Balthazar Johannes Vorster (Afrikaans pronunciation: [ˈbɐltɐzɐr joˈhɐnəs ˈfostər]; 13 December 1915 – 10 September 1983), better known as John Vorster, served as the Prime Minister of South Africa from 1966 to 1978 and as the fourth State President of South Africa from 1978 to 1979. While known for his staunch adherence to apartheid, overseeing as Minister of Justice the Rivonia Trial in which Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment, and as Prime Minister the Terrorism Act, the complete abolishment of non-white political representation, the Soweto Riots and the Steve Biko crisis, he nevertheless concluded a more pragmatic foreign policy than his predecessors in an effort to improve relations between the white minority government and South Africa's neighbours, particularly after the breakup of the Portuguese colonial empire. Shortly after the Internal Settlement in Rhodesia, in which he was instrumental, he was implicated in the Muldergate Scandal and resigned the premiership in favor of the ceremonial presidency, which he was forced to give up as well eight months later.

Billy Joe "B. J." Thomas (born August 7, 1942, Hugo, Oklahoma) is an American popular singer known for his chart-topping hits in the 1960s and 1970s—appearing on the pop, adult contemporary, country and Hot 100 charts.

Thomas was raised in and around Houston, Texas, graduating from Lamar Consolidated High School in Rosenberg. Before his solo career, Thomas sang in a church choir as a teenager then joined the musical group The Triumphs. During his senior year he made friends with Roy Head of Roy Head and The Traits. The Traits and the Triumphs held several Battle of the Bands events in the early 1960s featuring Head and Thomas.

In 1966, B. J. Thomas and The Triumphs released the album, I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (Pacemaker Records). The album featured a hit cover of the Hank Williams song, "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry". It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. In the same year, Thomas released a solo album of the same name (Scepter Records).

Thomas achieved mainstream success again in 1968, with the single "Hooked on a Feeling", which featured the sound of an electric sitar, first released on the album On My Way (Scepter Records). "Hooked on a Feeling" became Thomas's second million-selling record. The 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid featured Thomas performing the Burt Bacharach/Hal David song "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head", which won the Academy Award for best original song that year, became the number one song on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1970. Sales of this disc also exceeded one million copies, with Thomas being awarded his third gold record. The song was also released on an album of the same name. Other hits of the 1970s were "Everybody's Out of Town", "I Just Can't Help Believing" (Billboard No. 9 in 1970, covered by Elvis Presley), "No Love At All", "Mighty Clouds of Joy", and "Rock and Roll Lullaby".

Sven Olof Joachim Palme (Swedish:  Olof Palme) (30 January 1927 – 28 February 1986) was a Swedish politician. A longtime protegé of Prime Minister Tage Erlander, Palme led the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1969 to his assassination, and was a two-term Prime Minister of Sweden, heading a Privy Council Government from 1969 to 1976 and a cabinet government from 1982 until his death. Electoral defeats in 1976 and 1979 marked the end of Social Democratic hegemony in Swedish politics, which had seen 40 years of unbroken rule by the party. While leader of opposition, he parted domestic and international interests and served as special mediator of the United Nations in the Iran–Iraq War, but returned to power as Prime Minister after stunning electoral victories in 1982 and 1985.

A pivotal, renowned, and polarizing figure domestically as well as in international politics since the 1960s until his death, Palme was steadfast in his non-alignment policy towards the superpowers, juxtaposed to support of numerous third world liberation movements following the process of decolonization including, most controversially, economic and vocal support for a number of non-democratic anti-imperialist regimes. In 1975, he was the first head of a democratic government to visit Cuba after its revolution, holding a speech on Plaza de la Revolución praising Fidel Castro's administration and issuing a joint statement vindicating Pol Pot's takeover in Cambodia.

Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd (8 September 1901 – 6 September 1966), commonly identified as H.F. Verwoerd, was Prime Minister of South Africa from 1958 until his assassination in 1966. He is remembered as the man behind the conception and implementation of apartheid, a system of racial segregation dividing ethnic groups in the country.

He was Prime Minister during the establishment of the Republic of South Africa in 1960, thereby fulfilling the Afrikaner dream of an independent republic for South Africans. During his tenure as Prime Minister, anti-Apartheid movements such as the African National Congress (ANC) and Pan Africanist Congress were banned, and the Rivonia Trial, which prosecuted ANC leaders, was held.

Numerous major roads, places and facilities in towns and cities in South Africa were named after Verwoerd, famous ones include the H. F. Verwoerd Airport in Port Elizabeth (renamed Port Elizabeth Airport), the Verwoerd Dam in the Free State (renamed the Gariep Dam), the H.F Verwoerd Academic Hospital in Pretoria (renamed the Steve Biko Hospital), and the town of Verwoerdburg (renamed Centurion). In post-apartheid South Africa, most of these references to the Apartheid enforcer have been renamed.