Janet Jagan

Infobox President


name = Janet Rosalie Jagan (née Rosenberg)
order = President of Guyana
primeminister = Sam Hinds
Bharrat Jagdeo
term_start = 19 December 1997
term_end = 11 August 1999
predecessor = Sam Hinds
successor = Bharrat Jagdeo
order2 = Prime Minister of Guyana
president2 = Sam Hinds
term_start2 = 06 March 1997
term_end2 = 19 December 1997
predecessor2 = Sam Hinds
successor2 = Sam Hinds
birth_date = birth date and age|1920|10|20|df=y
birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, United States
spouse = Cheddi Jagan
party = PPP
religion = Judaism

Janet Rosalie Jagan ("née" Rosenberg on 20 October 1920 [http://www.jagan.org/janet_jagan3.htm#Profile%20of%20Janet%20Jagan,%20O.E.%20–%20First%20Woman%20President%20of%20Guyana Profile of Janet Jagan] , jagan.org.] ) is a former President of Guyana, serving from 19 December 1997 to 11 August 1999, and previously served as Prime Minister from 17 March 1997 to 19 December 1997.

She was born to a Jewish, middle-class family in Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. In December 1942, while working as a student nurse at Cook County Hospital, she met Cheddi Jagan, an Indo-Guyanese dentistry student at Northwestern University.Larry Rohter, [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9905E2D7163FF937A25751C1A961958260 "A Guyana Favorite: U.S.-Born Grandmother"] , "The New York Times", December 14, 1997.] They married on August 5 1943, and she moved with him to Guyana in December 1943; in Guyana, she took part in labour activism along with her husband and joined the British Guiana Labour Union. She also worked in her husband's dental clinic as a nurse for 10 years. In 1946, she founded the Women's Political and Economic Organisation and co-founded the Political Affairs Committee.

Janet Jagan unsuccessfully ran for a seat from Central Georgetown in the 1947 general election. On January 1 1950, [http://www.ppp-civic.org/history/historyppp.htm History of the PPP] , PPP website.] she and her husband were co-founders of the left-wing People's Progressive Party (PPP); Janet served as the PPP's General Secretary from 1950 to 1970. Also in 1950, Jagan was elected to the Georgetown City Council. She was subsequently elected to the House of Assembly in the April 1953 election, [http://www.guyana.org/features/guyanastory/chapter128.html "THE GENERAL ELECTION OF 1953"] , Guyana.org.] winning a seat from Essequibo constituency. She was one of three women to win seats in that election; following the election, she was chosen as Deputy Speaker of the Legislature.

The PPP, a socialist party, opposed British colonial rule of Guyana. After its electoral victory in April 1953, the PPP briefly formed the government, but the British government had the PPP government removed later in the year, and Cheddi and Janet were jailed for five months; they were subsequently kept under house arrest for two years. In 1957, she was re-elected to the House of Assembly from Essequibo constituency and became Minister of Labour, Health and Housing. She later succeeded Claude Christian as Minister of Home Affairs upon Christian's death in 1963, but resigned from the Cabinet in 1964. As a member of the Elections Commission for the opposition in 1967, she expressed concern about the possibility of vote rigging. She was also the editor of the PPP newspaper "Mirror" from 1973 to 1997.

Jagan was elected to Parliament in 1973 and was re-elected in 1980, 1985, and 1992, eventually becoming the longest-serving member of Parliament. Cheddi Jagan was elected as President of Guyana in 1992, and Janet Jagan became First Lady. She represented Guyana at the United Nations for three months in 1993, temporarily replacing Rudy Insanally when the latter was President of the United Nations General Assembly.

After Cheddi Jagan's death, Janet Jagan was sworn in as Prime Minister as well as First Vice President on March 17 1997. ["Janet Jagan Sworn In", "The Washington Post", March 18, 1997, page A14.] Jagan was the presidential candidate of the PPP in the December 1997 election. After the PPP won the election, she became the second female President in the history of South America (after Isabel Perón of Argentina) and the first to be democratically elected. In the Guyanese context, Janet not only became the first female President of Guyana, but she was also the first U.S.-born and Caucasian woman to lead the nation.

On July 1 1999, after Jagan returned from the European-Latin American summit in Rio de Janeiro, she was admitted to St. Joseph's Mercy Hospital in Georgetown due to chest pains and exhaustion. She was treated for a heart condition and released from the hospital on July 3. ["Guyanese president discharged from hospital", Associated Press (nl.newsbank.com), July 4, 1999.] Later in the month, she underwent tests regarding her heart condition at Akron City Hospital in the U.S. city of Akron, Ohio; she was discharged on July 23. ["Guyana's president leaves U.S. hospital", Associated Press (nl.newsbank.com), July 24, 1999.] Returning to Guyana, she received heart medication and was told that bypass surgery was not necessary. ["GUYANA LEADER FIT AFTER AKRON CARE", "The Plain Dealer" (nl.newsbank.com), August 3, 1999.]

Jagan announced on August 8 1999 that she was resigning as President because her health meant that she was no longer capable of "vigorous, strong leadership"; she said that Finance Minister Bharrat Jagdeo would be her successor. ["Guyanese president resigns for health reasons", Associated Press (nl.newsbank.com), August 9, 1999.] Jagdeo was sworn in as President on August 11. ["Guyana's new president urges racial tolerance", Associated Press (nl.newsbank.com), August 12, 1999.]

At the PPP's 29th Congress, Jagan received the second highest number of votes (671) in the election to the party's Central Committee, [http://www.ppp-civic.org/releases/The%20People%20Progressive%20Party%20PPP%20at%20its%2029%20th%20Congress.html Press release on Central Committee election] , August 3, 2008.] [http://www.guyanatimesgy.com/news/news/84-news/412-donald-ramotar-re-elected-general-secretary-of-ppp.html "Donald Ramotar re-elected General Secretary of PPP"] , "Guyana Times", August 13, 2008.] held on August 2 2008. She was then elected to the PPP Executive Committee, [http://www.ppp-civic.org/releases/PPP%20GENERAL%20SECRETARY%20EXECUTIVE%20COMMITTEE%20ELECTED.html "PPP GENERAL SECRETARY, EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE ELECTED"] , PPP press statement, August 12, 2008.] in addition to being elected as editor of the PPP paper "Thunder", on August 12 2008.

Being both Marxist and Jewish, she was the subject of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories in the United States; there were false reports that she is related to Ethel and Julius Rosenberg.

Janet Jagan has long been involved with the literary and cultural life of Guyana. She published early Martin Carter poems in Thunder (which she edited) and supported the publication of early Carter collections such as "The Hill of Fire Glows Red". She had long been a teller of stories to her children and grandchildren and was strongly concerned that Guyanese children should have books that reflected themselves. In 1993 Peepal Tree Press published her "When Grandpa Cheddi was a Boy and Other Stories", followed by "Patricia, the Baby Manatee" (1995), "Anastasia the Ant-Eater" (1997) and "The Dog Who Loved Flowers".

References

External links

* [http://www.jagan.org/janet_jagan.htm Jagan website]