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Dartmouth College Office of Public Affairs • Press Release
President of LiberiaEllen Johnson-Sirleaf is a leading champion of peace, justice, and democratic rule. In November 2005, she was elected President of Liberia, becoming Liberia’s first woman president and the first democratically-elected woman to lead an African nation. The Harvard-educated former World Bank economist won the election with an impressive 59.4 percent of the vote. Johnson-Sirleaf, known as Africa’s “Iron Lady,” has worked tirelessly to bring justice to Liberia and, prior to her election, spent more than a year in jail under the military dictatorship of General Samuel Doe. After her life was threatened by then-President of Liberia Charles Taylor, she successfully campaigned for Taylor’s removal from office and played an active and supportive role in the establishment of the Transitional Government of Liberia as the country prepared for elections in 2005. Johnson-Sirleaf has served as the Chairperson of the Governance Reform Commission of the National Transitional Government of Liberia until she resigned in 2004 to accept the nomination of the Unity Party of Liberia as its Standard Bearer. She was also a presidential candidate in the 1997 Liberian general election, in which she finished second in a field of 13 candidates. Prior to that, she served for five years as assistant administrator and director of the Regional Bureau for Africa and was the first woman to lead the United Nations Development Project for Africa. Throughout her professional career, she has served in several financial positions; she was the first woman to serve as Minister of Finance for Liberia and she has served as vice president of Citicorp, vice president of the HSBC Equator Bank, and the senior loan officer of the World Bank. Johnson-Sirleaf is the recipient of many special honors, including the Commander de l’Ordre du Mono of Togo (1996), the Ralph Bunche International Leadership Award of the United States (1995 and 1996), the Franklin D. Roosevelt Freedom of Speech Award of the United States (1988), and the Grand Commander of the Star of African Redemption of Liberia (1980). |
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