Kwame Nkrumah

Kwame Nkrumah
Portrait of Nkrumah
President of Ghana
In office
1 July 1960 – 24 February 1966
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byJoseph Arthur Ankrah as Chairman of the NLC
3rd Chairperson of the Organisation of African Unity
In office
21 October 1965 – 24 February 1966
Preceded byGamal Abdel Nasser
Succeeded byJoseph Arthur Ankrah
1st Prime Minister of Ghana
In office
6 March 1957 – 1 July 1960
MonarchElizabeth II
Governors‑General
Preceded byHimself as Prime Minister of the Gold Coast
Succeeded byHimself as President
1st Prime Minister of the Gold Coast
In office
21 March 1952 – 6 March 1957
MonarchElizabeth II
Governor‑GeneralCharles Arden-Clarke
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byHimself as Prime Minister of Ghana
Personal details
Born
Francis Kwame Nkrumah

(1909-09-21)21 September 1909
Nkroful, Gold Coast (now Ghana)
Died27 April 1972(1972-04-27) (aged 62)
Bucharest, Romania
Political party
  • UGCC (1947–1949)
  • CPP (1949–1966)
Spouse
(m. 1957)
Children4, including Gamal and Samia
Education
AwardsLenin Peace Prize (1962)

Francis Kwame Nkrumah (21 September 1909 – 27 April 1972) was a Ghanaian politician, political theorist, and revolutionary. He served as Prime Minister of the Gold Coast from 1952 until 1957, when it gained independence from Britain.[1] He was then the first Prime Minister and then the President of Ghana, from 1957 until 1966. An influential advocate of Pan-Africanism, Nkrumah was a founding member of the Organization of African Unity and winner of the Lenin Peace Prize from the Soviet Union in 1962.[2]

After twelve years abroad pursuing higher education, developing his political philosophy, and organizing with other diasporic pan-Africanists, Nkrumah returned to the Gold Coast to begin his political career as an advocate of national independence.[3] He formed the Convention People's Party, which achieved rapid success through its unprecedented appeal to the common voter.[4] He became Prime Minister in 1952 and retained the position when Ghana declared independence from Britain in 1957. In 1960, Ghanaians approved a new constitution and elected Nkrumah President.[5]

His administration was primarily socialist as well as nationalist. It funded national industrial and energy projects, developed a strong national education system and promoted a pan-Africanist culture.[6] Under Nkrumah, Ghana played a leading role in African international relations during the decolonization period.[7]

Nkrumah's government became authoritarian in the 1960s, as he repressed political opposition and conducted elections that were not free and fair.[8][9][10][11][12] In 1964, a constitutional amendment made Ghana a one-party state, with Nkrumah as president for life of both the nation and its party.[13] He fostered a personality cult, forming ideological institutes and adopting the title of 'Osagyefo Dr.'.[14] Nkrumah was deposed in 1966 by the National Liberation Council in a coup d'état, under whose supervision the country's economy was privatized.[15] Nkrumah lived the rest of his life in Guinea, where he was named honorary co-president.[16][7][17]

  1. ^ "President Kennedy, Prime Minister Macmillan and the Gold Market, 196063", Governing Post-War Britain, Palgrave Macmillan, 11 April 2012, doi:10.1057/9780230361270.0010, ISBN 978-0-230-36127-0
  2. ^ Rathbone, Richard (23 September 2004). "Nkrumah, Kwame (1909?–1972), president of Ghana". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/31504. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. ^ "Political Progress", The Political Philosophy of Confucianism, Routledge, pp. 258–273, 5 November 2013, doi:10.4324/9781315018775-19 (inactive 31 January 2024), ISBN 978-1-315-01877-5{{citation}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of January 2024 (link)
  4. ^ Proceedings of the convention at which the American federation of arts was formed. B. S. Adams. 1909. doi:10.5479/sil.380651.39088006011662.
  5. ^ "Prime Minister 1957–60", Kwame Nkrumah. Vision and Tragedy, Sub-Saharan Publishers, pp. 192–214, 15 November 2007, doi:10.2307/j.ctvk3gm60.17, ISBN 978-9988-647-81-0
  6. ^ Stanek, Łukasz (2020). Architecture in global socialism: Eastern Europe, West Africa, and the Middle East in the Cold War. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-19455-4. OCLC 1134854794.
  7. ^ a b Nkrumah, Kwame (1953). [Letter: Kwamé Nkrumah to Richard Wright]. Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  8. ^ Mazrui, Ali (1966). "Nkrumah: The Leninist Czar". Transition (26): 9–17. doi:10.2307/2934320. ISSN 0041-1191. JSTOR 2934320.
  9. ^ Kilson, Martin L. (1963). "Authoritarian and Single-Party Tendencies in African Politics". World Politics. 15 (2): 262–294. doi:10.2307/2009376. ISSN 1086-3338. JSTOR 2009376. S2CID 154624186. Archived from the original on 1 February 2023. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
  10. ^ Bretton, Henry L. (1958). "Current Political Thought and Practice in Ghana*". American Political Science Review. 52 (1): 46–63. doi:10.2307/1953012. ISSN 1537-5943. JSTOR 1953012. S2CID 145766298. Archived from the original on 1 February 2023. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
  11. ^ "Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah: visionary, authoritarian ruler and national hero". Deutsche Welle. 2016. Archived from the original on 1 February 2023. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
  12. ^ "Portrait of Nkrumah as Dictator". The New York Times. 3 May 1964. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 1 February 2023. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
  13. ^ "VII. The Reluctant Nation", One-Party Government in the Ivory Coast, Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp. 219–249, 31 December 1964, doi:10.1515/9781400876563-012, ISBN 978-1-4008-7656-3
  14. ^ Commanding Heights, 1998
  15. ^ "Country capabilities and the strategic state: How national political institutions affect multinational corporations' strategies". Long Range Planning. 28 (1): 142. 1995. doi:10.1016/0024-6301(95)92200-8. ISSN 0024-6301.
  16. ^ "Birthday Quote 21st September". AudlemOnline. 21 September 2017. Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  17. ^ "Kwame Nkrumah: Ghana's first president and a revered panafrican". The New Times | Rwanda. 31 October 2017. Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 26 May 2020.

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