Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
William Gopallawa
William Gopallawa (September 17 1897 January 30 1958) was the first President of Sri Lanka.
Gopallawa served on municipal councils during his earlier political career. He served as Sri Lanka (known as Ceylon at that time)'s ambassador to China from 1958 to 1961 and served as ambassador to the United States from 1961 to 1962. He became the Governor-General of Ceylon in 1962, and served until 1972. He was known as an austere, nonpartisan and statesmanlike figure. When Ceylon became the Republic of Sri Lanka in 1972, Gopallawa became the President. He retired in 1978 when Prime Minister Junius Richard Jayewardene had the constituion changed to make the Presidency an elective position with more powers, and Jayewerdene was elected President.
11-30-2008 18:11:33
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The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details