The weekly UPI Blast from the Past package for Nov. 18-24.
Today is Thursday, Nov. 22, the 326th day of 2001 with 39 to follow.
René Moawad (April 17, 1925 - November 22, 1989) (Arabic: رينيه معوض‎) was President of Lebanon for 17 days in 1989, from the 5th to the 22nd of November, when he was assassinated. Although pro-Syrian forces were widely suspected, no clear assassin has been indicted for his killing.
A Maronite Christian noted for his moderate views, Moawad had given some citizens hope that the long civil war in Lebanon could be ended. He was an example of non-violence and accepting the other in the Arab world, his culture of non-confrontation and troubleshooting conflict and his courage led all of the Lebanese parties to accept him as a president to end the war. Before he died, Moawad had addressed the nation with these words: "There can be no country or dignity without unity of the people, and there can be no unity without agreement, and there can be no agreement without conciliation, and there can be no conciliation without forgiveness and compromise." He was succeeded by Elias Hrawi.
Mouawad was educated at De La Salle School in Tripoli, before pursuing his secondary education at the Saint Joseph College in Aintoura. He went to Saint Joseph University in Beirut, graduating with a law degree in 1947. He subsequently joined the law firm of Abdallah El-Yafi, a former Prime Minister before opening his own law firm in Tripoli in 1951.
It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Rene Moawad."