The administration of President Charles Dunbar Burgess King (1920-30) was, arguably, one of the most eventful in the annals of the Republic of Liberia.

King, born in Monrovia of Sierra Leonean parentage in 1871, received his early education at the Powell Elementary School in Monrovia before attending grammar school in Freetown, Sierra Leone, following which he studied law under the tutelage of Chief Justice F.E.R. Johnson. After completing law studies in 1897, he was admitted into the National Bar Association and subsequently served as its president for a number of years.

Prior to 1920, Liberia was, more or less, economically and politically isolated from the rest of the world. During President King's tenure, however, two events brought the country to the attention of the outside world and changed the course of its history.

The first was the concession agreement with the Firestone Rubber & Tyre Company of Akron, Ohio, U.S.A., which brought along with it the first sizeable infusion of foreign capital into the economy, while the second was the controversy which ensued in the wake of allegations of slave-trading.

The Firestone agreement ensured the end of enforced seizures of Liberian territory by the colonial powers, while the slave-trading controversy almost caused the country to lose its hard-earned sovereignty. Emphasis in this recollection of the King Administration is placed on the slavery issue.

Public Service Career

Most of King's early governmental experience was gained at the Department of State (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), where he rose to the position of Chief Clerk. A counsellor-at-law, he then moved on to the Department of Justice (Ministry of Justice), where he served first as County Attorney for Montserrado County, and then as Attorney-General (Justice Minister) during the administration of President Arthur Barclay.

In 1912, King returned to the State Department when he was appointed Secretary of State (Foreign Minister) by President Daniel E. Howard. An adept diplomat, he ably handled the nation's foreign relations during the difficult years of World War I and was rewarded when President Howard recommended him to succeed to the presidency in 1919.

His election to the presidency took place in May 1919 while he was attending the World Peace Conference in Versailles, France, which ended World War I, thus becoming the only Liberian chief executive ever elected in absentia.

1926 Loan

Because of the country's poor financial standing, President King's first order of business was a journey to the United States at the head of a four-man delegation in an attempt to secure a loan of five million dollars.

The delegation spent eight months in America, and although negotiations for the loan were concluded with the Department of State, the agreement was never implemented because it was never ratified by the Senate.

Firestone Concession

Six years later, in 1926, the Liberian Government reopened the loan question when it granted a concession to the Firestone Rubber & Tyre Company, an American entity, to lease one million acres of land near Monrovia for then planting of Heavea rubber trees.

One provision of the agreement provided that “the lease use its best efforts to secure either from the Government of the United States or, with the approval of the Secretary of State of the United States, from some other person or persons a loan of not less than five million dollars to establish credit for public developments.”

In keeping with this provision, Secretary of State Edwin Barclay went to the United States, where he completed negotiations for the loan with the Firestone Corporation of America, a subsidiary of the Firestone Rubber & Tyre Company.

Although European nations were reluctant to incur the enmity of the United States because of its newly vested financial interest in Liberia, and although the loan did bring some measure of relief, Firestone exercised almost dictatorial power over the country's finances.

In 1952, when the loan was retired 15 years ahead of schedule, a bronze statue of President William V.S. Tubman (destroyed during the civil war) was erected at the University of Liberia Park to commemorate this unprecedented event.

Communication and Health

Although money was in short supply, President King made worthwhile efforts to improve the lot of his people. In the areas of communication and health, these efforts were particularly effective and laudable.

Radio relay stations were built in Monrovia and Harper, and plans were devised for the improvement of harbors along the seacoast. Lighthouses were constructed in Monrovia, Buchanan and Harper to protect shipping from the rocky storm-harassed West African coastline. Electricity was also introduced into Liberia during King's administration.

In 1924, the Bureau of Public Health and the first government hospital were established, thus paving the way for future administrations to improve upon the nation's health delivery system.

The Hinterland

As president, C.D.B. King gained stature and following amongst numerous tribal chiefs and their people. One of the main reasons for this was his tolerance and recognition of Islam, as well as indigenous religions and beliefs. He explained this attitude by saying, “A true Christian such as I can do no less.”

In 1923, King convened a Grand Council of Chiefs and other tribal authorities in the vicinity of King Bromley's Town, where Joseph Jenkins Roberts (in his capacity as Governor of the Commonwealth of Liberia) had called a similar meeting eighty years before. Many disputes and inter-tribal problems were discussed and resolved. A second council was convened in Kakata in 1929 with like results.

Regretfully, however, another worthy cause, that of making possible more extensive employment of tribal labor, was doomed to a woeful outcome.

