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Cyril King

American politician

Summary

American politician

Field	Value
name	Cyril King
order	2nd Governor of the United States Virgin Islands
lieutenant	Juan Francisco Luis
term_start	January 6, 1975
term_end	January 2, 1978
predecessor	Melvin H. Evans
successor	Juan Francisco Luis
term_start1	February 12, 1969
term_end1	July 1, 1969
Acting
predecessor1	Ralph Paiewonsky
successor1	Melvin H. Evans
birth_name	Cyril Emanuel King
birth_date
birth_place	Frederiksted, U.S. Virgin Islands
death_date
death_place	Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
party	Democratic (Before 1968)
Independent Citizens Movement (1968–1978)
spouse
children	1 daughter, Lillia
education	American University (BA)
allegiance	United States
branch
unit	873rd Port Company
battles	World War II
caption	Plaque commemorating King at the Cyril E. King Airport
image	Cyril E. King Airport — plaque 1.JPG

Acting Independent Citizens Movement (1968–1978) Cyril Emanuel King (April 7, 1921 – January 2, 1978) was an American politician who served as the second governor of the United States Virgin Islands from 1975 until his death in 1978.

He also briefly served as acting governor in 1969, following the resignation of Governor Ralph M. Paiewonsky.

Early life

King was born in Frederiksted on the island of Saint Croix, where he lived during his formative years. During World War II, he served in the 873rd Port Company in Hawaii.

After the completion of his service, he attended the American University, where he earned a public administration degree.

Political career

Starting in 1949, King worked for Minnesota senator Hubert Humphrey, as the first black member of staff of the U.S. Senate. He rose through the ranks of the office, eventually becoming chief of staff. He returned to the islands in 1961 as government secretary on the appointment of President John F. Kennedy .

To support his election for governor in 1970 and challenge the Democratic Party in the Virgin Islands, he developed the Independent Citizens Movement. Even though his 1970 campaign was unsuccessful, he ran again in 1974 and won, becoming the second governor of the Virgin Islands. At the time of his death, he had been planning to run for a second term.[[File:Cyril E. King Airport — plaque 1.JPG|thumb|Commemorative plaque at the Cyril E. King Airport]]

Death

While stateside on official business in 1977, King took ill and decided to return to the territory where he was welcomed by a large crowd of supporters at the airport that now bears his name. He worked from home but never recovered fully, and died on January 2, 1978. It was eventually revealed he suffered from cancer.

Legacy

A Virgin Islands statute puts aside April 7, King's birthday, as Cyril Emmanuel King Day. In 1984, the Harry S. Truman Airport on St. Thomas was renamed Cyril E. King Airport by the Virgin Islands Legislature.

References

(Jan 19, 1978). "Virgin Islands Loses Its Black Governor to Cancer". Jet.
(2013-04-08). "Community Celebrate's King's Legacy". Virgin Islands Source.
(1978-01-04). "First Black Senate Staff Member Dies". [[The Charlotte Observer.
Thurland, Anne L.. (2017-03-19). "Will Thurland's World War II Photo Collection: The Virgin Islands Orchestra of the 873rd Port Company". AuthorHouse.
(22 December 2015). "Independent Citizens' Movement (ICM)". [[Routledge]].
Staff. (2013-04-04). "Cyril E. King Commemoration Set for Sunday". V.I. Source Archives.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1921-births 1978-deaths 20th-century-african-american-people african-american-people-in-united-states-virgin-island-politics american-university-alumni democratic-party-governors-of-the-united-states-virgin-islands governors-of-the-united-states-virgin-islands united-states-army-personnel-of-world-war-ii united-states-virgin-islands-military-personnel deaths-from-cancer-in-the-united-states-virgin-islands

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