullist (right wing) Jacques Chirac, who became his prime minister for a time in the 1980s. In the French system, in the event of co-habitation, the President is often allowed to set the policy agenda in foreign affairs and the Prime Minister run the domestic agenda. Other countries evolve into something akin to a semi-presidential system or indeed a full presidential system. Weimar Germany, for example, in its constitution provided for a popularly elected president with theoretically dominant emergency powers that were only intended to be exercised in emergencies and a cabinet appointed by him from the Reichstag which was expected in normal circumstances to be answerable to the Reichstag. Initially the President was merely a symbolic figure with the Reichstag dominant. However long-term political instability (where governments were collapsing every couple of months) led to a change in the power structure of the Republic, with the President's emergency powers called increasingly into use to prop up governments challenged by critical or even hostile Reichstag votes. By 1932, power had shifted to such an extent that the German President, Paul von Hindenburg was able to dismiss a chancellor and select his own person for the job even though the outgoing chancellor possessed the confidence in the Reichstag while the new chancellor did not. Subsequently President von Hindenburg used his power to appoint Adolf Hitler as Reich chancellor without consulting the Reichstag.

Parliamentary system

Adolf Hitler In parliamentary systems the head of state may be merely the nominal chief executive officer of the state, possessing theoretical executive power (hence the description of the United Kingdom monarch's government as Her Majesty's Government, a term indicating that the government is theoretically hers, not parliament's). In reality however, due to a process of constitutional evolution, powers are usually exercised by a cabinet, presided over by a prime minister or President of the Government who is answerable to parliament. This answerability requires that someone be chosen from parliament who has parliament's support (or at least not parliament's opposition - a subtle but important difference). It also gives parliament the right to vote down the government, forcing it either to resign or seek a parliamentary dissolution. Governments are thus said to be responsible (ie, answerable) to parliament, with the government in turn accepting constitutional responsibility for offering constitutional Advice to the head of state. In reality, numerous variants exist to the position of a head of state within a parliamentary system. The older the constitution, the more constitutional leeway may exist for a head of state to exercise greater powers over government, as many older parliamentary system constitutions in fact give heads of state powers and functions akin to presidential or semi-presidential systems, in some cases without containing reference to modern democratic principles of accountability to parliament or even to modern governmental offices. For example, the 1848 constitution of the Kingdom of Italy was sufficiently ambiguous and outdated to give King Victor Emmanuel III leeway to appoint Benito Mussolini to power in controversial circumstances. Some Commonwealth parliamentary systems combine a body of written constitutional law, unwritten constitutional precedent, Orders-in-Council, letters patent, etc that may give a head of state or their representative additional powers in unexpected circumstances (eg, the dismissal of the Australian prime minister, Gough Whitlam by Governor-General Sir John Kerr.) Other examples of heads of state in parliamentary systems using greater powers than normal due either to ambiguous constitutions or unprecedented national emergencies, such as King Léopold III of the Belgians's decision to surrender on behalf of his state to the invading German army in 1940, against the will of His Government. Judging that his responsibility to the nation by virtue of his coronation oath required him to act, he believed that His Government's decision to fight rather than surrender was mistaken and would damage Belgium. (Leopold's decision proved highly controversial. After World War II, Belgium voted on whether to allow him back on the throne. It did so, but because of the ongoing controversy he ultimately abdicated the throne.)

Non-executive heads of state

World War II, an example of a non-executive head of state.]] A final category of head of state which could be loosely called the non-executive head of state model also exists. Its holders are excluded completely from the executive. In other words they do not possess even theoretical executive powers or any role, even formal, within the government. Hence their states' governments are not referred to by the traditional parliamentary model head of state styles of His/Her Majesty's Government or His/Her Excellency's Government. Within this general category, variants in terms of powers and functions may exist. The King of Sweden, since the passage of the modern Swedish constitution, the Instrument of Government in the mid 1970s, no longer has any of the parliamentary system head of state functions that had previously belonged to Swedish kings. But he still receives formal cabinet briefings monthly in the Royal Palace. In contrast the only contact the Irish president has with the Irish government is through a formal briefing session given by the Taoiseach (prime minister) to the President. However she has no access to documentation and all access to ministers goes through the Department of An Taoiseach (prime minister's office). Examples of this category invariably date from the twentieth century. The most notable examples of this category are the
- President of Ireland
- King of Sweden (since 1975)
- President of the Federal Republic of Germany.
- Emperor of Japan (since 1947)

Complications with categorisation

While clear categories do exist, it is sometimes difficult to choose which category some individual heads of state belong to. Constitutional change in Liechtenstein in 2003 gave its head of state, the Prince, unprecedented constitutional powers including a veto over legislation and power in theory to dismiss the cabinet. It could be argued that the strengthening of the Prince's powers vis-a-vis the legislature has moved Liechtenstein in the semi-presidential category. Similarly the original powers given to the Greek President of the Republic under the 1974 Hellenic Republic constitution made Greece more akin to the French semi-presidential model. And the theoretical power of the British monarch to dismiss their government at will would suggest that the United Kingdom should belong to the semi-presidential category also. In reality the category to which each head of state-ship belongs is assessed not by theory but by practice. In practice no British monarch has forced a government from office since the early nineteenth century, while the Greek Republic in reality even before the powers of the President of the Republic were curtailed operated as a standard parliamentary system. Unless and until a Prince of Liechtenstein exercises the theoretical powers they now possess, the principality would still remain categorised as a parliamentary system.

Roles of the head of state

Often depending on which constitutional category (above) a head of state belongs to, they may have some or all of the roles listed below, and various other ones.

