President of the Syrian Arab Republic
Standard of the President
Incumbent Bashar al-Assad since 17 July 2000
Residence	Tesheen Palace, Damascus
Term length	Seven years, renewable once
Inaugural holder	Shukri al-Quwatli
Formation	17 April 1946

Syria

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Syria

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This is a list of heads of state of Syria since 1922.

List of Presidents of Syria (1922–Present)[link]

#	Portrait	Name (Born-Died) (Term)	Term of Office		Party
[edit] Presidents of the French Mandate of Syria (1920–1946)
1		Subhi Bay Barakat al-Khalidi (1883–1939)	28 June 1922	21 December 1925	Independent
—		François Pierre-Alype (1853–1932) Acting President	9 February 1926	28 April 1926	Independent
2		Damad-i Shariyari Ahmad Nami Bay (1840–1928)	28 April 1926	15 February 1928	Independent
—		Taj al-Din al-Hasani (1885–1943) Acting President	15 February 1928	19 November 1931	Independent
—		Léon Solomiac (1873–1960) Acting President	19 November 1931	11 June 1932	Independent
3		Muhammad Ali al-Abid (1867–1939)	11 June 1932	21 December 1936	Independent
4		Hashim al-Atassi (1875–1960) (1st Term)	21 December 1936	7 July 1939	National Bloc
5		Bahij al-Khatib (1895–1981)	10 July 1939	4 April 1941	Independent
—		Khalid al-Azm (1903–1965) Acting President	4 April 1941	16 September 1941	Independent
6		Taj al-Din al-Hasani (1885–1943)	16 September 1941	17 January 1943[1]	Independent
—		Jamil al-Ulshi (1883–1951) Acting President	17 January 1943	25 March 1943	Independent
7		Ata al-Ayyubi (1877–1951)	25 March 1943	17 August 1943	Independent
8		Shukri al-Quwatli (1891–1967) (1st Term)	17 August 1943	17 April 1946	National Bloc
[edit] Presidents of the Syrian Republic (1946–1958)
9		Shukri al-Quwatli (1891–1967) (1st Term)	17 April 1946	30 March 1949[2]	National Bloc / National Party
10		Husni al-Za'im (1897–1949)	30 March 1949	14 August 1949[3]	Military / Syrian Social Nationalist Party
11		Sami al-Hinnawi (1898–1950)	14 August 1949	15 August 1949	Military
12		Hashim al-Atassi (1875–1960) (2nd Term)	15 August 1949	2 December 1951	National Party
13		Adib Shishakli (1909–1964) (1st Term)	2 December 1951	3 December 1951	Military / Syrian Social Nationalist Party
14		Fawzi Selu (1905–1972)	3 December 1951	11 July 1953	Military
15		Adib Shishakli (1909–1964) (2nd Term)	11 July 1953	25 February 1954[4]	Military / Arab Liberation Movement
16		Maamun al-Kuzbari (1914–1998) (1st Term)	26 February 1954	28 February 1954	Independent
17		Hashim al-Atassi (1875–1960) (3rd Term)	28 February 1954	6 September 1955	National Party
18		Shukri al-Quwatli (1891–1967) (2nd Term)	6 September 1955	22 February 1958	National Party
[edit] President of the United Arab Republic (1958–1961)
19		Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918–1970)	22 February 1958	29 September 1961	National Union
[edit] Presidents of the Syrian Arab Republic (1961–Present)
20		Maamun al-Kuzbari (1914–1998) (2nd Term)	29 September 1961	20 November 1961	Independent
—		Izzat an-Nuss (1900–1972) Acting President	20 November 1961	14 December 1961	Military
21		Nazim al-Kudsi (1906–1998)	14 December 1961	8 March 1963[5]	People's Party
22		Luai al-Atassi (1926–2003)	9 March 1963	27 July 1963	Military / Ba'ath Party
23		Amin al-Hafiz (1921–2009)	27 July 1963	23 February 1966[6]	Military / Ba'ath Party
24		Nureddin al-Atassi (1930–1992)	25 February 1966	18 November 1970[7]	Military / Ba'ath Party
25		Ahmad al-Khatib (1933–1982)	18 November 1970	22 February 1971	Ba'ath Party
26		Hafez al-Assad (1930–2000)[8]	22 February 1971	10 June 2000[1]	Ba'ath Party / National Progressive Front
—		Abdul Halim Khaddam (b. 1932) Acting President	10 June 2000	17 July 2000	Ba'ath Party / National Progressive Front
27		Bashar al-Assad (b. 1965)[9]	17 July 2000	Incumbent	Ba'ath Party / National Progressive Front

