Frederik Willem de Klerk (born in 1936) was a South African National Party politician, president from 1989.
Short Biography:
Trained as a lawyer, he entered the South African parliament in 1972. He served in the cabinets of B. J. Vorster and P. W. Botha 1978-1989, and in February and August 1989 successively replaced Botha as National Party leader and state president. Projecting himself as a pragmatic conservative who sought gradual reform of the apartheid system, he won the September 1989 elections for his party, but with a reduced majority.
In February 1990 he ended the ban on the African National Congress opposition movement and released its effective leader, Nelson Mandela.
In February 1990 he ended the ban on the African National Congress opposition movement and r
eleased its effective leader, Nelson Mandela.
In February 1991 de Klerk promised the end of all apartheid legislation and a new multiracial constitution, and by June of the same year had repealed alt racially discriminating laws.
In March 1992 a nationwide, whites-only referendum gave de Klerk a clear mandate to proceed with plans for major constitutional reform to end white minority rule.
In February 1993 he and Nelson Mandela agreed to the formation of a government of national unity after free, nonracial elections. He and Mandela were corecipients of the Nobel peace prize in 1993. After the elections, de Klerk became vice president in May 1994 in Mandela's government.
Why is F. W. de Klerk famous?
F. W. de Klerk was the seventh and last State President of apartheid-era South Africa from 1989 to 1994.
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Frederik Willem de Klerk (born in 1936) was a South African National Party politician, president from 1989. 
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