Charles D. B. King
Encyclopedia
Charles Dunbar Burgess King (12 March 1875 – 4 September 1961) was a politician in Liberia
Liberia
Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...

 of Freetown Creole descent
Sierra Leone Creole people
The Sierra Leone Creoles, or Krios, are an ethnic group in Sierra Leone, descendants of West Indian slaves from the Caribbean, primarily from Jamaica; freed African American slaves from the Thirteen Colonies resettled from Nova Scotia; and Liberated Africans from various parts of Africa...

 (both of King's parents were ethnic Creoles). He was a member of the True Whig Party, which ruled the country from 1878 until 1980. He served as the 17th President of Liberia from 1920 until 1930.

King was Attorney General
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...

 from 1904 until 1912, and Secretary of State
Secretary of State
Secretary of State or State Secretary is a commonly used title for a senior or mid-level post in governments around the world. The role varies between countries, and in some cases there are multiple Secretaries of State in the Government....

 of Liberia from 1912 until he was elected President in 1920. In this capacity he attended the 1919 Paris Peace Conference
Paris Peace Conference, 1919
The Paris Peace Conference was the meeting of the Allied victors following the end of World War I to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers following the armistices of 1918. It took place in Paris in 1919 and involved diplomats from more than 32 countries and nationalities...

 and the accompanying First Pan-African Congress. Though a moderate supporter of reform, he continued to support the patronage machine and dominance of the True Whig party.

He was challenged in the presidential election of 1927 by Thomas J.R. Faulkner. According to an official statement King had received 234,000 votes; however, at the time Liberia had only 15,000 registered voters. This won King the dubious achievement of being listed in the Guinness Book of Records 1982 for the most fraudulent election
Show election
A show election, also known as a sham election or rubber stamp election, is an election that is held purely for show, that is, without any significant political purpose...

 reported in history.

After losing the election, Faulkner accused many members of the True Whig Party government of recruiting and selling contract labor as slaves. A report by the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...

 by a commission under the leadership of British jurist Cuthbert Christy supported many of Faulkner's allegations, and implicated many government officials, including vice president Allen Yancy
Allen Yancy
Allen N. Yancy was Vice-President of Liberia from 1928 to 1930 under President Charles D.B. King. He was forced to resign in 1930 following his involvement with forced labor at the Firestone rubber plantations in Liberia.-References:...

. Yancey and King resigned over the scandal in December 1930.

Presidency (1920-1930)

Charles D. B. King became Liberia's President in 1920 and served for 10 years. Though a moderate supporter of reform, he continued to support the patronage machine and dominance of the True Whig party.

Negotiation of a loan from the United States

By the early 1920s, Liberia's financial crisis had worsened to the point where President King headed up a commission which traveled to the United States to seek reorganization of its staggering debt burden. They arrived in March 1921, shortly after President Harding had taken office. The United States Congress had suspended all foreign credit and extension of foreign loans, even though the State Department was sympathetic to the request from the Liberian delegation. Negotiations dragged on until October before the State Department finally granted Liberia a loan for five million dollars.

The U.S. government under President Harding proposed anew (after the attempt during World War I from Liberian President Howard to get a loan from the American Woodrow Wilson Administration) to Congress a $5 million loan to Liberia. The House gave its approval but the Senate refused, creating great disappointment and a sense of desperation among Liberian officials, who worried that British and French designs on their country might now prove unstoppable. Liberia had become a charter member of the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...

 in 1919, and Monrovia was determined to safeguard its sovereignty.

Firestone Rubber Company

Firestone Rubber Company
Firestone Tire and Rubber Company
The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company is an American tire company founded by Harvey Firestone in 1900 to supply pneumatic tires for wagons, buggies, and other forms of wheeled transportation common in the era. Firestone soon saw the huge potential for marketing tires for automobiles. The company...

 began exporting rubber from Liberia in 1934, having obtained a concession to lease land in 1926. The Liberian economy soon came to depend on it. Through subsidiary Finance Corporation of America, Firestone also boosted the Liberian economy with a $5 million loan that permitted the government to consolidate and bond debts and fund public improvements.

Presidential election of 1927

King was challenged in the presidential election of 1927 by Thomas J.R. Faulkner. According to an official statement, King received 234,000 votes; however, Liberia had 15,000 registered voters at the time. This won King the dubious achievement of being listed in the Guinness Book of Records for the most fraudulent election reported in history.

Forced labor scandal

After losing the 1927 presidential election to King, Thomas Faulkner accused many members of the True Whig Party government of recruiting and selling contract labor as slaves. Despite Liberia's firm denials and a refusal to cooperate, the League of Nations established a commission under the leadership of British jurist Cuthbert Christy to determine the extent of forced labor and slavery still practiced by Liberia. U.S. President Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...

 briefly suspended relations to press Monrovia into compliance.

In 1930 the League of Nations published the committee's report, dubbed the ‘Christy Report’ after the Committee's chairman. The report supported many of Faulkner's allegations, and implicated many government officials, including vice president Allen Yancy
Allen Yancy
Allen N. Yancy was Vice-President of Liberia from 1928 to 1930 under President Charles D.B. King. He was forced to resign in 1930 following his involvement with forced labor at the Firestone rubber plantations in Liberia.-References:...

. It was found that forced labor was used for construction of certain public works such as roads in the interior. And certain tribes did practice domestic servitude that could be considered as slavery.

The report found:
  1. "In order to suppress the native, prevent him from realizing his powers and limitations and prevent him from asserting himself in any way whatever, for the benefit of the dominant and colonizing race, although originally the same African stock as themselves, a policy of gross intimidation and suppression has for years been systematically fostered and encouraged, and is the key word of the Government native policy;" and
  2. that, "...Vice President Yancy [of Liberia] and other high officials of the Liberian Government, as well as county superintendents and district commissioners, have given their sanction for compulsory recruitment of labor for road construction, for shipment abroad and other work, by the aid and assistance of the Liberian Frontier Force; and have condoned the utilization of this force for purposes of physical compulsion on road construction for the intimidation of villagers, for the humiliation and degradation of chiefs, of captured natives to the coast, there guarding them till the time of shipment [to Fernando Po and Sao Tome.]"


Subsequently King and Vice-President Yancy, along with other implicated leaders, resigned.

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