Andreas Papandreou

Andreas Papandreou
Ανδρέας Παπανδρέου
Papandreou in 1968
3rd & 8th Prime Minister of Greece
In office 13 October 1993 – 17 January 1996
President	Konstantinos Karamanlis Kostis Stephanopoulos
Preceded by	Konstantinos Mitsotakis
Succeeded by	Costas Simitis
In office 21 October 1981 – 2 July 1989
President	Konstantinos Karamanlis Christos Sartzetakis
Preceded by	Giorgos Rallis
Succeeded by	Tzannis Tzannetakis
Leader of the Opposition
In office 11 April 1990 – 13 October 1993
Preceded by	National Union government
Succeeded by	Miltiadis Evert
In office 2 July 1989 – 23 November 1989
Preceded by	Konstantinos Mitsotakis
Succeeded by	National Union government
In office 28 November 1977 – 21 October 1981
Preceded by	Giorgos Mavros
Succeeded by	Giorgos Rallis
President of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement
In office 3 September 1974 – 23 June 1996
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Costas Simitis
Member of the Hellenic Parliament
In office 17 November 1974 – 23 June 1996
In office 16 February 1964 – 21 April 1967
Personal details
Born	Andreas Papandreou (1919-02-05)5 February 1919 Chios, Greece
Died	23 June 1996(1996-06-23) (aged 77) Athens, Greece
Citizenship	Greece  United States (formerly)
Political party	Panhellenic Socialist Movement
Spouses	Christina Rasia ​ ​ (m. 1941; div. 1951)​ Margaret Chant-Papandreou ​ ​ (m. 1951; div. 1989)​ Dimitra Liani ​ (m. 1989)​
Children	George Sofia Nikos Andrikos Emilia
Parents	Georgios Papandreou (father) Sofia Mineico (mother)
Alma mater	University of Athens Harvard University
Signature
Website	Andreas G. Papandreou Foundation
Military service
Branch/service	United States Navy

Andreas Georgiou Papandreou (Greek: Ανδρέας Γεωργίου Παπανδρέου, pronounced [anˈðreas papanˈðreu]; 5 February 1919 – 23 June 1996) was a Greek economist, politician, statesman and a dominant figure in Greek politics, known for founding the political party The Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), which he led from 1974 to 1996. He served three terms as the 3rd and 8th prime minister in the Third Hellenic Republic. His father, Georgios Papandreou, and his son, George Papandreou, have served as prime ministers of Greece.

Papandreou left Greece for United States in his early 20s to escape the Metaxas' dictatorship and continue his studies, leading him to become a prominent academic economist. He returned to Greece in 1959 under pressure from his father to prepare him as his successor.^[1] However, the rapid ascension of Papandreou by his father, along with his uncompromising radical rhetoric, amplified the existing political instability, which created the conditions under the context of the Cold War for a group of colonels intervened and ruled Greece for seven years.^[2] Papandreou was exiled, along with other prominent political figures and, at the time, primarily blamed for the fall of democracy, even by his father.^[i][3] In exile, Papandreou developed and spread to the public an anti-American conspiratorial^[ii] narrative of past events in which he was a victim of larger forces.^[4] Upon his return in 1974, Papandreou created PASOK, the first Greek socialist political party with a mass-based organization. Papandreou's populist rhetoric resonated with Greek people who sought a break from the failed politics of the past along with the mounting pressure from the oil crisis of the 1970s on the Greek economy.^[5]

Coming to power in 1981, Papandreou implemented a transformative social agenda by expanding access to education and healthcare, reinforcing workers' rights, and passing a new family law that elevated women's position in society and the economy. He also achieved the official recognition of the communist resistance groups in the Greek Resistance against the Axis' occupation and made it easier for the refugees from the Greek Civil War of Greek ethnicity to return.^[6] However, his governance was tarnished by numerous corruption scandals, his soft stance on terrorism, damaging democratic institutions,^[7] his public divorce of his second wife for an air stewardesses half his age, as well as controversial decisions in foreign policy and causing a constitutional crisis. Under Papandreou, the Greek economy diverged from the European average due to the mass-scale patronage fueled by misuse of European Union funds and excessive foreign borrowing, resulting in a reputation nationally and in European circles as that of a 'black sheep.'^[8][9]

Papandreou died at the age of 77 in 1996, however, his populism, having transformed the post-junta liberal democracy into a "populist democracy,"^[10][11] continues to resonate with the Greek people,^[iii] reemerging in various forms to this day.^[12]