His advocacy of a New International Economic Order (NIEO), his defense of sovereignty for ex-colonial countries, and his leading role among world statesmen in confronting racial oppression, especially in southern Africa, make him an international figure of enormous consequence for world politics during the decade of the 1970s.Ī rounded man, he was an aficionado of sports and the arts, and in his twilight years earned distinction as a coffee-farmer and horticulturist, winning several awards for his roses. His pioneering legislative program of social reforms in the 1970s and his role in the formation of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and later the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) guarantees him a prominent place in modern Caribbean history. As a politician, labor leader, author and intellectual, Mr Manley made a seminal contribution to Jamaican, Caribbean and international politics. In addition to his wife, Glynne, he is survived by two sons and three daughters.The Most Honorable Michael Manley was one of the most outstanding political figures in the post-colonial history of the Caribbean. Manley was divorced three times and widowed once. He also pushed for a United Nations anti-drug task force that would share intelligence and combat traffickers. He said drug trafficking and foreign debt were among the worst problems facing the region. Throughout his career, Manley led the drive for economic and political unity of the Caribbean, which he said was ``the only way a group of small countries can survive.″ He had previously been troubled by diverticulitis, an inflammation of the intestines, and had surgery for the condition in 19.Īfter leaving office, Manley was active on the international lecture circuit and was a business consultant with his fifth wife, Glynne Ewart, executive director of the University of the West Indies Development Fund.
Manley said then that he had had five major operations, including one at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York to remove a cancerous lesion of the prostate gland. Manley defeated the Labor Party to become prime minister in 1972 and was re-elected in 1976.Ĭiting health reasons, Manley quit as prime minister on March 28, 1992, and was succeeded by P.J. He succeeded his father as PNP president in 1969. Manley was given an appointed senator’s seat in 1962 and was elected to parliament in 1967. In the early 1950s, he became involved in Jamaica’s trade union movement. He obtained an economics degree at the London School of Economics and spent a year as a freelance journalist for the British Broadcasting Corp.
He graduated from Jamaica College in 1943 and served in the Royal Canadian Air Force until the end of World War II. 10, 1924, the son of Norman Washington Manley, who founded Jamaica’s social democratic People’s National Party, and Edna Swithenbank, a noted sculptor. He was often called ``Joshua,″ after the New Testament prophet. Helped by a worsening economy, he trounced Seaga in national elections.Ĭharismatic, tall and handsome, Manley was a powerful orator who could stir the masses. Manley espoused capitalism, private investment and good relations with the United States. The anti-imperialist rhetoric was gone, along with his trademark bush jacket. He forged close ties with Cuban leader Fidel Castro, railed against capitalist domination and discouraged foreign investment.īy the end of 1980, Jamaica was nearly bankrupt and Manley was defeated by conservative Edward Seaga, who became the Reagan administration’s closest ally in the Caribbean. In his first two terms as prime minister from 1972 until 1980, Manley was a firebrand Socialist and champion of the non-aligned movement.
Jamaica’s government-owned radio and television stations broadcasted tributes to Manley, who served three terms as prime minister of this Caribbean nation.
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