Liberia, 1963 — military coup attempt
Event Summary
The dataset records an attempted military coup in Liberia on 5 February 1963, during the long dominant rule of President William V. S. Tubman and the True Whig Party, the Americo Liberian oligarchy that had governed the country continuously since the nineteenth century.
Tubman, in power since 1944, maintained a tight one-party system through patronage, his Unification Policy toward the indigenous majority, and a pervasive security apparatus, while opening the economy to foreign investment under his Open Door Policy. His long tenure saw periodic conspiracies and alleged plots, which the regime used to justify crackdowns on opponents. No widely documented military coup attempt in Liberia on this date appears in accessible English sources, and Tubman's rule was not overturned; he continued as president until his death in office in 1971, when his vice president William Tolbert succeeded him, the True Whig monopoly enduring until the 1980 coup.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Sources
Editorial Note
Cross-Reference
Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
- Cline Center id
45002051963
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: President William V. S. Tubman retained power and ruled Liberia until his death in office in 1971.
Baseline coding: Coup attempt failed to remove the incumbent. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.
Baseline Dataset Citation
Baseline Source-Document Entries
Luttwak
New York Amsterdam News
Newsday
Atlanta Daily World
This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →