Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham OE (20 February 1923 – 6 August 1985)[1] was a Guyanese politician and the leader of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana from 1964 until his death in 1985.

[7][8] Despite being widely regarded as having a significant role in the political, social, and economic development of Guyana,[9][10] his presidency was marred by accusations of Afrocentrism,[11] state-sanctioned violence,[12][13][14] corruption,[7] and electoral fraud.

[15] Burnham was born in Kitty, a suburb of Georgetown, Demerara County, British Guiana,[1] as one of three[2] or four (Olga, Freddie, Jessica, and Flora)[3] children.

[1] His sister said that Burnham was ambitious from a young age, and that he was bullied at Central High School for his small stature and academic prowess.

[2] Burnham was unable to travel to the United Kingdom due to World War II, instead working as an assistant master at Queen's college and completing a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of London through external examinations.

[2] Burnham met many African and Caribbean students – including Abubakar Tafawa Balewa of Nigeria, Seretse Khama of Botswana and Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana as well as Michael Manley of Jamaica and Errol Barrow of Barbados – during his studies in London.

[3] He left the United Kingdom to return to British Guiana on 20 December 1948, departing Liverpool on the Empress of France bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia, and arrived in Georgetown in 1949.

[3] After the split, Jagan's PPP and Burnham's PNC largely became the political expressions of the Indo-Guyanese and Afro-Guyanese aspirations respectively, and advocated for their supporter's interests.

[42] A series of racially-motivated incidents took place in and around Linden, including the Wismar Massacre on 26 May, the sinking of the Sun Chapman on 6 July and the following murders of 5 Indo-Guyanese individuals at Mackenzie.

Burnham succeeded in forming a coalition with the United Force (TUF) (which had won the remaining 12% of the votes) and became premier of British Guiana on 14 December.

[47] A telegram from the US Ambassador stated that "he intends to remain in power indefinitely" and "if necessary, he is prepared to employ unorthodox methods to achieve his aims".

[47] In a meeting with US president Lyndon B. Johnson in July 1966, Burnham discussed a scheme to promote immigration of Afro-Caribbean people in an effort to improve his electoral chances in the 1968 election.

[48] The PNC attained a majority government in the general elections of 1968 through electoral fraud, using an inflated "overseas vote" to skew the results in their favour.

[1] Adopting a policy of autarky, he banned all forms of imports into the country, including flour and varieties of rice that had been integral to the diet of Indo-Guyanese.

[60] Burnham, after attending the 1970 summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Lusaka, Zambia, paid official visits to several African countries—Zambia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia—over the period 12–30 September 1970.

[19] In 1972, Rabbi David Hill arrived in Guyana and established the House of Israel, a religious sect that the opposition accused of operating as a private army for Burnham's PNC.

[51] Shortly after the election, Burnham expanded powers of preventive detention, allowing restrictions on movement and possession of firearms, and search without warrant.

[67] During this time, prominent Guyanese poet Martin Carter was beaten by individuals affiliated with the PNC while protesting the government's refusal to hold elections.

The incident drew international attention to Guyana,[36] and an inquest established by the opposition blamed Burnham, considered to be an ally of Jones,[12] for the deaths.

Burnham's wife Viola and his deputy prime minister Ptolemy Reid were among the first to the scene, and may have returned from the massacre site with nearly US$1 million in cash, gold and jewellery.

[71] During civil unrest after the fire and arrest, Jesuit priest Bernard Darke was stabbed to death by members of the House of Israel,[72][73][74] a religious cult closely associated with Burnham and his PNC party.

[3] The executive president was granted the powers to dissolve Parliament at will, veto legislation, and to appoint or dismiss almost all senior members of government.

His brother Donald, who was injured in the explosion, said that a sergeant in the Guyana Defence Force and a member of the House of Israel,[78] named Gregory Smith, had given Rodney the bomb that killed him.

Rodney's WPA believed that different ethnic groups (including Afro-Guyanese and Indo-Guyanese) historically disenfranchised by colonialism should all have a part in the governance of Guyana, a position that challenged Burnham's hold on power.

[3] Commodity shortages and a near-breakdown in public services occurred, and Burnham enforced austerity measures and looked for economic support from Soviet-leaning countries.

"[36] According to Manning Marable, "The Carter administration viewed Guyana in the same political league as Somalia and Communist China, a nominal socialist regime which outlawed democratic rights at home and was willing to become a junior partner with US imperialism.

On one occasion, English Cricketer Robin Jackman's visa was rescinded after his arrival in Georgetown due to his connections with apartheid in South Africa, and a boycott of the 1976 Summer Olympics was also put in place by Burnham in protest after the New Zealand national rugby union team had toured South Africa earlier in 1976 and were not banned by the International Olympic Committee.

[51] Prior to taking control of the Guyanese government, Burnham was mentioned in police reports in the violent demonstrations of 1963,[42] and his PNC party was accused of leading the mobs that caused extensive property damage in the Black Friday riots of 1962.

[3] Moe Taylor, a historian at the University of British Columbia, called Burnham's premiership a "deeply divisive chapter in Guyana's recent history.

National projects completed during his premiership include the Soesdyke-Linden Highway, Demerara Harbour Bridge and Cheddi Jagan International Airport.