president

Tiresias Simon Sam was born on May 15, 1835, in Grande-Riviere-du-Nord. Tiresias was born with leadership skills and had a lot of passion for his country. Before being a president he served as a general and then a minister of war under Florvil Hyppolite. He was chosen as the acting president after the death of Hyppolite and he was elected as the president of Haiti on March 31, 1896.

Tiresias valued education and always choose educated people in his government. He was determined to make Haiti a better place and for sure Haiti developed greatly during his era. He increased jobs opportunities, improved transport, contracted U.S to build street car in Port -au-Prince and built a railway line to connect Cap Haitian to Grand Riviere du Nord and Port -au-Prince to Cul-de-Sac. Tiresias also built a civil court in Cap-Haitian and updated the school of science, Engineering and architecture.

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Duvalierist - Henri Namphy - 1986 - 1988 - Manigat - Coup D'Detat - Prosper Avril - General -

The 42nd and 44th president of Haiti, Henri Namphy, who reigned over Haiti for the period between 1986 to 1988 and June 1988 to September 1988, is one of the remarkable figures in Haiti's presidency. During his first reign, he got himself on the throne through National Council of Government that kicked Duvalier out power.

Henri Namphy was not at peace immediately after taking over from Duvalier who had declared himself as the president for life. Strikes and riots were the order of the day and he reacted harshly through sucking top government officials who were diehard royals of his predecessor. His reign was unanimously referred to as the "Duvalierism rule without Duvalier" as he was no better than his predecessor. After a while, however, he was able to put everything under control and secured a two year reign to the beginning of 1988.

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Philippe Sudre Dartiguenave was a Haitian Politician. He was born on April 6, 1863 in Haiti.

Philippe Sudre Dartiguenave was pro -American who ruled under the control of United State government. He became the president of Haiti from 12th August 1915 to 15th May 1922 through the Haitian-American treaty. This treaty involved American and Haitian military force and it was under the control of U.S marine. U.S had powers to control Haiti's finances and would intrude Haiti any time they wanted. Haitians were not allowed to elect a president. In fact, Philippe Sudre Dartiguenave was a U.S selection.

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The period between the end of the Duvalier regime and the reformation of the Haitian government as a democracy was met with several political turmoil in the form of military power and coup d'état. Three presidents were removed from their post after serving for only a few months or years during this time of chaos. Professor Leslie Manigat was the president after Duvalier who was eventually ousted after only four months in office, having one of the shortest terms in Haitian history.

With efforts to bring Haiti back to its feet, a presidential election organized by the military was held in 1988. Leslie Manigat win against ten other presidential candidates was met with mixed reactions and criticisms. Despite this, the professor was inaugurated as president a month after. His term in office was then cut short by Haitian General Henri Namphy with a successful coup d'état, after the former removed the general as army commander. He again ran in the 2006 presidential elections but lost to René Préval, having a mere 12.4% of the votes.

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Daniel Fignole was Haitian politician. Fignole was born in 1913 in the coastal town of Pestel. Fignole recognized that education was the key to a better future. Therefore, at the age of 24, he went to Port au Prince in search of education and work. Being poor and not able buy a balanced diet made him to suffer from malnutrition. But this did not hider him from performing well in school. He passed well in his finals, making him to be enrolled in a good school. Later on he got a job as a teacher in children of Haiti's wealthy elite.

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Haiti's transition to democracy took a long process and a long line of political leaders before it was fully achieved. In the 1980s and 1990s, Haitians and the government had to deal with several sudden changes in leadership as one president to the next were overthrown by coup d'états, revolts, and even foreign pressure. One of these individuals who were cut short from their presidency due to ongoing political turmoil was Émile Jonassaint, who served for a mere five months from May to October 1994.

Emile Jonassaint 's former administration was considered a puppet government of the military regime that has earlier removed Jean-Bertrand Aristide from office in 1991 after he won the first free elections in Haiti. The short five months under Jonassaint's temporary rule was met with chaos and violence between Aristide supporters and the military. In 1994, the U.S. government intervened and negotiated with the Haitian president to give back Aristide's presidency. He agreed and signed the famous Port-au-Prince Accord and maybe avoided the U.S.'s invasion over the country that was being torn by politics. He died at the age of 82 a year later.

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Despite the changing gender roles and the growing feminist movement, female presidents or heads of state are quite rare in Haiti. One of these very few powerful women in history is former Haitian president Ertha Pascal-Trouillot. Politics has always been said to be meant for males as power and control are often associated with being a man. But as time went by, women began competing with this notion and have been made leaders and politicians along with men.

Pascal-Trouillot was born in a suburb of Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince in 1943. Her father was an iron worker while her mother was a seamstress and was the ninth child of their ten children. The future president acquired a law degree from the prestigious École de Droit des Gonaives and was a judge for federal courts for more than ten years. She then became the first woman justice of the country's Supreme Court. And in 1990, Pascal-Trouillot was proclaimed as Haiti's temporary president after the successful revolt against former president Prosper Avril which put him out of office.

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One of Haiti's infamous leaders, François Duvalier, ruled the country for fourteen long years of tyranny. With his death in 1971, it gave way to a new era of governance of hope and reform, especially with the United States' concern and involvement. The late "Papa Doc" was succeeded by his then nineteen-year-old son Jean-Claude Duvalier.

His term as Haiti's president from 1971 to 1986 was known for his strong ties with the United States, as well as the reforms he has done after his father's brutal policies. Despite these, Jean-Claude, who has been nicknamed "Baby Doc", had a similar distasteful leadership like his father's.

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The overthrowing of Jean-Claude Duvalier in 1986 paved way to the gradual transition of Haitian politics to democracy and Henri Namphy was supposed to lead that transition. But before democracy reached the country, there was chaos everywhere as theft, riots, and coup d'états were rampant as the government after the Duvalier regime was unstable.

After Duvalier and his family left for France, the country was led by the National Council of Government (CNG) under Haitian general Henri Namphy. The council was made up of four individuals from the military and two civilians which tried to push for several democratic reforms and promised Haitians the occurrence of elections. Two years later, the general was then made president after successfully overthrowing Leslie Manigat who was the winner in the 1988 elections via a coup d'état.

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Leslie Manigat who features in the history of Haiti as the 43rd president is one of the significant icons in the history of Haiti. He was born in 1931 and is a teacher by profession. Though his reign was short-lived lasting from February 1988 to June 1988, he is one of the presidents who have risen to the throne through a democratic election. He overpowered Henri Namphy in 1988 general elections but he was overthrown by the same person in 1988 through a coup d'etat.

Leslie Manigat has been a prominent scholar and has a slew of books and thesis to his name. He is also known with his significant contribution in Haiti's Newspapers through article writing. His teaching career has paved his way to prominent universities around the globe. He has lectured at Yale University, University of Paris, University of West Indies and Johns Hopkins University. Majoring in history, he has made significant impact among many students as he is quite rich in the subject. His involvement in essay writing also made him rank high in Literature which has attracted a Grand Prize in Literature at Book Fair Miami.

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