The Jamaica Observer publishes the second of a two-part article written by noted political historian Troy Caine on the 55th anniversary of the 1962 General Election which changed the course of Jamaica’s history and destiny. Part one was printed in the Sunday Observer yesterday.

The main issues leading up to the 1962 General Election were largely some of those that had been topics prior to the referendum the year before, such as the quest to go it alone as a sovereign nation, free from the fetters of colonialism and Federation. The four terms of political administrations shared equally by both major parties since Adult Suffrage had achieved much and had in fact laid a solid foundation of progress, which, by 1962, had made Jamaica the envy of our Caribbean neighbours, as well as others in the wider international sphere. Norman Manley’s plan to continue embracing the West Indies Federation and to eventually pursue an independent West Indian nation, which most Jamaicans neither understood nor wanted, was clearly and justifiably thwarted by Alexander Bustamante’s traditional antagonism towards Federation, and his newly acquired credentials as protector and champion of Jamaican nationalism.

Indeed, Jamaica’s nationalistic surge brought a swift end to the “Federal Folly”. Seven months earlier when Jamaicans voted to leave the Federation, Trinidad & Tobago’s Prime Minister Dr Eric Williams had declared that one from 10 equals zero, which virtually became the rallying cry for all of the other islands that rushed to negotiate their own independence from Britain. Federation officially ended May 31, 1962, Trinidad & Tobago became independent 25 days after Jamaica, and most of the others attained independence within the next two decades.

In the aftermath of the 1962 election, Sir William Alexander Bustamante assumed the office of premier of Jamaica on April 23, 1962 at a special swearing-in ceremony at King’s House, succeeding his cousin Norman Manley. He would be premier for four months until August 6 when he officially became Jamaica’s first prime minister. Donald Sangster was appointed finance minister and deputy prime minister, and on May 2 he was designated chairman in charge of policy and programme for the Independence celebrations in succession to former Premier Norman Manley.

The other members of Bustamante’s (first) 15-member Cabinet of independent Jamaica — and still arguably regarded as the country’s best-ever Cabinet — were: Robert Lightbourne (Trade & Industry), Edwin Allen (Education), Clem Tavares (Housing), Edward Seaga (Development & Welfare), Lynden Newland (Labour), John Gyles (Agriculture & Lands), Roy McNeill (Home Affairs), Dr Herbert Eldemire (Health), Leopold Lynch (Local Government), Ken Jones (Communications & Works), with Sir Neville Ashenheim, Hugh Shearer and Wilton Hill from the Senate as ministers without portfolio, six of whom were Munronians. The (sixth) Speaker of the House was educator Tacius Golding, whose son Bruce Golding rose to become the JLP’s fifth leader and Jamaica’s eighth prime minister 45 years later.

On June 23, 1962, Premier Bustamante journeyed to Washington DC to meet United States resident John F Kennedy and to hold talks with government officials about how best the USA could help an independent Jamaica. When asked by one curious reporter what would be Jamaica’s foreign policy, his response was typically quick, sharp and to the point: “We are with the west!”

Jamaica’s Independence celebrations and activities throughout the island lasted over a week and climaxed at midnight on August 6 at our brand new National Stadium, when the Union Jack was lowered and our new national flag of black, green and gold (which had been taken by runners around the island) was proudly raised at the crescendo of cheers and fireworks. For the magnificent occasion, it was as if everyone had forgotten the problems and the politics and embraced the moment in unity to truly become one people out of many.

The many foreign guests were headed by Britain’s Princess Margaret, representing Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, at the official opening of the new Parliament, and US Vice-President, Lyndon B Johnson who represented President Kennedy. The cavalcade of floats displayed our culture, our products, industry, agriculture, and our reigning Miss Jamaica 1962 Marlene Murray; and the numerous street dances flaunted our exciting ska music in vogue, of which its major exponents were the major hit makers of the day.

Forward March by veteran entertainer Derrick Morgan became the virtual anthem of Independence long before Eternal Father became the official national anthem. Independent Jamaica by calypsonian Lord Creator andIndependence Time Is Here (Rise Jamaica) by Al T Joe were also recorded for the event, while other major artistes of the day such as Jimmy Cliff, Prince Buster, Stranger Cole, The Maytals, The Blues Busters, Derrick & Patsy, Jimmy James and Derrick Harriott all had chart toppers at the time – that even today when they are played, they still continue to evoke fond memories of Independence celebrations.

On September 18, 1962, Jamaica became the 103rd member of the United Nations as a result of her new status, and their membership now stands at 193.

By 1962 only eight of the original triumphant 32 Members of the House of Representatives in 1944 —Bustamante, Florizel Glasspole, Dr Ivan Lloyd, Leopold Lynch, B B Coke, Lynden Newland, Gideon Aabuthnott-Gallimore, and Cleve Lewis — were still in the system as elected MPs, plus four others: Norman Manley, Wills O Isaacs, Donald Sangster, and Rupert Terrier – who were 1944 losers that became winners in later years. Not surprising, some of them ranked highest in elected longevity of service by 1962, led by Bustamante, Glasspole, Lloyd and Lynch, who had all chalked up 17 years and four months of uninterrupted tenure by 1962.

In the wake of the 1962 election, a total of 101 different individuals had been elected since 1944, showing 52 (51.5 per cent) for the JLP, 42 (41.6 per cent) for the PNP, 7 (6.9 per cent) Independents, and only three women (3.0 per cent). Since independence that figure has climbed to 376, with a preponderance of PNP members, still only 39 women (10.4 per cent), and an assortment of shifting political allegiances by some members which became quite fashionable. However, between 1944 and 1962 only B B Coke and O A Malcolm made successful transitions from one major party to the other.

