ABSTRACT
Nelson Mandela led the effort to end apartheid in South Africa. As father of a new South Africa, he encouraged reconciliation between blacks and whites and provided the stability needed to maintain a pluralistic democracy. Mandela joined the Youth League of the African National Congress (ANC) in 1944 and rose to a leadership role 1949. In 1994 he was elected president of South Africa, representing the ANC in South Africa's first all-race national elections. As president, Mandela implemented social, political, and economic measures to improve the standard of living for the impoverished masses of black South Africans. Nelson Mandela maintained stable and cordial relations with the white minority while creating a new political and social structure for a post-apartheid South African society. As president, Mandela focused on nation-building rather than partisan politics—dismantling the South African police state of the apartheid era and encouraging a free press and vibrant civil society.