Symbolic role

Greek President of the Republic, developed a personality cult.]] As the above quote by Charles de Gaulle indicates, one of the most important roles of the modern head of state is being a living national symbol of the nation. In many states an official portraits of the head of state can be found in government offices, courts of law, even airports, libraries, and other public buildings. The idea, sometimes regulated by law, is to use these portraits to make the public aware of the symbolic connection to the government, a practice that dates back to mediaeval times. Sometimes this practice is taken to excess, and the head of state begins to believe that he is the only symbol of the nation. A personality cult thus ensues, where the image of the head of state is the only visual representation of the country, surpassing other symbols such as the flag, constitution, founding fathers, etc. Other common iconic presences, especially of monarchs, are on coins, stamps, banknotes. More discrete variations see them represented by a mention and/or signature. In general the active duties amount to a ceremonial role. Thus in diplomatic affairs, heads of state are often the first person to greet an important foreign visitor. They may also assume a sort of informal "host" role during the VIP's visit, inviting the visitor to a state dinner at his or her mansion or palace, or some other equally hospitable affair. At home, they are expected to render luster to various occasions by their presence, such as assisting to artistic or sports performances or competitions, expositions, celebrations, military parades and remembrances, prominent funerals, visiting parts of the country, enterprises, care facilities etcetera (often in a theatrical honour box, on a platform, on the front row, at the honours table etc.), sometimes performing a symbolic act such as cutting a ribbon or pushing a button at an opening, christening something with champagne, laying the first stone, and so on. Some parts of national life receive their regular attention, often on an annual basis, or even in the form of official patronage. As the potential for such invitations is enormous, such duties are often in part delegated: to a spouse, other members of the dynasty, vice-president etcetera, for whom this is often the core of their public role, or in other cases (possibly as a message, e.g. to distance themselves without giving utter protocollary offence) just a military or other aid.

Chief diplomatic officer

founding fathers from the French ambassador.]]
- The head of state accredits his or her country's ambassadors, through sending formal Letters of Credence to other heads of state. Without that accreditation, ipso facto an ambassador does not take up a role and receive the highest diplomatic status. However there are provisions in international law to perform the same diplomatic functions, or at least part of them, such as accrediting with a lower title with the government, or functioning within
- He or she receives Letters of Credence, sent by other heads of state accrediting his/her ambassador to the state.
- He or she signs international treaties on behalf of the state, or has them signed in his/her name by ministers (government members or diplomats); subsequent ratification, when necessary, usually rests with the legislature. ::Example 1: Article 59 (1) of the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany states - :::The Federal President shall represent the Federation in its international relations. He shall conclude treaties with foreign states on behalf of the Federation. He shall accredit and receive envoys. ::Example 2: Section 2, Article 81 of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China states - :::The President of the People's Republic of China receives foreign diplomatic representatives on behalf of the People's Republic of China and, in pursuance of decisions of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, appoints and recalls plenipotentiary representatives abroad, and ratifies and abrogates treaties and important agreements concluded with foreign states.

Chief executive officer

In the vast majority of states, whether republics or monarchies, executive authority is vested, at least notionally, in the head of state. In presidential systems the head of state is the actual, de facto chief executive officer. Under parliamentary systems the executive authority is theoretically exercised by the head of state but in practice exercised on the advice of the prime minister or cabinet. This produces such terms as Her Majesty's Government and His Excellency's Government. Examples of parliamentary systems in which the head of state is notional chief executive include Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, France, Italy and the United Kingdom. The few exceptions include the Republic of Ireland, where executive authority is explicitly vested in the cabinet, and Sweden. The head of state may also be described, although, again, in parliamentary systems this is only a notional designation, as commander-in-chief of the armed forces. ::Example 1 (presidential system): Article 2, Section 1 of the United States Constitution states: :::The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. ::Example 2 (Victorian era constitutional monarchy): Under Chapter II, Section 61 of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, 1900: :::The executive power of the Commonwealth is vested in the Queen and is exercisable by the Governor-General as the Queen's representative, and extends to the execution and maintenance of this Constitution, and of the laws of the Commonwealth. ::Example 3 (mid-20th century constitutional monarchy): According to Section 12 of the Constitution of Denmark 1953: :::Subject to the limitations laid down in this Constitution Act the King shall have the supreme authority in all the affairs of the Realm, and he shall exercise such supreme authority through the Ministers. ::Example 4 (modern republican parliamentary system): According to Article 26 (2) of the 1975 Constitution of Greece: :::The executive power shall be exercised by the President of the Republic and by the government.

