Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, KG, MC, PC (12 June 1897 - 14 January 1977) was a British politician who was Foreign Secretary for three periods between 1935 and 1955, including World War II and Prime Minister from 1955 to 1957.
In the post-war years, Eden was a protagonist of the change in British policy about war criminal trials, maybe best symbolized by his signature under the pardon conceded to the German Field Marshal Albert Kesselring on 24 October 1952.
He is mainly remembered for his role in the Suez Crisis of 1956, which was politically disastrous from a British perspective.
He is generally ranked among the least successful British Prime Ministers of the 20th century , although two broadly sympathetic biographies (in 1986 and 2003) have gone some way to redressing the balance of opinion .
