Born September 29, 1943, in Popowo, Poland, Lech Walesa was the son of a carpenter. He attended primary and vocational school before taking up the position of electrical engineer in the Lenin Shipyards in Gdansk, Poland, in 1967. In 1970, when the shipyards were the center of huge and violent demonstrations against the government's decision to increase food prices, Walesa was among the demonstrators. Six years later, Walesa was fired from his job when he not only protested the Gierek government's raise in food prices, but emerged as an anti-government union activist. He turned to the Workers Defense Committee (KOR), an underground intellectual group established to help the families of workers fired because of the protests, and became increasingly involved in their activities as a dissident. Walesa was arrested several times between 1976 and 1980 for his dissident activities.

In July 1980, the Polish government was once again forced to raise food prices, and by mid-August more than 100,000 workers were on strike. The Gdansk shipyards were once again at the heart of the protest. On August 14, 1980, the workers successfully seized control of the yard and demanded the reinstatement of Lech Walesa, who had scaled the shipyard fence to join the workers inside. Quickly named their leader, Walesa knew that the best hope of success was if the shipyard workers were joined by others in protest. Walesa chaired the Interfactory Strike Committee, which linked the shipyard workers with workers in 20 other striking factories in the Gdansk-Sopot-Gdynia area, and the committee issued a series of bold political demands. The Communist Party leadership, fearing wider riots and protests, met with Walesa, and on August 31, Walesa and Poland's first deputy premier, Mieczyslaw Jagielski, signed an agreement that gave the workers the right to organize freely and independently. In September, Solidarity was officially formed in Gdansk by representatives of various workers groups throughout the country, and Walesa was elected chair of the new organization. Walesa's role in the negotiations and as chair of Solidarity brought him immediate national and international recognition.

In 1981 however, Defense Minister Wojciech Jaruzelski was appointed prime minister in a year of increasing social unrest and dissatisfaction in Poland. In December, martial law was imposed and Solidarity was outlawed. Walesa was arrested, and for the next seven years he was either under arrest, watched closely by secret police or harassed. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, Walesa had his wife accept the award for him in Oslo, fearing that authorities would not allow him back into Poland if he left.

By December 1988 it was clear that the unrest, social dissatisfaction and economic conditions could not continue without change. At the conclusion of the 10th plenary session of the Communist Party, the party invited the still-illegal and large opposition Solidarity movement to join in talks beginning in February 1989. These talks, which became known as the "roundtable talks," lasted for 59 days, with 13 working groups in 94 sessions.

Walesa traveled the country giving speeches in support of the negotiations, and he and his advisers met with the chief government negotiator and minister of the interior in several special high-level talks in Magdelenka. In the end, Solidarity was legalized, political reforms were enacted that increased the power of the Sejm (parliament), and Solidarity could run candidates for parliament. Walesa actively campaigned for all Solidarity candidates, his picture appearing on posters with most of the candidates, and he hit the campaign trail with vigor.

After elections in June 1989, Solidarity captured all the seats it had been allowed to fight for. Walesa, a key figure throughout the campaign, did not run for office himself but actively participated in many facets of the new government. In 1989, Walesa decided that he wanted to be president of Poland. Despite his campaign techniques, which included some mudslinging and tarnished his reputation abroad for a period of time, he won by a landslide. As president he led the country through industrial privatization, Poland's first set of totally free parliamentary elections in 1991, and international relations with the newly emerging states of Central and Eastern Europe as well as the well-established Western powers.

Walesa lost his re-election campaign in 1995 to Alexander Kwasniewski, the head of the Democratic Left Alliance. Walesa still remains active in Polish politics, although he does not hold a government office.