Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972) was born in a small village on the Gold Coast (now Ghana). He studied in the United States and London. In both places he associated with communists and members of the African-American and pan-Africanist movements. He formed the Convention Peoples Party in 1948, which began to win elections in Ghana and call for independence (Nkrumah won one election in 1951 while in prison.. Ghana was the first sub-Saharan African nation to gain independence in 1957. Nkrumah was the overwhelming choice for Prime Minister. He was very influential in African politics, but his hopes for a pan-African union or a strong non-aligned movement failed and the Ghanan economy collapsed with the fall of cocoa prices. He developed an increasingly socialist government, and wrote increasingly radical books about neo-colonialism and the creation of an "African socialism" that was appropriate for postcolonial cultures. He also became more of a dictator, detaining hundreds of political opponents, and declaring himself president for life in 1965. He was overthrown by a military coup in 1966. He continued to write inflammatory books, blaming US pressures for his failures and his turn towards the radical left.