George Cadle Price

:"Other persons have been called George Price"Infobox Officeholder
name = The Right Honourable George Cadle Price

|thumb| George Cadle Price, the first Prime Minister and leader in the fight for an Independent Belize.
caption = George Price
nationality = Belizean
order = 1st Prime Minister of Belize
term_start = September 21 1981
term_end = December 17 1984
term_start2 = September 7 1989
term_end2 = July 3 1993
predecessor = office created
predecessor2 = Manuel Esquivel
successor = Manuel Esquivel
order2 = 3rd Prime Minister of Belize
birth_date = birth date and age|1919|01|15
birth_place = Belize City, Belize
dead = alive
spouse = bachelor
party = People's United Party
deputy = Florencio Marin, Sr.
deputy2= Florencio Marin, Sr.

George Cadle Price (born January 15, 1919) was the first Prime Minister of Belize and is considered the architect of that country's independence. Born in Belize City, he entered politics in 1947 with his election to the Belize City Council. Three years later, on September 29, 1950, he cofounded the People's United Party, which he led for four decades and which was devoted to the political and economic independence of the British colony, then known as British Honduras.

Education and early political activities

Price was never educated further than St. John's College High School (SJC did not have a sixth form until the 1960s.) While there, however, he was exposed to the teachings of Catholic social justice, in particular the encyclical "Rerum Novarum".Upon graduation Price attached himself to local business man Robert Turton as his private secretary. He also rallied a few SJC graduates, some of them later members of the PUP, to contest elections in 1944 and 1947 for the local Town Board, being successful in 1947. Price also contributed to the Belize Billboard, then run by Phillip Goldson.

Later political career

Price, upon the formation of the PC in 1950, was named its Assistant Secretary, and in a famous speech later that year claimed that "National Unity" propelled the PC's actions. With the formation of the PUP Price's stature rose and he ascended through the party ranks until he became leader following a dispute in 1956.

Elected to the colony's Legislative Council in 1954, he also served as mayor of Belize City from 1956 to 1962. In 1956 became also leader of the PUP. As First Minister, a post he held since 1961, he led the team which began negotiations over independence with Great Britain. He maintained that post as premier in 1964.

In 1981 Belize gained its independence, and Price served as the country's first prime minister and foreign minister until 1984. After the PUP's defeat in the elections by the United Democratic Party under Manuel Esquivel, he resumed the post of prime minister in 1989, serving until 1993, when he was again replaced by Esquivel.

In 1982, Price became a member of the United Kingdom's Privy Council. In October 1996 he announced his resignation as party leader, and on November 10, 1996 was formally succeeded by Said Musa.

Honours

In September 2000, Price became the first person to receive Belize's highest honour, the Order of National Hero, for the prominent role he played in leading his country to independence. He has received similar honours in other Caribbean and Central American countries."See also:" List of Prime Ministers of Belize