Nelson Mandela is spared from a death sentence
Pretoria, South Africa
1964
Nelson Mandela rose to prominence in the 1950s as a leader of the African National Congress, a key opposition group to the apartheid policy of the government in South Africa. In 1963, Mandela and several other ANC leaders were charged with planning to commit sabotage and overthrow the government. Convictions could have resulted in the death penalty. —Read the article by Richard J. Goldstone.
Image: Nelson Mandela 1964 by Three Lions/Getty Images.