Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies
was common. The administration of the country's fiscal and
monetary policies was considered such a success that United
States economic advisers continued to manage the national
treasury for seven years after the withdrawal of United States
troops.
Haiti's mulatto ruling class made a special effort during the
following decade to strengthen its position: a new professional
military establishment was created and dominated by mulatto
officers, and successive governments were run almost totally by
mulatto ministers. The mulattoes' entrenchment in power,
however, ended in 1946, when president Elie Lescot (1941-45)
was overthrown by Dumarsais Estime (1946-50), a black leader
who resented the stranglehold of the mulatto minority on the
economy and who aroused nationalist and leftist sentiments
among disaffected black intellectuals. The brief hold on power
of Estime and his liberal trade unions was terminated by a military
coup on May 10, 1950, amid deteriorating domestic conditions.
The same junta that had taken over from Lescot reinstated
itself, and one of its members, Paul E. Magloire, won the country's
first direct elections and assumed office in December. He
managed to make some infrastructure improvements and to
establish a good working relationship with the business community,
while allowing labor unions to function. But when he
tried to dispute the termination date of his presidential term in
1956, labor leaders and thousands of other Haitians took to the
streets and forced him to flee to Jamaica, leaving the task of
restoring order to the army.
In 1957, a year of turmoil in Haiti's history during which six
different governments held power, another black nationalist
and a former labor minister in Estime's cabinet, Francois Duvalier,
was elected president. One of his declared objectives was to
undermine the mulattoes' political influence and limit their
economic dominance. A small black middle class emerged, but
the country suffered from economic stagnation, domestic
political tension, and severe repression under Duvalier. After a
seven-year period of dynastic rule, Duvalier extended his tenure
in office by amending the constitution in 1964 and declaring
himself president for life. All economic and military
assistance from the United States was suspended in 1963 after
Duvalier expelled the United States ambassador. Aid was not
resumed until 1973.
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