Chief appointments officer

- He or she appoints most or all the key officials in the state, including members of the cabinet, the prime minister (if there is one), key judicial figures and all major office holders. In most parliamentary systems the prime minister is appointed with the consent of the legislature, and other figures are appointed on the prime minister's advice. Some countries have exceptions - under Article 4 of the Instrument of Government 1974, the constitution of Sweden grants to the parliamentary speaker the role of formally appointing the prime minister. In practice, this decision is often a formality. The last time a United Kingdom monarch actually had a choice over who to pick to be prime minister occurred in 1963, when Queen Elizabeth II chose Alec Douglas-Home to succeed Harold Macmillan. In presidential systems such as that of the United States, appointments are nominated by the president's sole discretion, and this nomination if often subject to parliamentary confirmation (in the case of the U.S., the U.S. Senate has to approve cabinet nominees and judicial appointments by simple majority).
- He or she may dismiss office-holders. In parliamentary systems, this is only done on the binding advice of another office-holder; for example, members of the Irish cabinet are dismissed by the President of Ireland on the advice of the Taoiseach (prime minister). In some instances, the head of state may be able to dismiss an office holder themselves. Many heads of state or their representatives have the theoretical power to dismiss any office-holder while it is exceptionally rarely used. Its use is sometimes controversial, such as when the Australian Governor-General dismissed the prime minister during the 1975 Australian Constitutional Crisis. In France, while the president cannot force the prime minister to tender the resignation of his government, he in practice can request it if the prime minister is from his own majority. In presidential systems, the president often has the power to fire ministers at his sole discretion. In the U.S., convention calls for cabinet secretaries to resign on their own initiative when called to do so. ::Example 1 (semi-presidential system): Chapter 4, Section 2 of the Constitution of the Republic of Korea states: :::The Prime Minister is appointed by the President with the consent of the National Assembly. ::Example 2 (parliamentary system): Article 13.1.1 of the Constitution of Ireland: :::The President shall, on the nomination of Dáil Éireann [the lower house], appoint the Taoiseach [prime minister].

Legislative roles

Constitution of Ireland can override it.]] Most states require that all bills passed by the house or houses of the legislature are signed into law by the head of state. In some states, such as the United Kingdom, Belgium and the Republic of Ireland, the head of state is in fact formally considered a tier of parliament. In presidential systems the head of state often has power to veto a bill. In most parliamentary systems, however, the head of state cannot refuse to sign a bill, but may, in granting a bill their assent, nevertheless indicate that it was passed in accordance with the correct procedures. The signing of a bill into law is formally known as promulgation. Some Commonwealth of Nations states call this procedure granting the Royal Assent. ::Example 1 (presidential system): Article 1, Section 7 of the United States Constitution states: :::Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States. ::Example 2 (parliamentary system): Section 11.a.1. of the Basic Laws of Israel states: :::The President of the State shall sign every Law, other than a Law relating to its powers. In some parliamentary systems the head of state retains certain powers, in relation to bills, to be exercised at their discretion. They may have authority to:
- Veto a bill until the houses of the legislature have reconsidered it, and approved it a second time.
- Reserve a bill to be signed later, or suspend it indefinitely (generally in states with the Royal Prerogative; this power is rarely is used).
- Refer a bill to the courts to test its constitutionality (e.g. the President of Ireland)
- Refer a bill to the people in a referendum (e.g. the President of Ireland may do so in certain circumstances). If he is also chief executive, he can thus politically control the necesseray executive measures without which a proclaimed law can remain dead letter, sometimes for years or even forever.

Supreme commander of the military

- A head of state is generally the notional or literal commander-in-chief of a state's armed forces, holding the highest office in all military chains of command. chains of command as Colonel-in-Chief of the Coldstream Guards, is nominally Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces in each of her realms.]] Example: Article II, Section 2 of the United States Constitution states: :::The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States.
- In military dictatorships, or governments which have arisen from coups-de-état, this position is obvious, as all authority in such a government derives from the application of military force; occasionally a power vacuum created by war is filled by a head of state stepping beyond its normal constitutional role, as Belgian King Albert I did during World War I.

Summoning and dissolving the legislature

- A head of state is often empowered to summon and dissolve the legislature. In most parliamentary systems, this is done on the advice of the prime minister or cabinet. In some parliamentary systems, and in some presidential systems, the head of state may on their own initiative do so. Some states, however, have fixed term parliaments, with no option of bringing forward elections (e.g. Article II, Section 3, of the U.S. Constitution). In other systems there are fixed terms, but the head of state retains authority to dissolve the legislature in certain circumstances. Where a prime minister has lost the confidence of parliament, some states allow the head of state to refuse a parliamentary dissolution, where one is requested, forcing the prime minister's resignation. ::Example: Article 13.2.2. of the Constitution of Ireland states: :::The President may in absolute discretion refuse to dissolve Dáil Éireann on the advice of a Taoiseach [prime minister] who has ceased to retain the support of a majority in Dáil Éireann

Other prerogatives

- Right of pardon
- Granting nobility, knighthood, various honours

Selection and various types and styles of Heads of state

Various Heads of State use(d) a multitude of different styles and titles, often with many variations in content under diverse constitutions, even in a given state. In numerous cases, two or more of the following peculiar types apply, not counting the primary duo monarchy-republic. In a monarchy, the monarch is the head of state. This is a relatively recent phenomenon; until the last few decades a sovereign was seen as the personal embodiment of the state, and therefore could not be head of themselves (hence many constitutions from the 19th Century and earlier make no mention of a "head of state"). Though some still maintain that calling a monarch head of state is incorrect, it has now become a widespread political convention to attach the label to monarchs. The Emperor (Tennō) of Japan is defined as a symbol, not head, of state by the post-war constitution but is treated as a head of state under diplomatic protocol, in fact second only to the Pope. For the plethora of styles in monarchies, often rendered as King or Emperor, but also many other, see Prince, Princely state and Monarchy. In a republic, the head of state is nowadays usually styled president, but many have or had other titles and even specific constitutional positions (see below), and some have simply used 'Head of State' as their only formal title.

