Nyerere, Julius Kambarage [key], c.1922–99, African political leader, first president (1964–85) of Tanzania. Educated at Makerere College (Uganda) and the Univ. of Edinburgh, he taught in mission schools and founded (1954) the Tanganyika African National Union. Leader of the opposition (1954–60), he became chief minister after the 1960 elections. When Tanganyika attained independence (1961) he was prime minister and when it became a republic (1962), Nyerere was elected president. He brought Tanganyika and Zanzibar into a union as the republic of Tanzania (1964). Nyerere authored a policy of African socialism, called Ujamaa, characterized by economic self-reliance, egalitarianism, and local rural development, but it was ultimately unsuccessful. His efforts to build a stable, prosperous nation conversely created an economic crisis, a war with Uganda—he engineered the ouster of Idi Amin in 1979—and a one-party state led by the Revolutionary Party of Tanzania (CCM). Nyerere retired from the presidency in 1985, leading to consecutive electoral transitions in Tanzania. He remained chairman of CCM until 1990. Nyerere's political vision inspired social movements to end white minority rule in Southern Africa.
See W. E. Smith, We Must Run While They Walk (1971); J. G. Liebenow, African Politics: Crises and Challenges (1986); A. A. Mazrui and L. L. Mhando, Julius Nyerere, Africa's Titan on a Global Stage (2012); P. Bjerk, Building a Peaceful Nation (2015); P. Bjerk, Julius Nyerere (2017).
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