William Vacanarat Shadrach Tubman
19th President of Liberia
In office January 3, 1944 – July 23, 1971
Vice President(s)	Clarence Simpson (1944-1952) William R. Tolbert, Jr. (1952-1971)
Preceded by	Edwin Barclay
Succeeded by	William R. Tolbert, Jr.
Born	November 25, 1895 Harper, Liberia
Political party	True Whig

William Vacanarat Shadrach Tubman (November 29, 1895 – July 23, 1971) was President of Liberia from 1944 until his death in 1971. Image File history File links William_Tubman. ... January 3 is the 3rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1944 calendar). ... July 23 is the 204th day (205th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 161 days remaining. ... 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1971 calendar). ... Clarence Simpson was Vice-President of Liberia from 1944 to 1952 under President William V.S. Tubman. ... William Richard Tolbert, Jr. ... Edwin James Barclay (1882-1955) was a Liberian politician. ... William Richard Tolbert, Jr. ... November 25 is the 329th (in leap years the 330th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1895 (MDCCCXCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Harper,situated on Cape Palmas, is the capital of Maryland County in Liberia. ... The True Whig Party, also known as Liberian Pumpkin Party, was Liberias only legal political party for over 100 years, from 1878 to the coup detat of 1980. ... November 29 is the 333rd (in leap years the 334th) day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1895 (MDCCCXCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... July 23 is the 204th day (205th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 161 days remaining. ... 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1971 calendar). ... The following is a list of Presidents of the Republic of Liberia, made up of the 24 heads of state in the history of Liberia. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1944 calendar). ...

He was born in Harper, Liberia. He was an Americo-Liberian, a descendant of former American slaves who had been returned to Africa under the auspices of the Maryland State Colonization Society, a group favoring the manumission of slaves on Christian grounds. His father, the Reverend Alexander Tubman, was a general in the Liberian army and a former Speaker of the Liberian House of Representatives, as well as a Methodist preacher. His mother, Elizabeth Tubman, came from Atlanta, Georgia. William attended primary school in Harper, then the Methodist Cape Palmas Seminary, and finally Harper County High School. He enlisted in the Liberian army at the age of 15. Between 1910 and 1917 he took part in several punitive military expeditions, rising in the ranks from private to officer status. He studied law under private tutors, served as a recorder in the Maryland County Monthly and Probate Court and as a collector of internal revenue, and in 1917 was appointed county attorney. He was a member of the True Whig Party, which was for over a century the nation's sole legal political organization and closely tied to the Masonic Order. Harper,situated on Cape Palmas, is the capital of Maryland County in Liberia. ... Americo-Liberians are a Liberian ethnicity of African American descent. ... Slave sale in Easton, Maryland The history of slavery in the United States began soon after Europeans first settled in what in 1776 became the United States. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... Manumission is the act of freeing a slave, done at the will of the owner. ... This article is becoming very long. ... The Methodist movement is a group of denominations of Protestant Christianity. ... The True Whig Party, also known as Liberian Pumpkin Party, was Liberias only legal political party for over 100 years, from 1878 to the coup detat of 1980. ... The Masonic Order of Liberia is a fraternal organization in that West African country. ...

His career began to take off when President Charles D.B. King heard him speak at a Masonic banquet and praised his intelligence. King's influence led to Tubman's election as the youngest senator in Liberian history in 1921. He resigned from the Senate to defend Liberia before the League of Nations after allegations that the country was using slave labour surfaced. He was reelected to the Senate for the Monrovia district in 1934. He resigned in 1937 to become an associate justice of the Liberian Supreme Court. Charles Dunbar Burgess King (1875 1961) was a politician in Liberia. ... The supreme court in some countries, provinces, and states, functions as a court of last resort whose rulings cannot be challenged. ...

He was elected President in 1943 on a platform of economic growth and increased civil and political rights for all Liberians. He almost immediately brought Liberia into World War II on the side of the Allies. He enfranchised native Liberians and women for the 1951 election. However, this fact, although pleasing to those groups and the international community, did not change the electoral outcome as Tubman used the True Whig-controlled electoral machinery to produce fraudulent results. This, however, did not significantly harm his popularity in Liberia throughout his lifetime. Regarded as a pro-Western, stabilizing influence in West Africa, he was courted by many Western politicians, notably U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson. 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ... Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead... The term Western World or the West can have multiple meanings depending on its context. ...  Western Africa (UN subregion)  Maghreb West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The presidential seal was used by President Hayes in 1880 and last modified in 1959 by adding the 50th star for Hawaii. ... Lyndon Baines Johnson (August 27, 1908 – January 22, 1973), often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States (1963–1969). ...

A gunman attempted to assassinate him in 1955 at the hire of his political opponents, after which he cracked down brutally on any known opposition politicians. His term is best known for the policies of National Unification and the economic Open Door. He tried to reconcile the interests of the native tribes with those of the Americo-Liberian elite, and increased foreign investment in Liberia to stimulate economic growth. These policies led to the crowning achievement of the Liberian economy during the 1950s, when it had the 2nd largest rate of economic growth in the world. At his death in 1971 in a London clinic, Liberia had the largest mercantile fleet in the world, the world's largest rubber industry, the third largest exporter of iron ore in the world and had attractred more than US$1 billion in foreign investment. He was succeeded as President by his long-time vice president William Tolbert. The economic prosperity of Liberia at this time would unleash political dissent with the autocratic rule of Tubman and the True Whig Party, leading to the overthrow of the True Whig oligarchy in 1980 by Samuel Doe. This would also destroy the economic prosperity of Liberia's golden age. Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States (1861-1865) The majority of this article is about heads of states. ... A vice president is an officer in government or business who is next in rank below a president. ... William Richard Tolbert, Jr. ... The True Whig Party, also known as Liberian Pumpkin Party, was Liberias only legal political party for over 100 years, from 1878 to the coup detat of 1980. ... Oligarchy (Greek , Oligarkhía) is a form of government where political power effectively rests with a small, elite segment of society (whether distinguished by wealth, family or military prowess). ... Samuel Kanyon Doe (May 6, 1950/1951 – September 9, 1990) was the president of the west African country of Liberia from 1980 to 1990. ...

References

• http://www.liberiapastandpresent.org/William%20Tubman.htm
• http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/092301/tub_095-8000.shtml

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William Tubman

Presidents of Liberia

Joseph J. Roberts • Stephen Allen Benson • Daniel Bashiel Warner • James Spriggs Payne • Edward J. Roye • James Skivring Smith • Joseph J. Roberts • James Spriggs Payne • Anthony W. Gardiner • Alfred Francis Russell • Hilary R. W. Johnson • Joseph James Cheeseman • William D. Coleman • Garretson W. Gibson • Arthur Barclay • Daniel Edward Howard • Charles D.B. King • Edwin Barclay • William Tubman • William R. Tolbert, Jr. • Samuel Doe • Amos Sawyer† • David D. Kpormakpor† • Wilton G. S. Sankawulo† • Ruth Perry† • Charles G. Taylor • Moses Blah • Gyude Bryant† • Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf  † denotes non-presidential head of state