Legitimacy & Accession

- Force is often the trough origin of power, but to keep the victor’s right, formal legitimacy must be found, even if by ficticious claim of continuity such as forged descent or legacy from a previous dynasty
- There have also been true cases of granting sovereignty, e.g. dynastic splits (not just by laws of succession, also by deliberate acts); this is usually in fact forced, such as self-determination granted after nationalist revolts, or the last Attalid king of hellenistic Pergamon by testament leaving his realm to Rome (to avoid a desastrous conquest)
- Under theocracy, divine status (as the Pharaoh's; compare divus) or 'heavenly mandate' (as in imperial China) can render earthly authority under divine law, i.e. theoretically unchallengable; on the other hand, it can take the form of supreme divine authority above the state's, giving the priesthood that voices and interpretes it a tool for political influence, control or even dominance (thus Pharaoh Echnaton's reforms were undone by the Amun-priesthood after his death, possibly even elimination); often there is no clear model, so over time power can be disputed, as between Pope and Emperor in the Investiture conflict, as the temporal power seeks to guarantee its legitimation, including a formal ceremony during the coronation (such as unction; often crucial for popular support), by controling key nominations in the clergy
- The notion of a social contract holds that the nation (the whole people, or just the electorate...) gives a mandate, as trough acclamation or election Individual Heads of state may acquire their position in a number of constitutional ways:
- The position of a monarch is usually hereditary, but often with constitutional restrictions, or even considerable liberty for the incumbent or some body convening after his demise to chose from eligable members of the ruling house, often limited to legal descendents of the state religion or even parliamentary permission. There are rare exceptions to this, such as the Popes, who nominate the cardinals which constitute the electors for every new absolute head of the Catholic church and of its Vatican City State.
- Election usually is the constitutional way to choose the head of state of a republic, and somemonarchies, either:
- Directly: through popular election; this can be made a fiction under the formula of popular acclamation; the electorate can be very selective, such as the patrician families and/or the professional corporations of a city state, or by the warriors in the case of a 'tribal' type war chief or a Roman general proclaimed by his legions.
- Indirectly: by members of the legislature or of a special college of electors, either as an expression of general suffrage (as in the USA) or an exclusive prerogative (as the heads of states of constitutive monarchies in two modern federations: the UAE and Malaysia).
- the a head of states can be entitled to designate his successor, such as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth Oliver Cromwell (succeeded by his son Richard ) A head of state may however seize power by force or revolution. This is not to be confused with the notion of an authoritarian or other totalitarian ruler, which rather concerns the oppressive nature of power once aquired, and therefore only applies if he is the true chief executive. Dictators often use democratic titles, though some proclaim themselves monarchs. Examples of the latter include Emperor Napoleon III of France and King Zog of Albania. Francisco Franco, who adopted the formal title Jefe del Estado, or Chief of State, and established himself as regent for a vacant monarchy. Idi Amin was one of several which made themself President for Life. Another type of extraconstitutional imposition, often also changing the constitution, is by a foreign power (state or alliance), either benign or, more often, rather for its own interest, such as establishing a branch of the own or a friendly dynasty.

Absent and Substitute heads of state

Interim

Whenever a head of state is not available for any reason, constitutional provisions may allow the role to fall temporarily to an assigned person or collective body. In a monarchy this is usually a regent or collegial regency, in a republic rather a vice-president, the legislature or its presiding officer, the chief of government.

Delegation

regent, hanging in a Canadian courthouse. Every British Monarch is a multiple head of state of the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, Australia, Canada, Jamaica, New Zealand, eleven other states and all the colonies and crown territories]]. In some cases, where one person is head of state of multiple sovereign countries, they may be need to be permanently represented (except at home) by a governor-general. Examples are Canada, Australia and New Zealand, where the British Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, resides in another of the crown's kingdoms, the United Kingdom, and so is represented in the others by a governor-general. The presently 16 member-states of the Commonwealth of Nations which share the Sovereign from the house of Windsor, including the United Kingdom, are known as Commonwealth Realms. The Governor-General may fulfill many of the roles of a head of state, but is not legally the head of state, rather an appointed representative of the head of state that may act in her place in her absence from the state. Some governors-general are considered de facto heads of state because, though not the de jure (juridical or legal) head of state, they function – i.e., in actuality – like a head of state in most or all jurisdictions. In diplomatic situations, governors-general, if treated as de facto heads of state, are sometimes accorded a status akin to a head of state, but that is by tradition and on a case by case and person by person basis, not automatic. At state banquets, for example, toasts are made to the head of state, (eg, "Her Majesty the Queen of Australia"), never a governor-general, except in so far as a personal toast may be proposed subsequently to "Governor-General and Mrs Smith" as hosts of, or guests at, the banquet. Similarly, Letters of Credence contain the name of the head of state, not the governor-general, even if it is the latter who signs and receives them. In 2005, Canada changed its policy and now all Letters of Credence are directed to the Governor General of Canada herself, not Queen Elizabeth II. This caused controversy but is now the accepted pratice.
- As a colony or other dependent state or territory lacks the authority to vest in a true head of state of its own, it either has no comparable office, simply receiving those roles exercised by the paramount power's (in person or, most of the time, trough an appointed representative, often styled (lieutenant-)governor, but also various other titles, on the Cook islands even simply KIng/Queen's Representative) or has one, such as a formerly sovereign dynasty, but under a form of metropolitan guardianship, such as protection, vassal or tributary status.

