Heir to Abyssinian throne, 1917. Haile Selassie I (July 23, 1892 - August 27, 1975) was Ethiopia's regent from 1916-30 and Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930-74. His internationalist views led to Ethiopia's becoming a charter member of the United Nations, and his political thought and experience in promoting multilateralism and collective security have proved seminal and enduring. His suppression of rebellions among the landed aristocracy, which consistently opposed his reforms, and Ethiopia's perceived failure to modernize rapidly enough, earned him criticism among some contemporaries and historians. His regime was also criticized by human rights groups as autocratic and illiberal. Among the Rastafari movement Haile Selassie is revered as the returned messiah of the Bible, God incarnate. He died in 1975 at the age of 83. The state media reported that he had died of "respiratory failure", but imperial loyalists believed that he had been assassinated, and this belief remains widely held to this day. Bain News Service, 1917.