View source for 1980 Liberian coup d'état

{{Short description|Military overthrow and execution of President William Tolbert}}
{{Use Liberian English|date=April 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox event
| title                    = 1980 Liberian coup d'état
| image                    = Li-map.png
| image_upright            = 
| image_alt                = 
| caption                  = A [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] [[The World Factbook|WFB]] map of Liberia
| native_name              = 
| native_name_lang         = 
| time                     = 
| duration                 = 
| date                     = April 12, 1980
| venue                    = 
| location                 = [[Monrovia]], [[Liberia]]
| type                     = [[Coup d'état|Military coup]]
| cause                    = Ethnic tensions between [[Americo-Liberian people|Americo-Liberians]] and indigenous Liberians
| motive                   = [[Regime change]]
| target                   = [[Executive Mansion, Monrovia]]
| organisers               = [[Samuel Doe]]
| participants             = 17 members of the [[Armed Forces of Liberia|Armed Forces]] ([[Non-commissioned officer|NCO]]s and soldiers)
| outcome                  = Coup succeeds
* [[William Tolbert]] is overthrown and executed.
* Thirteen members of the Tolbert administration are executed on 22 April 1980.
* The [[People's Redemption Council]] is established by Samuel Doe to rule the country.
* [[First Liberian Civil War]] begins.
| casualties1              = 
| casualties2              = 
| casualties3              = 
| reported deaths          = 
| reported injuries        = 
| reported missing         = 
}}

The '''1980 Liberian coup d'état''' happened on April 12, 1980, when [[President of Liberia|President]] [[William Tolbert]] was overthrown and murdered in a violent [[coup d'état|coup]]. The coup was staged by an indigenous Liberian faction of the [[Armed Forces of Liberia]] (AFL) under the command of Master Sergeant [[Samuel Doe]]. Following a period of transition, Doe ruled Liberia throughout the 1980s until his murder in 1990 during the [[First Liberian Civil War]].

==Background==
{{More citations needed section|date=April 2022}}
{{original research section|date=April 2022}}
{{further|History of Liberia}}
Historians have argued that a series of complex events led to the coup of 1980. The first of which was the imbalance of power between the native population of Liberia and the [[Americo-Liberian people|Americo-Liberians]].{{Failed verification|date=April 2022}} The Americo-Liberians were descended from [[African-American]] (and a minority of [[Afro-Caribbean]]) settlers, some of whom were freed slaves and their descendants who emigrated to Liberia with assistance from the [[American Colonization Society]] (ACS). The Americo-Liberian settlers did not relate well to the indigenous peoples they encountered and following [[Liberian Declaration of Independence]] in 1847, they held an elite position over society while native tribes lived within poorly developed rural communities.<ref>
{{cite web|last        = Wegmann|first       = Andrew N|date        = May 5, 2010|title       = Christian Community and the Development of an Americo-Liberian Identity, 1824–1878|url         = http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-06092010-200522/|publisher   = Louisiana State University|url-status     = dead|archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20100630111501/http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-06092010-200522/|archive-date = June 30, 2010|df          = mdy-all}}{{page needed|date=April 2022}}</ref>{{original research inline|date=April 2022}}{{page needed|date=April 2022}}

Over time, the two communities did start to integrate and intermingled but in the decades prior to the coup, Americo-Liberians still controlled much of Liberia's political institutions (despite making up a smaller percentage of the total ethnic population) and were reluctant to cede power to the natives at the time. A majority of [[President of Liberia|Liberian presidents]] were of Americo-Liberian descent and belonged to the [[True Whig Party]] (TWP). While opposition parties were never banned, the TWP effectively governed the country as a one-party state.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}} Although Liberia saw a period of economic prosperity in the 1960s and rapid development, there was still a disparity between the Americo-Liberians and the natives.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}} After coming to power in 1971, [[William Tolbert]] sought to address imbalances and introduce liberal reforms including recognizing opposition groups.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}} However, Tolbert was also accused of using nepotism and corruption to retain power which fueled opposition to the government. Tolbert's administration also introduced unpopular agricultural reforms which were opposed by many sections of Liberian society and led to riots in 1979.<ref name="BriefHistory">{{Cite web |title=A Brief History of Liberia |url=http://www.ictj.org/enwiki/static/Africa/Liberia/BriefHistory.pdf |first=Peter |last=Dennis |publisher=The International Center for Transitional Justice |date=May 2006 |access-date=October 19, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070712125929/http://www.ictj.org/enwiki/static/Africa/Liberia/BriefHistory.pdf |archive-date=July 12, 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Following the riots and the [[Maryland ritual killings]], Tolbert called for the imprisonment of opposition leaders.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

