Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies
perhaps to such an extent that its isolation from the world community
has ended.
Haiti achieved some prominence as a result of its successful
revolution, but the governments of slaveholding countries
either ignored or decried the country during the first half of
the nineteenth century. In the United States, the question of
recognizing Haiti provoked sharp debate between abolitionists,
who favored recognition, and slaveholders, who vehemently
opposed such action. The advent of the Civil War, however,
allowed President Abraham Lincoln to recognize Haiti without
controversy. Haiti became a focus of interest for the great powers
in the early twentieth century mainly because of the country's
strategic location. Competition among the United States,
Germany, France, and Britain resulted in the breaching of
Haiti's sovereignty and the nineteen-year occupation (1915-
34) by United States forces (see United States Involvement in
Haiti, 1915-34, ch. 6). Subsequent isolation stemmed from
Haiti's cultural and linguistic uniqueness, its economic underdevelopment,
and international condemnation of the Duvalier
dictatorship and subsequent military regimes.
Relations with the United States
Haiti has maintained a long-standing relationship with the
United States. Economic ties to the United States are vital, as
the latter country is Haiti's primary trading partner for both
exports and imports. The United States is also Haiti's most
important source of bilateral foreign assistance and the primary
target for Haitian emigration. A large number of United
States private voluntary agencies and religious groups are
active in Haiti, for example. The Haitian private sector is
closely tied to the United States economy. In short, the economic
and political influence of the United States in Haiti has
been more extensive than the influence of any other country.
United States diplomatic interest in Haiti has been uneven.
Washington's interest in its neighbor arose chiefly because of
the country's proximity to the Panama Canal and Central
America. Haiti borders the Windward Passage, a narrow body
of water on which maritime traffic could be easily disrupted.
During World War I, the United States undertook a military
occupation of Haiti, along with a number of other countries in
the Caribbean and Central America. During the Cold War,
Washington viewed Haiti as an anti-communist bulwark, partly
because of the country's proximity to Cuba. Francois Duvalier
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