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Father of the Nation

Father of the Nation is a term used by many countries to describe a political or symbolic leader who was one of the most influential founding fathers of the nation. He may also be a key figure from the nation's history whose perceived heroism and moral authority made him in the public's eyes worthy of respect, indeed often veneration. The Father of the Nation is almost always a highly respected national figure and a source of patriotic inspiration. His image is often elevated to that of a national symbol is commonly featured on banknotes, stamps, and other national memorabilia. Compare the Roman honorific pater patriae. In some countries, a cult of personality may be associated with the Father of the Nation.

Perhaps the most famous "Father of the Nation" is the American revolutionary general and first president of the United States, George Washington. Washington's image as a national icon of pride and leadership has become almost a cliche to the point where other countries even sometimes refer to their own independence leaders as "our George Washington."

While many states have held a 'father of the nation' in continuing high respect since their founding, others have adopted and then abandoned some numerous figures throughout their history. Josef Stalin was seen by millions during his period of control in the Soviet Union as the national father-figure, an image augmented deliberately by images released of him in the pose of a father or grandfather patting children on their head. Such was his esteem that a wave of suicides was recorded when his death was announced, with people suggesting that life without Stalin to guide them was unthinkable. Within a few years however, when his successors revealed the truth about Stalin's reign of terror, his popularity plummeted and his body was removed from the mausoleum where it had been laid alongside Lenin.

In Ireland, though he remained a controversial figure, to the majority of the electorate and the supporters of the state's biggest political party (which he founded and led for 33 years) Eamon de Valera was seen as the father of the nation up to his death in 1975. However in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s his reputation too underwent a re-evaluation, with the public moving away from their unfettered enthusiasm for 'deV' and his achievements and instead focusing interest on leaders like Michael Collins whom de Valera in his lifetime had tried to sideline.

Sun Yat-sen is officially the Guófù (國父) in the Republic of China (now on Taiwan). The term is not used for Mao Zedong in the People's Republic of China; when it is used in mainland China it refers to Sun instead.

The deposed King of Afghanistan, Mohammed Zahir Shah has been called "Father of the Nation" by current President Hamid Karzai, in some sense a compromise with those wishing to restore the monarchy; and a 2003 draft constitution in fact explicitly awarded this title to Zahir Shah.

Countries and their national "fathers"

