1979 — The Day Angola's Longest President Began

On September 21, 1979, José Eduardo dos Santos was sworn in as president of Angola, eleven days after the death of the country's first president, Agostinho Neto. Neto had died of cancer in Moscow on September 10; the MPLA's Central Committee chose the 37-year-old planning minister as his successor.

Dos Santos inherited a country already engulfed in civil war, with UNITA rebels backed by apartheid South Africa and the United States fighting his Soviet- and Cuban-backed government. He would rule Angola for 38 years, stepping down in 2017 — one of Africa's longest presidencies. His tenure saw the civil war's end in 2002 and an oil-fueled boom, alongside deep corruption that made his family one of Africa's wealthiest.