Passion or Profession: President

Period: 1913–1980

Tolbert served as vice-president under President William V.S. Tubman from 1951 until Tubman's death in 1971. Tolbert then assumed the presidency and was reelected in 1975. A deteriorating economy and an increase in the price of rice resulted in protests in which more than 40 people were killed by government troops in 1979. Longstanding tensions between indigenous Liberians and an Americo-Liberian elite resulted in a military coup in April 1980 in which Tolbert and other leaders were killed, ending Americo-Liberian rule.