Extraordinary arrangements

In exceptional situations, such as war, occupation, revolution or a coup d'état, constitutional institutions, including the symbolically crucial head of state, may be reduced to a lesser role (legitimating the power taken over behind the throne) or be suspended in favor of an emergency office (such as the original Roman Dictator) or eliminated by of new 'provisionary' regime (sincere or clinging to power), often a collective of the junta type, with endlessly varying names and composition, or simply find itself under military authority as imposed by an occupying force, such as a military governor (an early example being the Spartan Harmost)

Theocratic, Ecclesiastic and other Religious states

In Roman Catholicism, and in some cases continued when become protestant:
- The Pope as Sovereign Pontiff, first of the politically important Papal States, after the Italian reunification ultimately just over Vatican City
- various lower clerics qualified as prince of the church (see there, e.g. prince-bishop); one case of a grand master of a sovereign order remains, but it has been vested ex officio in the pope The ancient (now orthodox) monastic state known as Athonian republic doesn't have a Head of state In Islam
- Caliphs were the spiritual and temporal, absolute successors of the Prophet, but lost political power
- Imam of rare theocratic states known as imamates
- Sheikh
- e.g. of the Sunni Sanusi order in Cyrenaica since 1843, styled Emir since 25 Oct 1920
- in Iran the Supreme Leader (at present Ali Khamenei ) and a council of guardians, all shiah clerics, hold perhaps the highest offices, but the only formal head of state is the elected president. In Buddhism
- the Dalai lama was the god-king of Tibet before its annexation by the PR of China
- Mongolia, the former homeland of the imperial Genghis Khan-dynasty, was another lamaist theocracy since 1585, sing various styles in several languages, see Khutughtu, replaced 20 May 1924 by a communist republic (which asigned the head of state role to chairmanships)

City states and crowned republics

- Both the polis in Antiquity (actual Greek and many parallels, e.g. Italic) and the equivalent city states in the feudal era (many in Italy, the rest of the Holy Roman Empire, the Moorish taifa, essentially tribal-type but urbanized regions troughout the world in in the Mayan civilization etc.), and in some cases even much later, offer a wide spectrum of styles, either monarchic (mostly identical to homonyms in larger states) or republican, see Chief magistrate
- Doges were elected by their Italian aristocratic republics from a patrician nobility, but 'reigned' as sovereign dukes The paradoxical term crowned republic (see there) refers to various state arrangements that combine 'republican' and 'monarchic' characteristics
- The Netherlands historical had officials called stadholders, stadholders-general

Multiple or collective Heads of State

stadholders-general, far right in gray)]]
- in republics (internal complexity): e.g. nominal triumvirates, Directoire, and even to date Switzerland (seven-member Federal Council, each acting in turn as ceremonial chief of state); Bosnia and Herzegovina (three member presidium, from three different nations); San Marino (two "Captains-regent");
- condominium (external shared sovereignty): monarchic as in Andorra (president of France and bishop of Urgell, Spain, co-princes), mixed as the former Anglo-French New Hebrides (each's Head of state represented by a High Commissioner).

Curiosa and residual cases

In some nationalistic regimes (usually republics), the leader adopts, formally or de facto, a unique style simply meaning "leader" in the national language, such as nazi Germany's single party chief and Head of state and government Adolf Hitler Führer (see that article for equivalents). When former crown colony Singapore ceased in 1959 to have the British crown as Monarch, represented by a Governor, it adopted the Malay style yang di-pertuan negara, compare the Malaysian paramount ruler Yang Dipertuan Agong; the second and last incumbent kept the style at the 31 Aug 1963 first independence and after the 18 Sep 1963 accession to federal Malaysia (so now as a constitutive part of the federation, a non-sovereign level); after withdrawing from Malaysia 22 Dec 1965, it became a republic within the Commonwealth, this time independent for good, and installed the same person as its first President. There are also a few nations in which the exact title and definition of the office of Head of State is vague. Following the downfall of Liu Shaoqi, who was Chairman of the People's Republic of China, no successor was named, so the duties of the head of state were transferred collectively to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. In North Korea, Kim Il-sung was named "eternal president" following his death and the presidency was abolished. As a result, the duties of the head of state are constitutionally delegated to the Supreme People's Assembly whose chairman is "head of state for foreign affairs" and performs some of the roles of a head of state, such as accrediting foreign ambassadors. However, the symbolic role of a head of state is generally performed by Kim Jong-il, who as the leader of the party and military, is the most powerful person in North Korea. In some states the office of head of state is not expressed in a specific title reflecting that role, but constitutionally awarded to a post of another formal nature. Thus in March 1979 colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi, who kept absolute power (still known as "Guide of the Revolution"), after ten years as combined Head of state and - of government of the Libyan Jamahiriya ("state of the masses"), styled Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council, formally transferred both qualities, to the General secretaries of the General People's Congress (comparable to a Speaker) respectvely to a Prime Minister, in political reality both his creatures. In certain cases a special style is needed to accomodate the imperfect statehood, e.g. the long de facto embodiment of Palestianian aspiration to independent statehood, PLO leader Yasser was styled 5 Jul 1994 the first "President of the Palestinian National Authority" after an agreement with the military occupying power Israel allowed a Palestinian National Authority as a transitional status including Palestinian interim self-governing and a phased transfer of powers and territories (towns and areas of the West Bank), still awaiting the outcome of bumpy negotiations -he was repeatedly put under a form of Israeli arrest while in office- on its permanent status, which could end in a Palestinian State. Some statistics
- World's longest serving current Head of State: King Rama IX of Thailand (since June 9, 1946)
- World's longest serving current republican Head of State: President Omar Bongo of Gabon (since November 28, 1967)
- Oldest head of state elected in a popular election: Éamon de Valera, re-elected President of Ireland aged 84 in 1966.