Footnotes[link]

See also[link]

• List of Vice Presidents of Syria
• List of Prime Ministers of Syria
• List of Presidents of Parliament of Syria
• List of foreign ministers of Syria

v t e Syria topics History Timeline · Ancient · Roman · Islamic · Ottoman · Arab Kingdom of Syria · French Mandate · Independent Syria · Modern (Syrian uprising against the Ba'athist regime) Government Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party (Regional Command · National Command) · National Progressive Front · Constitution · President · Vice President · Cabinet (Prime Minister, Ministries) · Parliament (Speaker) · Judiciary (Council, Supreme Court) · Military (Army, Air Force, Navy, Air Defense) Politics Elections · Political parties · Arab nationalism · Syrian nationalism Geography Fertile Crescent · Greater Syria · Governorates · Districts · Cities · Southern Syria · Hauran · Golan Heights · Al-Jazira · Syrian Desert · Anti-Lebanon mountains · Hermon · Euphrates · Orontes · Rivers  · Volcanoes Infrastructure Communications · Education · Energy · Health · Media · Transport  · Waste · Water Economy Syrian pound · Central Bank · Companies · International rankings Society Demographics · People · Diaspora (Refugees) · Religion · Holidays · Health · Scouting Culture Music · Television · Cinema · Cuisine · Holidays · Flag · Anthem · Emblem  · Smoking Issues Golan Heights · Iskandaron · Human rights · Terrorism · WMDs Portal

v t e Heads of state of Syria since 1922 al-Khalidi • Pierre-Alype* • Shariyari • al-Hasani • al-Abid • H. al-Atassi • B. al-Khatib • al-Azm* • al-Hasani • al-Ulshi* • al-Ayyubi • al-Quwatli • al-Za'im • H. al-Atassi • Selu† • Shishakli† • H. al-Atassi • al-Quwatli • Abdel Nasser • al-Kuzbari* • an-Nuss* • al-Kudsi • L. al-Atassi† • al-Hafiz† • N. al-Atassi • A. al-Khatib • H. al-Assad • Khaddam* • B. al-Assad *denotes acting     †military ruler

Syrian people
الشعب السوري
Sūriyyīn

Julia Domna Philip the Arab Posidonius Simeon Stylites John of Damascus Elagabalus Zenobia Francis Marrash Abd al-Rahman al-Kawakibi Qestaki al-Homsi Hashim al-Atassi Faris al-Khoury Jamil al-Ulshi Yusuf al-Azma Sultan Pasha al-Atrash Sami al-Hinnawi Zaki al-Arsuzi Akram El-Hourani Asmahan Riad Ismat Abdallah Dardari George Mourad Asalah Nasri George Wassouf Ghassan Massoud
Total population
Syria: 22,530,746 (July 2012 est.)[1] Diaspora: 17,000,000[2]
Languages
Contemporary Arabic Ancient languages Eblaite, Amorite, Ugaritic, Aramaic
Religion
Islam, mostly Sunni, and a minority of Alawites and Druze Christianity, mostly Greek Orthodox and Greek Catholic
Related ethnic groups
Other Semitic peoples: (due to Arameans and Canaanite Ancestors): Arabs · Assyrians · Lebanese · Palestinians Jordanians · Iraqis · Bahranis · Maltese · Mizrahi Jews Various Iranian peoples: Kurds · Persians · Ossetians Various Aryan peoples: Albanians · Armenians Bosniaks · Greeks Various Caucasians: Georgians · Adyghe Abkhazians · Chechens Various Turkic peoples: Azeris · Turks Various Afro-Asiatic peoples: Egyptians · Berbers

The Syrian people (Arabic: الشعب السوري‎ / ALA-LC: al-sha‘ab al-Sūrī) are the inhabitants and citizens of Syria and are, overall an indigenous Eastern Mediterranean people. While modern-day Syrians are commonly described as Arabs by virtue of their modern-day language and bonds to Arab culture and history, they are, in fact, largely a blend of the various Aramaic speaking groups indigenous to the region who were Arabized when Muslim Arabs from the Arabian Peninsula arrived and settled following the Arab expansion. Syrians are tied together by geography, linguistic heritage, religion, and similar Eastern Mediterranean ethnicities. Most Syrians reside primarily in Syria; however 17 million Syrians^[2] live outside of Syria and they stay connected to their cultural roots by watching Syrian satellite television, listening to Syrian music and preparing Syrian cuisine.

Damascus, the capital of Syria, is one of the most continuously inhabited cities^[3][4] in the world (for 8000 years straight, Syrians inhabited Damascus), and a large percentage of Damascenes are the descendents of the early inhabitants of Damascus.

