Followers and international influence


Mahatma Gandhi on a 1969 postage
 stamp of the Soviet Union.
Gandhi influenced important leaders and political movements.
 Leaders of the 
civil rights movementin the United States, including 
Martin Luther King and 
James Lawson, drew from the writings of Gandhi in the 
development of their 
own theories about non-violence.


Anti-apartheidactivist and former President of 
South Africa, Nelson Mandelawas inspired by Gandhi.
Others include Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan,Steve BikoAung San Suu Kyi
,and 
Benigno Aquino, Jr. (the Philippine opposition leader during the dictatorship of 
Ferdinand Marcos and father of current Philippine president Benigno Aquino III).

"Christ gave us the goals and Mahatma Gandhi the tactics." – Martin Luther King Jr, 1955
n his early years, the former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela was a follower of the non-violent resistance philosophy of Gandhi. Bhana and Vahed commented on these events as "Gandhi inspired succeeding generations of South African activists seeking to end White rule. This legacy connects him to Nelson Mandela...in a sense Mandela completed what Gandhi started."
Mahatma Gandhi District in Houston, Texas
Gandhi's life and teachings inspired many who specifically referred to
 Gandhi as their mentor or who dedicated their 
lives to spreading Gandhi's ideas. 
In Europe, Romain Rolland was the first to discuss Gandhi in 
his 1924 book Mahatma Gandhi, and Brazilian anarchist and
 feminist Maria Lacerda de Moura wrote about Gandhi in her
 work on pacifism. In 1931, notable European physicist Albert Einstein 
exchanged written letters with Gandhi, and called him "a role model for 
the generations to come" in a later writing about him.


Obama at the Wakefield High School speech in Sept 2009, said that his biggest inspiration came from Mahatma Gandhi. His reply was in response to the question 'Who was the one person, dead or live, that you would choose to dine with?'. He continued that "He's somebody I find a lot of inspiration in. He inspired Dr. King with his message of nonviolence. He ended up doing so much and changed the world just by the power of his ethics."
The Mahatma Gandhi District in Houston, Texas, United States, an ethnic Indian enclave, is named after Gandhi. The district officially received its named on 16 January 2010 when the City of Houston held a naming ceremony