Charles D. B. King

Charles D.B. King

File:Charles Dunbar King II.JPG
Order:	17th President
Took Office:	January 5, 1920
Left Office:	December 3, 1930
Predecessor:	Daniel E. Howard
Successor:	Edwin Barclay
Date of Birth:	March 12, 1871
Place of Birth:	Monrovia, Liberia
Date of Death:	September 15, 1961
Place of Death:	Monrovia, Liberia
Political party:	True Whig Party

Charles Dunbar Burgess King (1875 - 1961) was a politician in Liberia. He was a member of the True Whig Party, which ruled the country from 1878 until 1980. He served as President from 1920 until 1930.

King was the foreign minister of Liberia from 1912 until he was elected President in 1920. Though a moderate supporter of reform, he continued to support the patronage machine and dominance of the True Whig party.

He was challenged in the presidential election of 1927 by Thomas J. Faulkner: the official vote count showed a majority of 600,000 votes, however at the time Liberia had only 15,000 registered voters. This won King the dubious achievement of being listed in the Guinness Book of Records for the most fraudulent election ever reported in history.

After losing the election, Faulkner accused many members of the True Whig Party government of recruiting and selling contract labor as slaves. A report by the League of Nations by a commission under the leadership of British jurist Cuthbert Christy, supported many of Faulkner's allegations, and implicated many government officials, including vice-president Allen B. Yancey. Yancey and King resigned over the scandal in December 1930.