Lech Walesa

Witness history in the making as you turn the pages of time and discover the fascinating lives of famous explorers, leaders of twentieth-century politics and government, and great Americans. One August day in 1980, Lech Walesa pushed his way past the Polish police, climbed over a twelve-foot wall, and jumped onto a bulldozer, calling to Polish shipyard workers to continue their strike for higher wages and other demands. Walesa's fiery speech inspired the workers and kept the strike alive. His call to action that day ultimately brought about important changes in Poland and established his leadership of the movement that became known as Solidarity. Lech Walesa: The Road to Democracy chronicles Walesa's dramatic role as the leader of his country's democratic future and its transformation from a communist regime to a democratic government. The son of a farmer and an electrician by trade, Walesa overcame police oppression and imprisonment to lead Solidarity and win the Nobel Prize. In 1990, Lech Walesa became Poland's first democratically elected noncommunist president.