Ernest Eastman

Who was Ernest Eastman?

Theophilus Ernest Eastman was a politician in Liberia. While holding office as Under Secretary of State during the Tubman administration, he pressured President Tubman to begin his extensive involvement in Pan-African politics. From 1983 to 1986, he was the Minister of Foreign Affairs under dictator Samuel Doe, succeeding Henry Boimah Fahnbulleh and preceding John Bernard Blamo. President Charles Ghankay Taylor later appointed him to be the Minister of State for Presidential Affairs before returning him to the Foreign Ministry. He represented the National Patriotic Party at ECOWAS-sponsored peace talks in Banjul.

After graduating from the College of West Africa in 1947, Eastman went to the United States, where he graduated from Oberlin College and Columbia University. He was married three times: first to Erelia Eastman, a fellow Columbia student; second to Danielette Norman, a Liberian; and third to Salma Mohammed Ali of Kenya. A lifelong Methodist, he served for a time as one of the trustees of the First United Methodist Church of Monrovia.