Kwame Nkrumah | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Nkrumah | |
| President of Ghana | |
| In office 1 July 1960 – 24 February 1966 | |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Joseph Arthur Ankrah as Chairman of the NLC |
| 3rd Chairperson of the Organisation of African Unity | |
| In office 21 October 1965 – 24 February 1966 | |
| Preceded by | Gamal Abdel Nasser |
| Succeeded by | Joseph Arthur Ankrah |
| 1st Prime Minister of Ghana | |
| In office 6 March 1957 – 1 July 1960 | |
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Governors‑General | |
| Preceded by | Himself as Prime Minister of the Gold Coast |
| Succeeded by | Himself as President |
| 1st Prime Minister of the Gold Coast | |
| In office 21 March 1952 – 6 March 1957 | |
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Governor‑General | Charles Arden-Clarke |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Himself as Prime Minister of Ghana |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Francis Kwame Nkrumah 21 September 1909 Nkroful, Gold Coast (now Ghana) |
| Died | 27 April 1972 (aged 62) Bucharest, Romania |
| Political party | |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 4, including Gamal and Samia |
| Education | |
| Awards | Lenin Peace Prize (1962) |
| Part of the Politics series on |
| Pan-Africanism |
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| Part of a series on |
| Leninism |
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| Part of a series about |
| Imperialism studies |
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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 (OAU) 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]
After multiple failed attempts on his life, coupled with increasingly difficult local economic conditions, 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 in a coup d'état by the National Liberation Council, 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]
- ^ "President Kennedy, Prime Minister Macmillan and the Gold Market, 196063", Governing Post-War Britain, Palgrave Macmillan, 11 April 2012, doi:10.1057/9780230361270.0010 (inactive 13 November 2024), ISBN 978-0-230-36127-0
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link) - ^ 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.)
- ^ "Political Progress", The Political Philosophy of Confucianism, Routledge, pp. 258–273, 5 November 2013, doi:10.4324/9781315018775-19 (inactive 1 November 2024), ISBN 978-1-315-01877-5
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link) - ^ Proceedings of the convention at which the American federation of arts was formed. B. S. Adams. 1909. doi:10.5479/sil.380651.39088006011662.
- ^ "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
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b Nkrumah, Kwame (1953). [Letter: Kwamé Nkrumah to Richard Wright]. Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
- ^ Mazrui, Ali (1966). "Nkrumah: The Leninist Czar". Transition (26): 9–17. doi:10.2307/2934320. ISSN 0041-1191. JSTOR 2934320.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "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
- ^ Commanding Heights, 1998
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Birthday Quote 21st September". AudlemOnline. 21 September 2017. Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
- ^ "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.