Charles D.B. King
| Charles D. B. King | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 17th President of Liberia | |
|
In office 5 January 1920 – 3 December 1930 |
|
| Vice President |
Samuel Alfred Ross (1920-1924) Henry Too Wesley (1924-1928) Allen Yancy (1928-1930) |
| Preceded by | Daniel E. Howard |
| Succeeded by | Edwin Barclay |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
12 March 1875 Monrovia, Liberia |
| Died | 4 September 1961 (aged 86) Monrovia, Liberia |
| Political party | True Whig |
Charles Dunbar Burgess King (12 March 1875 – 4 September 1961) was a politician in Liberia of Americo-Liberian and Freetown Creole descent (his mother was an Americo-Liberian). 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 from 1904 until 1912, and Secretary of State of Liberia from 1912 until he was elected president in 1919. In this capacity he attended the 1919 Paris Peace Conference 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. In 1927 he won the presidential election with several times more votes than there were electors. A forced labor and slavery scandal forced his resignation in 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. As president he helped establish the Booker Washington Agricultural and Industrial Institute in Kakata in 1929.
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 $5 million.
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