United States occupation of Haiti

Between 1911 and 1915, Haiti was politically unstable: a series of political assassinations and forced exiles resulted in six presidents holding office during this period.[2] Various revolutionary armies carried out the coups. Each was formed by cacos, or peasant militia from the mountains of the north, or who invaded along the porous Dominican border. They were enlisted by rival political factions under the promises of money, which would be paid after a successful revolution, and the opportunity to plunder.

The United States was particularly apprehensive about the roles (real and imagined) played by Imperial Germany in the Western hemisphere. It had intervened in Haiti (see Luders Affair) and other Caribbean nations at several times during the previous few decades to exert its influence as a rival power. Germany was increasingly hostile to United States domination of the region under its claimed Monroe Doctrine. In the lead-up to World War I, the strategic importance of the island of Hispaniola, with its manpower, material wealth, and port facilities, was understood by almost all navies operating in the Caribbean, including Germany and the still-neutral United States. Germany had invested in military and intelligence gathering across Hispaniola as part of a wider network of German interest in Latin America and the Caribbean during the 1890s through the 1910s.

The United States' concern over Germany's ambitions was mirrored by apprehension and rivalry between American businessmen and the small German community in Haiti, which although numbering only about 200 in 1910 wielded a disproportionate amount of economic power.[3] German nationals controlled about 80 percent of the country's international commerce. They owned and operated utilities in Cap-Haïten and Port-au-Prince, including the main wharf and a tramway in the capital, and also had built the railway serving the Plain of the Cul-de-Sac.[4]

Personnel from the German Legation and the Hamburg-Amerika Line

The German community was more willing to integrate into Haitian society than any other group of Caucasian foreigners, including the more numerous French. Some Germans had married into Haiti's most prominent families of "persons of color" (mixed race of African-French descent). This enabled them to bypass the constitutional prohibition against foreigners owning land. Nevertheless, the German residents retained strong ties to their homeland and sometimes aided the German military and intelligence networks in Haiti. They also served as the principal financiers of the nation's numerous revolutions, floating loans at high-interest rates to the competing political factions.[4] Because of this, they were regarded as a threat to American businessmen's financial interests. The United States political and military leadership believed the Haitian Germans were tied directly to the government in Berlin.

In an effort to reduce German influence, the U.S. State Department in 1910–11 backed a consortium of American investors, headed by the National City Bank of New York, to acquire control of the Banque Nationale d'Haïti. This was the country's sole commercial bank and served as the Haitian government's treasury.[5]

On January 27, 1914, Haitian President Michel Oreste was deposed in a coup and two generals who were brothers, Charles and Oreste Zamor, seized control. In response, USS Montana sent a marine detachment on January 29 into Port-au Prince to protect American interests.[6] On February 5, 1914, military forces from the French Cruiser Conde and British HMS Lancaster also landed troops. By mutual agreement, these units left the city and boarded their respective war ships on February 9, 1914.[6]

In December 1914, urged on by the National City Bank and the National Bank of Haiti (which was already under foreign direction), the U.S. military took custody of Haiti's gold reserve and transferred it to the National City Bank's New York City vault.[7]

In February 1915, Jean Vilbrun Guillaume Sam, son of a former Haitian president, established a dictatorship. The culmination of his repressive measures came on 27 July 1915, when he ordered the execution of 167 political prisoners, including former president Zamor, who was being held in a Port-au-Prince jail. This infuriated the population, which rose up against Sam's government as soon as news of the executions reached them. Sam, who had taken refuge in the French embassy, was lynched by an enraged mob in Port-au-Prince as soon as they learned of the executions.[8]

The United States regarded the anti-American revolt against Sam as a threat to American business interests in the country, especially the Haitian American Sugar Company (HASCO). When the caco-supported anti-American Rosalvo Bobo emerged as the next president of Haiti, the United States government decided to act quickly to preserve its economic dominance.[9]

American Marines in 1915 defending the entrance gate in Cap-Haïtien

On July 28, 1915, American President Woodrow Wilson ordered 330 U.S. Marines to occupy Port-au-Prince. Secretary of the Navy instructed the invasion commander, Admiral William Banks Caperton, to "protect American and foreign" interests. Wilson also wanted to rewrite the Haitian constitution, which banned foreign ownership of land, and replace it with one that guaranteed American financial control.[10] To avoid public criticism, Wilson claimed the occupation was a mission to "re-establish peace and order ... [and] has nothing to do with any diplomatic negotiations of the past or the future," as disclosed by Rear Admiral Caperton.[11] Only one Haitian soldier, Pierre Sully, tried to resist the invasion, and he was shot dead by the Marines.[12]

On November 17, 1915, the Marines captured Fort Rivière, a stronghold of the Cacos rebels, which marked the end of the First Caco War.[13]^:201

Haitian writers and public figures also responded to the occupation. For example, a minister of public education, Dantès Bellegarde raised issues with the events in his book, La Résistance Haïtienne (l'Occupation Américaine d'Haïti). Bellegarde outlines the contradictions of the occupation with the realities. He accused President Wilson of writing the new Haitian Constitution to benefit the Americans, and wrote that Wilson's main purpose was to remove the previous Haitian clause that stated foreigners could not own land in the country. The original clause was designed to protect Haiti's independence from foreign powers.[30] With the clause removed, Americans (including whites and other foreigners) could now own land. Furthermore, Bellegarde discusses the powerlessness of Haitian officials in the eyes of the Occupation because nothing could be done without the consent of the Americans. However, the main issue that Bellegarde articulates is that the Americans tried to change the education system of Haiti from one that was French based to that of the Americans. Even though Bellegarde was resistant he had a plan to build a university in Haiti that was based on the American system. He wanted a university with various schools of science, business, art, medicine, law, agriculture, and languages all connected by a common area and library. However, that dream was never realized because of the new direction the Haitian government was forced to take.