Country	National father(s)
Afghanistan	Mohammad Zaher Shah (1914- )
Albania	Ismail Qemali (1844-1919), Skenderbeg (1405-1468)
Algeria	Abdel Kadir (1808-1883)
Andorra	Carlemany (747-814)
Angola	Agostinho Neto (1922-1979)
Antigua and Barbuda	Vere Cornwall Bird (1910-1999)
Argentina	José de San Martín (1778-1850), Manuel Belgrano (1770-1820)
Aruba	Betico Croes (1938-1986)
Australia	Sir Henry Parkes (1815-1896)
The Bahamas	Sir Lynden Pindling (1930-2000)
Bangladesh	Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (1920-1975)
Barbados	Errol Barrow (1920-1987)
Belize	George Cadle Price (1919- )
Bolivia	Simón Bolívar (1783-1830)
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Alija Izetbegović (1925-2003)
Burma	U Aung San (1915-1947)
Burundi	Prince Louis Rwagasore (1932-1961)
Cambodia	Norodom Sihanouk (1922- )
Cameroon	Ahmadou Ahidjo (1924-1989)
Canada	Sir John A. Macdonald (1815-1891)
Cape Verde	Amílcar Cabral (1921-1973)
Central African Republic	Barthélemy Boganda (1910-1959)
Chile	Bernardo O'Higgins (1778-1842), José Miguel Carrera (1785-1821)
Republic of China	Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925)
Colombia	Simón Bolívar (1783-1830)
Congo	Patrice Lumumba (1925-1961)
Costa Rica	José María Castro Madriz (1818-1892)
Côte d'Ivoire	Félix Houphouët-Boigny (1905-1993)
Croatia	Ante Starčević (1823-1896)
Cuba	José Martí (1853-1895)
Cyprus	Archbishop Makarios (1913-1977)
Czechoslovakia	Tomáš Masaryk (1850-1937)
Czech Republic	Franti?ek Palacký (1798-1876)
Dominican Republic	Juan Pablo Duarte (1813-1876), Francisco del Rosario Sánchez (1817-1861), Ramón Matías Mella (1817-1864)
East Germany	Walter Ulbricht (1893-1973)
East Timor	Xanana Gusmão (1946- )
Ecuador	Simón Bolívar (1783-1830)
Egypt	Mohammed Ali Pasha (1769-1849)
El Salvador	Manuel José Arce (1786-1847)
England	Alfred the Great (847?-899)
Eritrea	Isaias Afewerki (1945- )
Fiji	Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara (1920-2004)
Finland	Carl Gustaf Mannerheim (1867-1951)
Gabon	Léon M'ba (1902-1967)
The Gambia	Sir Dawda Jawara (1924- )
Genoa	Andrea Doria (1466-1560)
Germany	Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898)
Ghana	Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972)
Greece	Ioannis Kapodistrias (1776-1831)
Guatemala	Francisco Morazán (1792-1842)
Guinea	Ahmed Sékou Touré (1922-1984)
Guinea-Bissau	Amílcar Cabral (1921-1973)
Guyana	Cheddi Jagan (1918-1997)
Haiti	Jean-Jacques Dessalines (1758-1806)
Hungary	Lajos Kossuth (1802-1894)
India	Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948)
Indonesia	Sukarno (1901-1970)
Iran	Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (1900-1989) (Islamic Republic)
Ireland	Eamon de Valera (1882-1975), Michael Collins (1890-1922)
Israel	David Ben-Gurion (1886-1973)
Italy	Vittorio Emanuele II of Italy (1820-1878), Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882), Count Camillo Benso di Cavour (1810-1861)
Jamaica	Norman Manley (1893-1969), Sir Alexander Bustamante (1884-1977)
Jordan	Hussein of Jordan (1935-1999)
Kenya	Jomo Kenyatta (1892?-1978)
Kiribati	Ieremia Tabai (1950- )
North Korea	Kim Il Sung (1912-1994)
South Korea	Syngman Rhee (1875-1965)
Kosovo	Ibrahim Rugova (1944- )
Liberia	Joseph Jenkins Roberts (1809-1876)
Malawi	Hastings Kamuzu Banda (1898?-1997)
Malaysia	Tunku Abdul Rahman (1903-1990)
Mali	Modibo Keita (1915-1977)
Malta	George Borg Olivier (1911-1980)
Marshall Islands	Amata Kabua (1928-1996)
Mauritania	Moktar Ould Daddah (1924-2003)
Mauritius	Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam (1900-1985)
Mexico	José María Morelos (1765-1815), Emiliano Zapata (1879-1919), Francisco I. Madero (1873-1913), Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (1753-1811)
Mongolia	Genghis Khan (1162?-1227)
Mozambique	Samora Machel (1933-1986)
Namibia	Sam Nujoma (1929- )
Nauru	Hammer DeRoburt (1922-1992)
Netherlands	Willem I of Orange (1533-1584)
New Zealand	Richard Seddon (1845-1906)
Niger	Diori Hamani (1916-1989)
Nigeria	Nnamdi Azikiwe (1904-1996)
Niue	Sir Robert Rex (1909-1992)
Oman	Qaboos of Oman (1940- )
Pakistan	Muhammad Ali Jinnah (1876-1948)
Panama	Manuel Amador Guerrero (1833-1909)
Papua New Guinea	Sir Michael Somare (1936- )
Paraguay	José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia (1766-1840)
Peru	José de San Martín (1778-1850), Simón Bolívar (1783-1830)
Philippines	Emilio Aguinaldo (1869-1964)
Pitcairn Islands	Fletcher Christian (1764-1793)
Poland	Józef Piłsudski (1867-1935)
Portugal	Afonso I Henriques (1109-1185)
Quebec	René Lévesque (1922-1987)
Saint Kitts and Nevis	Robert Bradshaw (1916-1978)
Saint Lucia	Sir John Compton (1926- )
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	Sir James Mitchell (1931- )
Samoa	Malietoa Tanumafili II (1913- )
San Marino	Marinus (lived around 300)
São Tomé and Príncipe	Manuel Pinto da Costa (1937- )
Saudi Arabia	Ibn Saud (1880-1953)
Scotland	Donald Dewar (1937-2000)
Senegal	Léopold Sédar Senghor (1906-2001)
Seychelles	France-Albert René (1935- ) (self-styled "Architect of the Seychellois Nation")
Sierra Leone	Sir Milton Margai (1895-1964)
Singapore	Lee Kuan Yew (1923- )
Slovenia	Milan Kučan (1941- )
Somalia	Ibrahim Egal (1928-2002)
South Africa	Nelson Mandela (1918- )
Soviet Union	Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924)
Spain	Juan Carlos I of Spain (1938- )
Sri Lanka	Don Stephen Senanayake (1884-1952)
Suriname	Henck Arron (1936-2000)
Sweden	Gustav I Vasa (1496-1560)
Tanzania	Julius Nyerere (1922-1999)
Republic of Texas	Stephen F. Austin (1793-1836)
Thailand	Bhumibol Adulyadej (1927- )
Togo	Sylvanus Olympio (1902-1963)
Trinidad and Tobago	Eric Williams (1911-1981)
Tunisia	Habib Bourguiba (1903-2000)
Turkey	Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938)
Turkmenistan	Saparmurat Niyazov (1940- ) (self-proclaimed "Leader of all Turkmen")
Tuvalu	Sir Toaripi Lauti (1928- )
Uganda	Sir Edward Mutesa (1924-1969)
United States	George Washington (1732-1799) (styled the "Father of His Country")
Uruguay	José Gervasio Artigas (1764-1850)
Vanuatu	Walter Lini (1942-1999)
Venezuela	Simón Bolívar (1783-1830)
Vietnam	Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969)
Palestine (West Bank & Gaza Strip)	Yasser Arafat (1929- )
Yugoslavia	Josip Broz Tito (1892-1980)
Zambia	Kenneth Kaunda (1924- )
Zimbabwe	Robert Mugabe (1924- )

Some of the above "paternities" are matters of political contention in their respective countries, though most others are widely accepted on a non-partisan basis.

See also: Pater Patriae