Andreas Papandreou

Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece longer than any other in modern Greece, eight consecutive years which almost coincided with the term of Ronald Reagan. He was the Greek version of Peron, a socialist and one of Kadafi's best friends until the time of Reagan's attack on Libya.

The son of a popular past Prime Minister, he established his political party, Socialist, on 3 September 1974, 12:50 PM EET, Athens. His country was exhilarated in 1981 when he and his party swept to power but turned bitter and unbelieving as the worst scandal in four decades overwhelmed Greece. Charges of corruption involved more than $210 million that disappeared from the Bank of Crete. Papandreou's administration was accused of embezzlement, kickbacks and bribery against high officials with a burning question, was Papandreou himself aware of what was going on and was he directly involved.

In 1988 Papandreou had heart surgery. The following year the tangle of accusations and suspicions toppled his flamboyant eight year rule. He already had bad press due to the highly public extramarital liaison with airline flight stewardess Dimitra Liani, 34, whom he had met in 1986. He divorced and they married on 13 July 1989, 7:30 PM EET, Athens.

Going to trial, he went through ten months of hearings which concluded in January 1992 with his acquittal when the prosecution was unable to prove his involvement.

He returned to politics as the Head of the Opposition. On 23 June 1996, Papandreou died of heart failure at his home in Athens.