Language[link]

Arabic is the mother tongue of some 90%^[1] of Syrians as well as the official state language. The Syrian dialect, which belongs to the same Eastern Mediterranean-Levantine family tree of dialects, varies little from Modern Standard Arabic; however it is uniquely different from the other Arabic vernaculars in that it is saturated with Aramaic, Syriac, Greek, Persian, and Phoenician words. However, the standardized form of Arabic, used in formal settings throughout the Arab world, contains the same vocabulary and grammar for all Arab countries. Kurdish, Turkish, and Circassian are also spoken in Syria by their respective minority communities. A direct decendent of the Aramaic of Jesus Christ, is still spoken in ancient Christian village of Ma'loula as well as widely understood within many other Syrian-Christian communities -- all of whom use Syriac as a liturgical language. English, and to a lesser extent French, is widely understood and used in interactions with tourists and other foreigners.

Religion[link]

Religious differences in Syria have historically been tolerated, and religious minorities tend to retain distinct cultural, and religious identities. Sunni Islam is the religion of 74% of Syrians. The Alawites, an ancient off-shoot of Shia Islam that is distinct from Sunni Islam, make up 12% of the population and mostly live in and around Latakia. Christians make up 10% of the country. Most Syrian Christians adhere to the Byzantine liturgical rites, the two largest are the Greek Orthodox and the Greek Catholic churches^[5][6]. The Druze, are a mountainous people who reside in Jebel Druze. The Druze, who helped spark the Great Syrian Revolt, are known as fierce soldiers. The Ismailis are an even smaller sect, that originated in Asia. A small number of Armenian Christians fled Turkey during the Armenian Genocide and settled in Syria. The Kurds, although Sunni Muslim, are very secular and have a distinct language. The Circassians, are of North Caucasus origin and are mostly Sunni Muslim, following the Hanafi school of thought. The Circassians number about 100 000 and mostly live in northern Syria. The nomadic Beduoin lead a lifestyle that keeps them largely separated from the rest of society, herding sheep and moving through the desert, although some have settled in towns and villages. One group that remains on the outside of society both politically and socially, is the roughly 100,000 Palestinian refugees, who were expelled from their homeland in 1948 after the creation of Israel.

Beliefs[link]

As a Mediterranean people, the Syrian people are a mosaic of West and East. Conservative and liberally minded people will live right next each other, and hold debates with each other. Like the other countries in the region, religion permeates life; the government registers every Syrian's religious affiliation.

Cuisine[link]

Syrian cuisine is dominated by Mediterranean ingredients. Olive oil, garlic, olives, peppermint, and sesame oil are some of the ingredients that are used in many traditional meals. Traditional Syrian dishes enjoyed by Syrians include, tabouleh, labaneh, shanklish, wara enab, makdous, kebab, sfiha, moutabal, hummus, maneesh, bameh, and fatoush. Before the main courses, Syrians eat maza, which is basically an appetizer. Syrian Muslim men are more likely to drink tea with their maza; whereas Syrian Christian men prefer to drink Arak with their maza.

Ancient Syrians[link]

100 Syrian pound note with Philip the Arab.

Ancient Syria has stood as a testament to the many cultural and artistic achievements in ancient human civilization. Modern archaeological discoveries have produced extensive writings, which illustrate a brilliant culture rivaling those of Egypt and Mesopotamia in and around the ancient city of Ebla, Syria. Later Syrian artists and scholars contributed to Hellenistic and Roman thought and culture. Shortly after becoming a province of the Byzantine Empire, an indigenous Syrian^[7], Philip the Arab became emperor in 244 AD and quickly signed a peace deal with the Persian Empire. According to the historian Eusebius, Philip the Arab is the first Christian emperor of the eastern part of the Roman Empire. Even though he was from the equestrian order, Philip the Arab rose through the Roman rank and file by merit. After Decius's victory over the Goth invasions, Decius's army declared him Emperor and he went on to defeat Philip the Arab's forces in the battle of Verona^[8].

Zenobia or Zainab in Arabic, was a "warrior queen" who ruled Syria from 267 AD to 272 AD and built the Palmyrene Empire that included the conquest of Egypt. After realizing Zenobia's threat to the Roman Empire, the Roman emperor Aurelian decided to turn his attention away from fighting the Gauls to stopping Zenobia's quest for more Roman territory. In the ancient capital of Syria, Antioch, Aurelian's army defeated Zenobia's forces and put an end to Zenobia's conquests.^[9]

Zeno of Sidon helped found the Epicurean school of philosophy; Cicero was a student of Antiochus of Ascalon at Athens. Posidonius's chronicles of Apamea influenced Livy and Plutarch. Syrians have made many contributions to Arabic literature and music and have an impressive tradition of written poetry and Oral literature.

