William V.S. Tubman, Jr.

William Vacanarat Shadrach Tubman Jr. is a Liberian politician and member of the Reformed United Liberia Party (RULP). He is the son of William Tubman, who was President of Liberia from 1943 to 1971, and the son-in-law of his father's successor, William R. Tolbert Jr.,

Born in 1931, "Shad" Tubman became nationally prominent in his own right early in life. During the 1950s, his father's influence caused him to be chosen the head of the country's Congress of Industrial Organizations,

During the chaotic years of the 1980s and 1990s, Shad and Wokie spent most of their time in the United States; along with most of their six children (two sons and four daughters), they lived in the New York metropolitan area. Here they established a Pentecostal church, the First Church of the Illumination, in the city's Harlem neighborhood. In late 2002, they returned to Liberia, hoping to contribute to the country's rebuilding and to establish a similar church in Monrovia.

Running as the RULP presidential candidate in the 11 October 2005 elections, Tubman placed 10th out of 22 candidates, receiving 1.6% of the vote. His platform embraced some developments that had occurred since 1971 while seeking to restore some of his father's policies; for example, he proposed attempting to heal the wounds of the recently concluded civil war with a renewal of his father's Unification Policy, which sought to break barriers between Americo-Liberians and natives.