Jose Eduardo dos Santos was born on August 28 1942 in Luanda, the Angolan capital. His childhood was normal, but he early gained an interest for politics and founded the youth organization within MPLA. In 1963 he was awarded a scholarship to study in the Soviet Union where he received a degree in petroleum engineering, he graduated in 1969 but chose to stay on for further studies, this time in communications.

In 1974, the year before independence, dos Santos was named Coordinator of the Foreign Affairs Department of MPLA. He developed diplomatic activities in several African capitals to gain support for MPLA efforts and politics. On November 11 1975, the day of independence, he was named Minister of foreign Affairs. He continued to remain active in MPLA and was on 21 September 1979 named president of the Popular Republic of Angola after the death of former president Agostino Neto. Dos Santos has always been active, and worked hard for what he believe is Angola's best, his efforts resulted in the withdrawal of South African forces, the repatriation of Cuban forces, the independence of Namibia and the 1992 elections after he signed the Bicesse Accords in 1991.

In 1994 the Lusaka protocol was signed between dos Santos and Savimbi. In 1995 he held three meetings with the Unita leader in order to restore peace, trust and confidence. That same year, in September, dos Santos led the Angolan delegation to an international Donor's Roundtable in Brussels to urge support for national reconstruction. The nearly $1 billion pledged by the international community shows the level of trust and confidence in the country.

President dos Santos is married to Ana Paula dos Santos, they have two children together.

After the 2002 peace accord and the announcement of the 2006 elections, dos Santos has once again been asked to stand as MPLA's presidential candidate. In this ceremony, he was described as hard-working, intelligent and good at bringing different people together in a sense of belonging. It was also stated that if dos Santos cannot improve the Angolan conditions over his next term in office, nobody can.