William Vacanarat Shadrach Tubman

Tubman, William Vacanarat Shadrach

 

Born Nov. 29, 1895, in Harper; died July 23, 1971, in London. Liberian statesman and political figure. Descendant of emancipated American slaves.

Tubman, a lawyer, was president of Liberia and head of the government from 1944 to 1971. He was also the national leader of the True Whig Party, founded in 1869. In 1944 he inaugurated a policy of national unification, which was aimed at integrating the indigenous population of the country with the descendants of immigrants from the USA and at including the tribal peoples in the political and economic life of the country. Tubman advocated an open-door economic policy, encouraging the investment of foreign capital in Liberia.