Pindling, Lynden Oscar

March 22, 1930
August 26, 2000

Sir Lynden Oscar Pindling was hailed as a national hero in his native Bahamas and called the "Father of the Nation" by the former prime minister (1992–2002) Hubert Ingraham. Pindling was a "consummate politician" and leader, and he did more than anyone else to shape Bahamian society in the late twentieth century. He led the fight for black majority rule, served as the country's first prime minister, and was the "architect of Independence for the Commonwealth of The Bahamas" (Craton, 2002).

Pindling was in born in Over-The-Hill (the black section of the city), Nassau, the only child of Arnold F. Pindling, a former police officer and businessman who migrated from Jamaica to the Bahamas in 1923, and Viola Pindling (née Bain), who hailed from Acklins Island in the southern Bahamas. Lynden Pindling obtained his degree at the University of London and attended Inns of Courts at Middle Temple, where he successfully qualified as a lawyer, completing the LL.B. in August 1952. He was called to the bar of the Middle Temple in February 1953.

Pindling then returned to Nassau. He was called to the Bahamas bar in late 1953, and then he joined the recently established Progressive Liberal Party (PLP). Pindling and five other successful PLP candidates were elected to the House of Assembly in June 1956. H. M. Taylor, the chairman of the PLP, failed to retain his seat, however, and Pindling was elected as parliamentary leader of the PLP. This was the beginning of the PLP's eleven-year struggle for majority rule, and the first step in Pindling's rise to leadership of the party. By 1963 he was both the party's leader in Parliament and chairman of the PLP.

Pindling and the PLP supported the January 1958 general strike led by Randol Fawkes, the Bahamas Federation of Labour, Clifford Darling, and the Bahamas Taxi Cab Union. In fact, Pindling and the PLP pushed for constitutional reform. Although no structural changes were made in the constitution immediately following the strike, important electoral changes were instituted, including the widening of the franchise, abolition of the company vote (which had allowed persons holding companies to vote on every company), and reduction of the plural vote (which had allowed one person to vote in every constituency where he held land), all of which helped to democratize the election process. The Bay Street politicians, comprised of merchant-class whites, including Roland Symonette and Stafford Sands, were still firmly in control, however, and won a resounding victory in 1962.

April 27, 1965, became known as "Black Tuesday" in the Bahamas. On that day, Pindling threw the speaker's mace, the symbol of parliamentary power, out of the House of Assembly as a protest against the Constituencies Commission report and a Wall Street Journal article of October 5, 1966, that was unfavorable to the Bahamian government. The Commission's report allocated the constituencies (seats) in New Providence and the Out Islands to the advantage of the governing party, the United Bahamian Party (UBP), and Pindling opposed what he saw as an unfair advantage for the UBP. The general election that followed in 1967 ended in a tie, but Labour Party leader Randol Fawkes sided with the PLP, and independent Alvin Braynen agreed to become speaker. Pindling thus formed the first PLP government bringing majority rule. He became premier of the Bahamas, a designation changed to prime minister following constitutional reform in 1969. He then led the PLP to victory in six successive general elections (1967, 1968, 1972, 1977, 1982, and 1987) and went on to serve as a member of Parliament for forty-one years and as prime minister for twenty-five years. When the PLP was defeated in the election of 1992, he was the longestserving elected head of government in the British Commonwealth.

The Bahamas under Pindling and the PLP was transformed peacefully from a racially and economically oppressive colony into a modern, prosperous, independent, and stable nation. Under his administration, the Bahamas gained its independence on July 10, 1973, in what Dame Doris Johnson (1972) deemed "The Quiet Revolution." The government extended educational opportunities to all Bahamians through the building of primary and secondary schools, the provision of thousands of scholarships for education, both at home and abroad, and the establishment of the College of The Bahamas, thus laying the foundation for the rise of a newly educated and professional class inclusive of black Bahamians, who had previously been mostly deprived of the right to vote and the right to education and economic opportunities taken for granted by the white elite. The PLP government also established the Industrial Training Centre (now called the Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute) and The Bahamas Tourism Centre. Low-cost housing was expanded and numerous new subdivisions were developed to accommodate the new middle class. Electrification was provided to most islands of the Bahamas, as were telecommunications. For example, the use of radio was expanded and national television introduced. The financial services industries also grew tremendously during this period.

In addition, public health measures were introduced. The supply of potable water and sewage waste disposal was greatly improved. Health care was improved and extended through the establishment of new clinics in many islands, and doctors were posted to the major population centers. National insurance to assist the unemployed, ill, and disabled was introduced in 1974. In addition, security was enhanced through the formation of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force and the strengthening of the Royal Bahamas Police Force. The islands of the Bahamas were more closely linked through the establishment of Bahamasair, and the tourism industry expanded to welcome more than three million visitors a year.

Shortly after independence, Pindling and the PLP sought and obtained membership in the United Nations, the Organization of American States, the Caribbean Community, and the Commonwealth of Nations. The Bahamas later joined other international organizations, including the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Pindling will be remembered internationally as the chairman of the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Nassau in 1985, and as the chairman of the Commonwealth Conference on South Africa. In the latter capacity, he was instrumental in "setting the stage for the release of Nelson Mandela from his long captivity" (Official Programme, 2000).

Despite being diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1996, Pindling led the PLP into the 1997 general election, which the governing Free National Movement (FNM) won by a landslide. After a forty-one-year career in the House of Assembly, Sir Lynden Pindling (he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1983) resigned on July 7, 1997, after giving an eloquent speech in which he stated, "I am done now … I have reached the end of my political journey. I have run my course. I did my best." Upon his death, Pindling was survived by four children, five grandchildren, and Marguerite, his wife of forty years.

See also International Relations of the Anglophone Caribbean; Urban Poverty in the Caribbean

Bibliography

Craton, Michael. Pindling: The Life of Times of Lynden Oscar Pindling, First Prime Minister of the Bahamas, 1930–2000. Oxford, UK: Macmillan Caribbean, 2002.

Craton, Michael, and Gail Saunders. Islanders in the Stream: A History of the Bahamian People; Vol. 2: From the Ending of Slavery to the Twenty-First Century. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1998.

Fawkes, Randol F. The Faith that Moved the Mountain: A Memoir of a Life and the Times. Nassau, Bahamas: 1988/1997.

Johnson, Doris. The Quiet Revolution in the Bahamas. Nassau, Bahamas: Family Island Press, 1972.

Official Programme for the State Funeral. Nassau, Bahamas: Government Printing Department, September 4, 2000.

Roker, Patricia B., ed. The Vision of Sir Lynden Pindling: In his Own Words, Letters, and Speeches, 1948–1997. Nassau, Bahamas: Media Publishing, 2000.

d. gail saunders (2005)