William Tolbert

William Richard Tolbert Jr. was born in Bensonville, Liberia, to William Richard Tolbert Sr. (1869-1948) and Charlotte Augusta Tolbert, nee Hoff of Cape Mount, Liberia.

The Tolbert and Hoff families were Americo-Liberian families of African American descent and the Hoff family originated from Virginia.

William Tolbert Sr. was the son of Daniel Frank Tolbert, a former American slave from South Carolina who emigrated to Liberia in the Liberian exodus of 1878.

Daniel Frank Tolbert, the South Carolinian grandfather of William Tolbert, emigrated to Liberia aboard the barque Azor, alongside several other black South Carolinians who sought to settle in Liberia.

The Tolbert clan was one of the largest Americo-Liberian families in Liberia.

He attended Bensonville Elementary School, Crummell Hall Episcopalian High School.

William Richard Tolbert Jr. (13 May 1913 – 12 April 1980) was a Liberian politician who served as the 20th president of Liberia from 1971 until his assassination in 1980.

He studied at the University of Liberia and obtained a Bachelor of Arts in 1934.

He married Victoria A. David, of Americo-Liberian and Vai descent, with whom he had eight children.

Tolbert was an Americo-Liberian and trained as a civil servant before entering the House of Representatives in 1943 for the True Whig Party, then the only established party in Liberia.

Tolbert was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1943, and served until being elected Vice President in 1951.

In 1951 Liberia held elections to decide president and vice president.

William Tubman who was president in 1951 chose Tolbert as his vice president.

Tolbert was elected the 23rd vice president of Liberia to William Tubman in 1952 and served in that position until he became President following Tubman's death in 1971.

Tolbert's early presidency saw liberal reforms and the adoption of a Non-Alignment stance, but growing economic troubles and tensions between Americo-Liberians and indigenous Liberians led to instability.

A Baptist minister, in 1965 he became the first African to serve as President of the Baptist World Alliance, and was also a member of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity.

He became Grand Master of the Masonic Order of Liberia.

On February 1968 William R. Tolbert arrived in Jamaica as a part of his Caribbean tour to meet as many Baptists as possible.

He met with the prime minister to address a service at the East Queen Street Baptist Church, and other official functions.

They would go on to win and serve 6 terms until Tubman died in 1971.

On 23 July, 1971 President William Tubman died in London during a visit which led Tolbert to become president.

Tolbert succeeded to the presidency upon the death of incumbent William Tubman in 1971.

To the outside world, the peaceful transfer of power was seen as a sign of continuing political stability in Liberia, a stark contrast with the political turmoil gripping much of the rest of Africa at the time.

However, Liberia was effectively a one-party state, with the national legislature and judiciary subservient to the executive branch and only limited observation of civil liberties.

Upon becoming president, Tolbert initiated some liberal reforms.

While he was president (1971-1980) Liberia’s relations with the United States strained because of the establishment of diplomatic relations with the Soviets and Eastern Bloc.

Tolbert severed Liberia's ties with Israel during the Yom Kippur War in October 1973 and spoke in favor of recognizing national rights of the Palestinian people.

Sometime in 1974, Tolbert accepted aid from the Soviet Union for the first time.

Though he was re-elected in 1975, his government was criticized sharply for failing to address the deep economic disparities between different sectors of the population, notably the Americo-Liberians, who had dominated the country since independence, and the various indigenous ethnic groups which constituted the majority of the population.

Because Tolbert was a member of one of the most influential and affluent Americo-Liberian families, everything from cabinet appointments to economic policy was tainted with allegations of nepotism.

Thanks to his father who spoke Kpelle, Tolbert was the second Liberian president, after President Stephen Allen Benson, to speak an indigenous language, and he promoted a program to bring more indigenous persons into the government.

This initiative caused a good deal of chagrin among Americo-Liberians who accused Tolbert of "letting the peasants into the kitchen."

Indeed, it lacked support within Tolbert's own administration.

While the indigenous majority felt the change was occurring too slowly, many Americo-Liberians felt it was too rapid.

Despite following Tubman's 27-year presidency, Tolbert refused to follow his predecessor's hold on office until death.

He successfully worked for a constitutional amendment to bar the president from serving more than eight years in office, and in 1976 he vowed fierce opposition to members of the Legislature who sought to repeal the amendment and again permit what Tolbert called an "evil tradition".

Three years later, when True Whig partisans petitioned him to seek the amendment's repeal, he replied that their statement would only encourage him in his previous position: "I will serve my country as long as I have life. I do not have to [be?] President to do so."

Abandoning Tubman's strong pro-West foreign policy, Tolbert adopted one which focused on promoting Liberia's political independence.

To this end, he established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, and several other Eastern Bloc countries, thus adopting a more nonaligned posture.

Tolbert was assassinated in the 1980 coup d'état by the People's Redemption Council led by Samuel Doe, marking the end of 133 years of Americo-Liberian rule in Liberia.