Samuel Doe

=== Theories on the genesis of the coup ===
In August 2008, before a [[Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Liberia)|Truth and Reconciliation Commission]] (TRC) in Monrovia, Doe's former justice minister, Councillor [[Chea Cheapoo]] — who contested the 2011 Liberia Presidential elections — alleged the American [[CIA]] had provided a map of the Executive Mansion, enabling the rebels to break into it; that it was a white American CIA agent who shot and killed Tolbert; and that the Americans "were responsible for Liberia's nightmare".<ref>''The News'' (a Liberian newspaper), 6 August 2008 (retrieved 6–8 Aug.) [http://thenews.com.lr/story.php?record_id=3722&sub=News CIA Agents Executed 1980 Coup] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010215622/http://thenews.com.lr/story.php?record_id=3722&sub=News |date=10 October 2008 }}</ref> However, the next day, before the same TRC, another former minister of Samuel Doe, Dr. Boima Fahnbulleh, testified that "the Americans did not support the coup led by Mr. Doe".<ref>''The News'', 7 August 2008 (retr. 7–8 Aug.) [http://www.thenews.com.lr/story.php?record_id=3729&sub=News Harry Greaves, Tom Kamara, Others Linked] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010215644/http://www.thenews.com.lr/story.php?record_id=3729&sub=News |date=10 October 2008 }}</ref>

Some facts of the 1980 coup are still clouded by reports of an "Unknown Soldier".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sherman |first1=Frank |title=Liberia The Land, Its People, History and Culture |date=2010 |publisher=New Africa Press |isbn=9789987160259 |page=61 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1lstRzSWEcUC&dq=Some+facts+of+the+1980+coup+are+still+clouded+by+reports+of+an+%22Unknown+Soldier%22&pg=PA7 |access-date=19 March 2023 |archive-date=8 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408145224/https://books.google.com/books?id=1lstRzSWEcUC&dq=Some+facts+of+the+1980+coup+are+still+clouded+by+reports+of+an+%22Unknown+Soldier%22&pg=PA7 |url-status=live }}</ref> It is reported that an "unknown soldier" was one of the "white" mercenaries who would have staged the 1980 military takeover of the state. According to the autobiography of Tolbert's wife [[Victoria Tolbert|Victoria]], the First Lady witnessed a masked man with a "white" hand stabbing her late husband.<ref>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1886158126/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&seller= Victoria Tolbert, Lifted Up] Macalester Park Publishing Company |(retrieved 12 October 2010)</ref>