Political Obituaries 2016

waltky · Jan 3, 2016

Stalwart defender of Slick Willie...

Dale Bumpers, former U.S. senator and Arkansas governor, dead at 90
Sat January 2, 2016 - Dale Bumpers, a former U.S. senator and Arkansas governor who defended President Bill Clinton during his impeachment trial, died Friday; Bumpers, a Democrat, died at his home in Little Rock after suffering from Alzheimer's disease and a broken hip

Dale Bumpers, a former U.S. senator and Arkansas governor who defended President Bill Clinton during his impeachment trial, died Friday, his son, William, told CNN. He was 90. Bumpers, a Democrat, died at his home in Little Rock after suffering from Alzheimer's disease and a broken hip. An emotional William Bumpers told CNN Saturday that principle is what mattered most to his father. "He was a man of policy and honor and not politics," Bumpers said. "A lot of the stances he took were not politically expedient or popular back home, but they were the right positions to take."

President Bill Clinton laughs with former U.S. Sen. Dale Bumpers, D-Arkansas, during the National Institutes of Health dedication ceremony of the Dale and Betty Bumpers Vaccine Research Center on June 9, 1999, in Bethesda, Maryland.

Bumpers served as the 38th governor of Arkansas from 1971 to 1975, and represented The Natural State in the U.S. Senate from 1975 to 1999. He is perhaps best known for defending Clinton during his impeachment trial in the Senate, when he called the controversy over the Lewinsky affair "a sex scandal" and not an impeachable offense. "The American people are now and for some time have been asking to be allowed a good night's sleep," Bumpers told the chamber. "They're asking for an end to this nightmare. It is a legitimate request."

Clinton was eventually acquitted on the two articles of impeachment he was facing. "For more than 40 years, Hillary and I cherished his friendship," Clinton said in a statement Saturday afternoon. "I am grateful that his advice made me a better governor and President, and that we laughed at each other's jokes even when we'd heard them before. And I'm grateful that he welcomed Hillary to Arkansas and supported her in Washington." "I loved him. I loved learning from him and laughing with him. I will miss him very much," he added.

A progressive voice in Arkansas
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Moi621 · Jan 4, 2016

Hillary
Intracranial Hemorrhage
Hey, it could happen in 2016

Seth Bullock · Jan 4, 2016

Jeb Bush, while rehearsing a speech.

The coroner ruled that the cause of death was "being bored to death."

Phil · Jan 4, 2016

I don't think the Clintons killed Bumpers but how can she campaign. This is 3 in one month.

waltky · Feb 24, 2016

Mongo Castro, Fidel's older brother dies at 91

Ramon Castro, Cuban leaders older brother, dies at age 91
February 23,`16 Ramon Castro, a lifelong rancher and farmer who bore a strong physical resemblance to younger brother Fidel Castro, has died, Cuban state media announced Tuesday. He was 91.

Widely known by his nickname Mongo, the white-bearded Ramon Castro preferred tending crops and livestock to the revolutionary political life embraced by his younger siblings Fidel and Raul, who replaced Fidel as Cubas president in February 2008. Two years older than Fidel, Ramon was long used to getting double-takes from people who insisted he looked just like his famous brother. At times, Ramon was said to reply that because he was older, Fidel actually looked like him.

Ramon Castro during a rally, in Havana, Cuba. Castro, a lifelong rancher and farmer who bore a strong physical resemblance to his younger brother, Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, died Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2016, state media announced. He was 91.

Ramon, Fidel and Raul were the second, third and fourth children of Angel Castro, a Spanish-born rancher, and his second wife, Lina Ruz. Angel Castro also had two other children from a previous marriage. The three brothers attended Roman Catholic schools in eastern Cuba, where their teachers complained about their pranks and trouble making, prompting Angel to pull them out of classes for some time.

Once grown, Fidel and Raul headed off to Havana for studies, then the business of launching a revolution against dictator Fulgencio Batista, who seized power in a 1952 coup. But Ramon Castro was content to remain in the village of Biran in eastern Cuba, where he helped his father with the family business.

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waltky · Mar 22, 2016

Ex Toronto mayor Rob Ford dies at age 46...

Rob Ford, Toronto ex-mayor, dies aged 46 from cancer
22 March 2016 - Former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has died at the age of 46 after fighting cancer, his family has said.

Mr Ford, who battled drug and alcohol addiction, was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in 2014. He gained international notoriety after admitting smoking crack cocaine in 2013, but he was loved by supporters. "A dedicated man of the people, Councillor Ford spent his life serving the citizens of Toronto," his family said in a statement. He could not run for re-election as mayor in 2014 due to his cancer diagnosis, but won a city council seat in a landslide result. His image contrasted sharply with Canada's usual calm, buttoned-up politics.

Reacting to his death, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted: "Rob Ford fought cancer with courage and determination. My condolences and best wishes to the Ford family today." The current mayor of Toronto, John Tory, said in a statement that "the city is reeling with this news". "He was a man who spoke his mind and who ran for office because of the deeply felt convictions that he had. "I know there are many who were affected by his gregarious nature and approach to public service.''

Scandal

While serving as Toronto mayor, Mr Ford was videotaped and photographed intoxicated in public areas. "Yes, I have smoked crack cocaine," Mr Ford told reporters. "But... do I? Am I addict? No. Have I tried it? Probably in one of my drunken stupors, probably approximately about a year ago." Despite the crack-smoking scandal, his popularity remained high with fans lining up to take photo with him.

He appealed to conservative, working-class people with his populist message. Many of his supporters in the 2010 Toronto mayoral election came from the outer suburbs of the city. One of his key campaign promises was to "stop the gravy train" of government spending and he pledged to end "the war on the car".

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waltky · Mar 23, 2016

Rob Ford was your typical Canadian kinda guy...

Why Rob Ford was a typical Canadian
Wed, 23 Mar 2016 - Why the former mayor of Toronto was a typical Canadian

Canadian journalist Jordan Michael Smith reflects on the outrageous life of Rob Ford, the former mayor of Toronto. Was an overweight, crack-smoking loudmouth really so out of character compared to his fellow Canadians?

It is fair to say that Rob Ford brought more attention to Toronto at one time than the city has ever received in its history. The former mayor, who died on Tuesday, made the Canadian city internationally notorious in May 2013 when a gossip website described a video showing him smoking crack cocaine. The revelation was soon followed by an astonishing series of events: Ford's admission of crack-smoking, reports that the house where Ford was videotaped was well known for attracting drugs and violence, another video showing him drunk and using racial slurs, and yet another video showing him again smoking crack.

Part of what made Ford so headline-grabbing was, of course, the simple fact that he was a mayor engaging in felonious behaviour. That behaviour was tied into his entire persona, which seemed made for sensationalistic coverage - boisterous, boorish, and boozy. But another reason Ford became globally infamous was that he ran so contrary to national stereotypes. "Toronto's crack-smoking, hard-drinking mayor seems so, well, un-Canadian," as the Irish Times put it. "This is Canada we're talking about, supposedly an endless land of clean water, maple trees, Mounties and French secessionists," Time magazine summarised.

But Canadians defy popular notions of all kinds. They are among the heaviest drinkers of alcohol and smokers of marijuana in the world; they rank with the most obese and dependent on antidepressants, and they kill nearly half a million seals every year for fur. In light of this evidence, Rob Ford isn't so un-Canadian. Perhaps that's why many Torontonians simply didn't care about his conduct. It wasn't that shocking to them. And it was hardly unknown.

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Phil · Apr 7, 2016

Shirley Hufstedler died at 90 on March 30. Obviously she was a nice lady. You don't get to 90 without something going for you.
However her life reveals government waste at its worst.
Lyndon Johnson knew he could only do so much in 5 or 9 years as President, but judicial appointments can stretch a man's legacy and influence 50 years, so in 1966 he got the Democratic Congress, his former bondslaves as majority leader to create several new judgeships. A few of them, like hers in California, had some justification but mostly it was a way to reward his friends with easy jobs and make news by appointing persons of minority characteristics. At age 42 on the state court she was almost qualified for a federal judgeship, but the standards were high. The standards were lower for a new seat, so she got it in 1968.
9 years later Jimmy Carter decided he wanted to put her on the Supreme Court. She was almost ready, but he wanted a woman there so he could get more feminist votes in 1980. However there wasn't a vacancy.
The Democrats still controlled Congress, but by 1979 they weren't listening to Carter. So he reached them in the one thing they'd agree to: expanding the size of Government. So they created the unnecessary position of Secretary of Education and he appointed her trying to get more feminist votes.
It's too bad she never got a chance to earn a job the country really needed and that such useless jobs still exist.

waltky · Sep 28, 2016

Shimon Peres of Israel passes on at 93...

