Did not know nothing about Rutherford B.Hayes. Except that the "Departamento Presidente Hayes" in Paraguay´s Chaco was named in his honour. After the "Triple-Alliance War" (1864-1870,between Brazil,Uruguay and Argentina versus Paraguay) he arbitrated 1878 between Argentina and the defeated Paraguay in a dispute about borders,what left much of the Chaco with Paraguay.
I know that Paraguay holds Hayes in high esteem for his efforts and has issued postage stamps in his memory.
I'm not sure. It's probably related to his border arbitration. If you google Hayes and Paraguay, you might find some answers.
Leonid I.Brezhnev (1906-1982),(seen on the left) was born in the Ukraine. He had a typical career of a communist "apparatchik".During the war he was a high-ranking political officer. During this time he met Nikita S.Khrushchev,who became his mentor. He became a member of the "Politbureau" the center of the political power in the Soviet Union. In one of the twists in his political career,he was named head of state in 1960,what was a kind of down-grading in the communist hirachy. However in 1964,the year Krushchev was ousted,he followed him as leader of the party and thereby the Soviet Union.He gave up the title of the head of state,till 1977,when he regained it once more. The rule of Brezhnev is often called: "the golden age of stagnation". He was not unpopular,because his long rule of 28 years was a time of stability for the country. Maybe even better described by de Gaulle,who allegedly had said: "Stalin was a monster,Khrushchev was a man,now there are only bureaucrats left." In the last years of his life,from 1974 onwards,Brezhnev suffered from arterioscleroses.He had several strokes and became more and more disabled. Stamp issued May 24th,1972. (from a set of 2)
Joey Smallwood, first Premier of Newfoundland after its citizens voted to be part of Canada in 1949. When I visited Newfoundland in the early 1990s he had just passed away. Most of the ‘blue-collar’ people I met were less than fond of him for lobbying heavily for a confederation vote. (I believe they had three options – confederation with Canada, stay as a ‘commission' status with the UK or independence.) Wiki has this to say --- Canadians today remember Smallwood as the man who brought Newfoundland into the Canadian Confederation, the opinions held by Newfoundlanders and their diaspora remain sharply divided as to his legacy. Still, he served as Premier for 22 years – someone must have liked him! Of all the countries and places I have visited, I found the Newfies the most friendly.
Same stamp again,because it is the only one (except of one from North-Korea),what shows Erich Honecker (1912-94). (on the right) Honecker was born at the Saar,what was occupied by France from 1918 till 1935.He came from a workers-family and joined the communist movement to become a fulltime party-official. In 1935 he was jailed by the Nazis,till the end of the war. In 1946 he was the founding chairman of the communist youth arganization,the FDJ.A position he held till 1955. He rose through the ranks of the party and finally became strong enough,to challenge Walter Ulbricht and deposed him in 1971 as head of the party,with the backing of the Soviet leadership. After Ulbricht´s death in 1978,Honecker also became the mostly ceremonial head of state,the chairman of the Staatsrat. He achieved almost dictatorial powers and ruled the DDR (GDR),till the communist world was going to fall apart. In 1989 he was sacked by the party. Soon after,the DDR ceased to exist and was incorporated into West- Germany. Honecker was put on trial for various "crimes",but in the end,in 1992, he was allowed to go into exile to Chile,because of ill health. There he joined his wife Margot,herself a leading politician of the DDR, to live at their daughter´s place. He died in Santiago de Chile in 1994 by complications from kidney-cancer.
