Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

Haiti: Historical Setting
had returned to Haiti and served as minister of finance under
Soulouque.
President Salomon was a populist. He established a national
bank, brought some order to public administration, revived
agriculture to an extent, linked Haiti to the outside world
through the telegraph, opened rural schools, and imported
French teachers. Salomon also paid off the indemnity to
France. Although known as a nationalist, Salomon encouraged
investment by permitting foreign companies to own Haitian
land.
Salomon's support of the rural masses and efforts to contain
elite-instigated plots kept him in power longer than the strongmen
who preceded and followed him; however, when he tried
to stay in office beyond his term, Salomon was evicted by Liberal
Party forces and other opponents.
The final exception to the short-lived presidencies of the late
1800s was that of Florvil Hyppolite (1889-96). Hyppolite is
remembered for his Ministry of Public Works, which built
bridges, docks, iron markets, and public buildings throughout
Haiti and installed telephone and telegraph lines. After Hyppolite,
Haitian politics became even more unstable and the governments
particularly short-lived. This was the case until the
United States occupation in 1915.
United States Involvement in Haiti, 1915-34
The turn of the century was a period of expansion for the
United States. It was becoming an extraterritorial economic
and military power, accumulating possessions in the Caribbean
and Central America that included Cuba, Puerto Rico, and
parts of Panama. The Monroe Doctrine in 1823 and the
Roosevelt Corollary in 1904, the opening of the Panama Canal
in 1914, the beginning of World War I, and Admiral Alfred
Mahan's doctrines concerning the strategic importance of sealanes
of communications all contributed to a growing view that
the Caribbean was an American lake in the United States' own
backyard.
One of the Caribbean countries where the United States had
interests was Haiti. By 1915 the United States controlled Haiti's
banking and railroads and accounted for most of the country's
imports. Only Germany, which had considerable business and
strategic interests in the area, provided real competition. Germany
was rumored to be interested in acquiring Mole Saint-
Nicolas as a refueling station, a prospect that concerned the
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