Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

Haiti: Historical Setting
good state school, with other children of academically ambitious
parents of limited means. After graduation, Duvalier studied
medicine in Haiti. Then, he took an internship at Saint
Francois de Sales Hospital near the capital. Afterward, he took
a post that attempted to eradicate yaws and became director of
a clinic. In August 1944, Duvalier briefly attended Michigan
State University to study public health, but before completing
the program returned to Haiti to continue his work against
yaws.
Francois Duvalier's interest in literature, ethnography, and
politics led him to start the Haitian negritude movement in
1929 with Lorimer Denis, a black lawyer, nationalist, and mystic.
He founded a pro-voodoo, African-focused organization,
Les Griots (a Guinean term meaning The Bards) in the late
1930s. Then he helped Dr. Price Mars form the Bureau of Ethnology,
an organization dedicated to the study and propagation
of indigenous Haitian customs and values.
Francois Duvalier's first overtly political act was to become
general secretary of Daniel Fignole's party of young professionals,
the MOP. In 1946 he became a protege of Dumarsais
Estime, then the MOP candidate. When Estime was elected
president, Duvalier entered the cabinet as minister of labor.
When Estime was ousted from office in 1950, Duvalier also lost
his job. In September 1956, Francois Duvalier entered the race
for president as the heir to Dumarsais Estime.
Although Francois Duvalier was not everyone's favorite candidate,
he had broad support. His proponents saw him as educated,
mild mannered, lacking in undue political ambition,
and having good international connections. He had worked
with poor and sick Haitians, he was a pro-black nationalist, and
he cared about voodoo and ethnicity. This father-figure
demeanor and manner caused him to be refered to as "Papa
Doc." Finally, he had the support of the Haitian army.
The election was historic. All Haitians over the age of twentyone
were eligible to vote for a president. However, whether the
peoples' will was done is debatable. There were no official election
observers, the army disqualified the most popular candidate,
Fignole, and there were claims of fraud. In any case,
Francois Duvalier claimed a decisive victory, and his followers
captured two-thirds of the legislature's lower house and all the
seats in the Senate. In September 1957, Francois Duvalier was
installed as president.
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