BREAKING NEWS

F.W. de Klerk, the former South African president who ended the apartheid system he had defended and freed Nelson Mandela, has died at 85.

Thursday, November 11, 2021 6:18 AM EST

A member of a prominent Afrikaner family, Mr. de Klerk had supported the separation of the races during his climb up the political ladder. But once he took over as president in 1989, he stunned his deeply divided nation, and the wider world, by reconsidering South Africa's racist ways.

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