Janet Jagan

Janet Jagan (born October 20, 1920, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.—died March 28, 2009, Georgetown, Guyana) was an American-born Guyanese politician who was the first white president of Guyana (1997–99) and the first elected female president in South America.

She was born into a middle-class Jewish family. In 1942, while working as a student nurse in Chicago, she met Cheddi Jagan, a dentistry student from the colony of British Guiana. The following year they were married and moved to Georgetown, British Guiana, where he set up a dental practice. By 1950 they had both become active in politics, and during that year they joined with Linden Forbes Burnham to found the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), with a goal of gaining independence for the colony (which it achieved in 1966). In 1953 the colony was granted home rule, and Cheddi became its first prime minister. He subsequently headed governments from 1957 to 1964, and during that time Janet held several cabinet posts and served in the parliament.

Janet officially became a citizen of Guyana in 1966, having been stripped of her U.S. citizenship more than 20 years earlier because of her Marxist political views. In addition to her government positions, she served as the PPP’s secretary-general for nearly 20 years. In March 1997 Cheddi died, and Janet, although hesitant at first to run for the presidency, accepted her party’s nomination on August 31, 1997. Her main opposition came from People’s National Congress leader Desmond Hoyte, who had been defeated in 1992 by her husband. Throughout the 1997 campaign Jagan’s ethnicity and age were constantly an issue. Despite such criticisms, she won the election on December 15, 1997, and was sworn into office four days later. Hoyte’s supporters, however, demanded a recount and protested so vehemently that, in an effort to quell the unrest, Jagan and Hoyte reached an agreement on January 17, 1998, to hold new elections in 2000, two years earlier than required. Demonstrations continued throughout her presidency, however. In July 1999 Jagan suffered a mild heart attack, and the following month she stepped down as president; she was succeeded by Bharrat Jagdeo.