Mr. David Dacko, President of the Central African Republic was born in 1930, at Bouchia in the district of M’Baiki in the southern part of the Central African Republic. He was educated up to secondary school level in Bambari, and then in the Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville), where he qualified as a teacher. Mr. David Dacko became a headmaster of a primary school in Bangui, and soon became very active in the teachers trade union.

In 1957, he was elected to the Territorial Assembly. From May 1957 to August 1958, he served as Minister of Agriculture, Cattle-Breeding and Forestry in the Boganda government. From August to December 1958, he served in the capacity of Minister of Administrative Affairs, in the Government Council of Ubangi-Shari. For some time, he was Minister of Interior, Commerce, and Economics.

After the tragic death of Mr. Boganda in an airplane crash, his cousin, who was a renowned statesman in French Equatorial Africa, Mr. David Dacko was unanimously chosen President of the Government by the Legislative Assembly. When the Assembly created the post of President of the Central African Republic, on August 14, 1960, he was elected to that office.