The Fernando Po Crisis

All other events, accomplishments and failures of the King presidency have been eclipsed and placed into the back pages of history by what has become known as the Fernando Po Crisis.

The problem actually began in 1914 during the presidency of Daniel E. Howard when the Liberian Government held talks with the Spanish Colonial Office in a bid to standardize the work agreements of Liberian contractual workers employed in Fernando Po, a Spanish island colony, famous as a cacao growing center, about one thousand miles off the east coast of Liberia. Incidentally, Fernando Po is today a part of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea. Before the 1914 talks, recruiting of tribesmen on two-year contracts were negotiated between the island's cacao planters and tribal chiefs.

Following the talks, during which accredited Liberian consuls were appointed to serve as “referees” to monitor and serve the needs of the workers, concern about the health and living condition in Fernando Po was expressed by the British Colonial Office, which itself administered the export of contract labor from the then Gold Coast.

Although the Spanish Colonial Office also deplored the situation in principle, it insisted that its recruitment methods were competitive with those of their British counterparts, who were operating virtually without supervision. The Spanish Government officially stated its willingness to use its good offices to improve the situation and the Liberian Government officially stated its concern for its workers. Such was the scenario when Charles Dunbar Burgess King became President of Liberia in 1920.

In the wake of continued complaints by the British Colonial Office, which even appealed to the United States Government to intervene, President King organized a supervisory board consisting of the Vice President, one Associate Justice and one cabinet minister. He further sought legislative permission to employ a personnel expert from the United States to serve as administrative director.

The Senate concurred with the president, but the House of Representatives differed, especially about the wholly governmental composition of the board. The two bodies eventually compromised and opted for what they called a private employment syndicate to be headed by the Vice President. President King accepted this compromise and persuaded the Spanish Government to appoint an accredited committee of supervisors.

The Nightmare Begins

The situation assumed crisis character in 1927 when Thomas J.R. Faulkner, Standard Bearer of the People's Party of Liberia, lost the presidential election of that year to King, who was re-elected for a third term. Mr. Faulkner accused the True Whig Party of ballot-rigging.

After President King and Vice President Allen Yancy, Sr. were proclaimed winners of the election, Faulkner accused them of forcibly recruiting tribesmen to work in Fernando Po under a system of peonage.

For almost two years, Liberia was criticized in the international media, which accused the country of engaging in slavery as a result of allegations made in various publications. The most damaging of these publications was a book entitled SLAVERY, written by Lady Kathleen Simon, wife of Sir John A. Simon, a Member of the British Parliament. Even though Lady Simon admitted that she had never been near Liberia, her book became an international bestseller and added to the universal uproar.

The Stimson Note

On June 7, 1929, United States Secretary of State Henry L. Stimson released a long vitriolic note (which he had written to his Liberian counterpart, Edwin J. Barclay) to newsmen and news services in Washington, D.C., a full day before its official delivery in Monrovia.

The note accused Liberia of practicing “a system which seems hardly distinguishable from organized slave trade,” enforced “by the services of the Liberian Frontier Force and the services and influence of certain high government officials.”

Commission of Inquiry

It was at this point that President King resolved to clear the good name of Liberia. In so doing, he proposed the establishment of a commission by the League of Nations to conduct an investigation of the allegations. The suggestion sparked off deep division in the Cabinet. Two of the proposal's staunchest opponents were Secretary of State Edwin J. Barclay and Attorney-General Louis Arthur Grimes.

In the country as a whole, there was a divergence of sentiments, predominant among which was the view that the nation's sovereignty was being compromised. After much debate, the President's viewpoint prevailed and the League's representation was requested. Following the approval of the request, a three-member commission of inquiry was constituted.

The American representative, although the United States was not a member of the League, was Dr. Charles S. Johnson of Fisk University. He accepted his selection with the explanation that he was doing so only out of a sense of devotion to a cause, as he had no experience in investigatory procedure, no firsthand acquaintance with Africa, knew little about Liberia and nothing whatsoever about the Fernando Po controversy.

The League's representative, Dr. Cuthbert Christie, was a strongly opinionated London dentist whose only firsthand acquaintance with Africa was a brief tourist visit to Nigeria. Like Dr. Johnson, he, too, had no experience in investigatory procedure or international law.

Liberia's representative was former President Arthur Barclay who, although highly respected, was aging and seriously impeded by failing health.

As a result of the poor choice and inexperience of the commission's members, there was no questioning or cross-examination during the investigation. In the final analysis, the commission concluded that, among other things, Liberian law did not permit the practice of slavery per se, and that any citizen was free to seek redress in the courts for any infringement of his or her civil liberties.

