Liberia, 1980 — dissident coup attempt
Event Summary
The dataset records an event coded as an attempted dissident coup in Liberia on 7 March 1980, in the final weeks of the True Whig Party government of President William Tolbert, whose administration, representing the long dominant Americo Liberian settler elite, was facing mounting unrest from the indigenous majority and radical opposition groups. The period following the 1979 rice riots had seen growing agitation, and the government moved against opposition figures of the Progressive Alliance of Liberians and the Movement for Justice in Africa, accusing them of plotting against the state. Any coup attempt in March 1980 came within that context of a regime under severe strain and did not save it.
Just weeks later, on 12 April 1980, a group of low ranking soldiers led by Master Sergeant Samuel Doe stormed the executive mansion, assassinated President Tolbert, and seized power, ending more than a century of Americo Liberian and True Whig Party dominance and inaugurating a turbulent era that would descend into civil war.
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
45003071980
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: President William Tolbert survived the March 1980 unrest but was assassinated in Samuel Doe's coup weeks later.
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
CSP
Wikpedia
New York Times
Detroit Free Press
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 →