Shimon Peres, former Israeli president, dies aged 93
Wed, 28 Sep 2016 - Former Israeli PM and President Shimon Peres has died aged 93 following a stroke two weeks ago.

Shimon Peres, who served twice as Israel's prime minister and once as president, has died at the age of 93. Mr Peres suffered a stroke two weeks ago. His condition had improved before a sudden deterioration on Tuesday. His son Chemi led tributes to "one of the founding fathers of the state of Israel" who "worked tirelessly" for it. Mr Peres was one of the last of a generation of Israeli politicians present at the new nation's birth in 1948.

He won the Nobel Peace prize in 1994 for his role negotiating peace accords with the Palestinians a year earlier. He once said the Palestinians were Israel's "closest neighbours" and might become its "closest friends". Mr Peres died in a hospital near Tel Aviv early on Wednesday, with his family at his bedside. He had been in the intensive care unit of the Sheba Medical Centre after suffering a major stroke on 13 September.

'Giant among men'

He "left us without suffering", said Rafi Walden, his son-in-law. Mr Peres's son, Chemi, said of his father: "He served our people before we even had a country of our own. "He worked tirelessly for Israel from the very first day of the state to the last day of his life. "My father used to say - and I'm quoting - you are only as great as the cause you serve." Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his "deep personal grief on the passing of the beloved of the nation".

Meanwhile US President Barack Obama called Mr Peres his "dear friend" in a statement, and said: "He was guided by a vision of the human dignity and progress that he knew people of goodwill could advance together." Britain's Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis called Mr Peres "a true giant among men" and "the greatest living example of an unshakable belief in the pursuit of peace against all odds". He added: "Tragically, thus far, we have not succeeded. But from Shimon Peres we learned that we must never let go of that audacious commitment to peace, even when all around us are ready to do so."

Who was Shimon Peres?
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waltky · Oct 24, 2016

Famed American anti-war activist Tom Hayden has died aged 76...

Tom Hayden, famed anti-Vietnam war activist, dies aged 76
Mon, 24 Oct 2016 - Tom Hayden, progressive activist and a prominent figure in the US anti-Vietnam war movement, dies after a lengthy illness.

Hayden died in his home in Santa Monica "after a lengthy illness", the Los Angeles Times reports. He was a member of the "Chicago seven" charged with conspiracy over anti-Vietnam war protests in 1968 and eventually acquitted. Hayden later served in the California state assembly and Senate for nearly two decades. He was married to actress Jane Fonda between 1973 and 1990. Born in Michigan in 1939, he became an activist during his time at the University of Michigan, where he helped to found Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). While there, he wrote a policy document called the Port Huron Statement, which he styled the "agenda for a generation".

Mr Hayden and the SDS went on to become a major influence on the 1960s protest movement, particularly against the Vietnam war. "Rarely, if ever, in American history has a generation begun with higher ideals and experienced greater trauma than those who lived fully the short time from 1960 to 1968,'' he wrote in the essay Streets of Chicago. In 1968, Mr Hayden was part of a controversial anti-war demonstration in Chicago, timed to coincide with the Democratic National Convention. The protest turned violent, with eight people - including Mr Hayden - charged with conspiracy and crossing state lines to incite a riot.

In this Dec. 6, 1973 file photo, political activist Tom Hayden, husband of Jane Fonda, tells newsmen in Los Angeles that he believes public support was partially responsible for the decision not to send him and others of the Chicago 7 to jail for contempt.

The so-called Chicago seven trial - originally the Chicago eight, before one defendant was tried separately - ran for years, with appeals and retrials. Mr Hayden was eventually cleared of all charges. In 1973, he married actress Jane Fonda, who was herself an outspoken critic of the Vietnam War. She was internationally famous and wealthy, while he was still seen in some quarters as an anti-establishment troublemaker. He would go on to reinvent himself in the coming decades, moving away from the image of a long-haired student protester. He turned his attention to mainstream politics in the late 1970s, earning himself a place in the California State Assembly in 1982. A decade later, shortly after his divorce from Fonda, he moved on to the California Senate. He also became a prolific writer of books and essays, and served as a columnist for several outlets.

