Frederik Willem de Klerk was born in Johannesburg on March 18, 1936 to a prominent Afrikaner political family with a history of public service in South Africa. (Descended from Dutch, German, and French Huguenot settlers, Afrikaners constitute approximately 60 percent of South Africa's white population.) De Klerk's great-grandfather had been a senator; his father, the late Mr. Jan de Klerk, served in several Cabinet posts and as president of the Senate; and an uncle, Mr. J.G. Strijdom, was prime minister from 1954 to 1958.

He graduated with Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Law degrees from the Potchefstroom University for Higher Christian Education, where he was active in student affairs. After eleven years of practicing law in Vereeniging, Transvaal, he won the local seat in Parliament for the then-ruling National Party in 1972. In 1978, he was appointed to the South African Cabinet. He was responsible for six different cabinet offices between 1978 and 1989.

From 1982- 1989, Mr. de Klerk served as leader of the National Party in the Transvaal, the most populous of South Africa's four provinces. He also served as chairman of the Ministers' Council and later as Leader of the House of Assembly. In February 1989, he was elected as his party's national leader. Seven months later, after President P.W. Botha resigned, de Klerk was unanimously elected president of South Africa.

As his country's first "television president," de Klerk developed a friendlier, more open and accessible relationship with the media than any of his predecessors. He was widely praised for his efforts to keep South Africa on the negotiations path during its transition into a nonracial democracy, and for the serene self-confidence he displayed during the transition.

On February 2, 1990, de Klerk made several announcements that would fundamentally change his country and accelerate the elimination of apartheid. He announced that Nelson Mandela would be released from prison and that many organizations would be unbanned, including the African National Congress and the South African Communist Party. He also introduced a set of initiatives that led directly to South Africa's first-ever universal-franchise election in April 1994.

On May 10, 1994, F.W. de Klerk was sworn into office as one of two executive deputy presidents in South Africa's new Government of National Unity under President Nelson Mandela. (De Klerk received the post because of the number of votes received by his National Party.) The inauguration was the culmination of the process of negotiation and reconciliation which ended the apartheid era and transformed South Africa into a nonracial democracy, a process in which de Klerk has played a major part. He resigned from his office as deputy president in May 1996. His move from President Mandela's cabinet was hailed as a step that would help to normalize multi-party politics in South Africa's new system.

De Klerk retired from active politics in September 1997. He is now devoting much of his time to lecturing throughout the world, and to writing his autobiography.

He was a co-recipient with Nelson Mandela of the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize for the leading role he played in the democratization of South Africa. He has also received numerous other honors and honorary degrees both in South Africa and abroad. During an interview with Time magazine after he was named Time's Man of the Year 1993 with Mandela, Yitzak Rabin and Yasser Arafat, de Klerk described how he would like to be remembered: "I would hope that history will recognize that I, together will all those who supported me, have shown courage, integrity, honesty at the moment of truth in our history. That we took the right turn."