First President of Malawi. As prime minister and then president, he presided over Malawi from 1961 to 1994. He led his nation to independence from the British Empire in 1964. In his mid-twenties he had left Africa for educational opportunity in the United States. He studied at Wilberforce Institute in Ohio and University of Chicago. He also obtained medical degrees from Meharry Medical College in Tennessee in 1937 and the University of Edinburgh in 1941. He then practiced medicine in the United Kingdom. There he began to advocate for the independence of Nyasaland, as it was then called, returning in 1958. He declared Malawi a one party state under the Malawi Congress Party and was named President for Life of Malawi in 1971. He supported the West in the Cold War and improved Malawian education and material welfare. He led what was considered an authoritarian regime with a cult of personality and was criticized for maintaining diplomatic relations with the apartheid government of South Africa.
First President of Malawi. As prime minister and then president, he presided over Malawi from 1961 to 1994. He led his nation to independence from the British Empire in 1964. In his mid-twenties he had left Africa for educational opportunity in the United States. He studied at Wilberforce Institute in Ohio and University of Chicago. He also obtained medical degrees from Meharry Medical College in Tennessee in 1937 and the University of Edinburgh in 1941. He then practiced medicine in the United Kingdom. There he began to advocate for the independence of Nyasaland, as it was then called, returning in 1958. He declared Malawi a one party state under the Malawi Congress Party and was named President for Life of Malawi in 1971. He supported the West in the Cold War and improved Malawian education and material welfare. He led what was considered an authoritarian regime with a cult of personality and was criticized for maintaining diplomatic relations with the apartheid government of South Africa.
Bio by: Pilgrim
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