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Janet Jagan

Janet Jagan (20 October 1920-28 March 2009) was Prime Minister of Guyana from 17 March to 19 December 1997 (interrupting Sam Hinds' terms) and President of Guyana from 19 December 1997 to 11 August 1999 (succeeding Hinds and preceding Bharrat Jagdeo).

Biography[]

Janet Rosenberg was born to a Jewish family in Chicago, Illinois in 1920, and she met Guyanese dentistry student Cheddi Jagan in 1942 while working as a student nurse and married him a year later. She accompanied him to Guyana in December 1943 and became a labor activist, having previously been a member of the CPUSA's youth wing. She became secretary of the PPP/C party in 1950 and served in that position until 1970, and she concurrently served on the Georgetown city council and as an MP for Essequibo. She served as Labour, Health, and Housing Minister from 1957 to 1963, Home Minister from 1963 to 1964, editor of the PPP newspaper Mirror from 1973 to 1997, and as an MP from 1973 to 2009, becoming the longest-serving member of Parliament with a tenure of 46 years. On her husband's death in 1997, she was sworn in as Prime Minister and then as President, becoming the country's first Jewish and American-born leader. She resigned as President in 1999 due to her ill health, and she died in 2009.

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