1. Mandela Was On The US Terror Watch List... Right Up Until 2008 When He Was 89 Years Of Age
Margaret Thatcher's historical comments about Mandela have already been mentioned, but that was not a view held solely by her - the majority of the Western world looked upon the South African with suspicion and disdain. In fact, Mandela was placed on the US Terror Watch List by President Ronald Reagan's administration - and he even needed special State Department clearance to enter America in 2008, something Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described as "frankly a rather embarrassing matter". With the US propping up its anti-Communist rhetoric with support from apartheid South Africa, Reagan believed the ANC and Mandela to be a threat. But, despite Mandela having been released in 1990 and then serving as South Africa's President, it took a further 18 years before he was removed from the US Terror Watch List in 2008 - at the ripe old age of 89...
NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.
