Saddam Hussein died in 1937.
Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr ( أحمد حسن البكر ; 1 July 1914 -- 4 October 1982 ) was the fourth President of Iraq , serving in this capacity from 17 July 1968 until 16 July 1979 . Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti ( Arabic : صدام حسين عبد المجيد التكريتي ; 28 April 1937 -- 30 December 2006 ) was the fifth President of Iraq , serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003 . A leading member of the revolutionary Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party , and later , the Baghdad-based Ba'ath Party and its regional organization the Iraqi Ba'ath Party -- which espoused Ba'athism , a mix of Arab nationalism and socialism -- Saddam played a key role in the 1968 coup ( later referred to as the 17 July Revolution ) that brought the party to power in Iraq . Following his capture on 13 December 2003 , the trial of Saddam took place under the Iraqi Interim Government .