Fifty years after he wrote the Port Huron statement, about a generation "looking uncomfortably to the world we inherit", he wrote that the concentration of wealth in the hands of the elite was a "mountain untouched" . Writing in The Guardian in 2012, he called the Occupy Wall Street protests a "new force in the world". "The Occupy movement, and kindred spirits from the Middle East to China, is driven by young people who feel unrepresented by the institutions, disenfranchised economically, and threatened by an environmental catastrophe," he said. "The direct action movement of the early 1960s was similar in nature." Hayden married actress Barbara Williams in 1993, and had a son, Liam.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-37749127
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First woman to scale Everest peak dies at age 77
Oct. 22, 2016 -- Junko Tabei, who in 1975 became the first woman to successfullly scale Mount Everest, died at age 77, her family said.

Tabei, of Japan, scaled Everest at age 35, climbing all of the world's highest peaks by 1992 including Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and Denali in Alaska. Her last ascent, of Mount Fuji, was in July with a group of high school students.

In 2012, she told The Japan Times she was proud of her accomplishment, which was widely seen as a push forward for the women's movement in Japan. "There was never a question in my mind that I wanted to climb that mountain, no matter what other people said," she said.

Tabei was diagnosed with abdominal cancer four years ago and died in a hospital.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-N...k-dies-at-age-77/5641477147402/?spt=sec&or=tn
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waltky · Nov 7, 2016

Janet Reno dead @ 78...

Janet Reno, former US attorney general, has died
Nov 7,`16 -- Janet Reno, the first woman to serve as U.S. attorney general and the epicenter of several political storms during the Clinton administration, has died. She was 78.

Reno died early Monday from complications of Parkinson's disease, her goddaughter Gabrielle D'Alemberte said. D'Alemberte said Reno spent her final days at home in Miami surrounded by family and friends. Reno, a former Miami prosecutor who famously told reporters "I don't do spin," served nearly eight years as attorney general under President Bill Clinton, the longest stint in a century. One of the administration's most recognizable and polarizing figures, Reno faced criticism early in her tenure for the deadly raid on the Branch Davidian compound at Waco, Texas, where sect leader David Koresh and some 80 followers perished. She was known for deliberating slowly, publicly and in a typically blunt manner. Reno frequently told the public "the buck stops with me," borrowing the mantra from President Harry S. Truman.

After Waco, Reno figured into some of the controversies and scandals that marked the Clinton administration, including Whitewater, Filegate, bungling at the FBI laboratory, Monica Lewinsky, alleged Chinese nuclear spying and questionable campaign financing in the 1996 Clinton-Gore re-election. In the spring of 2000, Reno enraged her hometown's Cuban-American community when she authorized the armed seizure of 5-year-old Elian. The boy was taken from the Little Havana home of his Miami relatives so he could be returned to his father in Cuba. After leaving Washington, Reno returned to Florida and made an unsuccessful run for Florida governor in 2002 but lost in a Democratic primary marred by voting problems. The campaign ended a public career that started amid humble beginnings. Born July 21, 1938, Janet Wood Reno was the daughter of two newspaper reporters and the eldest of four siblings. She grew up on the edge of the Everglades in a cypress and brick homestead built by her mother and returned there after leaving Washington. Her late brother Robert Reno was a longtime columnist for Newsday on Long Island.

After graduating from Cornell University with a degree in chemistry, Reno became one of 16 women in Harvard Law School's Class of 1963. Reno, who stood over 6 feet tall, later said she wanted to become a lawyer "because I didn't want people to tell me what to do." In 1993, Clinton tapped her to become the first woman to lead the Justice Department after his first two choices - also women - were withdrawn because both had hired illegal immigrants as nannies. Reno was 54. "It's an extraordinary experience, and I hope I do the women of America proud," Reno said after she won confirmation. Clinton said the vote might be "the only vote I carry 98-0 this year." A little more than a month of taking office, however, Reno became embroiled in controversy with the raid on the Branch Davidian compound near Waco. The standoff had started even before Reno was confirmed as attorney general. On Feb. 28, 1993, agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms made a surprise raid on the compound, trying to execute a search warrant. But during the raid gunfire erupted, killing four agents and six members of the religious sect.

