A few others from 2017, who should not be forgotten:
CHRISTINE KEELER (1942 - 2017):
Born in Hayes, England, to a poor, abusive family, she left home at the age of 17 in the hopes of finding a better life. While working as a waitress, a customer suggested she get a job as a dancer at Murray’s Cabaret Club in Soho. There, Keeler met Stephen Ward, a social-climbing doctor who moved in aristocratic circles. Keeler later described Ward as trafficking in espionage and sex; the press called him Keeler's "pimp".
At a party hosted by Ward in 1961, Keeler found that she'd neglected to bring a swimsuit, and the one offered was too tight. She decided to swim in the nude. It was when coming out of the pool, wearing nothing but a small towel, that she was formally introduced to Secretary of War John Profumo.
Their affair was as brief as her towel. But that didn't cover the scandal that broke when it was revealed that Keeler was also boffing the Russian naval attaché, Eugene Ivanov.
The scandal grew, with tales of wild parties and politicians. The Denning Report, detailing all the dirt, was released in 1963 and led to the downfall of PM Harold Macmillan's government.
Unfortunately, Keeler could never escape the scandal. She was in a No-Win situation. It was good that she rose above her abusive upbringing, but bad that she used her sex appeal to do so. She was useful to men when she fulfilled their sexual desires, but discarded when those affairs became public. “It’s been a misery for me, living with Christine Keeler,” she said in a 2001 biography, The Truth at Last.
Over fifty years later, we still can't deal with the intersection of sexuality and politics.
HELMUT KOHL (1930 - 2017):
A business executive with a doctorate in history, he entered politics in 1955. He was elected as the youngest member of the Parliament of Rhineland-Palatinate in 1959 as a member of the Christian Democratic Union party and became Minister-President of his home state in 1969. Moving up in the ranks, Kohl was elected Chancellor of Germany in 1982 after the liberal Free Democratic Party had switched sides to support the CDU.
Strongly committed to European integration, he worked with French President François Mitterrand to push through the Maastricht Treaty, which established the European Union and the euro currency. The contacts he developed in East Germany helped make the process of German Reuinification (which he oversaw) smooth and relatively painless.
Chancellor Angela Merkel started her political career as Kohl's protegée and was known in the 1990s as "Kohl's girl;" in January 1991 he lifted the then little-known Merkel to national prominence by appointing her to the federal cabinet.
He was defeated for re-election in 1998, after his economic policies had led to a ten-year recession. Political scandals that came to light after he left office tainted his legacy.
But it cannot be denied that it was his leadership that made Germany what it is today.
"This man who was great in every sense of the word—his achievement, his role as a statesman in Germany at its historical moment—it's going to take a while until we can truly assess what we have lost in his passing." - Angela Merkel
"I will never forget walking with him through the Brandenburg Gate in 1994 for a large rally on the eastern side, and seeing genuine hope in the eyes of tens of thousands of young people. I knew at that moment that Helmut Kohl was the man who could help them realize their dreams. History continues to prove that he delivered." - Bill Clinton
JOHN B. ANDERSON (1922-2017):
Born in Rockford IL, he won election to the House of Representatives as a Republican in 1960. Initially one of the most conservative members, his views moderated through his tenure in the 60s. He spoke passionately for the Open Housing Law to fight racial discrimination, criticized the Vietnam War, and supported the Equal Rights Amendment.
He continued to serve in the House with distinction. In 1978, he decided to toss his hat into the ring for the GOP presidential nomination in 1980. At a Republican primary debate on January 5 of that year, he broke with the party line. Saying that lowering taxes, increasing defense spending, and balancing the budget were an impossible combination, he instead proposed a 50 cent a gallon gas tax, in part to conserve energy. “We’ve got to pull up our socks in this country. We’ve got to be willing to sacrifice something today in order to secure a better future, and a better tomorrow.”
The pundits went crazy over his honesty. “Put me down as a believer,” wrote the normally skeptical columnist Richard Reeves. “John Anderson is the most impressive candidate in the presidential field. … Reporters are not used to politicians who look you directly in the eye and tell you exactly what they believe.” While the GOP establishment helped grease Reagan's path to the nomination, others said Anderson would make a credible independent candidate.
When he did announce his independent candidacy in April, he was polling as high as 25% in a three-way matchup with Reagan and Carter.
It didn't last. Fights to get on the ballot in every state drained his campaign coffers. At the first general election debate, Carter refused to attend, and Reagan proved to be a seriously credible candidate. By the time the next debate rolled around, Anderson's polling was below the threshold for inclusion. On Election Day, Anderson won slightly less than 7 percent of the vote.
In his later years, Anderson made a career of speaking on voting and election issues.
"But Anderson’s run did have a lasting effect: It was the start of a phenomenon that reappeared in many subsequent campaigns. From Gary Hart to Bruce Babbitt to Paul Tsongas to Richard Lugar, candidates have trod a path where “hard truths” were offered to voters, where independence from political orthodoxy was a key. All of them won attention and plaudits; none of them won a nomination." - Jeff Greenfield
Keeler, during the height of the Profumo Affair; Kohl, looking intensely serious as always; Anderson on the campaign trail.