Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr

Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr (1 July 1914 – 4 October 1982) was an Iraqi military officer and politician who served as the fourth president of Iraq from 1968 to 1979. He was a leading member of the revolutionary Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party and later the Baghdad-based Ba'ath Party and its regional organisation Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region (the Ba'ath Party's Iraqi branch), which espoused Ba'athism, a mix of Arab nationalism and Arab socialism.

Al-Bakr first rose to prominence after the 14 July Revolution, which overthrew the monarchy. In the newly established government, he was involved in improving Iraqi–Soviet relations. In 1959 al-Bakr was forced to resign from the Iraqi military; the then Iraqi government accused him of anti-government activities. Following his forced retirement, he became the chairman of the Ba'ath Party's Iraqi branch's Military Bureau. Through this office he recruited members to the Ba'athist cause through patronage and cronyism. Prime Minister Abd al-Karim Qasim was overthrown in the Ramadan Revolution (8 February); al-Bakr was appointed prime minister, and later, Vice President of Iraq in a Ba'ath-Nasserist coalition government. The government lasted for less than a year, and was ousted in November 1963.

Al-Bakr and the party then pursued underground activities and became vocal critics of the government. During this period, al-Bakr was elected the Ba'ath Party's Iraqi branch's Secretary General (the head), and appointed his cousin, Saddam Hussein, the party cell's deputy leader. Al-Bakr and the Ba'ath Party regained power in the coup of 1968, later called the 17 July Revolution. In the coup's aftermath, he was elected the chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council and the president; he was later appointed the prime minister. Saddam, the Ba'ath Party's deputy, became the deputy chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council and vice president, and was responsible for Iraq's security services.