==Events==
{{Samuel Doe sidebar}}[[File:Samuel K. Doe During the 1980 Coup.png|thumb|left|Doe (center) holding a [[walkie-talkie]], alongside the other conspirators during the 1980 coup.]]
In the early hours of April 12, 1980, 17 [[non-commissioned officer]]s (NCOs) and soldiers of the AFL led by Master Sergeant [[Samuel Doe]] launched a violent [[coup d'état]]. All of the conspirators were indigenous Liberians, while Tolbert belonged to [[Americo-Liberian people|Americo-Liberians]]. The group entered the [[Executive Mansion (Liberia)|Executive Mansion]] (presidential palace) and killed Tolbert, whose body was dumped into a mass grave together with 27 other victims of the coup. It is reported that [[Harrison Pennoh]] was the person that killed Tolbert. Accounts have differed on where Tolbert was killed. In his book, ''Mask of Anarchy,'' Steven Ellis claimed the President was found sleeping in his office,<ref name=Ellis53>{{cite book|last=Ellis|first=Stephen|title=The Mask of Anarchy: The Destruction of Liberia and the Religious Dimension of African Civil War|url=https://archive.org/details/maskanarchydestr00elli|url-access=limited|orig-year=1999|year=2001|publisher=Hurst & Company|location=London, UK|isbn=1-85065-417-4|page=53}}</ref> where Doe's men shot him, while [[Ellen Johnson Sirleaf]]'s biography, ''This Child Will Be Great'' says Tolbert was seized and killed in his bed.<ref>{{cite book| author = Ellen Johnson Sirleaf| title = This Child Will Be Great: Memoir of a Remarkable Life by Africa's First Woman President| date = 2009-04-07| publisher = Harper| isbn = 978-0-06-135347-5| page = [https://archive.org/details/thischildwillbeg00john/page/94 94]| url-access = registration| url = https://archive.org/details/thischildwillbeg00john/page/94}}</ref> Between April 21 and April 28, a crowd of angry Liberians gathered to shout insults and throw rocks at Tolbert's corpse after he was buried in a mass grave.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=TIME Magazine |date=April 28, 1980 |title=LIBERIA: After the Takeover, Revenge |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,924057,00.html#ixzz0dsadsRgy |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080928150953/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C924057%2C00.html |archive-date=September 28, 2008 }}</ref>

==Aftermath==
The coup brought an end to over a century of Americo-Liberian political dominance and after assuming power, Doe became the first native Liberian president to govern the country.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

Members of Tolbert's family were killed or detained following the coup. One of his sons, A. Benedict Tolbert tried to take refuge in the French Embassy but was arrested by members of Doe's security force who violated [[diplomatic immunity]], and reportedly he was thrown out of a military aircraft while being transported to a prison in [[Lofa County]].<ref>"1980: The Genesis of Bloodshed in Liberia".  ''National Chronicle'', March 23, 2005: 1/6.</ref> Tolbert's widow [[Victoria Tolbert|Victoria]] was briefly placed under house arrest before leaving the country and subsequently lived in exile in the United States until her death in 1997.<ref>"Victoria Tolbert Dies in U.S" [sic].  ''The Inquirer'', November 10, 1997: 1/6.</ref>

By the end of April 1980, most of the cabinet members of the Tolbert administration had been put on trial in a [[kangaroo court]] and [[Capital punishment|sentenced to death]]. Thirteen of them were [[Public execution|publicly executed]] by [[Execution by firing squad|firing squad]] on April 22 at a beach near the Barclay Training Center in [[Monrovia]]. The executed were:<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/28/AR2006072800581_pf.html |first=Leon|last= Dash|title=Liberian Soldiers Taunt, Shoot 13 Former Leaders|newspaper=The Washington Post|date= April 23, 1980}}</ref><ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20191208064010/https://www.tlcafrica.com/1980_coup.htm "Liberia's Dark History – The Coup of 1980"]}}, TLC Africa.com.</ref><ref>[http://www.preventgenocide.org/news-monitor/2005apr2.htm Global News Monitor for April 15–30, 2005 – Liberia], Prevent Genocide International.</ref><ref>[http://www.liberiapastandpresent.org/SamuelKDoe.htm Source: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, ''This Child will be Great. Memoirs of a Remarkable Life by Africa's First Woman President''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110315004320/http://liberiapastandpresent.org/SamuelKDoe.htm |date=March 15, 2011 }}, p. 102. Cited in ''Liberia: Past and Present of Africa's Oldest Republic''.</ref>

* [[Frank E. Tolbert]] — brother of President Tolbert and President pro tempore of the [[Senate of Liberia|Senate]]
* [[Richard Abrom Henries|Richard A. Henries]] — Speaker of the [[House of Representatives of Liberia|House of Representatives]]
* [[E. Reginald Townsend]] — National Chairman of the [[True Whig Party]]
* P. Clarence Parker II — Chairman of the National Investment Council and Treasurer of the True Whig Party
* [[James A. A. Pierre]] — [[Chief Justice of Liberia|Chief Justice]] of the [[Supreme Court of Liberia|Supreme Court]]
* Joseph J. Chesson Sr. — Minister of Justice
* [[Cecil Dennis]] — [[Minister of Foreign Affairs (Liberia)|Minister of Foreign Affairs]]
* Cyril Bright — former Minister of Planning and Economic Affairs
* John W. Sherman — Assistant Minister of Commerce and Trade
* [[James T. Phillips, Jr.|James T. Phillips]] — former Minister of Finance, former Minister of Agriculture
* David Franklin Neal — former Minister of Planning and Economic Affairs
* Charles T. O. King — Deputy Minister for Agriculture
* Frank J. Stewart Sr. — Director of the Budget

