Washington crossed the Delaware River! The famous painting by Emanuel Leutze (1851) shows Washington standing in a boat crossing the icy river. The surprise attack on Trenton captured nearly 1,000 Hessian soldiers with minimal American losses. It was a turning point in the Revolutionary War. Washington was unanimously elected president twice. He declined to run for a third term, setting the two-term precedent that lasted until Franklin D. Roosevelt (who was elected four times, leading to the 22nd Amendment in 1951). Washington owned Mount Vernon, a large plantation, and enslaved over 300 people. In his will, he freed his enslaved workers (one of the few founding fathers to do so). His face appears on the one-dollar bill and the quarter. The nation's capital is named after him.

The Emancipation Proclamation freed enslaved people in Confederate states! Lincoln issued the preliminary proclamation after the Battle of Antietam (September 1862) and the final proclamation on January 1, 1863. It did not apply to border states or Union-occupied areas of the South. However, it allowed Black men to join the Union Army (over 180,000 served). The proclamation also made the abolition of slavery a Union war aim, preventing Britain and France from recognizing the Confederacy (they would not support a slaveholding nation). Lincoln was the first president to be assassinated. He was shot while watching the play "Our American Cousin." He died the next morning. His vice president Andrew Johnson succeeded him. Lincoln's face appears on the five-dollar bill and the penny. The Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., is a national shrine.

The Social Security Act created old-age pensions! FDR signed it into law on August 14, 1935. He called it "the cornerstone of a structure which is being built but is by no means complete." The first monthly benefit check was issued to Ida May Fuller in 1940 (she paid $24.75 into the system and received $22.54 per month for the rest of her life). FDR was elected in 1932 (defeating Herbert Hoover), 1936 (defeating Alf Landon), 1940 (defeating Wendell Willkie), and 1944 (defeating Thomas Dewey). He died of a cerebral hemorrhage. His wife Eleanor Roosevelt was a prominent activist and later U.S. delegate to the United Nations. FDR's face appears on the dime (the coin was chosen because of his work fighting polio, which led to the March of Dimes). He is consistently ranked as one of the greatest U.S. presidents.

The "Iron Curtain" was Churchill's phrase! He delivered the speech on March 5, 1946, at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, with President Harry Truman sitting on stage. The speech declared: "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent." The phrase was widely criticized at the time as alarmist, but it became a standard description of the Cold War division. Churchill was a consistent anti-communist; he had warned about Soviet expansion before the end of WWII. He also served as Prime Minister for a second term (1951-1955). He suffered a stroke in 1953 but continued to serve. He resigned in 1955 due to failing health. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. He remains one of the most admired figures in British history.

Margaret Thatcher was the first female British PM! She was also the longest-serving British PM of the 20th century (1979-1990). The nickname "Iron Lady" was given to her by a Soviet journalist (she embraced it). She survived an assassination attempt in 1984 (the Brighton hotel bombing by the IRA). Her relationship with President Reagan was famously close; they shared a belief in free markets and anti-communism. She was deeply unpopular in some regions (especially mining communities, where coal mines were closed, leading to strikes). She also introduced the "poll tax" (Community Charge), which caused riots. She resigned after failing to win the first round of the Conservative Party leadership election. She remained in the House of Lords as Baroness Thatcher until her death. She was given a ceremonial funeral with military honors (not a state funeral, per her wishes).

Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years! He was arrested in 1962 and convicted of sabotage (he admitted to founding the ANC's armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe, or "Spear of the Nation"). He was offered release multiple times in exchange for renouncing violence; he refused. He was released on February 11, 1990, after President de Klerk lifted the ban on the ANC. He and de Klerk negotiated the end of apartheid. In the first multiracial elections (April 27, 1994), Mandela voted for the first time in his life (he was 75). He won with 62% of the vote. As president, he created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to investigate human rights violations. He declined to run for a second term. After politics, he focused on charitable work (Mandela Foundation) and AIDS awareness (his son died of AIDS). His birthday, July 18, is Nelson Mandela International Day.

Indira Gandhi was India's first female PM! She is not related to Mahatma Gandhi (she married Feroze Gandhi, a different family). She was in office for a total of 15 years (the second-longest after her father). The 1971 war with Pakistan resulted in the independence of East Pakistan as Bangladesh (with Indian military support). Her declaration of a state of emergency (1975-1977) included mass arrests, press censorship, and forced sterilization programs; it was widely criticized. She lost the 1977 election but returned to power in 1980. In 1984, she ordered the Indian Army to storm the Golden Temple (Operation Blue Star) to remove Sikh militants. This deeply offended many Sikhs. On October 31, 1984, two of her Sikh bodyguards assassinated her. Her son Rajiv Gandhi became PM (served 1984-1989) and was also assassinated (1991, by a Tamil suicide bomber). The Nehru-Gandhi family (no relation to Mahatma) has dominated Indian politics for decades.

Golda Meir was Israel's first female PM! She was one of 24 signatories of the Israeli Declaration of Independence. As Foreign Minister (1956-1966), she oversaw Israel's growing alliances with African and Asian nations. As Prime Minister during the Yom Kippur War (October 1973), Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack. Israel recovered, but the war cost thousands of lives and led to public criticism of the government. Meir resigned in 1974. She is famously quoted as saying, "We will have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us." She died of lymphoma at age 80. She is buried on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem. Her home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is a museum. The first female prime minister in the Muslim world was Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan (1988-1990, 1993-1996). She was assassinated in 2007.

Teddy Roosevelt was the "Trust Buster"! He famously said, "We demand that big business give the people a square deal." He sued Northern Securities (a railroad monopoly) and won at the Supreme Court (1904). He also broke up Standard Oil (1911, under Taft). He was a larger-than-life figure: he was a cowboy, police commissioner, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and Rough Rider (Spanish-American War). After leaving the presidency, he went on an African safari and explored an uncharted river in Brazil (renamed Rio Roosevelt). He ran for president again in 1912 as a third-party candidate (Progressive "Bull Moose" Party). He survived an assassination attempt (the bullet lodged in his chest; he gave a 90-minute speech before going to the hospital). He died in 1919. His face is on Mount Rushmore. The teddy bear was created in 1902 after he refused to shoot a captured bear cub.

Helmut Kohl was the "Chancellor of Unity"! He took office in West Germany in 1982 and held power until 1998, making him the longest-serving chancellor since Otto von Bismarck. The fall of the Berlin Wall (November 9, 1989) caught his government by surprise. Kohl acted quickly: he proposed a ten-point plan for reunification and negotiated with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Kohl promised billions in aid to the USSR in exchange for approval. The Two Plus Four Agreement (Germany plus Allied powers) was signed in September 1990. Reunification occurred on October 3, 1990. Kohl's chancellorship also saw the creation of the European Union (Maastricht Treaty, 1992) and the introduction of the euro (1999). He was a close friend of French President François Mitterrand. Kohl died in 2017. The European Commission named a building in Brussels after him. He was the first leader of a unified Germany since Hitler, but he focused on democracy and European integration.