Patrice Lumumba, the hero of Congolese independence, was not yet 30 when the first tremors of botched decolonization thrust him to the forefront of the international political arena. Within the course of a few years, Lumumba, a one-time native civil servant at the Stanleyville post office center, who served several prison terms for theft and inciting disorder, became the most reviled man of this intense cold war period. A period during which the world was brought to the brink of world-wide conflict. Becoming Prime Minister of one of the richest countries in Africa, Lumumba's destiny as tragic hero was already charted out, his assassination already programmed. He would remain in power only three months. All that remained for his assassins to do was dispose of his body.