Global InformationKwame Nkrumah information
His Excellency The Right Honourable Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah | |
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 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 |
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| 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 |
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| Spouse |
Fathia Rizk (m. 1957) |
| Children | 4, including Gamal and Samia |
| Education |
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| 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 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]
- ^ "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
- ^ 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 31 January 2024), ISBN 978-1-315-01877-5
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of January 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.