Up for auction the "President of Poland" Aleksander Kwaśniewski Hand Signed 8X6 Color Photo.
ES-6965E
Aleksander
Kwaśniewski (Polish
pronunciation: [alɛˈksandɛr kfaɕˈɲɛfskʲi] (born
15 November 1954) is a Polish politician and journalist. He served as the President of Poland from
1995 to 2005. He was born in Białogard, and during the communist rule, he was active in the
Socialist Union of Polish Students and was the Minister for Sport in the
Communist government during the 1980s. After the fall of Communism, he became a
leader of the left-wing Social
Democracy of the Republic of Poland, a successor to the former
ruling Polish United Workers'
Party, and a co-founder of the Democratic Left Alliance. Kwaśniewski
was elected to the presidency in 1995, defeating the incumbent, Lech Wałęsa. He was re-elected to a second and final term as
president in 2000 in a decisive first-round victory. Although he was praised
for attempting to further integrate Poland into
the European Union, he faced
criticism for involving the country in the Iraq War. His term ended on 23 December 2005, when he handed
over power to his elected successor, conservative Lech Kaczyński. From 1973–77, Kwaśniewski studied Transport
Economics and Foreign Trade at the University of Gdańsk,
although he never graduated.[ He became politically active at
this time, and joined the ruling Polish United Workers'
Party (PZPR) in 1977, remaining a member until it was dissolved
in 1990. An activist in the communist student movement until 1982, he held,
among other positions, the chairmanship of the University Council of the
Socialist Union of Polish Students (SZSP) from 1976–77 and the
vice-chairmanship of the Gdańsk Voivodship Union
from 1977–79. Kwaśniewski was a member of the SZSP supreme authorities from
1977–82. From November 1981 to February 1984 he was the editor-in-chief of the
communist-controlled student weekly ITD, then editor-in-chief of
the daily communist youth Sztandar Młodych from 1984–85. He
was a co-founder of the first computer-science periodical in Poland, Bajtek,
in 1985. From 1985–87, Kwaśniewski was Minister for Youth Affairs in the Zbigniew Messner government, and then Chairman of the
Committee for Youth and Physical Culture till June 1990. He joined the
government of Mieczysław Rakowski, first
as a Cabinet Minister and then as chairman of the government Social-Political
Committee from October 1988 to September 1989. A participant in the Round-Table negotiations,
he co-chaired the task group for trade-union pluralism with Tadeusz Mazowiecki and
Romuald Sosnowski. As the PZPR was wound up, he became a founding member of the
post-communist Social
Democratic Party of the Republic of Poland (SdRP) from January
to February 1990, and its first chairman until he assumed the presidency in
December 1995. He was also one of the founding members of the coalition Democratic Left Alliance (SLD)
in 1991. Kwaśniewski was an activist in the Student Sports Union from 1975–79
and the Polish Olympic Committee (PKOL); he later served as PKOL
president from 1988–91.[ Running for the Sejm from
the Warsaw constituency in 1991, he won the largest number of
votes (148,533), although did not win an absolute majority. Kwaśniewski headed
the parliamentary caucus of the Democratic Left Alliance in his first and
second terms (1991–1995). He was a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and
chairman of the Constitutional Committee of the National Assembly from November
1993 to November 1995. In an often bitter campaign, Kwaśniewski won the presidential election in
1995, collecting 51.7 percent of votes in the run-off, against 48.3 percent for the incumbent, Lech Wałęsa, the former Solidarity leader.
Kwaśniewski's campaign slogans were "Let's choose the future" (Wybierzmy
przyszłość) and "A Poland for all" (Wspólna Polska).
Political opponents disputed his victory and produced evidence to show that he
had lied about his education in registration documents and public
presentations. There was also some mystery over his graduation from university.
A law court confirmed that Kwaśniewski had lied about his record—and this did
not come to light until after the election—but did not penalise him for it.
Kwaśniewski took the presidential oath of office on 23 December 1995. Later the same day,
he was sworn in as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces at the Warszawa First
Fighter Wing, in Mińsk Mazowiecki.[
His political course resembled that of Wałęsa's in several key
respects, such as the pursuit of closer ties to the European Union and NATO.
Kwaśniewski also continued the transition to a market economy and the privatization of state-owned enterprises, although with
less energy than his predecessor.Hoping to be seen as "the president of
all Poles", including his political opponents, he quit the Social
Democratic Party after the election. Later, he formed a coalition with the
rightist government of Jerzy Buzek with few
major conflicts and on several occasions, he stood against movements of
the Democratic Left Alliance government
of Leszek Miller. At one
moment, support for Kwaśniewski reached as high as 80% in popularity polls;
most of the time it was over 50%.In 1997, the Polish newspaper Zycie reported
that Kwaśniewski had met former KGB officer Vladimir Alganov at the Baltic sea resort Cetniewo in 1994. First Kwaśniewski denied ever meeting
Alganov and filed a libel suit against the newspaper. Eventually, Kwaśniewski
admitted that he had met Alganov on official occasions, but denied meeting him
in Cetniewo.