King Hussein of Jordan

Hussein bin Talal was King of Jordan from 1952 until his death in 1999, born November 14, 1935, in Amman. He was the eldest son of Crown Prince Talal and Queen Zein al-Sharaf and a great-grandson of Sharif Hussein of Mecca, leader of the Arab Revolt against the Ottomans. He was educated at Victoria College in Alexandria, Harrow School in England, and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

Hussein was thrust into public life early. He was at his grandfather King Abdullah I's side in Jerusalem in 1951 when Abdullah was assassinated at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and a medal pinned on the young prince's chest deflected a bullet meant for him. After his father Talal was deemed mentally unfit to rule, Hussein took the throne in May 1953 at age seventeen.

His forty-six-year reign navigated the Suez Crisis, the loss of the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War, the 1970 confrontation with Palestinian fedayeen known as Black September, and the Gulf War, when his refusal to back the U.S.-led coalition strained relations with Western allies. In 1994 he signed a peace treaty with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, ending a 46-year state of war between Jordan and Israel.

Hussein survived a dozen assassination attempts and was widely respected for his personal warmth and aviation hobby. He died of non-Hodgkin lymphoma on February 7, 1999, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Abdullah II.

The personal name Hussein comes from the Arabic Husayn, a diminutive of Hasan, meaning "good" or "handsome." It honors Husayn ibn Ali, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, and is among the most widely used names in the Muslim world.