Junius Richard Jayewardene (1906-1996) was a leader of the nationalist movement in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) who served in a variety of cabinet positions in the decades after independence. In 1977, he became prime minister, and then president, of Sri Lanka.

Junius Richard Jayewardene, eldest in a family of 11 children, was born September 17, 1906, in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). His father was a judge of the Ceylon Supreme Court, and JR, as he was popularly known in his country, became a lawyer after attaining a distinguished academic record in the Colombo Law College.

Jayewardene did not practice law for long, however. He became an activist in the Ceylon National Congress (CNC), which provided the organizational platform for Ceylon's nationalist movement (the island was officially renamed Sri Lanka in 1972). Drawing inspiration from the non-violent freedom movement of the Indian National Congress (INC) under the Mahatma Gandhi's leadership in nearby India...