Michael Manley Totally Explained

Everything about Michael Manley totally explained

Michael Norman Manley (December 10, 1924 – March 6, 1997) was the fourth Prime Minister of Jamaica (1972 – 1980, 1989 – 1992).
The second son of Jamaica's Premier Norman Manley and Jamaican artist Edna Manley, Michael Manley was a charismatic figure who became the leader of the Jamaican People's National Party a few months before his father's death in 1969.

Pre-political career

He attended Jamaica College and served with the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II. In 1945, he enrolled at the London School of Economics. In 1949, he graduated, and returned to Jamaica to serve as an editor and columnist for the newspaper Public Opinion. At around the same time, he became involved in the trade union movement, and became a negotiator for the National Worker's Union. In August, 1953, he became a full-time official of that union.
   When his father was elected chief minister of Jamaica in 1955, Michael resisted the idea of entering politics, not wanting to be seen as capitalizing on his family name. He eventually relented, however, and accepted an appointment to the Senate of the Parliament of Jamaica in 1962. He later won a very close election to the Jamaican House of Representatives in 1967. After his father's retirement, he became the leader of the People's National Party in 1969. In that capacity, he served as leader of the Opposition until his party won in the general elections of 1972.. Elections were held on 15 December that year, while the state of emergency was still in effect. The PNP was returned to office. The State of Emergency continued into the next year. Extraordinary powers granted the police by the Suppression of Crime Act of 1974 continued to the end of the 1980s.
   Violence continued to blight political life in the 1970s. Gangs armed by both parties fought for control of urban constituencies. In the election year of 1980 around 800 Jamaicans were killed. While the murder rate in Jamaica has long been high, Jamaicans were particularly shocked by the violence at that time.
   In the 1980 elections, Seaga's JLP won and he became Prime Minister.

Opposition

As Leader of the Opposition Manley became an outspoken critic of the new conservative administration. He strongly opposed intervention in Grenada after Prime Minister Maurice Bishop was overthrown and executed. Immediately after committing Jamaican troops to Ronald Reagan's invasion of Grenada in 1983, Seaga called a snap election – two years early – on the pretext that Dr Paul Robertson, General Secretary of the PNP, had called for his resignation. Manley, who may have been taken by surprise by the maneuver, led his party in a boycott of the elections, and so the Jamaica Labour Party won all seats in parliament against only marginal opposition in six of the sixty electoral constituencies.
   During his period of opposition in the 1980s, Manley, a compelling speaker, travelled extensively, speaking to audiences around the world. He taught a graduate seminar and gave a series of public lectures at Columbia University in New York.
   In the 1980s a Judicial Enquiry, the Smith Commission, was held on the 1976 State of Emergency. Manley admitted that he declared it on evidence that was manufactured to help him win the forthcoming election.
   In 1986 Manley travelled to Britain and visited Birmingham. He attended a number of venues including the Afro Caribbean Resource Centre in Winson Green and Digbeth Civic Hall. The mainly black audiences turned out en masse to hear Manley speak.

Re-election

By 1989 Manley had softened his socialist rhetoric, explicitly advocating a role for private enterprise. With the fall of the Soviet Union, he also ceased his support for a variety of international causes. In the election of that year he campaigned on a very moderate platform. Seaga's administration had fallen out of favor – both with the electorate and the US – and the PNP was re-elected handily.
Manley's second term was short and largely uneventful. In 1992, citing health reasons he stepped down as Prime Minister and PNP leader. His former Deputy Prime Minister, Percival Patterson, assumed both offices.

Family

Michael Manley had 5 children: Rachel Manley, Joseph Manley, Sarah Manley, Natasha Manley and David Manley.

Retirement and death

Manley wrote seven books, including the award-winning A History of West Indies Cricket, in which he discussed the links between cricket and West Indian nationalism.
Michael Manley died of prostate cancer on 6 March, 1997, the same day as another Caribbean politician, Cheddi Jagan of Guyana.

Sources

Henke, Holger 2000. "Between Self-Determination and Dependency. Jamaica's Foreign Relations, 1972-1989." Kingston: University of the West Indies Press.
Levi, Darrell E. 1990. Michael Manley: The Making of A Leader. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press.
ref: http://www.oomgallery.net/gallery.asp?location=36&c=251 / Photographs of Michael Manley visit to Birmingham England 1986 / OOM Gallery Image ref: http://www.caricom.org/jsp/projects/personalities/michael_norman.jsp?menu=projects

Further Information

Get more info on 'Michael Manley'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://michael_manley.totallyexplained.com">Michael Manley Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.