Famous people from Syrian ancestry[link]

• Rosemary Barkett (born 1939), was the first woman to serve on the Florida Supreme Court, and the first woman Chief Justice of that court. She currently serves as a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
• Hala Gorani (born March 1, 1970), is a news anchor and correspondent for CNN International.^[10]
• Steve Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011), was the co-founder and former CEO of Apple, the largest Disney shareholder,^[11] and a member of Disney's Board of Directors. Jobs was considered a leading figure in both the computer and entertainment industries.^[12]
• Teri Hatcher, is an actress most famous for her role in Desperate Housewives. Her mother is part Syrian.

See also[link]

Ottoman Syria

References[link]

v t e Syrian people and diaspora By country Brazil Canada Chile Colombia Israel Mexico Pakistan Turkey United States

v t e Syria topics History Timeline · Ancient · Roman · Islamic · Ottoman · Arab Kingdom of Syria · French Mandate · Independent Syria · Modern (Syrian uprising against the Ba'athist regime) Government Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party (Regional Command · National Command) · National Progressive Front · Constitution · President · Vice President · Cabinet (Prime Minister, Ministries) · Parliament (Speaker) · Judiciary (Council, Supreme Court) · Military (Army, Air Force, Navy, Air Defense) Politics Elections · Political parties · Arab nationalism · Syrian nationalism Geography Fertile Crescent · Greater Syria · Governorates · Districts · Cities · Southern Syria · Hauran · Golan Heights · Al-Jazira · Syrian Desert · Anti-Lebanon mountains · Hermon · Euphrates · Orontes · Rivers  · Volcanoes Infrastructure Communications · Education · Energy · Health · Media · Transport  · Waste · Water Economy Syrian pound · Central Bank · Companies · International rankings Society Demographics · People · Diaspora (Refugees) · Religion · Holidays · Health · Scouting Culture Music · Television · Cinema · Cuisine · Holidays · Flag · Anthem · Emblem  · Smoking Issues Golan Heights · Iskandaron · Human rights · Terrorism · WMDs Portal

Barbara Walters
Barbara Walters in New York City, June 2011
Born	Barbara Jill Walters (1929-09-25) September 25, 1929 (age 82) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Occupation	Journalist
Years active	1961–present
Notable credit(s)	Co-anchor and contributor of ABC Evening News and ABC World News Today show anchor (1961–1976) Not For Women Only host (1971–1976) ABC Evening News anchor (1976–1978) 20/20 host (1984–2004) The View creator/co-host (1997–present)
Salary	$12 million (2007)[1]
Spouse	Robert Henry Katz (m.1955–1958; annulled) Lee Guber (m.1963–1976; divorced) Merv Adelson (m.1981–1984; divorced) Merv Adelson (m.1986–1992; divorced)
Children	1

Barbara Jill Walters^[2] (born September 25, 1929) is an American broadcast journalist, author, and television personality. She has hosted morning television shows (Today and The View), the television news magazine (20/20), former co-anchor of the ABC World News, and current contributor to ABC News.

Walters was first known as a popular TV morning news anchor for over 10 years on NBC's Today, where she worked with Hugh Downs and later hosts Frank McGee and Jim Hartz. Walters later spent 25 years as co-host of ABC's news magazine 20/20. She was the first female co-anchor of network evening news, working with Harry Reasoner on the ABC Evening News, and continuing as a contributor to the network news division and its flagship program, ABC World News.

In 1996, Walters was ranked #34 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time.^[3]

Early life[link]

Walters was born in 1929 in Boston, the daughter of Dena (née Seletsky) and Louis "Lou" Walters (born Louis Warmwater).^[4] Her parents were both Jewish^[5] and descendants of refugees from the former Russian Empire, now Eastern Europe.^[6] Walters' paternal grandfather, Abraham Isaac, was from what is now Łódź, Poland, and first immigrated to England, changing his name first to Warmwater and later to Abraham Walters (the original family surname was Waremwasser).^[6][7][8] Walters' father was born there c. 1894, and moved to the United States with his family in 1900.^[9] In 1937, her father opened the New York version of the Latin Quarter; he also worked as a Broadway producer (he produced the Ziegfeld Follies of 1943).^[10][11] He also was the Entertainment Director for the Tropicana Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he imported the "Folies Bergere" stage show from Paris to the resort's main showroom.^[12] Walters' brother, Burton, died in 1932 of pneumonia.^[13] Walters' elder sister, Jacqueline, was born mentally disabled^[14] and died of ovarian cancer in 1985. She has another half sister, Walda Walters Anderson, born to a different mother.^{[citation needed]}