That led to a 51-day standoff, ending April 19, 1993, when the complex caught fire and burned to the ground. The government claimed the Davidians committed suicide, shooting themselves and setting the fire. Survivors said the blaze was started by tear gas rounds fired into the compound by government tanks, and that agents shot at some who tried to flee. Reno had authorized the use of the tear gas to end the standoff and later called the day the worst of her life. "It was a dangerous situation," Reno said of the incident during a 2005 lecture at Duke University. "The tragedy is that we will never know what was the right thing to do." Things got no easier after Waco. In 1995 Reno was diagnosed with Parkinson's after noticing a trembling in her left hand. She said from the beginning that the diagnosis, which she announced during a weekly news conference, would not impair her job performance. And critics - both Republicans and Democrats - did not give her a pass because of it.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-11-07-04-26-21
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Phil · Nov 8, 2016

Ding Dong the wicked witch is dead!

waltky · Nov 14, 2016

PBS's Washington Week Gwen Ifill passes of cancer...

PBS journalist Gwen Ifill dies of cancer
November 14, 2016 Gwen Ifill, co-anchor of PBS' "NewsHour" with Judy Woodruff and a veteran journalist who moderated two vice presidential debates, died Monday of cancer, the network said. She was 61.

A former reporter for The New York Times and The Washington Post, Ifill switched to television in the 1990s and covered politics and Congress for NBC News. She moved to PBS in 1999 as host of "Washington Week" and also worked for the nightly "NewsHour" program. She and Woodruff were named co-anchors in 2013. She moderated vice presidential debates in 2004 and 2008 and authored the book, "The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama."

Ifill took a leave from "NewsHour" for a month this spring for health reasons, keeping details of her illness private. Her health failing, she left "NewsHour" again shortly before an election night that she and Woodruff would have covered together. "Gwen was a standard bearer for courage, fairness and integrity in an industry going through seismic change," said Sara Just, PBS "NewsHour" executive producer. "She was a mentor to so many across the industry and her professionalism was respected across the political spectrum. She was a journalist's journalist and set an example for all around her."

NBC News' Pete Williams, a former colleague, struggled to keep his composure Monday when announcing Ifill's death on MSNBC. "She had so many awards in her office you could barely see out the window," Williams said. Shortly before moderating the debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin in 2008, Ifill brushed aside concerns that she might not be fair because she was writing a book about Obama. "I've got a pretty long track record covering politics and news, so I'm not particularly worried that one-day blog chatter is going to destroy my reputation," she told The Associated Press then.

Ifill, who was black, also questioned why people would assume her book would be favorable toward Obama. "Do you think they made the same assumptions about Lou Cannon (who is white) when he wrote his book about Reagan?" she said.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/pbs-journalist-gwen-ifill-dies-cancer
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waltky · Nov 16, 2016

Melvin Laird passes on at 94...

Melvin Laird, Vietnam War Defense Secretary, Dies at 94
Nov 16, 2016 Melvin Laird, a former Wisconsin congressman and U.S. defense secretary during years when President Nixon struggled to find a way to withdraw troops from an unpopular war in Vietnam, died on Wednesday, his family said. He was 94. His grandson, Raymond Dennis Large III, said that Laird died in Florida.

Laird left a legacy that included a telephone call that eventually played a role in one of the biggest political stories of the century the Watergate scandal that drove Nixon from office. Laird was Nixon's counselor on domestic affairs in October 1973 when Nixon had to replace Vice President Spiro Agnew, who had resigned in scandal. Laird called his good friend, Michigan Rep. Gerald Ford, to ask if he would be interested in replacing Agnew. "Frankly, the question came like a bolt out of the blue," Ford said in 1997, recalling his conversation with the "can-do conservative" from Wisconsin.

Ford accepted. About a year later, Nixon resigned because of Watergate and Ford became president. Ford pardoned Nixon, and two years later, Ford lost the presidential election to Jimmy Carter. "I thought Ford was the right person to bring the country together after the Watergate fiasco," Laird once said, taking credit with Bryce Harlow for persuading Nixon to pick Ford. Ford once praised Laird as a patriot before a partisan. His grandson Large, who is the son of Alison Laird Large, called his grandfather "one of the lions of our republic." "He truly was someone that worked across party lines," Large said. "He was a very dedicated Republican but he was able to see the human in everyone. His work speaks for itself."

Former Defense Secretary Melvin R. Laird testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington.

