Haiti: 20th Century Developments

The early twentieth century brought profound upheaval to Haiti, culminating in a U.S. military occupation that lasted from 1915 to 1934. Citing political instability and the protection of American financial interests, U.S. Marines took control of the country's customs houses, finances, and constabulary. The occupation modernized some infrastructure but also provoked lasting resentment, particularly after a forced-labor road-building program helped spark the Cacos rebellion, a guerrilla uprising that U.S. forces eventually suppressed.

Following the withdrawal of U.S. forces, Haiti cycled through a series of short-lived governments until François Duvalier, known as Papa Doc, won the presidency in 1957. Duvalier built a highly personalized and repressive regime, relying on a rural militia known as the Tonton Macoutes to suppress opposition and consolidate control over the army, the civil service, and much of public life. His rule, formalized as a presidency for life in 1964, marked the longest continuous government in the country's post-occupation history.

When François Duvalier died in 1971, power passed to his teenage son, Jean-Claude Duvalier, who continued many of his father's authoritarian methods while opening the economy to foreign investment. Growing economic hardship, corruption, and popular unrest eventually forced Jean-Claude into exile in February 1986, ending the Duvalier era. The years that followed brought a difficult transition toward elected government, punctuated by military interventions and periods of international peacekeeping, as Haiti sought a stable path after decades of centralized rule.