Chronicles the political rise and fall of Polish revolutionary and Solidarity Movement leader Lech Walesa (b. 1943). A semiliterate, temperamental electrician, Walesa led a powerful coalition of politically diverse intellectuals into office in the 1990 presidential elections. However, Walesa’s grandiose prediction of revitalizing the weak Polish economy within a year, extravagant spending habits, and associations with corrupt and disreputable politicians ultimately destroyed his presidency. Polish citizens, disillusioned by the boorish and incoherent Walesa, preferred the well-mannered post-Communist Aleksander Kwasniewski and elected him president on November 10, 1995, thus ending Walesa’s political career.
