Barkley, Edwin James

Grandfather Barkley moved to Liberia with his children in 1865 from Barbados.

He was a member of the ruling Whig Party in the country since 1878 .

In 1920-1930 - Secretary of State and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Liberia.

In 1930, after the president and vice president of the country resigned because of a scandal, he became head of state. One of his first official decisions was the repeal of the Port of Entry Law of 1864, which restricted the activities of foreigners in Liberia. Subsequently, in the early 1930s, concession agreements were signed between the government of Liberia and Dutch, Danish, German, and Polish investors. The Barkley administration was able to prevent a number of significant threats to the country's sovereignty: the decisions of the League of Nations, led by Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States, to re-colonize the country if there were no reforms, aggressive actions of France and a coup attempt inspired by the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, which owned vast lands in Liberia.

In 1926, the government of Liberia granted a strategic rubber concession to Firestone Tire and Rubber and pledged to take $ 5 million from its subsidiary Firestone. During the economic depression of the 1930s. rubber prices plummeted, and Liberia was unable to pay off loans. The head of Firestone Tire and Rubber tried to lobby the US administration for military intervention in Liberia, but President Roosevelt abandoned these plans. The League of Nations formed a special commission to resolve the situation, with several states calling for the introduction of an external mandate to govern the country, which in turn caused a negative reaction from the leadership of Liberia. As a result of changes in the economic situation, the country began a gradual solution to the debt problem and in 1934 the United States reestablished diplomatic relations with it. The Government of Liberia received certain benefits during the Second World War. After the Japanese seized Malaysia and Singapore, Liberia became a strategically important supplier of rubber, since the plantations left in the hands of the allies were not only in Ceylon besides Liberia.

He retired in 1944, in 1955, put forward his candidacy against the current President Tabmen , but received only about 1,100 votes. A few months later he passed away.

The adopted son of Barkley and his wife Euthymius, George Arthur Padmore (1915–2005), was a Liberian ambassador to the United States.

• http://www.liberiapastandpresent.org/BarclayEdwin.htm
• Barclay, EJ, Makers of Modern Africa: Profiles in History, Africa Journal Ltd, 1981, p. 82