Former heads of state

1966, abdicated from the throne in 1912, but was allowed to keep his titles and palace until 1924. He worked as a gardener in his later life as an ordinary Chinese citizen in Communist China.]] A monarch may retain his style and certain prergatives after abdication, as King Leopold III of Belgium who left the throne to his son after winning (but not in both lingustic commonities of the country) a referendum retained a full royal household but no constitutional or representative role at all. In the case of Napoleon I Bonaparte, the Italian principality of Elba, chosen for his luxurious emprisonment after the survivors of his Grande Armée after the disastrous Russian campaign had finally been defeated in 1814, was transformed into a miniature version of his First Empire, with most trappings of a sovereign monarchy, until his Cent Jours ('100 days' escape and reseizure of power in France) convinced the allies, reconvening the Vienna Congress, in 1815 to revoke those gratious privileges and send him to die on barren St.Helena. By tradition a deposed monarch who has not freely abdicated, though no longer head of state, is allowed to use their monarchical title as a courtesy title for their lifetime. Hence, though he ceased to be Greek king in 1973 (in a disputed referendum during the Regime of the Colonels), or in 1974 (in a referendum after the reestablishment of democracy), it is still standard to refer to the deposed king as Constantine II of Greece. However none of his descendants will be entitled to be called King of the Hellenes (not King of Greece) after his death. Some states dispute the international acceptance of the right of their deposed monarchs to be referred to by their former title. It remains however the generally accepted formula, with most states declining to get involved in disputes between governments and deposed monarchs and simply stating that they are doing no more than recognising tradition, not supporting claims to a defunct throne. Other states have no problem with deposed monarchs being so referred to by former title, and even allow them to travel internationally on the state's diplomatic passport. See also political pensioners

Sources, References and External links

- Pauly-Wissowa in German, on Antiquity
- [http://www.rulers.org/ Rulers.org] List of rulers throughout time and places
- [http://4dw.net/royalark/ RoyalArk] quite elaborate on many non-European monarchies
- [http://www.worldstatesmen.org/ WorldStatesmen] History and incumbents of states and minor polities worldwide
- Westermann, Großer Atlas zur Weltgeschichte in German

1949

1949 (MCMXLIX) is a common year starting on Saturday.

Events

January-February

- January 4 - RMS Caronia of the Cunard Line departs Southampton for New York on her maiden voyage
- January 4 - February 22 - Series of winter storms in Nebraska, Wyoming, South Dakota, Utah, Colorado and Nevada - winds of up to 72 mph - tens of thousands of cattle and sheep perish
- January 5 - U.S. President Harry S. Truman unveils his Fair Deal program.
- January 11 - Los Angeles, California receives its first recorded snowfall.
- January 22 - Communist forces enter Peking
- January 25 - The first Emmy Awards are presented at the Hollywood Athletic Club.
- January 25 - In the first Israeli election, David Ben-Gurion becomes Prime Minister.
- January 26 - Australian Citizenship comes into being.
- February 1 - Rationing of clothes ends in Britain
- February 8 - Cardinal Mindszenty of Hungary is sentenced to life imprisonment for treason against the Hungarian Communist government.
- February 12 - The Vatican announces the excommunication of all persons involved in the trial and conviction of Cardinal Mindszenty.
- February 14 - The Knesset (Israeli parliament) first convenes.
- February 14 - Antonio Carmona re-elected president of Portugal for lack of opposing candidate
- February 19 - Ezra Pound is awarded the first Bollingen Prize in poetry by the Bollingen Foundation and Yale University.
- February 22 - Grady the Cow, a 1,200-pound cow gets stuck inside a silo on a farm in Yukon, Oklahoma and garners national media attention.

March-April

Yukon, Oklahoma
- March 1 - World heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis retires
- March 1 - Indonesia seizes Yogyakarta from the Dutch
- March 2 - The B-50 Superfortress Lucky Lady II under Captain James Gallagher lands in Fort Worth, Texas after completing the first non-stop around-the-world airplane flight. It was refueled in flight four times.
- March 3 - The Tucker automobile Corporation folds.
- March 12 - The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, Denver & Rio Grande Western and Western Pacific railroads inaugurate the California Zephyr passenger train between Chicago, Illinois and Los Angeles, California as the first train to feature Vista Dome cars as regular equipment.
- March 28 - United States Secretary of Defense James Forrestal resigns suddenly.
- March 31 - The former British colony of Newfoundland joins Canada as its 10th province.
- April 1 - Éire leaves the Commonwealth and becomes the Republic of Ireland
- April 4 - NATO is formed.
- April 18 - Éire formally became the Republic of Ireland.
- April 20 - Royal Navy frigate HMS Amethyst goes up the Yangtze River to evacuate British Commonwealth refugees escaping the advance of the Mao's communist forces. Under heavy fire it rans aground off Rose Island. After an aborted rescue attempt at April 26 it anchors 10 miles upstream. Negotiations with the communist forces to let the ship leave drag on for weeks
- April 23 - Chinese communist troops take Nanking
- April 29 - News Review reveals that neither Selhurst College nor its headmaster H. Rochester Sneath exist

May-June

- May 5 - The Council of Europe is founded by the signing of the Treaty of London.
- May 9 - Rainier III of Monaco becomes Prince of Monaco.
- May 11 - Israel is admitted to the U.N. as its 59th member.
- May 11 - Siam changes its name to Thailand.
- May 12 - Cold War: The Soviet Union lifts its Blockade of Berlin.
- May 20 - The AFSA (predecessor of the NSA) is established.
- May 22 - After two months in Bethesda Naval Hospital, James Forrestal commits suicide, under circumstances that seem suspicious to many.
- May 23 - The Federal Republic of Germany is established.
- EDSAC, the first stored-program computer, begins operation at Cambridge University.
- June 2 - Transjordan becomes kingdom of Jordan
- June 6 - With the passage of the Bodh Gaya Temple Act by the Indian government, Mahabodhi Temple is restored to partial Buddhist control.
- June 8 - Red Scare: Such celebrities as Helen Keller, Dorothy Parker, Danny Kaye, Fredric March, John Garfield, Paul Muni and Edward G. Robinson are named in an FBI report as Communist Party members.
- June 8 - George Orwell's book Nineteen Eighty-Four is published.
- June 29 - Last US troops withdraw from South Korea
- June 29 - Dock strike in the UK
- June 29 - Beginning of Apartheid - The South African Citizenship Act suspends the granting of citizenship to British Commonwealth immigrants after five years and imposes a ban on mixed marriages
- July 31 - Captain Kerans of HMS Amethyst decides to make a break after the nightfall under heavy fire from both sides of the river and successfully rejoins the fleet at Woosung the next day

August

- August 5 - In Ecuador an earthquake destroys 50 towns and kills more than 8000
- August 5 - 6.75 Richter scale earthquake kills 6000 in Ecuador
- August 8 - Bhutan becomes independent
- August 14 - Gang of Salvatore Giuliano explodes mines under police barracks outside Palermo, Sicily
- August 14 - Military coup in Syria ousts the president
- August 28 - Last surviving veterans of the United States Civil War meet in Indianapolis - all six
- August 29 - First meeting of the Council of Europe
- August 29 - Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb.

September

- September 5 - A former sharpshooter in World War II, Howard Unruh kills 13 neighbors in Camden, New Jersey with a souvenir Luger to become America's first single-episode mass murderer.
- September 6 - Allied military authorities relinquish control of former Nazi Germany assets back to German control.
- September 7 - Federal Republic of Germany officially founded. Konrad Adenauer is the first federal chancellor
- September 9 - Albert Guay affair: dynamite bomb destroys Canadian Pacific Airlines Douglas DC-3 in Quebec
- September 13 - Soviet Union vetoes United Nations membership of Ceylon, Finland, Iceland, Italy, Jordan and Portugal
- September 17 - Canadian steamship SS Noronic burns in Toronto Harbor with the loss of over 118 lives.
- September 24 - Laszlo Rajk, ex-foreign minister of Hungary, is sentenced to death.
- September 29 - First Plenary Session of the National People's Congress approves design for the Flag of the People's Republic of China.
- September 29 - Mrs. Iva Toguri D'Aquino is found guilty of broadcasting for Japan as "Tokyo Rose" during World War II.

October-December

- October 1 - Birth of the People's Republic of China.
- October 7 - Democratic Republic of Germany DDR established officially
- October 13 - Severe flooding in Guatemala
- October 16 - Civil war ends in Greece - communist troops surrender
- October 17 - Chinese communist troops take Canton,_China
- October 27 - An airliner flying from Paris to New York crashes near the Azores. Among the victims are violinist Ginette Neveu and boxer Marcel Cerdan.
- November 24 - Opening day at the ski resort Squaw Valley California.
- November 26 - The Indian Constituent Assembly adopts India's constitution. [http://lawmin.nic.in/coi.htm]
- December 8 - Nationalist Chinese finish their evacuation to Taiwan.
- December 10- Robert Gordon (Bob) Menzies elected.
- December 14 - Traicho Kostov, ex-vice prime minister of Bulgaria, is sentenced to death.
- December 15 - Typhoon strikes fishing fleet off Korea - several thousand reported dead.
- December 16 - Sukarno elected president of Republic of Indonesia.
- December 17 - Burma recognizes People's Republic of China.
- December 27 - Queen Juliana of the Netherlands grants Indonesia sovereignty.
- December 30 - India recognizes People's Republic of China.

An Unknown Date

- The Fourth Geneva Convention is signed.
- Pamir is the last commercial sailing ship to sail round Cape Horn.

Births

January

- January 2 - Christopher Durang, American playwright
- January 7 - Steven Williams, American actor
- January 8 - Wolfgang Puck, Austrian chef
- January 10 - George Foreman, American boxer
- January 10 - James Lapine, American stage director and librettist
- January 10 - Linda Lovelace, American actress (d. 2002)
- January 11 - Kalev Ots, Estonian statesman
- January 12 - Wayne Wang, Hong Kong-born film director
- January 13 - Brandon Tartikoff, American television executive (d. 1997)
- January 14 - Lawrence Kasdan, American director and screenwriter
- January 17 - Andy Kaufman, American comedian (d. 1984)
- January 18 - Philippe Starck, French designer
- January 19 - Robert Palmer, English musician (d. 2003)
- January 20 - Göran Persson, Prime Minister of Sweden
- January 24 - John Belushi, American actor (d. 1982)
- January 30 - Peter Agre, American biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
- January 31 - Ken Wilber, American philosopher

February

- February 2 - Brent Spiner, American actor
- February 9 - Jim Sheridan, Irish film director
- February 10 - Maxime Le Forestier, French singer
- February 10 - Harold Sylvester, American actor
- February 15 - Ken Anderson, American football player
- February 18 - Gary Ridgway, American serial killer
- February 19 - Dan Bunten, American computer game designer(d. 1998)
- February 22 - Niki Lauda, Austrian race car driver
- February 25 - Ric Flair, American professional wrestler

