Jean Vilbrun Guillaume Sam (4 March 1859 – 28 July 1915) was

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

from 4 March to 27 July 1915, when he was

assassinated Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have a ...

. He was a cousin of Tirésias Simon Sam, Haiti's president from 1896 to 1902.

Early life and education

Career

Sam was the commander of Haiti's Northern Division when he led the revolt which brought President

Cincinnatus Leconte Jean Jacques Dessalines Michel Cincinnatus Leconte (September 29, 1854 – August 8, 1912) was President of Haiti from August 15, 1911 until his death on August 8, 1912. He was the great-grandson of Jean-Jacques Dessalines—a leader of the Ha ...

to power. He later headed the revolt which toppled President Oreste Zamor. On 25 February 1915 Sam was proclaimed president when his predecessor, Joseph Davilmar Théodore, was forced to resign, because he was unable to pay the militiamen, known as the " Cacos", who had helped him overthrow Zamor. As Haiti's fifth president in five turbulent years, Sam was forced to contend with a revolt against his own regime, led by Dr.

Rosalvo Bobo Pierre François Joseph Benoit Rosalvo Bobo (1874–1929), known as Rosalvo Bobo, was a Haitian politician, and a leader of the rebel faction known as the Cacos. In March of 1915 he started and led a rebellion against the government of Preside ...

, who opposed the government's expanded commercial and strategic ties with the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Fearing that he would share the same fate as his predecessors, Sam acted harshly against his political opponents, particularly the better-educated and wealthier

mulatto (, ) is a racial classification to refer to people of mixed African and European ancestry. Its use is considered outdated and offensive in several languages, including English and Dutch, whereas in languages such as Spanish and Portuguese is ...

population. On 27 July 1915, his repression culminated in him ordering the execution of 167 political prisoners–– including former president Zamor, who was being held in a

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( , ; ht, Pòtoprens ) is the capital and most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 987,311 in 2015 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The metropolitan area is define ...

jail. This infuriated the Haitian people, who rose up against Sam's government as soon as news of these executions reached them.

Assassination

Sam fled to the French embassy, where he received asylum. The rebels' mulatto leaders broke into the embassy and found Sam. They dragged him out and beat him senseless, and then threw his limp body over the embassy's iron fence to the waiting populace, who then ripped his body to pieces and paraded the parts through the capital's neighborhoods.

Legacy

For the next two weeks, the country was in chaos. News of the murder soon reached the American Navy ships anchored in the city's harbor. President

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...

, who was wary about the turn of events in Haiti, and especially the possibility that Bobo would take power, ordered American troops to seize the capital. They landed on 28 July 1915, and continued to occupy the country for nineteen years, until August 1934. Sam's chief of police, Charles Oscar Étienne, who cleaned out the jails by executing his political opponents, inspired the boogeymen Haitian carnival disguises known as "Chaloska".

In fiction

Eugene O'Neill Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of realism, earlier ...

stated that Sam was the inspiration for his 1920 play ''

The Emperor Jones ''The Emperor Jones'' is a 1920 tragic play by American dramatist Eugene O'Neill that tells the tale of Brutus Jones, a resourceful, self-assured African American and a former Pullman porter, who kills another black man in a dice game, is jailed, ...

.'' Sam is the main figure in Arthur J. Burks's short story "Thus Spake the Prophetess" (''

Weird Tales ''Weird Tales'' is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine founded by J. C. Henneberger and J. M. Lansinger in late 1922. The first issue, dated March 1923, appeared on newsstands February 18. The first editor, Edwin Baird, prin ...

'', November 1924). Sam appears as a supporting character in the 1993

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

novel '' White Darkness'' which is set during his presidency.McIntee, D. A. "White Darkness". Virgin Publishing, 1993 The novel takes several liberties with history, having Sam committing suicide rather than being murdered by the rebels as was actually the case.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sam, Jean Vilbrun Guillaume 1859 births 1915 deaths 1915 murders in North America Presidents of Haiti Presidents of the Chamber of Deputies (Haiti) Assassinated Haitian politicians People from Nord-Est (department) Deaths by beating People of the Banana Wars