The executions were described by journalist [[Larry C. Price]] as a "nightmarish scenario" in which the executed men were "murdered in front of screaming crowds of jubilant indigenous Liberian citizens." Cecil Dennis was the last man to be shot and was reported to have defiantly stared his killers down while uttering a prayer before his execution.<ref>{{cite web|access-date= June 18, 2020|title=Cabinet ministers lined up for execution after a coup d'état in Liberia, 1980|url=https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/cabinet-ministers-execution-liberia-1980/|website=Rare Historical Photos|date= March 11, 2014}}</ref>

Only five members of the Tolbert administration survived the coup and its aftermath; among them was the Minister of Finance and future President [[Ellen Johnson Sirleaf]],<ref>Johnson Sirleaf, E: ''This Child Will Be Great'', p. 103. HarperCollins, 2009.</ref> the [[Vice President of Liberia|Vice President]] [[Bennie Dee Warner]],<ref>{{cite news|access-date=October 21, 2011|title=Tolbert's Aide in U.S.|newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1980/04/13/114042459.pdf|date=April 13, 1980}}</ref> agricultural minister [[Florence Chenoweth]] and Burleigh Holder, Minister of National Security.<ref name="Wisconsin">{{cite web |title=Florence Chenoweth: Champion of Food Security |url=https://www.alumnipark.com/exhibits/featured/florence-chenoweth/ |website=University of Wisconsin |access-date= May 30, 2020}}</ref> Chenoweth was able to escape to neighboring [[Sierra Leone]] before making her way to the United States while Warner was out of the country at the time of the coup. Warner unsuccessfully tried setting up a government in exile before Doe offered him clemency and permission to return to Liberia in 1984.<ref>"Clemency for Warner".  ''Sunday Express'' 1984-07-29: 8.</ref> Sirleaf was initially detained but subsequently offered a position in Doe's government which she initially accepted, but later fled the country for the US after she publicly criticized Doe's policies. Both Sirleaf and Chenoweth later returned to Liberian politics after Doe's death.

Following the coup, Doe assumed the rank of [[General officer|general]] and established the [[People's Redemption Council]] (PRC), composed of himself and 14 other low-ranking officers, to rule the country. The PRC was dissolved after the [[1985 Liberian general election|1985 general election]], in which Doe was elected president; he was sworn in on 6 February 1986. Although Doe presented himself as a liberator and someone who would bring relief and more democracy to the country, his administration became accused of authoritarianism and of violently discriminating against other tribes. Doe continued to rule the country until he was murdered on 9 September 1990 by the [[Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia|INPFC]], led by [[Prince Johnson]], during the [[First Liberian Civil War]].{{citation needed|date=April 2022}}

=== Allegation of foreign involvement ===
In August 2008, before a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in Monrovia, Doe's former justice minister, Councillor [[Chea Cheapoo]] — who contested the 2011 Liberia Presidential elections — alleged the [[CIA]] had provided a map of the Executive Mansion, enabling the rebels to break into it; that it was a white American CIA agent, and not [[Harrison Pennoh]], who shot and killed Tolbert; and that the Americans "were responsible for Liberia's nightmare". He also claimed he was not involved in the execution of Tolbert-era officials, despite his prominent position in Doe's regime.<ref>''The News'' (a Liberian newspaper), August 6, 2008 (retrieved 6–8 Aug.) [http://thenews.com.lr/story.php?record_id=3722&sub=News CIA Agents Executed 1980 Coup] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010215622/http://thenews.com.lr/story.php?record_id=3722&sub=News |date=October 10, 2008 }}</ref> However, the next day, before the same TRC, another former minister of Samuel Doe, Boima Fahnbulleh, testified that "the Americans did not support the coup led by Mr. Doe", and that they had no knowledge of either Doe or his plans prior to the coup.<ref>''The News'', August 7, 2008 (retr. 7–8 Aug.) [http://www.thenews.com.lr/story.php?record_id=3729&sub=News Harry Greaves, Tom Kamara, Others Linked] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010215644/http://www.thenews.com.lr/story.php?record_id=3729&sub=News |date=October 10, 2008 }}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Liberia topics}}
{{Years in Liberia}}
{{African coups d'État}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:1980 Liberian coup d'etat}}
[[Category:1980 crimes in Liberia|Coup]]
[[Category:Military coups in Liberia|1980]]
[[Category:1980s coups d'état and coup attempts]]
[[Category:April 1980 events in Africa]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1980]]
[[Category:Civil wars in Liberia]]
[[Category:1980 in politics]]