According to Walters, being surrounded by celebrities when she was young kept her from being "in awe" of them.^[14] When she was a young woman, Walters' father lost his nightclubs and the family's penthouse on Central Park West. As Walters recalled, "He had a breakdown. He went down to live in our house in Florida, and then the Government took the house, and they took the car, and they took the furniture." Of her mother, she said, "My mother should have married the way her friends did, to a man who was a doctor or who was in the dress business."^[15]

After attending Ethical Culture Fieldston School and Birch Wathen Lenox School^[16][17] private schools in New York City,^[13] Walters graduated from Miami Beach High School in 1947. In 1951 she received a B.A. in English from Sarah Lawrence College.^[18]

Career and accolades[link]

From left: Gene Shalit, Barbara Walters, and Frank McGee in The Today Show, 1973.

After a brief period as a publicist with Tex McCrary Inc. and a job as a writer at CBS News, Walters joined NBC's The Today Show as a writer and researcher in 1961.^[14] She moved up to become that show's regular "Today Girl", handling lighter assignments and the weather. In her autobiography, she describes this era before the Women's Movement as a time when it was believed that nobody would take a woman seriously reporting "hard news". Previous "Today Girls" (whom Walters called "tea pourers") included Florence Henderson, Helen O'Connell, Estelle Parsons and Lee Meriwether.^[19] Within a year she had become a reporter-at-large developing, writing, and editing her own reports and interviews.^[14] When Frank McGee was named host, he refused to do joint interviews with Walters unless he was given the first four questions. She was not named co-host of the show until McGee's death in 1974, when NBC officially designated Walters as the program's first female co-host.

Walters has seldom minced words when describing the visible, on-the-air disdain her co-anchor, Harry Reasoner, displayed for her when she was teamed up with him on the ABC Evening News in 1976–78. Reasoner had a difficult relationship with Walters because he disliked having a co-anchor, even though he worked with former CBS colleague Howard K. Smith nightly on ABC for several years. In 1981, five years after the start of their short-lived ABC partnership and well after Reasoner returned to CBS News, Walters and her former co-anchor had a memorable (and cordial) 20/20 interview on the occasion of Reasoner's new book release.^{[citation needed]}

Walters is also known for her years on the ABC newsmagazine 20/20 where she joined host Hugh Downs in 1979.^[14] Throughout her career at ABC, Walters has appeared on ABC news specials as a commentator, including presidential inaugurations and the coverage of 9/11. She was also chosen to be the moderator for the third and final debate between candidates Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford, held on the campus of the College of William and Mary at Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall in Williamsburg, Virginia, during the 1976 Presidential Election.^[20] In 1984, she moderated a Presidential debate held at the Dana Center for the Humanities at Saint Anselm College in Goffstown, New Hampshire.^[21] Many of her regular and special programs are syndicated around the world. As of 2004, she is in semi-retirement as a broadcast journalist, but remains a correspondent for ABC News as well as a host of ABC's special programs.

Awards[link]

On June 14, 2007, Walters received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She has won Daytime and Prime Time Emmy Awards, a Women in Film Lucy Award, and a GLAAD Excellence in Media award. Her impact on the popular culture is illustrated by Gilda Radner's "Baba Wawa" impersonation of her on Saturday Night Live,^[14] featuring her idiosyncratic speech with its rounded "R". In 2008, she was honored with the Disney Legends award, an award given to those who made an outstanding contribution to The Walt Disney Company, which owns the network ABC. That same year, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the New York Women's Agenda. On September 21, 2009, Walters was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 30th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards at New York City's Lincoln Center.

Interviews[link]

Walters interviewing President Gerald Ford and Betty Ford in 1976.

Vladimir Putin giving an interview to Walters in 2001 at the Kremlin.

On March 7, 2010, Barbara Walters announced she would no longer hold Oscar interviews, but will still be working with ABC and on her show, The View.^[22]

In a November 2010 episode of The View, while interviewing Larry King on his retirement from CNN, Walters alluded to her impending retirement, stating, "I know when my time's coming."