Only one woman was elected in the 1962 election, which was a third of female candidacy that year, and that lady was the PNP’s Iris King who followed in the footsteps of her two JLP predecessors —Iris Collins (1944) and Rose Leon (1949) — by retaining her Kingston West Central seat. An incumbent since 1959, King had earned her political spurs at the Kingston & St Andrew Corporation (KSAC) as a dynamic councillor who became Kingston’s first female mayor in 1958. By 1962 she was one of only 12 women who had contested parliamentary seats since 1944.

Another woman in the 1962 election was educator, the JLP’s Esme Grant, whose performance in Westmoreland Central so impressed the party leader that he appointed her as one of the Government senators after the election, and she also became the first female parliamentary secretary of independent Jamaica — attached to the education ministry.

The 1962 General Election featured the final participation of some six constituencies which were made permanently defunct in boundary realignments and seat increase leading up to the next election in 1967. These were St Andrew East Urban & Suburban, St Andrew Central, Clarendon North Eastern, and Manchester Northern, Eastern and Western. Another five —Kingston East Central and West Central; and St Catherine North Eastern, South Eastern and Central — were also dropped from the list of seats. All but St Catherine Central were restored in 1976, and in that year the latter went into the creation of St Catherine East Central, West Central and South Central, which in 1986 was renamed (the present) St Catherine Central.

The 1962 election also became the last hurrah for the PNP’s William Seivright, Vernon Arnett, Iris King, C L A Stuart, Edwin Tucker, Dr Glendon Logan; and the JLP’s Winston Swaby, Rupert Terrier, Oswald Douglas, Gideon Aabuthnott-Gallimore and Andrew Ross — the last two’s sons, Dr Neville Gallimore and Alva Ross, would succeed them in their respective seats in 1967 to continue the tradition.

The only casualty of the 1962 Administration was the 40-year-old Minister of Communications & Works and MP for East Portland Kenneth A N Jones, whose untimely death in October 1964 resulted in the 12th parliamentary by-election on December 15, 1964 when Clement T Afflick (former Portland Federal Member) retained the seat for the JLP. At that point Jones was the sixth incumbent member of the House to pass away and the youngest.

But the youngest members elected in 1962 were actually Dr Eldemire and Edward Seaga who both turned 32 that year. The oldest elected member was Prime Minister Bustamante at 78, and the average age of the elected Members was 52.6. In comparison, today’s Parliament of 63 elected Members has two in their 80s, about eleven in their 40s, and four in their 30s, and the average age is approximately 56.

Within three years after the 1962 election, Sir Alexander Bustamante’s health started to decline and Donald Sangster as acting prime minister literally ran the Administration until Bustamante formally retired from politics at age 83 in 1967. That year Sangster became the first person other than Bustamante and Norman Manley to lead a major party to victory when the JLP consolidated power with Sangster as Jamaica’s second prime minister — but not for long, as his sudden death two months later at 55 jolted the nation.

The 1962 election (and the 1961 Referendum) marked the beginning of the end of Norman Manley’s political career. The PNP lost the next parliamentary contest in the 1964 Portland Eastern by-election, they lost the 1966 and 1969 parish council elections, the 1967 General Election and three of the five parliamentary by-elections held between March 1967 and March 1969. He retired from active politics due to illness in early 1969, was succeeded as PNP president and Opposition leader by his son Michael Manley, and passed away later that year at age 76.

Former two-time PNP Education Minister Sir Florizel Glasspole served for two more terms beyond 1962, retired undefeated from his faithful Kingston Eastern & Port Royal seat after over 28 years as MP, and shrugged off his “Brown Bomber” image to become our second native governor general at age 64 – and perhaps the best of them all.

P J Patterson, that 27-year-old legal eagle in 1962, became a senator in the late 60s, an elected member in 1970, and eventually rose to be dubbed the “Fresh Prince” who became the third PNP president in 1992 and the longest-serving Jamaican prime minister until his retirement in 2006 at age 71.

Former local government minister, the JLP’s cool, quiet Leopold Lynch, became an idol and an icon as Portland Western’s MP for 32 years, retiring undefeated in 1976 at age 64, and was the longest-serving member for 18 years beyond his retirement, until his record was surpassed by Edward Seaga in May 1994.

Edward Seaga became the only 1962 newcomer who (like the

Starship Enterprise), went far beyond where no man (or woman) had gone before or since in elected longevity of service. His 42 ˆ¾ years as the member for Kingston Western, plus three previous years as Legislative Council Member, placed him in a category of his own as Cabinet minister, the fourth leader of the JLP, leader of the Opposition, prime minister of Jamaica, statesman, and a most dedicated Member of Parliament who, more than anyone else, have conceptualised and built more enduring national institutions for this country, before retiring from politics in 2005 at age 75. It would have been a real pity back in 1962 if he had contested the St Andrew West Ruralseat as his colleagues were urging him to do.

In the annals of Jamaica’s political history, the year 1962 was pivotal to the real genesis of our national development and identity as a proud, independent nation accorded to the world, long before Bob Marley and Usain Bolt took our image, reputation and esteem to higher heights. The standards and accreditation as a stable and productive nation established in those early years were strong enough to withstand the test of time, and in spite of a few setbacks, the resilience of our people and our democracy have endured to guarantee the success of this nation.

Troy Caine is a political historian and analyst.

trodencorp@gmail.com