See Also: Important People.

Historic Figures, Famous People, Good People,

Contents: Good People | Peacemakers | Science Discoveries contributing to Health and well being |

Good People:
According to Cliff Pickover's Scales of Good and Evil, It is not an easy task to make such a list due to the complexity of human personalities and the fact that goodness and evilness depend on the perspective of the time. (For example, perhaps many Americans consider dropping the bomb on Hiroshima "good" whereas many Japanese consider it "evil.")

Jesus Christ

For the preaching of love.

Buddha

Buddhism, far more than Christianity or Islam, has a very strong pacifist element. The orientation toward nonviolence has played a significant role in the political history of Buddhist countries.

Dalai Lama

Head of the dominant Dge-lugs-pa order of Tibetan Buddhists and, until 1959, both spiritual and temporal ruler of Tibet. In 1989 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in recognition of his nonviolent campaign to end Chinese domination of Tibet.

Moses

Just the idea of "resting on the seventh day" improved the life of countless people.

Mother Teresa

Once Mother Teresa was asked how she could continue day after day after day, visiting the terminally ill: feeding them, wiping their brows, giving them comfort as they lay dying. And she said, "It's not hard because in each one, I see the face of Christ in one of His more distressing disguises."

Abraham Lincoln

For paving the way to freeing the slaves.

Martin Luther King

American clergyman and Nobel Prize winner, one of the principal leaders of the American civil rights movement and a prominent advocate of nonviolent protest.

Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi [1869-1948]

Otherwise known as Mahatma ('Great-Souled'), Gandhi was the leader of the Indian nationalist movement against British rule, and is widely considered the father of his country. He established his country's freedom through a nonviolent revolution. Story.

Nobel Peace Prize Winners - A partial list. (See: nobelprize.org/peace/ and almaz.com/nobel/peace/):

1906 - Theodore Roosevelt, for negotiations to end the Russo-Japanese war.

1919 - Woodrow Wilson, Founder of Société des Nations (the League of Nations)

1946 - Emily Greene Balch, An economist and social worker, she lost her job as a professor at Wellesley College because of her pacifist position during World War I. Along with Jane Addams, she co-founded the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.

1953 - George C. Marshall, ex-Secretary of State and of Defense; Delegate U.N.; Originator of "Marshall Plan", General President American Red Cross.

1964 - Martin Luther King Jr., leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The youngest man to receive the Peace Prize.

1973 - Henry Kissinger, Secretary of State and Le Duc Tho, Special adviser to the North Vietnamese delegation to the Paris Peace Conferences in 1968-73 (Declined the prize on grounds that his country was still not at peace.)

1976 - Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan, Founder of the Northern Ireland Peace Movement (later renamed Community of Peace People) Founder of the Northern Ireland Peace Movement (later renamed Community of Peace People).

1978 - Menachem Begin, Prime Minister of Israel and Anwar El Sadat, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt.

1983 - Lech Walesa, Poland, Trade union leader (Solidaritet)

1984 - Desmond Tutu, Former Secretary General South African Council of Churches (S.A.C.C.). "For his work against apartheid."

1989 - The 14th Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso)

1990 - Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, President of the USSR.

1992 - Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Guatemala, In recognition of her work for social justice and ethno-cultural reconciliation based on respect for the rights of indigenous peoples.

1993 - Nelson Mandela, president of the ANC, future president of South Africa and F. W. De Klerk, former President of South Africa. "For their work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime, and for laying the foundations for a new democratic South Africa."

1994 - Yitzhak Rabin, Prime Minister of Israel, Shimon Peres, Foreign Minister of Israel and Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the PLO President of the Palestinian National Authority.

1995 - Joseph Rotblat and Pugwash (Canada) Conferences on Science and World Affairs, for their efforts to diminish the part played by nuclear arms in international politics and, in the longer run, to eliminate such arms.

1998 - Irish Protestant David Trimble and Catholic John Hume.

2000 - Kim Dae-jung, for his work for democracy and human rights in South Korea and in East Asia in general, and for peace and reconciliation with North Korea in particular.

2002 - Jimmy Carter, former president of the United States. "For his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development."