Duvalier, François

Du·va·lier (do͞o'väl-yāʹ, dü-), François. Known as “Papa Doc.” 1907-1971.

Haitian dictator. Elected president in 1957, he declared himself president for life in 1964 and ruled in an authoritarian manner until his death. His son Jean-Claude (born 1951), known as “Baby Doc,” succeeded him in 1971 but fled the country in 1986 after widespread civil unrest.

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known as Papa Doc

born April 14, 1907, Port-au-Prince, Haiti

died April 21, 1971, Port-au-Prince

President of Haiti (1957–71).

After receiving his M.D. in 1934, Duvalier was appointed director general of the National Public Health Service in 1946 under Pres. Dumarsais Estimé. When Estimé was overthrown by Paul Magloire, Duvalier led the opposition and assumed the presidency soon after Magloire's resignation in 1956. He reduced the size of the military and organized the Tontons Macoutes ("Bogeymen"), a private force that terrorized and assassinated alleged foes of his regime. He played on the culture of vodun to intimidate the opposition as well. Promoting a cult of his person as the semidivine embodiment of the nation, he declared himself president for life in 1964. His regime's corruption and despotism isolated Haiti, the poorest country in the hemisphere, from the rest of the world. His 19-year-old son, Jean-Claude Duvalier ("Baby Doc"; b. 1951), succeeded him on his death. A weak ruler dominated by his mother and later by his wife, Baby Doc instituted slight reforms, but increasing social unrest forced him to flee into exile in France in 1986.

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▪ president of Haiti

byname  Papa Doc 

born April 14, 1907, Port-au-Prince, Haiti

died April 21, 1971, Port-au-Prince

 president of Haiti whose 14-year regime was of unprecedented duration in that country.

      Duvalier graduated in 1934 from the University of Haiti School of Medicine, where he served as a hospital staff physician until 1943, when he became prominently active in the U.S.-sponsored anti-yaws campaign.

      A contributor to the daily Action Nationale (1934), Duvalier was markedly influenced by the mystic scholar Lorimer Denis and became a member of Le Groupe des Griots, a circle of writers who embraced black nationalism and voodoo as the key sources of Haitian culture.

      A supporter of President Dumarsais Estimé, Duvalier was appointed director general of the National Public Health Service in 1946, and he directed the anti-yaws campaign in 1947–48. He was appointed underminister of labour in 1948 and the following year became minister of public health and labour, a post that he retained until May 10, 1950, when President Estimé was overthrown by a military junta under Paul E. Magloire, who was subsequently elected president. Duvalier returned to his former work with the American Sanitary Mission in 1951–54 and began organizing the resistance to Magloire. By 1954 he had become the central opposition figure and went underground.

      After the resignation of Magloire in December 1956, Duvalier's followers participated in most of the six governments that were formed in the succeeding 10 months. Running on a program of popular reform and black nationalism, Duvalier was elected president in September 1957. Setting about to consolidate his power, he reduced the size of the army and, with his chief aide, Clément Barbot, organized the Tontons Macoutes (“Bogeymen”), a private force responsible for terrorizing and assassinating alleged foes of the regime.

      When Duvalier was stricken by a heart attack in 1959, Barbot acted in his stead. Upon recovery, the president promptly imprisoned his aide. His manipulation of legislative elections in 1961 to have his term extended to 1967 and other corrupt and despotic measures precipitated a termination of U.S. aid to Haiti. That summer he had Barbot murdered, after the latter, on his release from prison, had attempted an insurrection. Other attempts to overthrow Duvalier were equally unsuccessful.

      Late in 1963 Duvalier moved further toward an absolutist regime, promoting a cult of his person as the semidivine embodiment of Haiti. In April 1964 he declared himself president for life. Although diplomatically almost completely isolated, excommunicated by the Vatican until 1966 for harassing the clergy, and threatened by conspiracies against him, Duvalier was able to stay in power longer than any of his predecessors. His regime of terror quelled political dissent, causing nearly 30,000 deaths, but at the same time achieved for Haiti an unusual degree of political stabilization. On Duvalier's death, power was transferred to his son, Jean-Claude (“Baby Doc”).

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