Walters is known for "personality journalism" and her "scoop" interviews.^[14] In November 1977, she achieved a joint interview with Egypt's President, Anwar Al Sadat, and Israel's Prime Minister, Menachem Begin. Her interviews with world leaders from all walks of life are a chronicle of the latter part of the 20th century.^[14] They include the Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and his wife the Empress Farah Pahlavi; Russia's Boris Yeltsin; China's Jiang Zemin; the UK's Margaret Thatcher; Cuba's Fidel Castro, as well as India's Indira Gandhi, Václav Havel, Muammar al-Gaddafi, King Hussein of Jordan, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Bashar al-Assad president of Syria among many others. Other interviews with influential people include pop icon Michael Jackson, Katharine Hepburn, Anna Wintour, and in 1980 Laurence Olivier. Walters considered Dr. Robert Smithdas, a deaf-blind man who spent his life improving the life of other individuals who are deaf-blind, as her most inspirational interview.

Walters was widely lampooned in 1981 (and often since) for having posed the question, during an interview with actress Katharine Hepburn: "If you were a tree, what kind would you be?" But as she has often pointed out (and the video clips confirm) Hepburn initiated the discussion by saying that she would like to be a tree, and Walters merely followed up with the question, "What kind of a tree?"^[14][23]

During a story about Cuban leader Fidel Castro, Walters claimed that "for Castro, freedom begins with education." Some critics^[who?] point to her characterization of Castro as freedom-loving and argue that it painted an inaccurate picture of his government.^{[citation needed]}

On March 3, 1999, her interview of Monica Lewinsky was seen by a record 74 million viewers, the highest rating ever for a journalist's interview. Walters asked Lewinsky, "What will you tell your children about this matter?" and Lewinsky replied, "I guess Mommy made some mistakes," at which point Walters brought the program to a dramatic conclusion, turning to the viewers, saying, "And that is the understatement of the year."

[edit] The View

Walters is a part-time host of the daytime talk show The View, of which she is also co-creator and co-executive producer with her business partner Bill Geddie.^[14] Walters described the show in its original opening credits as a forum for women of "different generations, backgrounds, and views." She added, "Be careful what you wish for..." The show's current co-hosts are Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Sherri Shepherd. Previous co-hosts include Meredith Vieira, Lisa Ling, Rosie O'Donnell, Star Jones, and Debbie Matenopoulos.

In 2007 Barbara defended co-host O'Donnell about remarks the latter made against Donald Trump and the winner of the Miss USA pageant. Trump firmly responded by saying, "Barbara is off the list..."^[24]

Personal life[link]

Walters has been married four times to three different men. "I'm convinced that you stay married when the sex is bad, only because you really want to be," she told The New York Times in 1996. "But I always had an out. I had this job, and this life and enough money. I didn't have to fight the bad days."^[15] Her husbands were:

• Robert Henry Katz, a business executive and former Navy lieutenant. They married on June 20, 1955, at The Plaza Hotel in New York City. The marriage was reportedly annulled in 1958.^[2][25]
• Lee Guber, theatrical producer and theater owner. They married on December 8, 1963, and divorced in 1976. They have one daughter, Jacqueline Dena Guber (born 1968, adopted the same year).
• Merv Adelson, the CEO of Lorimar Television. They married in 1981 and divorced in 1984 and were married again on May 10, 1986, and divorced in 1992.

She dated gay lawyer^[26][27] Roy Cohn in college, and the lawyer said that he proposed marriage to Walters the night before her wedding to Lee Guber, but Walters denied this.^[13] She explained her lifelong devotion to Cohn as gratitude for his help in her adoption of her daughter, Jacqueline.^[28] In her autobiography, Walters says that Cohn got her father's warrant for "failure to appear" dismissed.^[29]

Walters dated future U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan in the 1970s,^[30] and was linked romantically to United States Senator John Warner in the 1990s.^[31]

In Walters's autobiography, Audition, she claimed that she had an affair in the 1970s with Edward Brooke, then a married United States Senator from Massachusetts. It is not clear whether Walters also was married at the time. Walters said that the affair ended to protect their careers from scandal.^[32]

She announced on the May 10, 2010 episode of The View, that she would be undergoing open heart surgery to replace a faulty aortic valve. Walters added that she knew for quite a while that she was suffering from aortic valve stenosis, even though she was symptom-free. The procedure to fix the faulty heart valve "went well, and the doctors are very pleased with the outcome," Walters' spokeswoman, Cindi Berger, said in a statement on May 14, 2010.^[33]

On July 9, 2010, it was announced that Walters would return to The View and her Sirius XM satellite show Here's Barbara in September 2010.^[34][35]

Walters has been close friends with Fox News head Roger Ailes since the late 1960s.^[36]

Books[link]

In the late 1960s, Walters wrote a magazine article, How to Talk to Practically Anyone About Practically Anything, which drew upon the kinds of things people said to her, which were often mistakes.^[37] Shortly after the article appeared, she received a letter from Doubleday expressing interest in expanding it into a book. Walters felt that it would help "tongue-tied, socially awkward people — the many people who worry that they can't think of the right thing to say to start a conversation."^[37] She published the book in 1970, with the assistance of ghostwriter June Callwood.^[38] To Walters' great surprise, the book was a phenomenon. As of 2008, it had gone through eight printings, sold hundreds of thousands of copies worldwide, and had been translated into at least 6 different languages.^[37]

In 2008, she published her autobiography, Audition: A Memoir.

