Charles D.B. King
President of Liberia 1902 - 1930
Published: 14 September, 2005
Charles Dunbar Burgess King was born in Monrovia on March 12, 1871 of Sierra Leonian parents. He studied law and started his career at the Supreme Court, later turned to the State Department. After the turn of the century he became Attorney-General with the rank of cabinet minister under President Arthur Barclay (1904 -12), and Secretary of State under President Daniel E. Howard (1912 - 20).
Illustrative for Liberia’s international profile in the early 1900s is King’s participation in the Peace Conference following the end of World War I. He also was among those who signed the Treaty of Versailles.
While attending the Peace Conference he was elected president (May, 1919). On January 1, 1920 he was inaugurated. King’s 10-year Administration is marked by some of the most historic events Liberia ever experienced.
Charles Dunbar Burgess King was born in Monrovia on March 12, 1871 of Sierra Leonian parents. He studied law and started his career at the Supreme Court, later turned to the State Department. After the turn of the century he became Attorney-General with the rank of cabinet minister under President Arthur Barclay (1904 -12), and Secretary of State under President Daniel E. Howard (1912 - 20).
Illustrative for Liberia’s international profile in the early 1900s is King’s participation in the Peace Conference following the end of World War I. He also was among those who signed the Treaty of Versailles.
While attending the Peace Conference he was elected president (May, 1919). On January 1, 1920 he was inaugurated. King’s 10-year Administration is marked by some of the most historic events Liberia ever experienced. They greatly influenced the course of Africa’s First Republic: - Firestone was granted a historic one million acres concession for the production of rubber on Liberian soil which according to some critics made Liberia a ‘Firestone Colony’ for the next quarter of a century.
- The following year Charles King won the presidential elections with a landslide victory that gained him a place in the Guinness Book of Records for the most fraudulent elections ever reported in history.
- In 1930 President King resigned in order to avoid impeachment following publication of the Christy-report on the existence of forced labour practices in the country and the involvement of high ranking government officials. Since also his Vice-President Allen Yancy resigned, King was succeeded by his Secretary of State Edwin Barclay, a cousin of aforementioned President Arthur Barclay.
What happened to President King after he resigned?
After his resignation ex-President King retired to private life and exploited his private rubber plantation. By the time William V.S. Tubman became president in 1944, he was publicly respected as an elder statesman and occupied various public positions. In 1947 he became the first Liberian Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the USA, in Washington DC. Later, he also became Liberia’s first Permanent Representative to the United Nations. In 1952 he retired permanently from public service. He was active in the Protestant Episcopal Church and as a Mason until 1961 when he died at the age of 90 years.
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