Vigdís Finnbogadóttir

Vigdís was born on 15 April 1930 in Reykjavík. Her father, Finnbogi Rútur Þorvaldsson, was a civil engineer, and her mother, Sigríður Eiríksdóttir, was a nurse who headed the national nurses association. The following year, her younger brother Þorvaldur was born; he did not survive to adulthood, as he drowned in Hreðavatn. Vigdís enrolled at the University of Grenoble in 1949, later switching to the Sorbonne. She studied English and French literature, giving special emphasis to plays, co-founding a theatre group. She also worked on the translation of several French plays. She enrolled at the University of Copenhagen in 1957, where she studied theatre history until the following year. She was divorced in 1963. Vigdís participated in the anti-military rallies that took place in the 1960s and 1970s, protesting the United States military presence in Iceland. Vigdís adopted a daughter in 1972, making her the first single woman in Iceland to adopt a child. Vigdís taught French lessons on television for RÚV beginning in 1972, making her a well known figure throughout the nation. In the same year, she was appointed the artistic director of the Reykjavík Theatre Company. She became a member of the Advisory Committee on Cultural Affairs in the Nordic Countries in 1976, and the organisation's chair in 1978. She continued in all of these positions until she became President of Iceland in 1980. Other jobs she held early in life included her work as a French teacher at several colleges, including at the University of Iceland, and her work as a tour guide with the Icelandic Tourist Bureau in the summers. She eventually became the head of the Icelandic Tourist Bureau. ==Presidency (1980–1996)==

Vigdís ran in the 1980 presidential election. During her campaign, her anti-military position and her opposition to a United States presence in Iceland led to allegations that she was sympathetic to communism. Vigdís ran for president to prove that women were able to lead political campaigns, and she did not expect to win. The number of women in the Althing increased significantly after her election. Vigdís was re-elected without opposition in the 1984 presidential election. She oversaw the Reykjavík Summit on 11–12 October 1986 between American president Ronald Reagan and Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev, which is credited with improving relations between the countries and bringing the Cold War closer to an end. In the 1988 presidential election, Vigdís became the first incumbent president of Iceland to face a challenger in the presidential election. The challenger fared poorly, and Vigdís won with 92.7% of the vote. She was again re-elected without opposition in 1992. Though the Icelandic presidency is mostly ceremonial, Vigdís became an active president, using the role to represent the nation and to inform the national identity through cultural initiatives. Vigdís is an environmentalist, and used her presidency as a platform to advocate for environmental issues. She led a campaign for reforestation in Iceland, and called for the prevention of topsoil loss. Vigdís is also a pacifist, and she describes herself as a "peace person". She was also an advocate for gay rights as president. The decision Vigdís considered "the most difficult episode" of her career took place in 1994 during the debate on joining the European Economic Area. A strong opposition existed against European integration in Iceland, but Vigdís supported the European Union and European integration, and she refused to use her presidential veto to block Iceland's association with the European Economic Area. Vigdís decided not to run for a fifth term as president, and her tenure ended in August 1996. She served for 16 years. To date, she is the longest-serving female elected head of state in recorded history., President Ronald Reagan walks with Vigdis at Bessastaðir ==Post-presidency==

Vigdís became the founding chair of the Council of Women World Leaders in 1996, and she was first chair of the World Commission on the Ethics in Scientific Knowledge and Technology from 1997 to 2001. She is also a member of the Fondation Chirac's honour committee. Vigdís continued her peace advocacy after her tenure as president ended. In 2016, she expressed her desire for the United States and Russia to visit Iceland to resolve their differences through discussion as they did during the Reykjavík Summit. She has described the relations between the two countries as a new Cold War. == Honours ==

National honours • : • Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of the Falcon (1 August 1980). Foreign honours • : • Knight of the Order of the Elephant (25 February 1981). • : • Knight with Collar of the Royal Order of the Seraphim (8 October 1981; collar 1987). • : • Honorary Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George (18 February 1982). • Honorary Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (25 June 1990). • : • Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of St. Olav (1982). • : • Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of the White Rose (1982). • : • Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Netherlands Lion (18 September 1985). • : • Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Charles III (11 September 1985). Honorary degrees • Université Bordeaux Montaigne, (former Université Bordeaux 3), France (1987) • University of Trondheim, Norway (1993) == See also ==