Ten American Foreign Policy Luminaries Who Died in 2016
The end of the year is a time for taking stock, counting successes, and assessing failures. It is also a time for remembering those who are no longer with us. Here are ten Americans who died in 2016 who, through their vision, service, intellect, or courage, helped shape U.S. foreign policy. They will be missed.
Muhammad Ali (b. 1942) was an all-time boxing great and one of the most influential athletes of the twentieth century, in good part because he risked his career for his beliefs. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, as Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr., Ali won the Olympic light-heavyweight title in Rome in 1960. Less than four years later, he won the world heavyweight title by beating a heavily favored Sonny Liston. The day after the fight, Clay announced that he had become a member of the Nation of Islam. Within weeks he changed his name to Muhammad Ali, though most journalists continued to call him Cassius Clay. In 1967, Ali’s request to be granted conscientious objector status was rejected. When he refused induction into the U.S. Army, he was convicted of draft evasion and sentenced to five years in prison. He appealed his conviction, which the Supreme Court overturned. While Ali never served prison time, he was stripped of his heavyweight title during the prime of his career and barred from boxing for more than three years. After he returned to the ring, he went on to . eventually robbed Ali of his physical grace and oratorical skills. In 1996, the man once pilloried for converting to Islam and refusing to be drafted was enthusiastically cheered as he at the opening of the centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta.
