William Tubman was one of the greatest Presidents in Liberian #history.
He brought economic prosperity to #Liberia 🇱🇷, expanded rights for indigenous people in the interior and helped guide Africas decolonization.
He put Liberia in a great place on the world stage.
A THREAD🧵
Tubman grew up in Cape Palmas in the South of Liberia away from the Capital.
He had a humble background and came from a lower middle class Congo (“Americo Liberian”)family.
He started as a clerk and worked up the ladder.
He was elected as the youngest Liberian Senator ever at 28.
He became vice president under President Edwin Barclay after the collapse of the disastrous Charles D.B King regime.
Liberia was under constant threat of annexation by western powers, and would face threats from Nazi controlled Vichy French West Africa during WWII.
Tubman was elected President of Liberia on May 4th 1943. He succeeded Edwin Barclay after he left office.
Tubmans election was slightly controversial because the elite in Monrovia saw him as an outsider coming from Maryland far in the South of the country.
He would soon prove he was competent in his position. He initiated many programs to modernize Liberia developing our infrastructure roads and power grids.(Liberia is still not at the same level of development post civil war period)
Liberias economy was one of the fastest growing.
He was also head of the Masonic temple.
The Liberian Masonic Temple was a complete Black Led lodge who had close ties to the Freemason lodge in Haiti.
They’re mission is to seek enlightenment and make things better for society. Freemasonry originally came from Egypt.
Tubman was a smart politician who knew how to balance various interest.
His secret was to make everyone feel like he was their supporters. Both Indigenous Liberians and Repatriate Liberians admired him. Even his worst political enemies had respect for him.
President Tubman helped found the OAU,(organization of African Unity). The precursor to the AU.
He fought for decolonization of Africa.
He made sure the OAU was independent from the Soviet Empire AND the USA and NATO.
He gets criticized from both sides because of this.
Tubman knew how to keep harmful opposition in check. When rivals in the True Whig party tried to usurp him he would shut them down.
When local people(grebo) threatened to revolt against the state he showed up to town in military fatigues and they’d back down out of respect.
Tubman gets critiqued for serving more than 2 terms. Some even called him a dictator.
The thing is he still wasn’t a dictator at all he was just simply inspired by President FDR who also served 4 terms in the US presidency.
Tubman figured “If FDR did it why can’t I?”
He also gets criticized for his authoritarian tendencies, even being later challenged by his former boss Edwin Barclay.
Some criticism is valid, but Tubmans was still an elected president. He was not a dictator like Putin or Gaddafi. He never killed rivals, he’d outwit them.
The longest lasting effect he had on Liberia was turning our interior territories into equal counties to give the Interior equal standing with the Coast (He still did some jerry-mandering imo), but nonetheless this gave more indigenous Liberian counties in the interior equality.
Tubman also kept up the relationships with all of Liberias important allies like the United States, and the new emerging decolonized African nations.
He was friends with the great Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana 🇬🇭 and American President JFK 🇺🇸.
He appointed William Tolbert as his Vice president for his second term who would go on to be president of Liberia and stay VP until Tubmans death.
An entire generation of Liberian politicians and leaders came up under Tubmans Administration from 1944-1971.
Tubman would die in 1971 in office.
His successor William Tolbert wasn’t as strong or feared as Tubman and he’d be killed and overthrown in a coup in 1980 marking an end Liberias golden age.
The coup also marked the beginning of Liberias dark days.
End of🧵
Tubman is still regarded as the Father of modern Liberia.
His picture still hans in the houses of indigenous people in the interior and Congo people in the coast. He was universally respected by all Liberians.
He was one of Liberias best Presidents.
Thanks for reading!👋🏿
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