Lech Wałęsa taking the presidential oath

Lech Wałęsa, the leader of the Solidarity trade union, became the first President of the 3rd Republic of Poland appointed in general elections. He defeated Stan Tymiński, a Polish businessman living and working abroad, and Tadeusz Mazowiecki, the founder of the Catholic Intellectuals’ Club, long-term dissident and chairman of the expert team at the Inter-Factory Strike Committee in August 1989. Pictured next to Lech Wałęsa is his wife Danuta. To the left - Mikołaj Kozakiewicz, Speaker of the Sejm.