Francois Duvalier (14 April 1907 - 27 February 1968), commonly referred to as
Papa Doc, was President of Haiti from 1957 to 1968, having been elected on a black nationalist, anti-Dominican platform.
Born into poverty in Port-au-Prince in 1907, Duvalier would work his way up to become a Physician, enrolling into the University of Haiti in 1928 and leaving with his degree 3 years later off the back of his mother’s 3 jobs. Duvalier would serve in the 1st Hispaniola War in 1937 after his uncle got killed by a Dominican soldier. His experiences in the conflict shaped Duvalier’s political views greatly, fostering a deep hatred for the other half of the island and placing him firmly within the negritude movement. In 1939 Duvalier would marry
Simone Duvalier (
Mama Doc.)
After the war, Haiti was thrown into chaos as Stenio Vincent was soon deposed by the military who blamed the loss all on him (very fortunate for the them) in February 1938 and a unity government was soon formed after that under Franck Lavaud. The military government soon began to mismanage the country greatly, beginning a North Korea-like policy of armament that nearly bankrupted Haiti and led to a re-democratisation in 1942. The next few elected presidents also pushed for a well-armed Haiti to fight the Dominican Republic but by the 1950s the people of Haiti, having spent the past 2 decades or so being raised on a revanchist education, clamoured for a 2nd war to take back Fort Liberte. This led to a military coup under Paul Magloire in 1954 that promised a round 2 of the conflict which would end victorious.
Paul Magloire quickly showed himself to be the least hawkish general possible, preferring to steal money from the government to line his pockets so he could live in luxury within the Presidential Palace (it was rumoured he would have an orgy a night, of course that’s exaggerated, it was only an orgy every
other week.) in 1957 the people had had enough and forcefully kicked the military out of power, aided by other rivals to his power hoping they’d get a chance into power. Elections were held in October between over 18 candidates but Duvalier and his
National Unity Party came out on top, advocating for a harsh foreign policy towards Haiti’s neighbour and riding the popularity of Duvalier’s black nationalism.
Duvalier would begin a massive armament program, using his newfound ‘anti-communist’ beliefs (aided by the executions of Cuban aid workers in Haiti) to get weapons from the Eisenhower government, wary of the fascistic Trujillo regime and their sheltering of Nazis. This led Duvalier to abandon his earlier marxist beliefs and to instead embrace the right-wing of the nation, becoming the favourite leader of the mulatto elite. It must be said that Duvalier was nowhere near as corrupt as Magloire was, implementing a
very free market system that allowed American and French corporations to have a field day in a nation with no real rules on anything really, as long as workers got paid something (that something being very low.) This led to unparalleled economic growth in Haiti.
In 1964 Duvalier decided the nation was ready for round 2 and so gave the order to attack on 2nd March. The war will be talked about at a later date but it proved to be a failure for the Haitians although Duvalier claimed a victory based on the amount of civilians killed by the surprise attack. The war ended on the 2nd of May not having changed much except deepening the divide on the island.
Duvalier stayed in power surprisingly after that, crushing a military coup that attempted to blame him, and fully establishing himself as the most influential leader Haiti had had since Dessalines himself, bringing a full decade of domestic stability and economic growth to the former impoverished nation.
In 1968, while out in his iconic black Sedan, carrying the infamous
Presidential Machine-gun, he was shot by his driver, who turned out to be a Dominican assassin hired by
Ramfis Trujillo, Rafael’s notoriously cruel and sadistic son who is rumoured to have had a week long party (drug-fuelled orgy) in celebration over his father’s rival’s death.
Francois was succeeded by his equally ruthless daughter,
Marie-Denise, who would prove to be even more influential than her father and an equal match for her geopolitical foe, Ramfis.
The
Presidential Machine-gun now resides within the National Museum, a source of humour for the Western world, but strangely enough a source of pride for Haitians everywhere.