March

- March 2 - Gates McFadden, American actress
- March 2 - Eddie Money, American singer
- March 2 - JPR Williams, Welsh rugby player
- March 3 - Jesse Jefferson, baseball player
- March 6 - Shaukat Aziz, Prime Minister of Pakistan
- March 6 - Martin Buchan, Scottish footballer
- March 7 - Ghulam Nabi Azad, Indian politician
- March 10 - Larry Wall, American computer programmer
- March 12 - Bill Payne, American musician (Little Feat)
- March 13 - Julia Migenes, American soprano
- March 16 - Erik Estrada, Puerto Rican actor
- March 16 - Victor Garber, Canadian actor
- March 17 - Patrick Duffy, American actor
- March 22 - Fanny Ardant, French actress
- March 23 - Ric Ocasek, American musician (The Cars)
- March 24 - Nick Lowe, American musician
- March 26 - Patrick Süskind, German writer
- March 30 - Marcia Ball, American musician
- March 30 - Lene Lovich, American singer

April-June

- April 1 - Gérard Mestrallet, French businessman
- April 1 - Gil Scott-Heron, American musician and composer
- April 3 - Richard Thompson, British musician and songwriter
- April 6 - Horst Ludwig Störmer, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- April 7 - John Oates, American musician (Hall and Oates)
- April 14 - John Shea, American actor
- April 16 - Sandy Hawley, Canadian jockey
- April 17 - Claudia de Santa-Fe, American painter and sculptor
- April 18 - Geoff Bodine, American race car driver
- May 4 - John Force, American race car driver
- May 9 - Billy Joel, American musician
- May 18 - Rick Wakeman, English musician and songwriter (Yes)
- May 18 - Bill Wallace, Canadian musician (The Guess Who)
- May 19 - Archie Manning, American football player
- May 24 - Tomaž Pisanski, Slovenian mathematician
- May 26 - Philip Michael Thomas, American actor
- May 26 - Hank Williams Jr., American singer
- May 31 - Tom Berenger, American actor
- June 8 - Emanuel Ax, Polish-born pianist
- June 13 - Ann Druyan, writer
- June 14 - Jimmy Lea, English musician (Slade)
- June 14 - Harry Turtledove, American historian and novelist
- June 21 - John Agard, British poet and playwright
- June 21 - Jane Urquhart, Canadian author
- June 24 - Albert Zappelli, American Educator

July-September

- July 3 - Jan Smithers, American actress
- July 15 - Carl Bildt, Prime Minister of Sweden
- July 17 - Charlie Steiner, American sportscaster
- July 22 - Alan Menken, American composer
- July 26 - Roger Taylor, English musician (Queen)
- August 6 - Alan Campbell, Irish minister
- August 7 - Walid Jumblatt, leader of the Lebanese Druze
- August 12 - Mark Knopfler, Swiss guitarist
- August 15 - Richard Deacon, Welsh sculptor
- August 23 - Shelley Long, American actress
- August 23 - Rick Springfield, Australian singer and actor
- August 25 - Martin Amis, English novelist
- August 31 - Richard Gere, American actor
- August 31 - H. David Politzer, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- September 1 - P.A. Sangma, Indian politician
- September 3 - Patriarch Peter VII of Alexandria (d. 2004)
- September 7 - Lee McGeorge Durrell, American author, television presenter, and zookeeper
- September 7 - Gloria Gaynor, American singer
- September 14 - Eikichi Yazawa, Japanese singer
- September 15 - Joe Barton, American politician
- September 17 - Cassandra Peterson, American actress Elvira
- September 18 - Mo Mowlam, British politician (d. 2005)
- September 23 - Bruce Springsteen, American singer and songwriter
- September 27 - Mike Schmidt, baseball player

October-December

- October 1 - Isaac Bonewits, American author and occultist
- October 2 - Lorraine Bracco, American actress
- October 8 - Sigourney Weaver, American actress
- October 14 - Katy Manning, British actress
- October 20 - Valeri Borzov, Ukrainian athlete
- October 21 - Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel
- October 22 - Stiv Bators, American musician (The Dead Boys) (d. 1990)
- November 5 - Armin Shimerman, American actor
- November 6 - Arturo Sandoval, Cuban musician
- November 7 - Aiswarya, Queen of Nepal (d. 2001)
- November 7 - Judi Bari, American environmental activist (d. 1997)
- November 24 - Nicholas Richard Ainger, British politician
- November 26 - Juanin Clay, American actress (d. 1995)
- November 29 - Alexander Godunov, Russian-born dancer and actor (d. 1995)
- December 3 - John Akii-Bua Ugandan hurdler (d. 1997)
- December 4 - Jeff Bridges, American actor
- December 4 - Pamela Stephenson, New Zealand-born comedienne, actress, and singer
- December 7 - Tom Waits, American singer, composer, and actor
- December 12 - Bill Nighy, English actor
- December 13 – Randy Owen, lead singer of the country music band Alabama
- December 14 - Bill Buckner, baseball player
- December 15 - Don Johnson, American actor
- December 17 - Paul Rodgers, British singer (Free)
- December 22 - Maurice Gibb, Australian musician (The Bee Gees) (d. 2003)
- December 22 - Robin Gibb, Australian musician (The Bee Gees)
- December 24 - Randy Neugebauer, American politician
- December 25 - Sissy Spacek, American actress
- December 25 - Joe Louis Walker, American musician
- December 26 - José Ramos Horta, Foreign Minister of East Timor, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize

Unknown date

- William Hope, Canadian actor

Deaths

- January 6 - Victor Fleming, American director (b. 1883)
- January 11 - Nelson Doubleday, American publisher (b. 1889)
- January 14 - Joaquín Turina, Spanish composer (b. 1882)
- January 28 - Jean-Pierre Wimille, French race car driver (b. 1908)