ABSTRACT
The first president of the independent African nation of Senegal, Leopold Sedar Senghor based his policies on the philosophy of negritude, a definition of the African personality. He created a stable, relatively democratic regime that endures to the present. In 1960 Senghor was elected president of the newly independent nation of Senegal and served until 1981. He created a relatively democratic one-party state and constructed a mixed economy in which large-scale industries were nationalized, yet free enterprise was allowed to exist. Leopold Sedar Senghor, philosopher, poet, and national leader, helped to renew African culture and created a stable West African nation while maintaining ties to France, Senegal's former colonial ruler. Although many African states have suffered from political instability, Senegal under Senghor enjoyed a measure of stability, despite an attempted coup by Prime Minister Mamadou Dia in 1962. Senghor became the first African leader to leave office voluntarily in 1981.
