Samuel Kanyon Doe was the President of Liberia from 1980 to 1990. His regime was characterized by ethnically based dictatorship and the suppression of political opposition.
Trained by U.S. Army Special Forces, Doe was an ethnic Krahn, part of a rural tribe in inland Liberia.
The Krahn were part of the large majority of the Liberian population that was of native African descent, which had long been repressed and suppressed by the Americo Liberian elites, who were descended from free born and formerly enslaved blacks from America who founded Liberia in 1847.
Under Doe, Liberian ports were opened to Canadian, Chinese and European ships, which brought in considerable foreign investment from foreign shipping firms and earned Liberia a reputation as a tax haven.
In the late 1980s, as fiscal austerity took hold in the United States and the threat of Communism declined with the waning of the Cold War.
This, combined with the popular anger generated by Doe favoritism toward his native Krahn tribe, placed him in a very precarious position. Doe attempted to legitimize his regime with a new constitution in 1984 and elections in 1985. Opposition to his rule only increased, especially after the 1985 elections which were declared to be fraudulent by the U.S. and other foreign observers.
On April 12, 1980, Doe led a military coup, killing President William R. Tolbert, Jr. in the Executive Mansion. Many claim that Doe and some of his men disemboweled President Tolbert in his bed while he slept.
Twenty six of Tolbert supporters were also killed in the fighting. Thirteen members of the Cabinet were publicly executed ten days later. Hundreds of government workers fled the country, while others were imprisoned. The early days of the regime were marked by mass executions of members of Tolbert deposed government.
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