Awards and nominations[link]

Daytime Emmy Awards

• 1975 Award for Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Talk Show Host (Today)
• 1998 Nomination for Best Talk Show (The View)
• 1998 Nomination for Best Talk Show Host (The View)
• 1999 Nomination for Best Talk Show (The View)
• 1999 Nomination for Best Talk Show Host (The View)
• 2000 Nomination for Best Talk Show (The View)
• 2000 Nomination for Best Talk Show Host (The View)
• 2001 Nomination for Best Talk Show (The View)
• 2001 Nomination for Best Talk Show Host (The View)
• 2002 Nomination for Best Talk Show (The View)
• 2002 Nomination for Best Talk Show Host (The View)
• 2003 Award for Best Talk Show (The View)
• 2003 Nomination for Best Talk Show Host (The View)
• 2004 Nomination for Best Talk Show (The View)
• 2004 Nomination for Best Talk Show Host (The View)
• 2005 Nomination for Best Talk Show (The View)
• 2005 Nomination for Best Talk Show Host (The View)
• 2006 Nomination for Best Talk Show (The View)
• 2006 Nomination for Best Talk Show Host (The View)
• 2007 Nomination for Best Talk Show (The View)
• 2007 Nomination for Best Talk Show Host (The View)
• 2008 Nomination for Best Talk Show (The View)
• 2008 Nomination for Best Talk Show Host (The View)
• 2009 Award for Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Talk Show Host (The View) (with Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Sherri Shepherd)
• 2010 Nomination for Best Talk Show Host (The View)

NAACP Image Award

• 2009 Award for Best Talk Series (The View)
• 2010 Nomination for Best Talk Series

Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Award

• 1998 Lucy Award in recognition of her excellence and innovation in her creative works that have enhanced the perception of women through the medium of television.^[39]

See also[link]

	Biography portal
	Journalism portal

• Barbara Walters' 10 Most Fascinating People

References[link]

External links[link]

Find more about Barbara Walters on Wikipedia's sister projects:
	Definitions and translations from Wiktionary
	Images and media from Commons
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	News stories from Wikinews
	Quotations from Wikiquote
	Source texts from Wikisource
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• Barbara Walters at the Internet Movie Database
• ABC News' "Time Tunnel" page containing clips of numerous newscasts on which Walters appeared
• Excerpts from 2008 autobiography, Audition: A Memoir
• Barbara Walters Archive of American Television Interview

Bashar al-Assad بشار حافظ الأسد
President of Syria
Incumbent
Assumed office 17 July 2000
Prime Minister	Muhammad Mustafa Mero Muhammad Naji al-Otari Adel Safar
Vice President	Farouk al-Sharaa Najah al-Attar
Preceded by	Abdul Halim Khaddam (Acting)
Secretary of the Syrian Regional Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 20 June 2000
Deputy	Mohammed Saeed Bekheitan
Preceded by	Hafez al-Assad
Personal details
Born	Bashar Hafez al-Assad (1965-09-11) 11 September 1965 (age 46) Damascus, Syria
Political party	Syrian-led Ba'ath Party (Syrian branch: NPF)
Spouse(s)	Asma al-Akhras
Alma mater	Damascus University
Profession	Ophthalmologist
Religion	Alawi Shia Islam[1]
Website	The President

Bashar Hafez al-Assad (Arabic: بشار حافظ الأسد‎, Baššār al-ʾAsad, ‎‎‎Arabic pronunciation: [bæʃˈʃɑːɾɪlˈʔæsæd])‎; born 11 September 1965) is the current President of Syria and Regional Secretary of the Syrian-led branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. His father Hafez al-Assad ruled Syria for 29 years until his death in 2000.

