Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the president of Iraq from 1979 until his overthrow in 2003 during the U.S. invasion of Iraq. He previously served as the vice president from 1968 to 1979 and also as the prime minister from 1979 to 1991 and later from 1994 to 2003. A leading member of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, he espoused Ba'athism, a mix of Arab nationalism and Arab socialism. The policies and political ideas he championed are collectively known as Saddamism.

Born near the city of Tikrit to a Sunni Arab family, Saddam joined the revolutionary Ba'ath Party in 1957. He played a key role in the 17 July Revolution that brought the Ba'athists to power and made him vice president under Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr. During his tenure as vice president, Saddam nationalized the Iraq Petroleum Company, diversified the economy, introduced free healthcare and education, and supported women's rights. Saddam attempted to ease tensions among Iraq's religious and ethnic groups. He presided over the Second Iraqi–Kurdish War, crushing the Kurdish insurgency, and signed the Algiers Agreement with Iran in 1975, settling territorial disputes along the Iran–Iraq border. Following al-Bakr's resignation in 1979, Saddam formally took power.