Constantine Karamanlis (1907-1998) sustained an active career in Greek politics for 48 years. He was elected member of Parliament 12 times, governed the country as prime minister for 14 years (1955-1963; 1974-1980), and later was twice elected president, leaving office for the last time in 1995 at age 88.

Constantine Karamanlis ranks among the most prominent political figures of 20th-century Greece. He was born on March 8, 1907, in the small town of Proti, near Serres, in Eastern Macedonia. His father, a teacher and later a tobacco grower, was known for his patriotic feelings and involvement in the struggle over Macedonia, at that time under Turkish rule. Karamanlis' political philosophy was shaped by the impact of the Macedonian struggle, the Balkan Wars, and World War I on the peoples of northern Greece; the sharply divisive Greek politics during World War I between the Royalists and the Venizelists, usually referred to as the "great schism"; and...