Liberia, Republic. An Inauguration Of President William V.s. Tubman And Vice-President William R. Tolbert Medal 1956

Instituted in 1956. In frosted silver, measuring 36.2 mm in diameter, scattered silvering wear, original ribbon with pinback, near extremely fine.

Footnote: William Vacanarat Shadrach Tubman (November 29, 1895 - July 23, 1971) was a Liberian politician. He was the 19th President of Liberia, serving from his election in 1944 until his death in 1971. Tubman is regarded as the "father of modern Liberia"; his presidency was marked by attracting sufficient foreign investment to modernize the economy and infrastructure. During his tenure, Liberia experienced a period of prosperity. He also led a policy of national unification in order to reduce the social and political differences between his fellow Americo-Liberians and the indigenous Liberians. William Richard Tolbert Jr. (May 13, 1913 - April 12, 1980) was the 20th President of Liberia from 1971 until 1980. Trained as a civil servant, he entered the country's House of Representatives in 1943 for the True Whig Party, then the only established party in the country. He was elected Vice President to William Tubman in 1952 and served in that position until he became President following Tubman's death in 1971. On April 12, 1980, Tolbert was overthrown and murdered in a bloody coup d'etat led by Samuel Doe. Liberia would fall from being one of Africa's leading economies into a country scarred by a ruinous and bloody civil war from which it is still recovering.