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| '''Samuel Kanyon Doe''' (], ]/] - ], ]) was |
'''Samuel Kanyon Doe''' (], ]/] - ], ]) was the ] of the West African country of ] from ] to ]. | ||
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Revision as of 00:46, 15 February 2004
Samuel Kanyon Doe (May 6, 1950/1951 - September 9, 1990) was the president of the West African country of Liberia from 1980 to 1990.
File:Samdoe.jpg
Doe's portrait from the 50 dollar Liberian bill.
Trained by the American Green Berets, Doe was an ethnic Krahn, part of a rural and deprived tribe in inland Liberia. The Krahn were part of the large majority of the Liberian population that was of native African descent, which had long been repressed by the Americo-Liberian elite, who were descended from the freed slaves-turned-colonists from America who founded Liberia in 1847.
In 1980, Doe staged a military coup, killing President William R. Tolbert, Jr. in his palace and establishing a military regime with himself at its head. This marked the first time since Liberia's establishment as a nation that the country was governed by people of native African descent, and the early days of the regime were marked by the mass executions of members of Tolbert's deposed government.
Doe's regime was characterized by ethnically-based dictatorship and the suppression of political opposition. Under Doe, Liberian ports were opened to American, Canadian, and European ships, which brought in a lot of foreign investment from foreign shipping firms and earned Liberia status as somewhat of a tax haven.
Doe had a new constitution approved by referendum in 1984 and went on to win a presidential election in 1985 that was widely believed to have been rigged. It is also thought that Doe changed his official birthdate from 1951 to 1950 in order to meet the new constitution's requirement that the president be at least 35 years old. Doe thus dashed hopes that the new constitution would lead to genuine democracy, and his regime remained brutal during its remaining years, violently suppressing numerous coup attempts and plots.
In the late 1980s, as fiscal austerity took hold in the United States and the threat of Communism declined with the waning of the Cold War, the US began cutting off critical foreign aid to Doe. This combined with the popular anger generated by Doe's favoritism toward his native Krahn tribe placed him in a very precarious position.
Charles Taylor, an old ally of Doe's, crossed the Liberian border on December 24, 1989 to fight a guerrilla war against him. Taylor had broken out of a United States jail after Doe had accused him of embezzlement. By mid-1990 most of Liberia was controlled by rebel factions. Doe was captured in Monrovia by faction leader Prince Johnson on September 9, 1990 and killed shortly thereafter; his extremely brutal execution was filmed and the videotape was widely circulated.