It also absolved Liberia of practicing slavery as defined by the Anti-Slavery Convention, but reported that forced labor was employed for public and private services, an apparent reference to Firestone.

The commission also concluded that shipment of workers to Fernando Po was associated with slavery because the method of recruitment carried with it a certain degree of compulsion. Leading citizens were absolved of participating in slavery, but they did adopt pawns, in accordance with local customs and, according to the report, abused the practice.

Dr. Christie even rendered a minority opinion, supported by his American colleague, which charged several Liberian district commissioners, county superintendents and some residents of Monrovia of having acted in violation of good faith in the quest for profit and personal benefit. He stated that there were indications of “criminal participation” in the shipment of “forced labor.” No instances, dates or supporting evidence were presented.

Far from being a consensus, the report, completed in September 1930, was a volume of dissenting opinions in which only Dr. Christie declared extensive wrongdoing. The two-member majority cited no violations that were confirmed by witnesses, and the primary charges and issues were almost completely avoided. For instance, no investigation was made into the living or labor conditions in Fernando Po and there was no testimony that tribal laborers had been enslaved.

Stimson Reacts

Not surprisingly, the ambiguity of the commission's report evoked unfriendly opinions from around the world. On November 17, 1930, U.S. Secretary of State Stimson reacted to the report by sending another firm note to Secretary of State Barclay, in which he stated that the United States was “profoundly shocked at this revelation of the existence, in the Republic established in the name of freedom, of conditions not only in tragic contrast to the ideals of its founders, but in denial of the engagements entered into by the Republic of Liberia through its adherence to the International Slavery Convention of 1926.”

Needles to say, this harsh condemnation, coming from Liberia's “friendly benefactor,” virtually assured the government's downfall.

Resignations

At home, President King found himself in confrontation with both the Legislature and the citizenry. The Legislature felt humiliated by the “Christie Report” (as it was called), while droves of citizens besieged the Executive Mansion calling for his resignation.

Initially, the President was adamant in his refusal to step down, but amidst reports that impeachment proceedings were in the making, and under increased pressure from the citizenry, he turned to the Masonic Craft, a pivotal force in the affairs of the nation at that time.

After consultations with the Craft, a compromise was reached whereby the President and Vice President would resign and be permitted to leave, with full protection guaranteed by government, for destinations of their choices.

Vice President Yancy resigned on December 2, 1930, while President King resigned the following day, explaining that insofar as American acceptance was indispensable to his country's survival, his prerogative as a patriot required that he voluntarily relinquish office.

Ironically, Dr. Christie was among the first to express regret at the final outcome of his commission's investigation. In an address about the crisis to the Royal Geographic Society, he closed his remarks by saying that “the resignation of Mr. King was probably not the best thing that could have happened in the interest of the Republic.”

Following the resignations, Secretary of State Barclay was sworn in to succeed President King, in accordance with the Constitution. Some members of the League of Nations demanded that Liberia become a mandate of that body, and the United States severed diplomatic relations. President Barclay rejected the League's request and succeeded in preserving the autonomy of his country after a hard-fought international legal battle, ably headed by Louis Arthur Grimes.

Back to Grace

Former President King quietly retired to private life and devoted most of his time and energy to the operation of his rubber plantation, but still found time to engage in civic affairs, with special attention given to education.

He was President of the Board of Trustees of Liberia College (forerunner of the University of Liberia) for many years, and for a period of time acted as president of the college. He later became Chairman of the Board of Managers of the Booker Washington Institute in Kakata, which was founded during his administration.

In 1947, C.D.B. King re-entered government service when he was appointed to serve as Liberia's first Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States. Three years later, when diplomatic representation was raised to ambassadorial level, King became Liberia's first ambassador to that country. Before 1947, Liberia maintained only consular representation in the United States.

In 1952, after President Tubman's second inauguration, Ambassador King retired from public service, although he did return briefly in 1955 as a member of the Liberian Delegation to the first Conference of Non-Aligned Nations in Bandung, Indonesia.

C.D.B. King was the recipient of several orders of merit both at home and abroad, including the Order of the Star of Africa, which was created by him, as well as others from the Governments of France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Haiti, Lebanon, The Netherlands, Peru and The Vatican.

He was also active in the Protestant Episcopal Church, in which he served as Choir Director, Vestryman, Sidesman, Junior Warden and Senior Warden, in addition to several fraternal organizations, including the United Brothers of Friendship and the Order of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, in which he rose to the highest position of Most Worshipful Grand Master, which he held from 1922 to 1928. He died in Monrovia on September 8, 1961.

The C.D.B. King Elementary School on Camp Johnson Road in Monrovia is named in his memory.

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