Former Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat, is married to Laird's niece Jessica. He said that Laird remained engaged with public issues until the end of his life. "Even at the end Jessica would get two, sometimes more, letters a week from him, handwritten letters. I think last week she had one discussing the election, public issues, his views of things." Laird, the son of a Presbyterian minister, was 30 when he was elected to the U.S. House in 1952. He represented Wisconsin's 7th District mostly dairy-farming or lumber-producing counties in central Wisconsin for nine terms, and was credited with helping spearhead the vast expansion of medical research and health facilities in the U.S.

Nixon appointed Laird as the nation's 10th defense secretary in 1969 and the first to come from Congress. The Vietnam War raged, with no end in sight for the 550,000 troops stationed in the Southeast Asian country as America lost its resolve for the fighting. Laird coined the term "Vietnamization" to describe Nixon's policy of assigning an ever-increasing combat role to South Vietnamese troops, allowing the pullout of U.S. forces. When Laird stepped down as defense secretary in January 1973, there were about 69,000 U.S. troops in Vietnam. "As a consequence of the success of the military aspects of Vietnamization, the South Vietnamese people today, in my view, are fully capable of providing for their own in-country security against the North Vietnamese," he said at the time.

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waltky · Nov 26, 2016

Fidel Castro passes at 90...

Cuba's Fidel Castro, who defied US for 50 years, dies at 90
Nov 26,`16 -- Former President Fidel Castro, who led a rebel army to improbable victory in Cuba, embraced Soviet-style communism and defied the power of 10 U.S. presidents during his half century rule, has died at age 90.

With a shaking voice, President Raul Castro said on state television that his older brother died at 10:29 p.m. Friday. He ended the announcement by shouting the revolutionary slogan: "Toward victory, always!" Castro's reign over the island-nation 90 miles (145 kilometers) from Florida was marked by the U.S.-backed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 and the Cuban Missile Crisis a year later that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. The bearded revolutionary, who survived a crippling U.S. trade embargo as well as dozens, possibly hundreds, of assassination plots, died 10 years after ill health forced him to hand power over to Raul.

Castro overcame imprisonment at the hands of dictator Fulgencio Batista, exile in Mexico and a disastrous start to his rebellion before triumphantly riding into Havana in January 1959 to become, at age 32, the youngest leader in Latin America. For decades, he served as an inspiration and source of support to revolutionaries from Latin America to Africa. His commitment to socialism was unwavering, though his power finally began to fade in mid-2006 when a gastrointestinal ailment forced him to hand over the presidency to Raul in 2008, provisionally at first and then permanently. His defiant image lingered long after he gave up his trademark Cohiba cigars for health reasons and his tall frame grew stooped. "Socialism or death" remained Castro's rallying cry even as Western-style democracy swept the globe and other communist regimes in China and Vietnam embraced capitalism, leaving this island of 11 million people an economically crippled Marxist curiosity.

Cuban President, Fidel Castro, points during his lengthy speech before the United Nations General Assembly, in New York. Cuban President Raul Castro has announced the death of his brother Fidel Castro at age 90 on Cuban state media on Friday, Nov. 25, 2016.

He survived long enough to see Raul Castro negotiate an opening with U.S. President Barack Obama on Dec. 17, 2014, when Washington and Havana announced they would move to restore diplomatic ties for the first time since they were severed in 1961. He cautiously blessed the historic deal with his lifelong enemy in a letter published after a month-long silence. Carlos Rodriguez, 15, was sitting in Havana's Miramar neighborhood when he heard that Fidel Castro had died. "Fidel? Fidel?" he said as he slapped his head with his hand in shock. "That's not what I was expecting. One always thought that he would last forever. It doesn't seem true." "It's a tragedy," said 22-year-old nurse Dayan Montalvo. "We all grew up with him. I feel really hurt by the news that we just heard."

Fidel Castro Ruz was born Aug. 13, 1926, in eastern Cuba's sugar country, where his Spanish immigrant father worked first recruiting labor for U.S. sugar companies and later built up a prosperous plantation of his own. Castro attended Jesuit schools, then the University of Havana, where he received law and social science degrees. His life as a rebel began in 1953 with a reckless attack on the Moncada military barracks in the eastern city of Santiago. Most of his comrades were killed and Fidel and his brother Raul went to prison. Fidel turned his trial defense into a manifesto that he smuggled out of jail, famously declaring, "History will absolve me."

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