Jean Price-Mars[31] associated the reasons behind the Occupation to the division between the Haitian elite and the poorer people of the country. He noted that the groups were divided over the practice of Haitian Vodou, with the implication that the elites did not recognize Vodou because they connected it to an evil practice.[32]

In 1930, Sténio Vincent, a long-time critic of the occupation, was elected President of Haiti. Herbert Hoover had become concerned about the effects of the occupation, particularly after the December 1929 incident in Les Cayes. Hoover appointed a commission to study the situation, with William Cameron Forbes as the chair.[13]^:232–233

The Forbes Commission praised the material improvements that the U.S. administration had achieved, but it criticized the continued exclusion of Haitian nationals from positions of real authority in the government and the constabulary, which had come to be known as the Garde d'Haïti. In more general terms, the commission asserted that "the social forces that created [instability] still remain – poverty, ignorance, and the lack of a tradition or desire for orderly free government."[33][34]

The Hoover administration did not fully implement the recommendations of the Forbes Commission; but United States withdrawal was under way by 1932, when Hoover lost the presidency to Franklin D. Roosevelt. The latter as Assistant Secretary of the Navy had overall responsibility for drafting the most recent Haitian constitution; he was a proponent of the "Good Neighbor policy" for the US role in the Caribbean and Latin America. On a visit to Cap-Haïtien in July 1934, Roosevelt reaffirmed an August 1933 disengagement agreement. The last contingent of U.S. Marines departed on August 15, 1934, after a formal transfer of authority to the Garde.[35] The U.S. retained influence on Haiti's external finances until 1947.[36]

American poses with dead Haitian revolutionaries killed by US Marine machine gun fire - Oct 11, 1915

An early period of unrest culminated in a 1918 rebellion by up to 40,000 former cacos and other members of the opposition. The scale of the uprising overwhelmed the Gendarmerie, but US Marine reinforcements helped put down the revolt. The assassination of rebellion leader Charlemagne Péralte in November 1918 solidified US Marine power over the Cacos.[37] An estimated 2,004 cacos were killed in the fighting, as well as 28 American marines and 70 Haitian gendarmes.[19]

The occupation greatly improved some of Haiti's infrastructure[3] and centralized power in Port-au-Prince. Infrastructure improvements were particularly impressive: 1700 km of roads were made usable, 189 bridges were built, many irrigation canals were rehabilitated, hospitals, schools, and public buildings were constructed, and drinking water was brought to the main cities. Port-au-Prince became the first Caribbean city to have a phone service with automatic dialing. Agricultural education was organized, with a central school of agriculture and 69 farms in the country.[28]

The Americans inhabited neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince in high quality housing. This neighborhood was called the "millionaires' row".[38] Hans Schmidt recounted a navy officer's opinion on the matter of segregation: "I can't see why they wouldn't have a better time with their crowd, just as I do with mine."[39] American racial intolerance provoked indignation and resentment – and eventually a racial pride that was reflected in the work of a new generation of Haitian historians, ethnologists, writers, artists, and others. Many of these later became active in politics and government. The elite Haitians, who were mostly mixed race with higher levels of education and capital, continued to dominate the country's bureaucracy and to strengthen its role in national affairs.

The United States redesigned the education system. It dismantled the "liberal arts" education which the Haitians had inherited (and adapted) from the French system. The Americans emphasized vocational training, similar to its industrial education for minorities and immigrants in the United States. The elite Haitians despised this system, believing it was discriminatory against their people.[40]

All three rulers during the occupation came from the country's mixed-race elite. At the same time, many in the growing black professional classes departed from the traditional veneration of Haiti's French cultural heritage and emphasized the nation's African roots.[41] Among these were ethnologist Jean Price-Mars and the journal Les Griots (the title referred to traditional African oral historians, the storytellers.) edited by Dr. François Duvalier.

The United States military issued two Haitian Campaign Medals to U.S. Marine and Naval personnel for service in the country during the periods 1915 and 1919–20.

Finally, the political, military, and economic power of both the German-Haitian community and the Imperial German government were utterly broken by the long years of hostile occupation. Germans had been censured for association with anti-American mobilization. German intelligence cells operating on the island were purged or forced to surrender. The US had entered the war against the German Empire in 1917, and in 1918 the latter was defeated in the war and almost immediately collapsed. The remaining German-Haitians were largely left isolated, with many opting to emigrate (usually back to Germany) or to stay on and try to claw their way back.

• History of Haiti
• Banana Wars
• Parsley Massacre
• Battle of Fort Dipitie
• Battle of Fort Rivière
• United States occupation of the Dominican Republic (1916–1924)
• Haiti during World War 1
• Foreign interventions by the United States
• United States involvement in regime change

Notes

References

• Heinl, Robert (1996). Written in Blood: The History of the Haitian People. Lantham, Md.: University Press of America.
• Johnson, Wray R. (2019). Biplanes at War: US Marine Corps Aviation in the Small Wars Era, 1915-1934. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813177069. - Total pages: 440
• Schmidt, Hans (1995). The United States Occupation of Haiti, 1915-1934. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press.
• Weinstein, Brian; Segal, Aaron (1984). Haiti: Political Failures, Cultural Successes (February 15, 1984 ed.). Praeger Publishers. p. 175. ISBN 0-275-91291-4.
• Weston, Rubin Francis (1972). Racism in U.S. Imperialism: The Influence of Racial Assumptions on American Foreign Policy, 1893-1946. Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press.