18 Mind-Blowing Facts You Didn't Know About Nelson Mandela

12. Mandela Became South Africa's First-Ever Black President And The Oldest In History... And His Inauguration United The Largest Number Of Heads Of State Since JFK's Funeral

When Nelson Mandela took up the presidency of South Africa on May 10, 1994, he became the first-ever black person to hold the office, as well as the oldest President in the nation's history at 75 years and 11 months, and the first-ever to be democratically-elected. His inauguration in Pretoria on May 10, 1994, was watched on television by more than a billion viewers worldwide and was attended by more than 4,000 guests - including the largest collection of heads of state in one place since US President John F Kennedy's funeral in Washington DC on November 25, 1963 (more than 30 years previously). Although a quote supposedly used by Mandela during the inauguration is often attributed to him, it was actually borrowed from author and spiritual activist Marianne Williamson's book "A Return to Love". "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure... As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others" may never actually have been uttered by Mandela at all...