Samuel Kanyon Doe (1951-1990) was the head of state of Liberia from 1980 to 1990. His seizure of power ended 110 years of rule by the True Whig Party and changed Liberian politics and society in fundamental ways.

Samuel Kanyon Doe was born on May 6, 1951, in Turzon, Grand Gedeh County, Liberia. He belonged to the Krahn tribe, which is one of the 16 major tribal groups in Liberia. He attended primary school in Turzon and was later a student at the R. B. Richardson Baptist Junior High School in Zwedru, the capital of Grand Gedeh County. He dropped out of high school in 1967 for "economic reasons."

Doe joined the Liberian Armed Forces two years after leaving school. He had his initial military training at the John H. Tubman Military Camp in Todee, Montserrado County, and at Camp Schiefflen in the same county. In 1970 he was assigned to the Third Battalion of the...