His presidency was marked by extreme corruption, nepotism for the hiring of officials rather than by skill, and a lack of transparency regarding the decisions his administration was making regarding the welfare of the people and use of slave labor.

As president, he helped establish the Booker Washington Agricultural and Industrial Institute in Kakata in 1929,[1] and although King was considered a moderate reformer within the True Whig Party, his administration was mired in corruption and controversy, serving the party's patronage machine and making appointments based on nepotism and political favors.

By the early 1920s, Liberia's financial crisis had worsened to the point where President King headed up a commission that traveled to the United States to seek reorganization of the country's staggering debt burden.

[4] In July, U.S. Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes said that it was the moral duty to extend the requested loan to Liberia because of a 1918 agreement between the two countries.

[6][7] This created great disappointment and a sense of desperation among Liberian officials, who worried that British and French designs on their country might now prove unstoppable.

Firestone's subsidiary Finance Corporation of America gave a $5 million loan to the Liberian government, which Liberia intended to use to consolidate and bond debts and fund public improvements.

[9] Under the terms of the loan, the President of the United States appointed a financial advisor to Liberia who had the power to approve and disapprove all expenditures by the Liberian government.

[11] After losing the 1927 presidential election to King, Thomas Faulkner accused many members of the True Whig Party government of recruiting and selling contract labor as slaves.

The report supported many of Faulkner's allegations and implicated many government officials, including vice president Allen Yancy.