Chief Joseph Leabua Jonathan (1914-1987) was the first prime minister of independent Lesotho. For 20 years beginning in 1966, until he was ousted in a military coup, Jonathan struggled to maintain a good-neighbor status despite the racial policies of the Republic of South Africa, which completely surrounds his small country.

Leabua Jonathan was born on Oct. 30, 1914, the son of a minor hereditary chief and the great grandson of Moshesh, founder of Basutoland (now Lesotho). A Protestant, Jonathan was educated in the mission school at Leribe. He converted to Catholicism as an adult.

Basutoland, then as now, lies in southern Africa completely surrounded by the Republic of South Africa. Until the early 1990s, South Africa was governed by the racist policy of apartheid, or strict and total separation of the races. As such, South African policies had a major impact upon Basutoland. In 1934, Jonathan followed the traditional young Basuto's economic path...