Al-Assad graduated from the medical school of the University of Damascus in 1988, and started to work as a doctor in the army. Four years later, he attended postgraduate studies at the Western Eye Hospital, in London, specializing in ophthalmology. In 1994, Al-Assad entered the military academy and in 1998, Al-Assad took charge of the Syrian occupation of Lebanon. In December 2000, Assad married Asma Assad, née Akhras. Al-Assad was elected as President of Syria in 2000 and 2007, unopposed each time.^[2][3] During the Syrian uprising, activists and protesters have called for President al-Assad's resignation.^[4]

Early life[link]

Bashar Hafez al-Assad was born in Damascus on 11 September 1965, the son of Aniseh (née Makhluf) and Hafez al-Assad.^[5] His father, Hafez al-Assad, born to a poor family of Alawite background, had risen through the Party ranks, to take control of the Syrian-led branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party in the 1970 Corrective Revolution, thus installing himself as president. Hafez al-Assad purged the Party, and introduced effective Alawite rule of Syria.^[5][6]

Unlike his brothers, Bassel and Maher, and sister, Bushra, Bashar was quiet and reserved and says that he lacked interest in politics or the military.^[7] He later said that he only entered his father's office once while he was in power and he never spoke about politics with him.^[8] He received his primary and secondary education in the Arab-French al-Hurriya School in Damascus^[7] and was an exemplary student.^[9] In 1982, he graduated from high school and went on to study medicine at Damascus University.^[9]

In 1988, Bashar Assad graduated from medical school and began working as an army doctor in the biggest military hospital, "Tishrin", on the outskirts of Damascus.^[10][11] Four years later, he went to the United Kingdom to begin postgraduate training in ophthalmology at the Western Eye Hospital, part of the St Mary's group of teaching hospitals in London.^[12] Bashar at the time had few political aspirations.^[13] His father had been grooming Bashar's older brother, Bassel al-Assad, as the future president, but never openly declaring this intent.^[14] Bashar, however, was recalled in 1994 to the Syrian army, after Bassel's unexpected death in an automobile accident.^[12]

Death of Bassel[link]

The Al-Assad family around 1994. At the front are Hafez al-Assad and his wife, Anisa. At the back row, from left to right: Maher (commander of the Republican Guard), Bashar, Bassel, Majid, and Bushra

Soon after the death of Bassel, Hafez Assad made the decision to make Bashar the new heir-apparent.^[15] Over the next six and half years, until his death in 2000, Hafez went about systematically preparing Bashar for taking over power. Preparations for a smooth transition were made on three levels. First, support was built up for Bashar in the military and security apparatus. Second, Bashar's image was established with the public. And lastly, Bashar was familiarized with the mechanisms of running the country.^[16]

To establish his credentials in the military, Bashar entered in 1994 the military academy at Homs, north of Damascus, and was propelled through the ranks to become a colonel in January 1999.^[10][17][18] To establish a power base for Bashar in the military, old divisional commanders were pushed into retirement, and new, young, Alawite officers with loyalties to him took their place.^[19] Parallel to his military career, Bashar was engaged in public affairs. He was granted wide powers and became a political adviser to President Hafez al-Assad, head of the bureau to receive complaints and appeals of citizens, and led a campaign against corruption. As a result of his campaign against corruption, Bashar was able to remove his potential rivals for president.^[10]

In 1998, Bashar took charge of Syria's Lebanon file, which had since the 1970s been handled by former Vice President Abdul Khaddam, one of the few Sunni officials in the Assad government, who had until then been a potential contender for president.^[19] By taking charge of Syrian affairs in Lebanon, Bashar was able to push Khaddam aside and establish his own power base in Lebanon.^[20] In that same year after minor consultation with Lebanese politicians, Bashar installed Emile Lahoud, a loyal ally of his, as the President of Lebanon and pushed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri aside, by not placing his political weight behind his nomination as prime minister.^[21] To further weaken the old Syrian order in Lebanon, Bashar replaced the long serving de facto Syrian High Commissioner of Lebanon, Ghazi Kanaan, with loyal ally Rustum Ghazali.^[22] Under Bashar, Syrian corruption in Lebanon, which was already estimated at $2 billion per year in the 1990s,^[23] became more rampant and was publicly exposed with the collapse in 2003 of the Lebanese Al-Madina bank.^[24] Al-Madina was used to launder kickback money in the illegal gaming of the UN's Iraqi oil-for-food programme. Sources put the amount transferred and laundered through al-Madina at more than $1 billion, with a 25 percent commission going to Syrian officials and their Lebanese allies, among the recipients of this money were Bashar Assad's brother Maher, Emile Lahoud's son-in-law Elias Murr, and Ghazali.^[25][26]

Presidency[link]

Syria

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Syria

Constitution Constitution Human rights Executive President Bashar al-Assad Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa Najah al-Attar Prime Minister Adel Safar Cabinet Legislature Parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Abrash Judiciary Court system High Judicial Council Supreme Constitutional Court Divisions Governorates Districts Elections General elections 2007 pres. 2012 parl. Political parties National Progressive Front Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party Foreign policy Foreign relations Arab–Israeli conflict

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